Parking over the line Penalty notice

Tatsyjoosh · 2 February at 10:05PM

Hi Guys,
Done a bit of reading into the newbie thread and some previous similar situations to mine but would appreciate some personalised advice if possible. I can't attach photos as I'm a newbie so will do my best to describe.

I recently parked at a railway 'apcoa' car park one that I park at 5 days a week. I was running particularly late that day and instead of finding a free space on the road I decided to park in their paid bays. As I parked I saw the train enter the platform which resulted in me leaving my front tyre over the white line of the bay and running to the train (I made it just btw). When arriving back to my car I found a yellow penalty notice on the driver's window for in short 'not parking wholly within the bay'. They go on about some 2000 Railway Act on the ticket and section 219 I'm sure You're all well hearsed in it.

Anyway, I drafted up a rather lengthy appeal to them (worth noting I did not know about this group at the time of my reply unfortunately, which is as below:

I have attached my images taken upon arrival of my car in the below files. It is insanity that you are trying to charge me £60 for parking on the white line when I paid for a full-day parking ticket and as per the images attached a car, not to mention it was a huge family SUV, was able to easily park in between me and the car across from me. Upon reviewing the signage, which was covered in dirt and grime and unreadable without wiping, the PCN amount does not stand out on the signs, it is in small text and blends in with the rest of the sign. The PCN amount should be in a larger text, so it stands out and informs motorists clearly what the PCN amount is. Based on the evidence provided, I cannot conclude that the PCN has been issued correctly. Upon wiping the terms on your signs state "causes obstruction to others" but this was not the case as a car was able to park next to me with ease and you received payment for the bay I supposedly 'hindered/impeded'. Not only this but it was only my front tyre which was on the white line the rear tyre was fully and wholly within the authorised marked parking bay as shown in the attached photos. I can understand issuing penalty notices for people who don't pay but this is just absurd I have attached proof of payment for an all-day ticket in the files below too and am happy to take this further or to the small claims or even high/supreme court if needed I will not be settling for the £60 payment.
As shown in the attached photos, the vehicle was not parked outside of a marked bay, merely with one wheel on the white line. Therefore if parked on the white line/in contact with it I am not "wholly outside" the white line and therefore not parked out of the confines if I'm still making contact. No other vehicle was prevented from parking and this was not obstructive in any way, nor outside of a bay. There was no contravention and nothing in this instance that could match the high bar set in the 'complex' case in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis.
In that case, it was found that the charge certainly engaged the 'penalty rule' as they were over the white line unlike myself but escaped being held to be unenforceable due to a significant 'legitimate interest' in preventing overstaying in bays where the retail park landowner wanted to have a high turnover of custom.
No such ''legitimate interest which extended beyond the recovery of any loss'' exists in punishing drivers for a wheel on a white line such as in this instance, causing no commercial problem or loss to the landowner. In fact, this very same scenario was discussed at the Supreme Court and the Judges made it clear that a charge for overlapping a white line would not seem fair as the car was in fact still in contact with the line and not therefore not wholly over as stated on the contractual terms on the parking signage. The finding was that a contractual clause would be penal if it was a secondary obligation which imposed a detriment on the contract-breaker that was 'unconscionable' and out of all proportion to any legitimate interest. Clearly, to charge in this circumstance is an attempt to penalise an authorised driver using the car park as intended and not due to a commercial loss/ deterrent. The Supreme Court judges stated that the purpose of a charge cannot be to punish a consumer. A charge would require a commercial justification to save it from the penalty rule and in this case, there is no such overriding interest in charging more than damages (nothing).
If you choose to reject my appeal please provide me with an example court case where a driver has been penalised for parking on the white line and successfully been charged with a PCN even though a commercial loss has not occurred and no other customers were hindered or obstructed and I will contact my lawyer in preparation for escalation to an IAS appeal or court action.
Kind Regards,
Josh Gerken-Ray

As you can tell, I am no lawyer and this was just a reply as it was stressing me out and I thought why not give it a try - to which they declined. They said in their unsuccessful appeal letter that my vehicle was not appropriately parked within marked bays as per terms and conditions which clearly state that failure to park within a marked bay or causing an obstruction to other users may result in a fine I now have 14 days to either appeal to POPLA or pay £16.

I have no intention of paying this fine as I already pay £8600 a year to use southeastern train services and I think paying for train station car parks is a joke anyway.

My question is, taking into account my above appeal what is the best way to write my POPLA appeal? Is there anything specific I should include? Any similar situations people have had? Literally, any help or wording/structure is appreciated.

Thanks,

Josh