CPM PCN on a Public Road

UnknownUser1127

A bit of a weird scenario which I don't think really falls into the newbie direction and looking for some advice and what I should do now?

I have just received a PCN from UK Car Park Management for parking on a publicly owned road where they manage the flats car parks. 

For context they have done this previously, to my other friends who have visited our friend who have lived there. Appeals have been made, they've denied and then appeal won through the Independant Appeals Service (IAS). 


This is my first time receiving a ticket on the public road here but I don't want CPM issuing me a PCN everytime i visit my friend for parking on his road.

Key Points: 

• Road is listed as unclassified (Unclassified - highways maintainable at the public expense that do not apply under the provisions of Section 12 Highways Act 1980) on Essex Highways website
  
• CPM do manage car parks for these flats on the road
• My car was parked on the road not in the private car parks (clearly pictured on the pcn too)
• The road is marked on the essex interactive map as  Maintained / Unconfirmed Extent
  

Questions: 

• What should my appeal process be? 
  
• Can I make a counter claim for unlawful access of my data via the DVLA? If so what are my steps for doing this now.

ChirpyChicken

You can only make a counter claim if you get a court claim.

h2g2

Would making a formal complaint to the PPC, escalating to the IPC, and then escalating to the DVLA if the IPC don't do anything be worthwhile? 

The_Slithy_Tove

Report them to their Data Protection Officer (if they have such thing) and the DVLA for obtaining keeper details without good cause. Could end up in a claim against them for that. You could threated as much when you make your appeal. What is the location stated on the PCN? If it's the parking associated with the flats, then the car wasn't there. If it's the road, then they have no right to manage parking there anyway.

You need to be 100% sure the car was on the public road before going down that route, though you do seem to have done your homework on that one.

Half_way

Do you have a location/map link for this, just to be sure the area your vehicle was parked on was public highway and not some badly marked side bay.

UnknownUser1127

Half_way said:

Do you have a location/map link for this, just to be sure the area your vehicle was parked on was public highway and not some badly marked side bay.

The_Slithy_Tove said:

Report them to their Data Protection Officer (if they have such thing) and the DVLA for obtaining keeper details without good cause. Could end up in a claim against them for that. You could threated as much when you make your appeal. What is the location stated on the PCN? If it's the parking associated with the flats, then the car wasn't there. If it's the road, then they have no right to manage parking there anyway.

You need to be 100% sure the car was on the public road before going down that route, though you do seem to have done your homework on that one.

I am indeed sure the Essex Highways interactive map clearly colours the road as publicly maintained, since this has no private information as I live nowhere near the location and just visited I think it's okay to share.

Futhermore, Essex highways section 36 marks 'The Rookeries' as unclassified which to their definition is "highways maintainable at the public expense that do not apply under the provisions of Section 12 Higways Act 1980" - Attached the section 36 too.

I can't send links but i've attached a clear picture of where my vehicle was parked on the road. Bare in mind the car parks around these building are private and CPM just slap signs all around the car parks. 

fisherjim

The plot thickens from GSV 2023:

If they do have authority from someone they are treating it as a honeytrap, absolutely no signage at the entrance:

UnknownUser1127

The_Slithy_Tove said:

Report them to their Data Protection Officer (if they have such thing) and the DVLA for obtaining keeper details without good cause. Could end up in a claim against them for that. You could threated as much when you make your appeal. What is the location stated on the PCN? If it's the parking associated with the flats, then the car wasn't there. If it's the road, then they have no right to manage parking there anyway.

You need to be 100% sure the car was on the public road before going down that route, though you do seem to have done your homework on that one.

The PCN states "it was parked on private land in breac of the terms and conditions of parking at The Rookeries, Colchester, CO6 1DY"

Their signs (bare in mind they haven't even proved my car is near any signage they could literally have taken a photo of a sign in scotland and posted photos of my car on any road) state 'No parking on roadways / yellow lines / paved / hatched or landscaped area'. 

In my reply above you can see where my vehicle was parked. Feel free to check google maps to check the area out. They also try to place signs on their fencing next to the pathways to try make it seem like they own the road and that their 'conditions' apply. 

I'm more than willing to die on this hill and make them look stupid in court.

UnknownUser1127

fisherjim said:

The plot thickens from GSV 2023:

If they do have authority from someone they are treating it as a honeytrap, absolutely no signage at the entrance:

Surely Essex Highways stating it's a public road trump their signs either way though, I know this sign does indeed exist still facing the road. 

Just because they've got signs on their property facing the road doesn't mean they can enforce on a public road at all.

ChirpyChicken

Probably a private estate

fisherjim

UnknownUser1127 said:

Surely Essex Highways stating it's a public road trump their signs either way though, I know this sign does indeed exist still facing the road. 

Just because they've got signs on their property facing the road doesn't mean they can enforce on a public road at all.

Indeed, but I would hazard a guess that this might have been a sign put in place by the developer when the properties were being built before adoption by the council (which can take as long as five years).

Or it could have been put in place because someone at the estate asked the PPC to put it there even though they have no authority, I see the homes have their own management company:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08787037/officers

What ever it is it would be seen off as the PPC would have no contract for that area, a search of the local planning site for that development might also show ownership/adoption details.