Private car park PCN, appeal rejected. POPLA next step awaiting. Help please

artofartur

Hello,

I hope I can receive some guidance. Parked at Eurocarparks for the duration of 3 hours and received a fine via post. There was an 8 minute overstay based on the time printed on the ticket receipt which has been provided as a proof. Being sure there are no grounds for enforcing thanks to the 10 minute grace period I appealed and received a rejection later stating that the grace period is exceeded since the anpr recorded the time of entering the car park matters and not the ticket. Based on the anpr time quoted the overstay was 12 minutes.

I know that the consideration period is not applicable once you decide to park, but surely there is some common sense approach here, as how otherwise can one know what time the anpr exactly registered you?

The Plan A of the newbies section doesn't apply as it is land solely converted into a car park, I am guessing that owned or leased by eurocarparks, not sure who might be the owner or how to find out.

I have now the option to appeal to POPLA and wondering whether there is a point. 4 minutes in my opinion is a perfectly reasonable time to find a space, park, get out of the vehicle and arrange payment, considering the car had to be parked at the very end of a 100m long car park.

I hope this post is written correctly and that you can offer some guidance. Thanks.

Gr1pr

Plan A is always the first option on private property , never discount it 

12 minutes overstay is easily countered, see the following similar thread,  do the same 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6580585/ecp-anpr-overstay-by-11-minutes-bpa-os-cop-v9-appeal-as-driver-or-keeper/p1

KeithP

artofartur said:

The Plan A of the newbies section doesn't apply as it is land solely converted into a car park, I am guessing that owned or leased by eurocarparks, not sure who might be the owner or how to find out.

And I am not sure anyone can help you with that unless you tell us exactly where this alleged parking event took place.

artofartur

Thanks guys, happy to share the location, just wanted to started with the least amount of info. Rochdale Road ECP Manchester.

Le_Kirk

 Try here <<<<LINK, this is often posted by one of our regulars @Umkomaas        

artofartur

Le_Kirk said:

 Try here <<<<LINK, this is often posted by one of our regulars @Umkomaas        

Thanks, I contacted the valuation office and the council. Land registry is not bringing up the right results as the postcode is very shady and well hidden. I am getting different results via different search methods. I tried contacting a couple of retails premises around the area but I am not getting anywhere, they either don't answer or are non existent (based on google maps). I might just go there and ask whenever I am in the area next.

I'll keep pursuing this avenue but in the meantime would like to prepare a strategy for POPLA appeal. I still have 25 days or so to do it. Any advice what should the angle be? I am simply trying to dispute the ridiculous 2 minute difference considering the time required to park. All the wording I am finding related to grace period states "from the end of the parking session's duration", but doesn't specify whether the parking session actually starts when you pay for the ticket or at the point of entering premises, or when?! Surely you need time to actually park. The above thread you kindly pasted is mainly focusing on signage which I don't think I can dispute here as it was clearly displayed and legitimate.

Coupon-mad

The only way you'd (maybe) win at POPLA would be to talk about why it took 4 minutes to park & pay (going into detail about a queue at the machine or downloading a flaky app).

Even then, because of the way the current joke Code is written, it's unlikely to work at POPLA (it would work in court) so personally wouldn't bother.  Wait for a useless DCB Legal claim then you'd have a proper decision or more likely a discontinuation without any hearing.

It's tried & tested. No CCJ risked as long as you don't move house and not tell ECP/their agents.

artofartur

Coupon-mad said:

The only way you'd (maybe) win at POPLA would be to talk about why it took 4 minutes to park & pay (going into detail about a queue at the machine or downloading a flaky app).

Even then, because of the way the current joke Code is written, it's unlikely to work at POPLA (it would work in court) so personally wouldn't bother.  Wait for a useless DCB Legal claim then you'd have a proper decision or more likely a discontinuation without any hearing.

It's tried & tested. No CCJ risked as long as you don't move house and not tell ECP/their agents.

Just to make sure I understand, sorry this is my first rodeo, every previous appeal I won, and every time I was evidently guilty I simply paid. You mean to ignore the POPLA appeal option and wait for DCB, and then do what? You think the subject will be dropped at that point with no CCJ since it is not a solid case? What should I not be telling ECP? Not planning to move house  

Coupon-mad

Wait... regardless of the circumstances, you actually PAID some private parking charges in the past? As if they were valid? Why? Rhetorical question. You should have just ignored them.

Sit tight. Do nothing except the below.

By going confidently into the 'ignore' stance, the only steps to take (because you MUST check every letter) are:

- Tell them if you move house within 6 years.

- Ignore the tedious £170 threatograms shown in pictures in the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

- Come back if you get a solicitor's LBC as per the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread.

Nobody pays a penny and no hearing is even needed in most cases. Search the forum and read a few cases as they are easy to beat by waiting for a claim form - it is easier than appealing!

There is no risk AT ALL in defending a court claim. No CCJ. No bailiffs.

artofartur

Coupon-mad said:

Wait... regardless of the circumstances, you actually PAID some private parking charges in the past? As if they were valid? Why? Rhetorical question. You should have just ignored them.

Sit tight. Do nothing except the below.

By going confidently into the 'ignore' stance, the only steps to take (because you MUST check every letter) are:

- Tell them if you move house within 6 years.

- Ignore the tedious £170 threatograms shown in pictures in the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

- Come back if you get a solicitor's LBC as per the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread.

Nobody pays a penny and no hearing is even needed in most cases. Search the forum and read a few cases as they are easy to beat by waiting for a claim form - it is easier than appealing!

There is no risk AT ALL in defending a court claim. No CCJ. No bailiffs.

No, no, sorry. I wasn't clear enough, the only fines I paid were bus lane contraventions! I paid one public parking charge in Snowdonia where I parked on a road if I recall well.

Thanks a lot for your answer, I'll do some more reading.

Nellymoser

A bit more reading for you.

A small group of MPs say private parking industry needs statutory regulation. Evidence proves voluntary measures and sector's recently introduced new code are still failing to protect and treat motorists fairly.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81193608/#Comment_81193608

Please write to your MP ask them to support their fellow MPs action. It's easy with poster Smoof's template letter, just copy/alter to suit and sign petition 🙏

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6583618/ive-written-to-my-mp