SIP Parking PCN – pay £60 or appeal to IAS?

Hi all, looking for some advice on whether I should pay this PCN or risk appealing to the IAS.

I received a £60 PCN from SIP for parking at a car park on 12 August. The reason given was “vehicle not permitted and consideration period exceeded”.

I was really confused because I did pay for parking that day. I checked my receipt and realised that I’d accidentally paid for St John’s Street car park instead of the one on Moore Street. I paid £2.70 for St John’s Street, whereas Moore Street would have been £3.10, so there was a 40p difference.

I regularly park at Moore Street for work and always pay. I genuinely believed I’d paid for the car park I was actually parked in. I can’t say for certain how I selected St Johns’s Street - I use both the app and the automated phone service and I may have selected St John’s Street previously and then used the “previous location” option when paying by phone. I honestly don’t remember exactly how it happened.

What makes this more frustrating is that I subsequently checked my receipts for 18 and 19 August and realised I’ve made exactly the same mistake on both days. So I have potentially got another two PCNs coming. I have receipts showing that I paid £2.70 on all three dates, although the payments were registered against St John’s Street.

I appealed the first PCN to SIP, explaining all of this and attaching the receipts. They rejected the appeal. Their response basically says that I purchased a parking session at St John’s Street whilst my vehicle was parked at Moore Street, and that because the tariffs are different, I had underpaid.

They’ve now given me the option to appeal to the IAS, but they’ve warned that if the IAS rejects my appeal, I lose the £60 discounted rate and the charge becomes £100.

So I’m trying to decide whether to:

1. Pay the £60 and put it down to an expensive mistake, or

2. Appeal to the IAS and risk having to pay £100 if they reject it.

I know I technically paid for the wrong car park but it seems ridiculous that a genuine parking payment of £2.70, where the correct tariff was £3.10, results in a £60/£100 charge.

I have receipts showing the date, time, location and amount paid for all three days.

Would people with experience of SIP/IAS appeals recommend appealing this, or would I be better off taking the £60 discount and paying it?

https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/

You need to show us things rather than summarise them.

When you appealed, did you identify the driver? That may be important to know.

The High Court ruled that this kind of charge is legal, so we need more information from you if we are to help you defend this. Saying that £2.70/£3.10 turns into £60/£100 won't cut it.

I didn’t specifically state that I was the driver but I thought that would be evident as I was making the appeal? Below is my initial appeal if that helps:

I am appealing this PCN as I did pay for parking on 12 August, but unfortunately selected the wrong car park when making the payment\.

I parked at Moore Street Car Park and paid using the automated telephone service\. When prompted to use my previous parking location, I selected this option believing it would select Moore Street. However, the payment was actually registered against St John’s Street.

I have since realised that I made the exact same mistake on both the following two days, 18 and 19 August, and again paid for St John’s Street instead of Moore Street. So I’m assuming I will be receiving 2 further PCN’s. I have attached the payment receipts for all three days as evidence that I did make payments each time.

I use this car park regularly for work and always pay for my parking and this was a genuine mistake when using the automated payment system. I did not intentionally park without paying. Given that payment was made on each occasion, I would be grateful if you could consider the circumstances and cancel this PCN and any further PCNs issued in relation to the two subsequent dates.

You identified the driver, you said “I parked”.

It will be too late for you now, but the guidance I pointed you at says you should say “the driver parked”. Oh well.

The IAS will not uphold your appeal; they boast that they only uphold 4% of appeals and I doubt yours will fall into the 4%

Having identified the driver, SIP will likely engage debt collectors and a bulk litigator to raise a county court claim against you.

Can you defend a court claim, on the basis that the driver entered into a contract by reading the car park signs and by parking, and then not paying the invoice you have now been sent?

If you can, then after a few months and provided you defend the claim properly the claimant may well discontinue. It’s what they do. They can’t afford to actually go to court. But what will your defence be?

SIP will likely engage debt collectors and a bulk litigator to raise a county court claim against you.

Worth being aware that SIP are one of the parking companies that sometimes proceed litigation themselves rather than using a third party law firm.