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POPLA appeal - grace periods for short stay/pick up and drop off parking

Hi,

We recently received a PCN through the post for overstaying in a pick up and drop off point outside a hotel. Because the hotel is miles away, we haven't been able to go back to take pictures of the signage or anything, and contacting the hotel hasn't helped at all as they've claimed they don't own the land.

We think that the maximum stay is supposed to be 15 minutes and our PCN states that we were there for 23 minutes. Quite aside from unclear signage and what strikes me as a clearly predatory operation (the only way for them to make any money is unsuspecting people overstaying), this seems to fall within the BPA grace period of 10 minutes (i.e. there was the 15 minutes we were there, then should have been allowed a 10 minute grace period after that).

We've appealed the PCN (from Premier Park) and they've rejected the appeal and provided a POPLA code, as per the process laid out in the newbies thread. In the rejection, it's been stated that "as this site is purely a pick up and drop off zone, and no parking spaces are provided, grace periods do not apply". (which is a bit funny, as it was clearly a parking space that we were parked in)

Does anyone know how this might work out with POPLA? I'm a bit daunted at composing a lengthy appeal as I can't find any similar short stay/pick and drop off appeals. It also seems to be open and shut to me in terms of the grace period, but I don't know if I've misunderstood this and it somehow doesn't apply to us.

Is there anyone who might be familiar with a similar situation?

Cheers
Olimar

Comments

  • Fruitcake
    Fruitcake Posts: 58,155
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    Don't rely on a single appeal point. Instead use all available template appeal points you will find in post 3 of the NEWBIES.

    These would normally include,

    Not the landowner
    No standing (no valid contract) to issue charges in their own name.
    Lack of grace periods
    Non-PoFA complaint NTK
    Inadequate signage
    BPA CoP failures
    Anything else relevant

    Post your draft appeal here for checking before you submit it.
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  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 130,634
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    In the rejection, it's been stated that "as this site is purely a pick up and drop off zone, and no parking spaces are provided, grace periods do not apply". (which is a bit funny, as it was clearly a parking space that we were parked in)
    LOL, make sure you embed some photos of that space in your POPLA appeal where you say this!
    Does anyone know how this might work out with POPLA?
    Premier Park win quite a lot of them, so I'd say your evidence and photos of it being a parking space that must have a grace period (to pick up or drop off a passenger with luggage) will be key, unless the hotel Manager cancels it first, of course.

    Never try POPLA before exhausting that dead easy cancellation route!
    I'm a bit daunted at composing a lengthy appeal as I can't find any similar short stay/pick and drop off appeals. It also seems to be open and shut to me in terms of the grace period, but I don't know if I've misunderstood this and it somehow doesn't apply to us.
    Grace periods apply where parking is allowed, so you have not misunderstood.

    But what happened when you complained, then escalated it to the Hotel Head Office?
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
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  • Hi Fruitcake, hi Coupon-mad, cheers for the replies. I'm struggling with some of this because it's 200 miles away, so I can't go and get any pictures of the space or the signage or anything! I can bring up the location using Google maps, but you can't make out any signage and it's using images taken from a year and a half ago, so I'm not sure how well that would go down.

    The hotel manager has simply said that they don't own the land so it's nothing to do with them. When I've contacted Travelodge on twitter or through their website, they've sent me round the houses until I've ended up back with the hotel manager telling me that they don't own the land. I'm going to be getting onto TripAdvisor once I've got the PCN situation behind me.

    I'll see what I can put together for a lengthy appeal, cheers again for the help and all your hard work.
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