Fine Issued, but photo evidence from PPS not conclusive...

[TunX]

Hi all,

A friend of mine recently received a parking fine from Premier Parking Solutions. A valid ticket was purchased but had slid down the dashboard and so was not fully visible.

I encouraged her to appeal, requesting photo evidence of the ticket not being on display (I have previously managed to have a fine over turned as they had not taken clear enough photos of my vehicle.)

They wrote back including photographs of the dashboard, (a ticket from the day prior is visible, along with the half ticket that had slid down the dash) however no photos show the side windows of the vehicle. In their response, they wrote that 'tickets are required to be clearly on display "on the dashboard"' (the dashboard part is not mentioned on any signage in the car park).

Given that a valid ticket WAS purchased, could she dispute claiming the ticket was clearly displayed on the side window (a perfectly normal place for people to display their tickets!) and that their evidence does not show the side windows of the vehicle at all and therefor is not sufficient?

Has anyone had any success with this in the past and does anyone know any more about the requirement to display a ticket on the dashboard as opposed to a window instead?

She is worried about appealing further and loosing the right to pay the reduce fee, but my view is that the window IS a perfectly normal place to display a ticket, and if they are that strict on their display policy - should they not be issuing fines to everyone who has stuck their ticket to the windshield / window as well?

Many thanks in advance.

[Kati]

Re: Fine Issued, but photo evidence from PPS not conclusive...

[MENTION=5553]charitynjw[/MENTION] [MENTION=39331]ostell[/MENTION] ??

[charitynjw]

Re: Fine Issued, but photo evidence from PPS not conclusive...

Hi TunX

Was the driver ID'd in the appeal?

Do you have pics of the site signage?

Did this occur in England/Wales?
Is it a hire/HP/lease/motability/company vehicle?
Windscreen PCN, or ANPR (or similar)?

[topolinodichiesa]

Re: Fine Issued, but photo evidence from PPS not conclusive...

Given that a valid ticket WAS purchased, could she dispute claiming the ticket was clearly displayed on the side window (a perfectly normal place for people to display their tickets!) and that their evidence does not show the side windows of the vehicle at all and therefor is not sufficient?

You mean should she lie to the court? Probably not a good idea. The PPC may have other pictures that have not been provided, but one or more of these could show the (empty) side windows.

If the contract is valid, and says that the ticket must be "clearly on display", then allowing it to slip down into the dashboard where it was not clearly displayed would be a breach of contract. Perhaps a minimal breach, but probably significant from the PPC's perspective, as without the ticket being clearly readable, their enforcement costs are increased substantially (they have to get the RK's details from the DVLA, write letters, handle appeals and possibly go to court, etc., rather than simply glance at the ticket's expiration time).

Your friend could certainly argue that even if there had been a minor breach, the PPC had suffered no loss, because a ticket was indeed purchased, but the PPC would probably argue along the lines of the above, or perhaps that allowing people to produce payment evidence after the fact would facilitate ticket sharing, or some other reason. The point is that there are counter-arguments, so "but I paid!" is not the end of the dispute. (That, and the fact that the PPC business model relies quite heavily on PCN income, so why would they roll over?)

--Topolini di Chiesa

[Amethyst]

Re: Fine Issued, but photo evidence from PPS not conclusive...

There is another thread at the moment on here where someone DID display their ticket in the side windows and it shows quite clearly on the pictures provided by the Parking Company, however they are still 'fined' because the terms are that the ticket is displayed in the windscreen. They've already been through the appeal process too. ( ie. probably not even worth pretending you had the ticket in the side window because even people that DID have their ticket in the side window failed at appeal ( not saying that's right mind ).