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Parking Eye and PayByPhone - advice appreciated!
Hi everyone, just come across this forum while googling following a failed POPLA appeal against the lovely Parking Eye. I'm reasonably confident we can defend should the matter go to court (but I will probably be back for advice should that happen - my speciality is procurement law, not parking tickets!). Sorry for what is about to be a long post but any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
Anyway, The story so far:
So, the crux of the issue for me is this. I paid for the parking using the same location code I've always used. I have receipts going back 3yrs. We have never seen any signs warning the code had changed. When I investigated the code Parking Eye showed it only gives access to the long term parking tariff, not the short term (and there is a big difference in price). I confess I don't know when they put the new code up. The code I used is still correct for the always public parking.
I can prove we paid the advertised price for 3hrs with an SMS receipt and transaction history in the PayByPhone app and I can also see the payment going out of my bank account to Parking Eye the following Monday. PayByPhone also confirmed, when I asked them, that the transaction had completed without issue.
My specific question is, given I can show parking was paid for using a code Parking Eye have accepted for years (right up to 2 weeks before) can I argue that there is no breach of contract because the obligation to pay was fulfilled via a method they have previously and very recently accepted? I've tried to find authority that payment by alternate means is still good consideration as long as they actually received the money but I'm drawing a blank. Or maybe I could argue previous course of dealings?
One other small point is that the POPLA adjudication stated I had confirmed I was the driver, which is not true - I wasn't and I didn't say I was. If Parking Eye take that at face value and sue me does that give me any additional grounds against them?
Any thoughts, advice, etc would be much appreciated. We've not received anything yet following the POPLA rejection - I'm just trying to get my ducks in order ready for the inevitable. I'm not scared of facing them in court!
I haven't approached the land owner yet (ABP Southampton). Is there a template or example I can look at before I draft a letter to them?
Sorry for the super long post!! I'm new so if I've done anything wrong please just tell me and I'll correct it.
Anyway, The story so far:
- Parked in a car park we've used loads of times and paid using the PayByPhone app for 3hrs. Actually stayed for 1.5hrs.
- The car park is only public parking at weekends (we parked on a Saturday evening), at which time it offers long stay (24hrs or more) and the same short stay as the adjoining always public car park. Both tariffs are advertised.
- I used the same PBP code I've used for the past 3yrs and which has always been fine. Never had a PCN, including for exactly the same parking scenario exactly 2 weeks previously. It's the same code for the short stay parking in the always public bit.
- Parking Eye issued an NTK which we unsuccessfully appealed through their process (I don't think they even looked at what we sent them).
- Appealed to POPLA, during which time Parking Eye showed a different PBP code for the car park. More on that below...
- Parking Eye claim they have no record of any payment linked to our registration number for that evening but their only "evidence" of this is a blank piece of paper which they claim is a print out from their system.
- POPLA appeal unsuccessful (the adjudication contained errors suggesting the info hadn't been read properly but I know there's nothing I can about that).
So, the crux of the issue for me is this. I paid for the parking using the same location code I've always used. I have receipts going back 3yrs. We have never seen any signs warning the code had changed. When I investigated the code Parking Eye showed it only gives access to the long term parking tariff, not the short term (and there is a big difference in price). I confess I don't know when they put the new code up. The code I used is still correct for the always public parking.
I can prove we paid the advertised price for 3hrs with an SMS receipt and transaction history in the PayByPhone app and I can also see the payment going out of my bank account to Parking Eye the following Monday. PayByPhone also confirmed, when I asked them, that the transaction had completed without issue.
My specific question is, given I can show parking was paid for using a code Parking Eye have accepted for years (right up to 2 weeks before) can I argue that there is no breach of contract because the obligation to pay was fulfilled via a method they have previously and very recently accepted? I've tried to find authority that payment by alternate means is still good consideration as long as they actually received the money but I'm drawing a blank. Or maybe I could argue previous course of dealings?
One other small point is that the POPLA adjudication stated I had confirmed I was the driver, which is not true - I wasn't and I didn't say I was. If Parking Eye take that at face value and sue me does that give me any additional grounds against them?
Any thoughts, advice, etc would be much appreciated. We've not received anything yet following the POPLA rejection - I'm just trying to get my ducks in order ready for the inevitable. I'm not scared of facing them in court!
I haven't approached the land owner yet (ABP Southampton). Is there a template or example I can look at before I draft a letter to them?
Sorry for the super long post!! I'm new so if I've done anything wrong please just tell me and I'll correct it.
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