MET Parking Rejected My Appeal

[TM92]

Please help METparking have rejected my appeal and attempting to force me to pay £100 in 28 days which I do not have - if I do not they say I will have debt lawyers take me to court and the fine will increase!

initial fine was given after visiting a McDonald’s drive thru ; they told me I had to park up and they’d bring my order to me - there was no bays available except one which was a disabled parking bay. I parked and waiting for my food - my only other option was to block the road and drive thru or leave without my food.
I explained this in my appeal and they denied it.

Please help me - I hear many people say you can fight these and something about popla codes but I don’t understand- especially as it relates to my case and where I am at now with it now that they’ve rejected my appeal and say I am no longer allowed to contact or appeal them.

[des8]

could you please post up:
i) copy of the original charge (it is not a fine but an invoice for a charge for parking)
ii) copy of your appeal
iii) copy of MET response
iv) photo of the parking signs if possible

Remove all identifying details but leave in all dates and times

[TM92]

First of all Thank You so much for replying - It really means a lot!

I couldn't find my appeal as I did the appeal through their website and there is no receipt / recollection of that for as far as I can seem to find. * If I've missed something let me know and I'll find it for you.
Not word for word but my appeal was more or less:
"I was visiting a McDonald’s drive thru ; they told me I had to park up and they’d bring my order to me - there were no bays available except one which was a disabled parking bay. I parked and waiting for my food - my only other option was to block the road and drive thru or leave without my food."

Please see I've attached all that I could get hold of - any issues please let me know * I left in the parking charge number assuming that it wasn't personal sensitive information but otherwise let me know and I'll delete and repost with it removed.

Thanks again - God Bless

[des8]

you have left not only PCN number, but your name and address and car reg number visible on PCN.
Suggest you delete them.

Pity you have identified the driver as this makes defence more difficult

First of all, it is not a fine .... it is a parking charge..... and have you asked the manager at McDonalds to have it cancelled.
They are the principals who employ Met and should be able to have the charge cancelled.
They told you to park up, and the only spot available was the bay for disabled persons, so you followed their instructions which would override MET's T&Cs

[TM92]

ffs I had two files and uploaded the wrong one of course - trying to edit / delete please help

[des8]

ffs I had two files and uploaded the wrong one of course - trying to edit / delete please help

seems you were successful as no attachments available

[TM92]

Amazing ha ok - lets try again...

Should I black out the PCN number when I upload this time also?

Now the files have been removed, have we still identified the driver and thus making it harder to make a defence?

I've contacted the McDonalds and spoke with the manager, who gave me the email address for the store and said he'd look at it - but he did say it wasn't the McDonalds but the airport Gatwick Airport who employ METparking.

[des8]

Blank out the PCN number.

From the wording of your first post I assume you identified the driver in your appeal

[TM92]

Yes I believe I probably did, thanks for clarifying

Right uploaded again - hopefully all good

[des8]

Well you need to decide whether to pay, or to dispute the charge.

Appealing to POPLA is unlikely to be successful as they know the driver's identity
Your best chance is by keeping quiet and await the arrival of a court claim.

If they act in their normal fashion the case will be overseen by their tame solicitors who will claim against you either as driver or as keeper.

In brief:
(i)As driver your basic defence will be that the signs which referred to unspecified extra charges is unfair .
The extra charge is also contrary to a finding in a supreme court case which stated the £100 charge is sufficient to cover the costs of recovery.
It therefore smacks of double recovery which is an abuse of process and can allow the court to dismiss the claim in its entirety

(ii) as keeper you have a much stronger case as there are errors in the Notice to Keeper which mean MET cannot transfer liability for unpaid charges from driver to keeper.
Also as McDonalds is within the airport boundary the land is not relevant for the purposes of POFA 2012

However any court claim will fall into the small claims track, where the outcome can be a bit of a lottery, but any costs awarded to the loser will be minimal.

[des8]

Overnight thoughts:

If it was dark when you parked up were the signs i) illuminated & ii) viewable from the driver's position?

If either response is "no", you could argue there was no contract to park, and so no breach of parking T&Cs
Also, taking into account the order from Mac's staff to park up (and as the only spot was the disabled bay) their instruction must override the signage.

Try it at POPLA, but only refer to "the DRIVER" .. don't identify him in the appeal

[TM92]

Thank you for you responses - I'm a little scared to wai to take it to court especially if the fine increases.

I've been waiting on a response from the email to the McDonald's manager I spoke with on the phone but had no word. I will chase them up by phone and email again.

In response to your latest post here:
Yes - it was at night, it was dark and there is no light highlighting the sign.

I'll look into POPLA and I'll take your advice onboard - I have no idea what it is however any other info or advice would also be greatly appreciated. Apologies for my lack of knowledge on any of this

[des8]

Here's a link to the POPLA site

If & when you decide to appeal to POPLA we can check it over for you if you wish