Private Parking Ticket Megathread (Part 3)

[DT Ralge 10]

An appeal to POPLA (having followed the process) works, I found, if you state that the amount of their itemised invoice cannot reflect “a genuine pre-estimate of loss” I.e. they can’t justify charging you £50, say, for admin. 

I was told that this is the only basis of appeal that you can win on (and I won - their invoice got thrown out, they didn’t contest since that costs them money) - no genuine reason for an overstay will be taken into account. 

Ignoring the invoice is no longer good advice.

 

see “https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/genuine-pre-estimate-of-loss/“

Edited April 24, 2019 by DT Ralge

[carosio 186]

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, DT Ralge said:

An appeal to POPLA (having followed the process) works, I found, if you state that the amount of their itemised invoice cannot reflect “a genuine pre-estimate of loss” I.e. they can’t justify charging you £50, say, for admin. 

I was told that this is the only basis of appeal that you can win on (and I won - their invoice got thrown out, they didn’t contest since that costs them money) - no genuine reason for an overstay will be taken into account. 

Ignoring the invoice is no longer good advice.

 

see “https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/genuine-pre-estimate-of-loss/“

Is your link a recent one? This defence did change after the Beavis case.

 

Not all parking companies are in the BPA so POPLA would not be an option. The alternative is the IPC which is viewed as "not fit for use". It is operated by Gladstones Solicitors who also offer private parking companies services for debt collection and court enforcement of parking charges!

 

In order for the PPC's invoice to be valid (in addition to many other factors), all the provisions in PoFA 2012 schedule 4 have to be adhered to precisely. 

[DT Ralge 10]

10 hours ago, carosio said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is your link a recent one? This defence did change after the Beavis case.

 

Not all parking companies are in the BPA so POPLA would not be an option. The alternative is the IPC which is viewed as "not fit for use". It is operated by Gladstones Solicitors who also offer private parking companies services for debt collection and court enforcement of parking charges!

 

In order for the PPC's invoice to be valid (in addition to many other factors), all the provisions in PoFA 2012 schedule 4 have to be adhered to precisely. 

I may, then, need to read up and understand more - we won my daughter’s case a good few years ago. 

But I guess it IS the case that we can’t ignore an invoice(?) - that’s what a lot on here keep advising. 

[carosio 186]

Based on all the advice I have read from the legal experts, no, don't ignore an invoice; get advice from pepippo or MSExpert.

 

I've clarified the last sentance in my post #182.

[iansheff 88]

Just read the article below, it might be of interest to all those people who say don't pay, nothing can be done if you just ignore the tickets. It shows what can happen even though none of what happened to this woman was her fault.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/teacher-refused-mortgage-first-home-16483176

Edited June 9, 2019 by iansheff

[Fougasse 10]

I thought I'd mention this as I seem to recall a thread some time back about the Aunt Sally becoming the Francis Newton, and iirc quite a few people may have visited it.

 

We went for a meal and a drink about two weeks back. Nothing unusual about any of it, food was okay, place was packed as usual, the car park rammed but we got a space. We're pretty regular visitors there, about once or twice a month I guess on average. Few days ago we got a £45 parking fine courtesy of Euro Car Parks for using the Francis Newton car park without displaying a ticket, and the fine goes up to £75 if we don't pay within 10 days (iirc).

 

We've been visiting the Newton since my son went to uni several years ago, and before that we used the Aunt Sally. Either we've been very, VERY lucky and not been spotted over the years or the parking management has changed. I'm a member of MoneySavingExpert and I've noticed the car parking shenanigans that go off around the country so we're very cautious about using car parks correctly. We have asked the staff in the Newton what we needed to do in the past, and had it explained clearly to us. Better to ask than pay a hefty fine imo.

 

As far as I can tell, there was little or no change in the signage in the Newton about the change to car parking management. We called the Newton and spoke to a member of staff who told us it changed about 5-6 weeks ago, and that there were prominent signs around warning customers of the changes. We obviously didn't see them - or they weren't that prominent.

 

Seems that you need to buy a £3 parking ticket to park in the Newton, then providing you spend £5.05 pence (don't ask me why the .05p, it wasn't explained to me), on ANYTHING, food or drinks, you get reimbursed by the £3 being knocked off your bill and a ticket to display in your car. Now that seems oddly generous to me by Wetherspoons - two pints of whatever for roughly £2...? But that's what we were told. 

 

If it's changed at the Newton, it may well have changed at other Wetherspoons too, and while we're appealing the fine, it's probably a lot better not to incur it in the first place.

 

Just thought I'd let the forum know. Caveat emptor.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Fougasse
Spelling error

[alchresearch 214]

The Francis Newton has been pay and display for years, and there are several signs stating this from the street to the front door.

Edited October 4, 2019 by alchresearch

[Obelix 11]

On 24/04/2019 at 05:30, DT Ralge said:

An appeal to POPLA (having followed the process) works, I found, if you state that the amount of their itemised invoice cannot reflect “a genuine pre-estimate of loss” I.e. they can’t justify charging you £50, say, for admin. 

I was told that this is the only basis of appeal that you can win on (and I won - their invoice got thrown out, they didn’t contest since that costs them money) - no genuine reason for an overstay will be taken into account. 

Ignoring the invoice is no longer good advice.

 

see “https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/genuine-pre-estimate-of-loss/“

GPEOL is a dead duck since Parking Eye vs Beavis and it wont work with POPLA for sure.

[carosio 186]

I'm not sure about the latest opinions, but it is said that Beavis verdict (GPEOL) didn't apply to ticket parks.

 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5230466

[Fougasse 10]

On 04/10/2019 at 12:38, alchresearch said:

The Francis Newton has been pay and display for years, and there are several signs stating this from the street to the front door.

I am aware of that, the original signs being reasonably easy to see, but we've been parking there since it changed from the Aunt Sally and we've never paid a parking fee, and I find it hard to believe we've gotten away with not paying the parking fee for over a decade. In addition, when we asked. the bar staff informed us that the first 90 minutes were free.

[Alfer 10]

Long time since this thread started... and l know you can no longer ignore parking charges.

 

So I have had a fine for overstaying the time limit at Wickes back in June this year. As l didn't pay up - and appealed on the basis of mitigating circumstances its gone up to £160. Obv l'd prefer to spend that money on a weekend break or a shed.  But as l need a verification code from G24 Ltd after my appeal (to IAS) was rejected and didn't get one I can't yet appeal to POPLA. So I've now written to Wickes head office..

Any hopeful stories or advice welcome.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Alfer
added more info

[Alfer 10]

On 24/04/2019 at 05:30, DT Ralge said:

An appeal to POPLA (having followed the process) works, I found, if you state that the amount of their itemised invoice cannot reflect “a genuine pre-estimate of loss” I.e. they can’t justify charging you £50, say, for admin. 

I was told that this is the only basis of appeal that you can win on (and I won - their invoice got thrown out, they didn’t contest since that costs them money) - no genuine reason for an overstay will be taken into account. 

Ignoring the invoice is no longer good advice.

 

see “https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/genuine-pre-estimate-of-loss/“

i might need to do this as being charged £160 for overstaying at Wickes. Wriitten to them at head office today. Appealed on mitigating circs and been turned down in past months. Waiting for verification code from G24 or Debt recovery plus so l can pursue appeal from POPLA.