Show Posts - ericaswas

Quote from: InterCity125 on 04 Feb, 2026 08:23The Spire is normally a private hospital so it might be worth going to them directly as technically they may well be the land-owner.Yes, they are one of the Bupa hospitals in Cardiff, so we will try this route.

Quote from: jfollows on 04 Feb, 2026 08:16Only you can decide if it’s worth £20 to avoid

• appealing to the IAS
• having the appeal rejected
• receiving letters from debt collectors
• receiving a Letter of Claim from a solicitor
• receiving a county court claim
• preparing and submitting a defence
• attending a telephone mediation session
• receiving phone calls
• waiting for the claimant to discontinue before paying the court fee
• probably end up paying nothing
• but possibly having to pay £100s once costs are added to the base £100

I don’t know this parking company, so they may not bother. But this is the path many parking companies follow.Thanks for this:Their reviews are not goodhttps://uk.trustpilot.com/review/parkingawareness.co.ukso the prognosis is poor...

I received a PCN, pictures attached here (page 1 to 4):https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCJrvnI appealed before reading the advice on here, which is a shame, but hopefully somebody will nevertheless give me advice...The appeal I sent is reproduced below and will serve as an explanation of what happened; if anyone wants further info, I will gladly give it:"My wife had an appointment at Spire Hospital Cardiff at 10am on 15/01/26, following spinal surgery. Due to the surgery, she couldn't drive & needed dropping off & picking up. Because of post-op pain, she can't stand for long, so it was vital that I was at the hospital for pickup as soon as the appointment finished. I dropped her off at 10am then drove to a shop while she was attending the appointment. It was due to end at 10:20, so I drove back from the shop & reentered the car park 5 minutes before, to be ready for the quickest pickup. My wife then texted me that the Consultant was running 20 minutes late, so I parked up so as not to block the waiting area. I then waited in the car till she texted that she was ready for pickup. I drove to the waiting area immediately, picked her up & we left the car park. From the PCN, the time entry to exit was 35 mins, but this was a pickup, not parking. I did not leave the car parked & unattended.In order to support pickup/dropoff, there obviously exists a grace/consideration period for which registration is not necessary. This must be the case, since I received no PCN for the period I was in the car park dropping my wife off, before exiting to the shop. At UHW, where my wife's surgery took place, this period is 4 hours & is clearly indicated on signs. At Spire, there is no indication of the grace/consideration period (see attached 'spire actual sign viewed') & it is therefore a reasonable assumption that it is long enough to cover the appointment time plus the inevitable time waiting to be seen plus transfer time, say 1 hour. It should be specified to avoid confusion. Note that the site evidence on your website shows a sign (attached `Parking Awareness site evidence sign`) which DOES specify the waiting time as 30mins, but DIFFERS from the one actually on site.For these reasons I will not be paying the fine as it is unjustified in my case."As I stated in my appeal, I took a picture of the sign actually in the Car Park, entitled "spire actual sign viewed" and it differs from the one listed under 'site evidence' when I went to Parking Awareness Services' website. That picture is entitled "Parking Awareness site evidence sign"I received the following response to my appeal:Dear xxx,Thank you for your recent appeal for Parking Charge Notice xxx. We have reviewed the case and considered the comments that you have made. This appeal has been considered in conjunction with the evidence gathered by the ANPR system; retrospective evidence you may have supplied could not be used in the appeal decision.The reason you were issued with a Parking Charge Notice was:Vehicle not authorised at Cardiff Spire Hospital as detailed on signage. The signage clearly displayed on site at Cardiff Spire Hospital clearly states that to remain on site motorists MUST register their full and accurate vehicle registration in the kiosk in the reception upon arrival. The vehicle must be registered for the entire period the vehicle is on site, from entry to exit. Vehicles must be fully parked within the confines of a single marked bay. Patients are not exempt from the terms and conditions of this site due to the quantity of signage (A boards outside reception, signage inside reception, signs in car park, signs at entry/exit) and the kiosks provided in multiple locations (receptions, imaging, wards...)The terms and conditions apply to all vehicles remaining on site. The private parking single code of practice defines parking as: "a vehicle entering and remaining on controlled land... a vehicle being stationary other than in the course of driving... NOTE: A vehicle may be deemed to be parked whether or not the driver has left the vehicle and/or turned off the ignition". There is no requirement for signage to specify a consideration or grace period. As your vehicle remained on site for 35 minutes, you were required to register it. As we have no record of your vehicle being registered, the terms and conditions were not met. In accordance with the new single code of practice, the PCN will be reduced to £20 where the vehicle would have been permitted at the location, but the driver failed to enter their registration into a terminal/device as specified in the terms and conditions, or it was not submitted correctly. This reduction applies only for the first parking charge issued for the vehicle.Due to the above, we are unable to cancel the Parking Charge Notice as we believe, with the evidence we have, that it was issued correctly. The amount due is £20, within the next 14 days, failing to pay the reduced amount means that the full amount of £100 with be due after the reduced period has ended. You can make payment using the methods below:Online: www.managemypcn.comBACs / Bank Transfer:Account Name: Parking Awareness ServicesSort Code: 04-00-75Account Number: 74904906Payment reference: 7270023468 xxxx(Using the wrong reference format may delay allocation.)If you believe this decision is incorrect, you are entitled to appeal to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). Appeals must be submitted within 28 days of the date of your decision. For further information please visit https://track.pstmrk.it/3ts/www.theias.org./bK0EAQ/vhDDAQ/AQ/ea8ddda9-a1fa-4685-9fd4-4ccda7f6ba6a/1/QMZexDwUok Please be advised that if you do appeal to IAS and the option to pay the discounted amount is available, it will no longer be available and the full amount of the PCN will be due if your appeal is rejected by IAS.This email is a summary of your appeal decision, a letter with full details will be posted to you, to the name and address provided at the time the appeal was submitted.Yours sincerely,Parking Awareness ServicesI also contacted the hospital to check whether they could cause the fine to be waived. As expected, they said that the parking was handled by the independent company, and asked whether the fine had been commuted to £20 and when I said it had, they said that that was tantamount to an 'admin charge' rather than a fine. I asked for their complaints contact - they gave me an email address and I may yet complain to see if the charge can be waived from their influence.In the meantime, do I have grounds/defence not to pay the £20 - if so, what action should I take?Thanks in advance!

