Hi guys yet another successfully defeated Parking Charge Notice (pcn).
A friend got caught out with pcn on private land. This site is being investigated by the LA and the BPA and the local MP.
Local press have had a field day with this site, the operators have been issuing pnc's left right and centre.
This pcn was for not paying the correct price and obtaining a parking ticket. Plus breach of contract and all of the other junk that goes with it.
We challenged this via the normal avenues, knowing full well any would be rejected and having the fees added and increased.
Now we get to the challenge itself.
Both driver and passenger are disabled, no blue badge scheme in force on private land anyways. Bonus for was the operator had failed to list the entire terms and conditions for entering in to a contract.
Namely,
The site Operator stated:
1. A 10 minute grace period for any vehicle entering in to any site, BPA rules list these anyways. (Notification of a grace period not mentioned in contract), a fail here)).
2. Missing a serious amount of the said terms and conditions in as much you were not informed that you need to visit both the operators site and that of the BPA to actually get the full terms.
3. Contacted POPLA late December '18. It has taken a significant amount of time for POPLA to deal with this complex issue of legally entering in to a contract like this, especially if all of terms and conditions are not displayed correctly. (Contract Law). Allowing you to accept or reject the contract.
S13.2 BPA code of practise helped.
In relation to grace periods,
Section 13.2 of the British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice explains that: “You should allow the driver a reasonable ‘grace period’ in which to decide if they are going to stay or go.”
3a, Popla state;
The BPA Code of Practice does not define a reasonable period for these circumstances. This is because the reasonable period might depend on the circumstances of the car park, or the circumstances of the motorist.
4. The operator has provided Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) images, which show the vehicle entering the car park at **-** and exiting at **:** a total stay of ** minutes.
5. Having considered the time spent on site and the circumstances outlined by the appellant, in the absence of any evidence that they gained utility from the car park beyond trying to make a payment, I am satisfied that ** minutes is a reasonable grace period in this instance.
By leaving when they could not make a payment they have rejected the parking contract.
Accordingly, I allow this appeal.
It pays to read the entire terms and conditions of a private carpark, plus any other links referred to within it, this will help you as outlined above.
There's a Facebook group using junk to try and get your PCN overturned using FMOTL words and language, most have failed at appeal.
At the end of the day for me its another successful piece of work, again this has made my day.
Thanks for reading...