MET Parking

[2ballardroad]

Hi there. I am a licence taxi driver and parked at McDonalds Gatwick for for an hour and 17 minutes and received a demand for £100.00 from MET parking services for parking for over 60 minutes. I did not see the signs and was in McDonalds having some breakfast waiting for a colleague to show (which he didn't in the end as he had a job to go to. A breakfast and three coffee later I left. Is there anything that I can do with MET parking to contest this as I was inside waiting. The car is not owned by me and I pay a weekly rental fee to the company for the car. They have informed Met parking that I was the registered driver of the vehicle.

Many thanks

[mystery1]

Re: MET Parking

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...ket-on-vehicle

As hirer of the vehicle rather than as registered keeper. :okay:

M1

[2ballardroad]

Re: MET Parking

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...ket-on-vehicle

As hirer of the vehicle rather than as registered keeper. :okay:

M1

That is great. Thank you for your reply. I will send of to MET parking today and let you know what their response is as soon as I have it.

Thanks again

[2ballardroad]

Re: MET Parking

Hi Mystery 1

I have since received a letter back from MET Parking services saying that they note I am the registered keeper ( I am not the owner - I hire the car from Addison Lee - if that makes a difference) and that they have considered the correspondence of the appeal and rejected it. I asked for a Popla code which they have not sent but have said that if I ask for it and lose I will have to pay the full amount.

They say I have reached the end of their appeals procedure and have asked me

1. to provide them with the name and current postal address of the driver (which was me and they have writing to)
2. Pay or request the driver to pay the £50.00
3. Make an appeal to Popla by going onto the online appeals system
or
4. If I do nothing will seek to ever the monies via their debt recovery system.

Is there anything else I can do with this or should I just pay it.

many thanks for your help

[mystery1]

Re: MET Parking

Popla does risk the charge going up.

If they do not know the driver they can pursue the registered keeper. The registered keeper can transfer liability to the hirer. This is strictly regulated.

Hire vehicles


13(1)This paragraph applies in the case of parking charges incurred in respect of the parking of a vehicle on relevant land if—
(a)the vehicle was at the time of parking hired to any person under a hire agreement with a vehicle-hire firm; and


(b)the keeper has been given a notice to keeper within the relevant period for the purposes of paragraph 8(4) or 9(4) (as the case may be).


(2)The creditor may not exercise the right under paragraph 4 to recover from the keeper any unpaid parking charges specified in the notice to keeper if, within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which that notice was given, the creditor is given—


(a)a statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement;


(b)a copy of the hire agreement; and


(c)a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement.


(3)The statement of liability required by sub-paragraph (2)(c) must—


(a)contain a statement by the hirer to the effect that the hirer acknowledges responsibility for any parking charges that may be incurred with respect to the vehicle while it is hired to the hirer;


(b)include an address given by the hirer (whether a residential, business or other address) as one at which documents may be given to the hirer;


(and it is immaterial whether the statement mentioned in paragraph (a) relates also to other charges or penalties of any kind).
(4)A statement required by sub-paragraph (2)(a) or (c) must be in such form (if any) as may be prescribed by the appropriate national authority by regulations made by statutory instrument.


(5)The documents mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) must be given by—


(a)handing them to the creditor;


(b)leaving them at any address which is specified in the notice to keeper as an address at which documents may be given to the creditor or to which payments may be sent; or


(c)sending them by post to such an address so that they are delivered to that address within the period mentioned in that sub-paragraph.


(6)In this paragraph and paragraph 14—


(a)“hire agreement” means an agreement which—


(i)provides for a vehicle to be let to a person (“the hirer”) for a period of any duration (whether or not the period is capable of extension by agreement between the parties); and


(ii)is not a hire-purchase agreement within the meaning of the Consumer Credit Act 1974;


(b)any reference to the currency of a hire agreement includes a reference to any period during which, with the consent of the vehicle-hire firm, the hirer continues in possession of the vehicle as hirer, after the expiry of any period specified in the agreement but otherwise on terms and conditions specified in it; and


(c)“vehicle-hire firm” means any person engaged in the hiring of vehicles in the course of a business.


14(1)If—
(a)the creditor is by virtue of paragraph 13(2) unable to exercise the right to recover from the keeper any unpaid parking charges mentioned in the notice to keeper, and


(b)the conditions mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) below are met,


the creditor may recover those charges (so far as they remain unpaid) from the hirer.
(2)The conditions are that—


(a)the creditor has within the relevant period given the hirer a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a “notice to hirer”), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper;


(b)a period of 21 days beginning with the day on which the notice to hirer was given has elapsed; and


(c)the vehicle was not a stolen vehicle at the beginning of the period of parking to which the unpaid parking charges relate.


(3)In sub-paragraph (2)(a) “the relevant period” is the period of 21 days beginning with the day after that on which the documents required by paragraph 13(2) are given to the creditor.


(4)For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)(c) a vehicle is to be presumed not to be a stolen vehicle at the material time, unless the contrary is proved.


(5)The notice to hirer must—


(a)inform the hirer that by virtue of this paragraph any unpaid parking charges (being parking charges specified in the notice to keeper) may be recovered from the hirer;


(b)refer the hirer to the information contained in the notice to keeper;


(c)warn the hirer that if, after the period of 21 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice to hirer is given, the amount of unpaid parking charges referred to in the notice to keeper under paragraph 8(2)(f) or 9(2)(f) (as the case may be) has not been paid in full, the creditor will (if any applicable requirements are met) have the right to recover from the hirer so much of that amount as remains unpaid;


(d)inform the hirer of any discount offered for prompt payment and the arrangements for the resolution of disputes or complaints that are available;


(e)identify the creditor and specify how and to whom payment may be made; and


(f)specify the date on which the notice is sent (if it is sent by post) or given (in any other case).


(6)The documents mentioned in sub-paragraph (2)(a) must be given by—


(a)handing them to the hirer;


(b)leaving them at an address which is either—


(i)an address specified in the statement of liability mentioned in paragraph 13(2)(c) as an address at which documents may be given to the hirer; or


(ii)an address at which documents relating to civil proceedings could properly be served on the hirer under Civil Procedure Rules; or


(c)sending them by post to such an address so that they are delivered to that address within the relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)(a).


(7)In sub-paragraph (5)(d) the reference to arrangements for the resolution of disputes or complaints includes—


(a)any procedures offered by the creditor for dealing informally with representations by the hirer about the notice or any matter contained in it; and


(b)any arrangements under which disputes or complaints (however described) may be referred by the hirer to independent adjudication or arbitration.





If they failed in the above, probably at least not including the Addison lee hire agreement, then at popla they cannot win with a well worded appeal( as long as the driver is unknown).

If you want to go to popla ask MET for the code. You shouldn't have had to do so and a complaint can be made to the british parking association in this regard, although it won't help get you off.

M1