What are the best grounds for contesting this parking charge?

Secondus2

Hi all,

I've been directed to get some advice here by some users on r/LegalAdviceUK.

My situation is as follows:

I arrived in the car park at 18:20. The image below shows the sign with the terms and conditions of the car park.

As I planned to stay for about 2 hours, I went to the machine and pressed the PLUS button to reach the £2 fair for a 2-hour stay. However, the time displayed as the end time on the machine was 20:00.

I realised this was because parking is split into 2 time periods - 08:00-20:00 and 20:00-08:00. It seemed that the machine was expecting me to pay the overnight charge in addition to the 2 hour charge. However, pressing the PLUS button on the machine did not allow me to add any extra time. The maximum I could pay was £2.

I paid the £2, and the ticket printed, with 20:00 printed on it as an implied end time. As there was no option to pay more I had no other options. I returned to the car park after just under 2 hours. Left at 20:20, just a few seconds short of 2 hours after arriving.

Got a letter in the post with a charge of £100 claiming that I had "failed to make a valid payment". Appealed to the company, but failed. They also said we could have paid the overnight charge after our stay which is not at all clear from the sign.

I would like to challenge this further. I believe there are several grounds for challenging this, which I'll list below. It would be great to get ideas on the best way to approach this.

• The sign clearly says "Pay on arrival". I attempted this and paid the maximum that the machine allowed me to pay
• If staying past 20:00 necessitates paying for a additional (overnight) stay then the only way to be compliant with the instruction to "Pay on arrival" is to return at exactly 20:00, at which point the machine will allow you to pay this. Paying any later would mean paying too late. Paired with the issue with the payment machine, this seems like a purposefully difficult and predatory restriction.
• Paying for 2 hours of parking on arrival should entitle you to 2 hours of parking, whether or not you go past 20:00. Otherwise paying for an hour of parking at 19:59 would only entitle you to 1 minute of parking.

I would very much appreciate any insight into the best approach to take here, and best ways to word my POPLA appeal.

Thank you very much.

Jame4ters

Have a read of the “Newbies” thread. The info you are after is all on there

Coupon-mad

I hope you didn't admit to driving?

Kaizen2024

“As there was no option to pay more I had no other options”

You had the option to leave before 20:00.

Nellymoser

@Kaizen2024 is it beyond the capabilities of the self proclaimed parking experts to implement a system where parking paid before 8pm is the actual parking time the driver should get when the car park is open 24hrs.

Why is the paid daytime rate not allowed run over into the overnight rate period?

Kaizen2024

The OP paid for a stay of ‘up to 2 hours’ not 2 hours.

According to the tariff, the price for occupancy post 20:00 is £5.00; hence why the fee paid by the OP did not cover this period. The applicable tariff for this stay was £7.00.

James_Poisson

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81878822#Comment_81878822

Which was made impossible to pay by the way the system is configured, another PPC trap!

Nellymoser

This system is unfair as it's asking the driver to pay twice for 20mins. Once at the daytime rate and again at the overnight rate. Up to 2hrs to me means no more than 2hrs.

The OP explains it very clearly in his first post:

"Paying for 2 hours of parking on arrival should entitle you to 2 hours of parking, whether or not you go past 20:00. Otherwise paying for an hour of parking at 19:59 would only entitle you to 1 minute of parking."

kryten3000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81878822#Comment_81878822

This is clearly an unfair term designed for the sole purpose of generating PCN revenue.

My interpretation of this sign is that if I was to arrive between 08:00 and 20:00 then the tariff on the left applies.

If I arrive at 20:01 then the tariff on the right applies.

Nowhere on the sign does it state that a new ticket must be purchased at 20:00.

Under the Consumer Rights Act, whichever interpretation of signage that favours the consumer must prevail.

If the OP had arrived after 20:00 then I would agree the overnight charge applies, but they did not. They arrived when the tariff was £2.00 for 2 hours. They stayed 2 hours, the time paid for.

The other question to ask is if I arrived at 07:45 and paid for 2 hours is Britannia really asking me to pay £5.00 for the 15 minutes before 08:00? Again unfair.

I doubt any judge would find against the motorist in this situation.

kryten3000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81878437#Comment_81878437

Britannia had the option to not pursue this PCN, but scammers got to scam.

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81878437#Comment_81878437

Hmmm… so you think this is OK:

"If our systems fail, you can always leave."

Are you proud of the way your industry drives people away from other (real, socially important) businesses and damages high street recovery?

Are you proud of penalising paying patrons?

I don't know how your lot sleep at night. Just my opinion.

That's your interpretation.

However, the terms overlap and are ambiguous. So in court, the term has to be interpreted in the way that most favours the consumer.

Not the rogue trader.