Parking Charge Notice from Care Parking at Aldi

Apologies I've just seen all of your replies, thank you so much,

In the meantime I put together a draft, but just let me know if I should stick to the original template, and if so, I'll just send that off

Here's the reply:

Dear Sirs,

Re: PCN No. xxxxxx

I challenge this 'PCN' as keeper of the car.

I believe that your signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. Your unremarkable and obscure signs were not seen by the driver, are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers.

Para 205: “The requirement of good faith in this context is one of fair and open dealing. Openness requires that the terms should be expressed fully, clearly and legibly, containing no concealed pitfalls or traps. Appropriate prominence should be given to terms which might operate disadvantageously to the customer.”

Underlining that is Section 18.3 of the BPA Code of Practice which gives clear instructions as to the placing, visibility and clarity of any signs that are used to form contracts. It says:

18.3 You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle. Keep a record of where all the signs are. Signs must be conspicuous and legible, and written in intelligible language, so that they are easy to see, read and understand.

I refute that there were clear and visible signs, with Terms that formed the basis of a contract and which met the specifications above.

It should also be noted that an infraction of 18 minutes’ falls under grace period rules and given the amount of traffic at the Corporation Street site, entry and exit times will be considered; citing section 13.4 of the BPA Code of Practice:

13.4 You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action. If the location is one where parking is normally permitted, the Grace Period at the end of the parking period should be a minimum of 10 minutes.

Furthermore, planning permission for the Corporation Street site was granted on the basis that the landowner provides parking to patrons for 3 hours, with the facility to leave the site and use local amenities. This planning permission was granted in 1999 when the land was bought from Dutton Forshaw and no further amendments have been asked for or granted by Preston City Council.

Your company is trying to extract money from people parking longer than 2 hours, when Preston City Council wanted this to be a 3 hour car park. I’m sure this will be of interest to local media, the council and Trading Standards, should this dialogue progress.

I am also formally requesting a full copy of the contemporaneous, signed & dated (unredacted) contract with the landowner. A site agreement, or witness statement is not sufficient as these will not show sufficient detail (such as the restrictions, charges and revenue sharing arrangements agreed with any landholder). In order to comply with paragraph 7 of the BPA Code of Practice, a non-landowner private parking company must have a specifically-worded contract with the landowner, otherwise there is no authority to offer contracts to park.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. You must either rely on the POFA 2012 and offer me a POPLA code, or cancel the charge.

Should you obtain the registered keeper's data from the DVLA without reasonable cause, please take this as formal notice that I reserve the right to sue your company and the landowner/principal, for a sum not less than £250 for any Data Protection Act breach. Your aggressive business practice and unwarranted threat of court for the ordinary matter of a driver using my car without causing any obstruction nor offence, has caused significant distress to me.

I do not give you consent to process data relating to me or this vehicle. I deny liability for any sum at all and you must consider this letter a Section 10 Notice under the DPA. You are required to respond within 21 days. I have kept proof of submission of this appeal and look forward to your reply.

In order to resolve the dispute, I attach copies of the driver’s bank transactions that day as proof of patronage.

Yours faithfully,