Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

[bobosh13]

Hi guys,

Had a ticket from Civil Enforcement Ltd for parking for 42 minutes where they say max 30 minutes.
Appealed on POPLA and received the following response today:

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12. The Notice was issued as the Appellant exceeded 30 minutes free parking allowance. Please note that the Appellant has admitted to being the driver on the day in question and does not dispute the duration of stay within the car park. 13. We refer you to the attached photographic evidence of the vehicle, captured by our Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, entering the car park at 12:56 and departing at 13:38 (total duration 42 minutes). The Appellant therefore exceeded the 30 minutes maximum stay allowance by 12 minutes. 14. Signage in the car park clearly states ’30 MINUTES MAXIMUM STAY’ and ‘If you breach any of these terms, you will be charged £100.’ 15. Whilst we appreciate the Appellant’s submissions, we are unable to take into account mitigating circumstances; the terms and conditions of parking were clear. Furthermore, the Appellant failed to utilise the operator’s helpline phone number 0115 822 50 27 (displayed at the bottom of signage) to report the occurrence, or to request advice on what further action could be taken. 16. Please note that we use ANPR cameras which record all vehicles entering and exiting the car park. These high-tech cameras are not designed to monitor movements within the car park and we do not operate Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. 17. There are many clear and visible sings in the car park, as evidenced by the attached image plan. It should be noted that drivers have an obligation to check for signs when parking on private land - the signs do not need to be placed directly in the position where they parked. They simply must be placed throughout the site so that drivers are given the chance to read them (BPA Code of Practice, 18.3) 18. Please note that we are not relying on the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, as the Appellant has admitted that he was the driver of the vehicle. Please note that Section 21.6 and 21.7 of the BPA code state that the Operator has up to 28 days to apply to the DVLA, and once the registered keeper’s details have been obtained, the Operator has a further 14 days in which to send the PCN. 19. The Appellant’s details as the registered keeper were obtained from the DVLA on 07/12/2017 and the PCN was sent following day, on 08/12/2017.

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They have also attached some pictures of the notices and my car entering and leaving the site.
They have also given me the Beavis Supreme court judgement, which I attach.
Can you guys please help, what can I do to get rid of this? What should my response be.


Thanks a lot in advance.

[Kati]

Re: Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

tagging [MENTION=5553]charitynjw[/MENTION] [MENTION=39331]ostell[/MENTION] xx

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

Imho, no need to get involved with PoFA on this.

The BPA Code of Practice allows for a 'reasonable' grace period in which to park, read signage etc.
It also allows for a MIN 10 minutes grace period to exit.

Plus, ANPR does not record the actual parking, only the entry & exit times times.

The sign (which is the 'agreed contract) does not say that grace periods are not allowed.

Challenge on that.

Let us know how it pans out.

(It will be the previous BPA CoP, not the new one, which came into force on 2/1/2018)
http://www.britishparking.co.uk/writ...update_V6..pdf

[bobosh13]

Re: Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

Imho, no need to get involved with PoFA on this.

The BPA Code of Practice allows for a 'reasonable' grace period in which to park, read signage etc.
It also allows for a MIN 10 minutes grace period to exit.

Plus, ANPR does not record the actual parking, only the entry & exit times times.

The sign (which is the 'agreed contract) does not say that grace periods are not allowed.

Challenge on that.

Let us know how it pans out.

(It will be the previous BPA CoP, not the new one, which came into force on 2/1/2018)
http://www.britishparking.co.uk/writ...update_V6..pdf

Hi Charitynjw,

Thanks for your response. Sorry, I am not very familiar with the terminology but what do you mean when you say " no need to get involved with PoFA on this".
In my POPLA response, do I only challenge on the grace period? Do you think this will be enough or is there anything else I can add to make it stronger.

Regards.

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

PoFA is the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Via Schedule 4 of the Act, there are provision for parking co's to transfer liability from the driver (who has 'agreed' to the parking terms) to the registered keeper.

Unfortunately you seem to have already ID'd the driver, so PoFA would be largely irrelevant.

[bobosh13]

Re: Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

Thanks,

Is there anything else I can challenge on?
What do I do if I lose the appeal?

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a response from Civil Enforcement on my POPLA appeal

A POPLA decision is not binding on the appellant, but it is on the parking co. inflated

You don't seem to have posted your appeal submission, so it is a little difficult to suggest what (if anything) can be added.

If your appeal is not upheld, there is little you can do. It will be up to the claimant to decide whether to press on (Letter Before Claim, County Court Claim etc)

You will probably get a blizzard of 3rd party debt collection letters which usually state inflated amounts. (DRP, Zenith, et al).
All of which can be ignored.
However, you must respond to any Letter Before Claim from the parking co/legal rep.
Also to a county court claim.

[bobosh13]

Great news guys! POPLA appeal is successful! Thanks. Below is the comment from POPLA, hopefully this can be helpful to other as well: "While the appellant has raised a number of grounds for appeal, my report will focus on landowner authority, the appellant has questioned the operator’s authority in issuing and pursuing PCNs at this site. Section 7 of the BPA Code of Practice states,“7.1 If you do not own the land on which you are carrying out parking management, you must have the written authorisation of the landowner (or their appointed agent). The written confirmation must be given before you can start operating on the land in question and give you the authority to carry out all the aspects of car park management for the site that you are responsible for. In particular, it must say that the landowner (or their appointed agent) requires you to keep to the Code of Practice and that you have the authority to pursue outstanding parking charges. As the appellant has questioned the operator’s authority to operate on the land, I would expect the operator to provide evidence of a contract or a witness statement to show it has landowner authority. On this occasion, the operator has failed to provide any evidence to show it has landowner authority. As such, I cannot confirm that the requirements of the BPA Code of Practice have been met. Therefore, I cannot confirm that the PCN has been issued correctly. While I note the appellant has raised further grounds of appeal as I have allowed this appeal, these require no further consideration."

[charitynjw]

Excellent news.

Keep that on file, just in case.

The adjudicator's decision is binding on the parking co.

One case that I had dealings with, although the appeal was successful, we still received one or two debt collection letters afterwards.
They stopped after a short while, & we've not had anything from them since.