A lady at the Portsmouth parking office just rang and advised that contrary to our representation, they WERE allowed to charge in the way they did - she quoted part 2 sec 4.4 and said something about 'in addition to, OR'. Obviously I wasn't able to follow or confirm whether she had a point or not.But she said that they would allow me to just pay the £50 CAZ charge. This is obviously attractive since it will cost more than that to be represented at tribunal. I did say that there was a point about the signage that we would bring up at tribunal - she said that if that had been on the representation, they would have addressed it (but of course, they would probably have defended it).I asked for 24 hours to consider the offer and she will ring tomorrow. It's a case of pursuing the principle vs financial outlay. Thoughts on her argument?

Thanks so much! - I have now submitted representation.

OK, great, I'm going to do this - as soon as I can get through to the online link, which seems to be down at the moment. Because I missed the notification of your reply (my bad, have now ticked the notify box!), I seem to have missed the unofficial deadline of 14 days when I might receive the discount after representation rejection - it's a shame that is not reported officially anywhere...I anticipate the online process will give me the same statutory grounds of appeal that the PCN states - which should I tick?The charge did not apply to the vehicle.The Council has made a procedural error when dealing with my case or the PCN.The penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.I'm guessing the middle one?Thinking forward to tribunal:is telephone rather than physical appearance likely?On loss, will I be paying 50+120 (CAZ + non-discounted penalty)?Can someone represent me, and for what cost?

Thanks so much for looking at this , I was beginning to give up hope as I saw the raft of other issues scrolling past - there are so many people generating cases!The other PCN pages are here:https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53796864748/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53795695262/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53796864748/in/dateposted-public/if you would be so kind as to look for other issues...I think I have until 5th July to respond to the Council - 5/6/24 + 2 + 28.

Routehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53787261588/in/dateposted-public/I suppose this does show there is an exit from the dual carriageway on Havisham street, but it isn't obvious and probably wouldn't be for your average HGV.

PCN front pagehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53787351939/in/dateposted-public/

Try uploading to an image sharing site - can someone confirm they can see these?https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53787303654/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53786044657/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53786986096/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53787202718/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53787403905/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53786986066/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53786044632/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/183139830@N08/53786986071/in/dateposted-public/

Attached are pics of signs on the approach to the CAZ (may have to upload on different posts)1. First advice on motorway2. But this implies you will not enter the CAZ if you exit the motorway which we did.3. We were going straight on at the roundabout on the dual carriageway which has no info.4. Once on the roundabout there is an advance sign for CAZ on our exit, but no indication of distance.5. Still on roundabout, same.6. Point of no return - roundabout exit, CAZ sign saying 1/4 mile ahead, but displayed shortly after the buslane sign and if you are in the LH lane, doesn't come into view until you are committed to the exit.7. Now you're on a dual carriageway with no possible exit or U-turn point before hitting the roundabout where we wanted to turn back to the filling station. There is a CAZ boundary sign here with camera sign.8. Another CAZ boundary sign ahead of the roundabout where the camera is on the traffic lights allowing access onto the roundabout.Actually cannot upload the pics yet, because it says the upload folder is full...

23 May - we were travelling in our motorhome (above 3.5T, so classified as private goods vehicle and therefore subject to CAZ charge) to sail from Portsmouth Brittany Ferries terminal. As usual, we filled up with petrol just round the corner from the port. This involves driving on Mile End Road, a dual carriageway, past the terminal road exit and turning round at the nearest roundabout to access the filling station on the other carriageway. I was aware that there was now a CAZ in place and did see advance warning signs. However, I thought that there would be an alternative route at the boundary to avoid going into it. Unfortunately there wasn't and we ended up briefly entering and exiting the CAZ. We weren't aware of this until returning home 2 weeks later and now have a PCN for £50 entry plus £60 fine if paid within 28 days, otherwise £120.I will post the PCN and evidence of route and signage forthwith, but wanted to get this rolling asap. I would appreciate advice on whether the signage is sub-standard (the last sign is not far behind a buslane camera sign) and whether there should be a last minute get-out exit to avoid entering the CAZ (the last sign is at the exit of a roundabout, shows the distance to the boundary, but there is no way of avoiding CAZ entry once you commit to the exit).Thanks in advance!