Three parking fines at Tesco Hove by Horizon

dahliafield_d11

Below is remainder of section B and section C: mainly the PCN issued on 22nd Oct, with a brief letter stating that charge will be kept for £40 if payment is received within 14 days as a gesture of good will. This was posted here before, so to save space, I erased this.

dahliafield_d11

The first page below shows the photos of my car, so I deleted here, only showing the words. 

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Remainder of Section D.

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Section E: mainly photos

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these are the remainder of Section E

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I found another way of getting a clearer image of this. 

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Re-uploading some unclear images

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Sorry for the messy and unclear images! Under pressure to get all of these uploaded here for the deadline tomorrow! 

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Coupon-mad said:

But that is normal. This is comments stage, as I tell everyone all about in post 3 (the POPLA section) of NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST.

This is Horizon's evidence. Of course Horizon would show POPLA your original appeal. Think about it, they don't need to show POPLA your POPLA appeal!

I can't see that link though, it needs permission to access.

Better to screenshot all the photos and the landowner authority please and dump them across a couple of replies here instead of giving us a link, maybe.

I am keen to see the Tesco authority date and details, plus I want to see Horizon's excuses, to see in their response if they have misled POPLA about the missing entrance sign.

(I was at the match tonight. You've seen my avatar & know I'm local. Never a penalty)!

There is nothing about landowner authority mentioned in their letter. All they were saying they had placed enough signs as shown in their signage location plan and more than 1500 people validated their stays on the same day. Can I have your advice and help again? I am quite shaken about their statement. The driver spent £70 for shopping in Tesco on that day, just to get penalied by these scammers! 

Coupon-mad

Remind us: did your POPLA appeal mention for them to show landowner authority? I thought it did. Briefly ... but it was there, wasn't it?

Either way, just say this ... and please don't linger over it nor ask for further advice (I am out tomorrow and you can't delay your comments):


Dear POPLA,

The operator has shown some general signs but has failed to show a 'P' entrance sign, which is mandatory in terms of size, wording and design (per the BPA Code, which still currently applies). They've failed to show one because there isn't one, as my appeal and dated photos proved.

They have reproduced my image of the blue banner, which is hidden on the back fence, obscured by the entire (always busy) car park! That is neither a Code compliant nor a permanent entrance sign. And it's on a wooden fence at the far back (North West) area behind hundreds of parked cars. Unseen to drivers coming up from the Southerly approach road.

The Assessor can see from my dated images that the entrance roadway that runs alongside to the East of the Tesco building (arriving cars driving from South to North) has no sign at all, only the two poles where it used to be when APCOA ran the site (with 3 hours free and no requirement to validate since COVID).

The Assessor can tell that my evidence is more compelling - and correct - because the entrance roadway doesn't include a wooden fence (see my images: the roadway has Tesco on one side (West) and a dirty white high wall and trees/bushes and foliage to the East side). There is no fence there.

The Horizon changes (with free parking suddenly reduced to 2 hours and an unknown change to now have to validate VRMs) are new restrictions. That (temporary) blue banner should have been positioned at the entrance roadway at the South corner, in addition to a permanent, large 'P' entrance sign but in reality, neither are in that place.

There was - and still is - nothing on approach to alert a driver that the rules changed. Nor did the cashier say anything (the tills always printed a validation slip since COVID, but any obligation for drivers to do anything with these slips had been obsolete for 5 years. The receipt looked no different to normal and the car park looked the same, except - with hindsight - the removal of the entrance sign.

Removing a sign and not replacing it isn't how to alert drivers to changes, but that's Horizon's problem, not mine.

It is also their problem that whoever put up the blue banner - the only one about 'car park changes' - put it on an unremarkable (and unlit by any ambient light) grey fence at the back of the site, instead of at the entrance. That fence is between 'sign 16' on their aerial view drawing and the far corner that points North. It took me ages to locate that lone banner, after a full walk round when taking my evidence images. It is positively hidden.

Drivers approach along Miles Walk, which comes off Church Road which involves turning in at traffic lights, from the South. The opposite end of the site. By placing the banner at the back - North West corner -they are in breach of the Joint Code clause relating to new/changed restrictions. That section doesn't say that an operator can stick a 'changes in restrictions' sign at the back of a car park!

Misleading map:
Horizon's aerial view seems to suggest that there is meant to be an Entrance Sign where APCOA's used to be. It seems to be on Horizon's mocked up map as 'sign 1'. But my images (and Horizon's lack of any photo of an Entrance Sign) prove that 'sign 1' doesn't exist.

Finally, they have not shown proof of landowner authority, as required in the Joint Code paragraph 14. This is especially important for this new site, given they took over from APCOA at some point in the Autumn but they haven't proved that Tesco authorised the two rule changes and from what date. Putting up a few signs in August and removing the APCOA signage is one thing but the 'go live' date for new enforcement is quite another. And it's not in the evidence pack.

POPLA must find that this PCN was not properly given and must be cancelled.