Fine for parking in 'EV charging only' at hospital car park in Wales

Frogdad11

My vehicle was recently given a 'parking charge notice' on the windscreen after parking in an EV charging bay at Cardiff hospital (Parking Eye). Parking in this car park is free for patients and visitors.
The car was parked there for the duration of the appointment (to visit the children's hospital for a surgery follow-up). Is there any avenue to appeal this? 

Gr1pr

If its not an EV then its going to be difficult to appeal it successfully ( should not be there if it uses fossil fuels , a fossil fuels vehicle should never park in an EV bay . )

The UHW is a notorious black spot and has been for years, back to when Indigo oversaw the car park enforcement, nevermind Parking Eye 

Did your NTK PCN letter comply with POFA or not?

Was that EV bay suitably signed as an EV bay 

Study the newbies sticky thread in announcements by coupon mad, that thread is up to date 

Maybe PALS could help you, if there is a valid excuse or if there was car trouble. ?

Frogdad11

thanks for commenting. In all honestly, the valid excuse is this multi-story car park is notoriously difficult to find a spot. We arrived with 20 mins to spare but after circling every level twice looking for a spot, it was either park in this space or miss my 3 year old's appointment at the children's hospital. The car is a Prius, but not a plug in. It's a free car park so clearly would have parked elsewhere if possible (only other spaces were disabled which I obviously wasn't going to park in).   

Gr1pr

In that case it seems that the act of parking in that EV bay was deliberate and would have deprived another person with an EV from parking there and the electric charge provider from making money from the EV machine there too

So it seems that the PCN was correctly issued by Parking Eye. !  ( Was there a windscreen PCN issued or was it captured by ANPR cameras, or MNPR camera, because I am wondering how they actually monitor an EV bay to ensure that it is used correctly. ?  )

Check the PCN for POFA compliance or not. ( The golden ticket scenario. )

Otherwise the only possibility of you being successful on appeal would be if the signage and bay markings were poor, unlikely for an EV bay due to being a new phenomenon 

The last possibility is no landowner authority, but its well known that Parking Eye have the contract at UHW, they have done for years 

Ps, its not a fine, its an invoice for the alleged breach of the parking contract on that private property, free or otherwise, its only free if the driver complies with the rules on the signs 

Parking in an EV bay was forbidden to fossil fuel vehicles, parking in a disabled bay was forbidden to anyone who doesn't qualify under the Equality Act 2010, where they would expect a valid blue badge to be displayed by an occupant of the vehicle 

I can't see PALS getting this cancelled on any grounds so far 

Grumpy_chap

Frogdad11 said:

it was either park in this space or miss my 3 year old's appointment at the children's hospital. The car is a Prius, but not a plug in. It's a free car park so clearly would have parked elsewhere if possible (only other spaces were disabled which I obviously wasn't going to park in).   

You have to compare that to an EV driver parking on a fuel pump at a petrol station because all the parking spaces other than disabled bays were full.  What would you think about that?
The EV charging bay is a revenue earner for the landowner / lease operator with the EV charge facility, just as the fuel pump is at a petrol station.

That aside, do follow the guidance in the newbie section and ascertain whether the PCN is compliant with the rules etc.

Coupon-mad

Agree with the above but this can still be appealed.  Is this a ParkingEye windscreenPCN?  If yes, they aren't very good at following them with NTKs, so the trick of appealing as keeper on day 26 should make them forget to issue a NTK.

It's a tried & tested tactic.

Frogdad11

Thanks Coupon-mad. Yes was a windscreenPCN from Parking Eye. I guess this is a case of - wait to appeal at day 26 and risk ending on £70 fine. Or just pay the £40 now and be done?

Umkomaas

Frogdad11 said:

Thanks Coupon-mad. Yes was a windscreenPCN from Parking Eye. I guess this is a case of - wait to appeal at day 26 and risk ending on £70 fine. Or just pay the £40 now and be done?

Or .... if PE just reject your initial appeal and start ongoing correspondence with you, but do not issue the required Notice to Keeper to hold the keeper liable, they can't win at POPLA ... provided you don't identify the driver in any correspondence with them!

Frogdad11

To update on this one. I appealed and uploaded proof of hospital appointment. Made a point of mentioning that is was for the children’s hospital. I also mentioned that in the photo evidence they provided you could only see a sign in Welsh mentioning a fine, and that the driver could not understand Welsh.
I received a response back stating:

In your appeal you have stated that there were mitigating circumstances which led to the parking terms being breached on the date of the event. In order for us to consider your appeal further, we request additional evidence to validate the circumstances mentioned. We strongly recommend that any evidence provided is date stamped as this will support your appeal.

Evidence can be uploaded via our website by visiting; or sent by post to the below address. We strongly recommend that only copies of evidence are sent to us, as we will be unable to return original documentation if this is sent via post.

Parkingeye have placed this charge on hold for 28 days to enable you to provide the evidence requested. If this information is not provided within 28 days, please be aware that the appeal may be rejected and a POPLA code issued.

What evidence do they want exactly? Any advice on how to proceed?

fisherjim

I doubt it has anything to do with the hospital appointment you have provided that evidence haven't you!

It is more likely to be this:

I also mentioned that in the photo evidence they provided you could only see a sign in Welsh mentioning a fine, and that the driver could not understand Welsh.

If this is the case I would send evidence of this.