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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: June 12, 2025, 11:10:12 am »
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: June 12, 2025, 09:20:14 am »
I finally got a decision on my appeal! Success!! Thank you to all that were involved and helped me, some really good advice on this forum. For interest, I'll post the assessor summary and comments below.
Assessor summary of your case
The appellant has raised the following points from their grounds of appeal which have been condensed for the purpose of my report: • The Notice to Keeper fails to comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act (PoFA) – there is no keeper liability. They say close analysis shows that the notice is not fully compliant and must be absolute for keeper liability to comply. They say the operator has failed to meet Schedule 4 Paragraph 9 (e) (i) as there is no invitation for the keeper to pay, it does not meet (f) as there is no timeline. They say the wording of the PCN is incorrect and misleading as saying that £100 must be made within 28 days of the date issued is incorrect and there are two conflicting payment deadlines leading motorists to believe payment is required earlier than expected and legally required. They say 9 (2) (b) has not been met as the circumstances are not described. They say that 9 (2) (f) has not been met. They say the operator has failed to identify he creditor and Britania Parking is not a legal entity and does not appear on Companies House. Therefore, not meeting 9 (2) (f). They say 9 (4) has not been met as there has been no demonstration that the keeper was posted and this also does not meet the Private Parking Single Code of Practice in section 8.2 (e) note 2. • No valid contract formed – inadequate and unclear signage. They say the signs are not sufficient, displayed in prominent and visible locations, containing clear and legible wording or communicating the requirement to validate in 10 minutes. They say there must be a site map, photos of the signs from a driver’s perspective at the entry and kiosk and a sign containing the 10 minute requirement and the £100 charge. • They mention the Supreme Court Case heard between Parking Eye Ltd v Beavis 2015. They mention the 10 minute requirement being a core contractual condition and does not meet 7.2.3 of the code. They say the charge was not prominent and was unclear, failing to be distinguishable from the rest of the text. • The operator is put to strict proof of a valid contract with the landowner. It must have a current, valid contract with the landowner ‘Botley – The Dolphin’, confirms it can take action in its own name and the contract covers the required period. After reviewing the operator’s evidence, the appellant reiterates their grounds of appeal in further detail. The appellant states the landowner document is so heavily redacted it is impossible to confirm whether the contract is valid, PoFA requirements have not been met, the signs do not contain the 10 minute requirement and the operator has not responded to their concerns.
Assessor supporting rational for decision
I am allowing this appeal, with my reasoning outlined below: The burden of proof lies with the operator to prove the PCN has been issued correctly. In this case the PCN was issued as the vehicle parked without a valid payment. The appellant questions whether operator is properly authorised by the landowner and whether it holds a valid contract to enforce PCNs. They say the operator is put to strict proof of a valid contract with the landowner. It must have a current, valid contract with the landowner ‘Botley – The Dolphin’, confirms it can take action in its own name and the contract covers the required period. The Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice (The Code) sets the standards its parking operators need to comply with. Section 14.1 of the Code states that where controlled land is being managed on behalf of a landowner, written confirmation must be obtained before a parking charge can be issued. In this case the operator has provided POPLA with a copy of contract, however this evidence does not confirm that there is an agreement with the landowner as the name and address of the landowner is fully redacted. Whilst it confirms the address, in the absence of the landowner’s name and address, I cannot conclude that the operator had a valid contract with the owner of this land on the date of the event. It is within the operator’s gift to provide POPLA with evidence to fully rebut the appellant’s grounds raised and in this instance, I am not satisfied the copy of the contract does rebut their grounds. POPLA’s role is to assess if the operator has issued the PCN in accordance with the conditions of the contract. As the operator failed to provide a full copy of a compliant agreement with the landowner , I am not satisfied that the operator has issued this PCN correctly, and accordingly the appeal is allowed. The appellant has raised other grounds in their appeal, but as I am allowing the appeal, it is not necessary for me to address these.
Assessor summary of your case
The appellant has raised the following points from their grounds of appeal which have been condensed for the purpose of my report: • The Notice to Keeper fails to comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act (PoFA) – there is no keeper liability. They say close analysis shows that the notice is not fully compliant and must be absolute for keeper liability to comply. They say the operator has failed to meet Schedule 4 Paragraph 9 (e) (i) as there is no invitation for the keeper to pay, it does not meet (f) as there is no timeline. They say the wording of the PCN is incorrect and misleading as saying that £100 must be made within 28 days of the date issued is incorrect and there are two conflicting payment deadlines leading motorists to believe payment is required earlier than expected and legally required. They say 9 (2) (b) has not been met as the circumstances are not described. They say that 9 (2) (f) has not been met. They say the operator has failed to identify he creditor and Britania Parking is not a legal entity and does not appear on Companies House. Therefore, not meeting 9 (2) (f). They say 9 (4) has not been met as there has been no demonstration that the keeper was posted and this also does not meet the Private Parking Single Code of Practice in section 8.2 (e) note 2. • No valid contract formed – inadequate and unclear signage. They say the signs are not sufficient, displayed in prominent and visible locations, containing clear and legible wording or communicating the requirement to validate in 10 minutes. They say there must be a site map, photos of the signs from a driver’s perspective at the entry and kiosk and a sign containing the 10 minute requirement and the £100 charge. • They mention the Supreme Court Case heard between Parking Eye Ltd v Beavis 2015. They mention the 10 minute requirement being a core contractual condition and does not meet 7.2.3 of the code. They say the charge was not prominent and was unclear, failing to be distinguishable from the rest of the text. • The operator is put to strict proof of a valid contract with the landowner. It must have a current, valid contract with the landowner ‘Botley – The Dolphin’, confirms it can take action in its own name and the contract covers the required period. After reviewing the operator’s evidence, the appellant reiterates their grounds of appeal in further detail. The appellant states the landowner document is so heavily redacted it is impossible to confirm whether the contract is valid, PoFA requirements have not been met, the signs do not contain the 10 minute requirement and the operator has not responded to their concerns.
Assessor supporting rational for decision
I am allowing this appeal, with my reasoning outlined below: The burden of proof lies with the operator to prove the PCN has been issued correctly. In this case the PCN was issued as the vehicle parked without a valid payment. The appellant questions whether operator is properly authorised by the landowner and whether it holds a valid contract to enforce PCNs. They say the operator is put to strict proof of a valid contract with the landowner. It must have a current, valid contract with the landowner ‘Botley – The Dolphin’, confirms it can take action in its own name and the contract covers the required period. The Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice (The Code) sets the standards its parking operators need to comply with. Section 14.1 of the Code states that where controlled land is being managed on behalf of a landowner, written confirmation must be obtained before a parking charge can be issued. In this case the operator has provided POPLA with a copy of contract, however this evidence does not confirm that there is an agreement with the landowner as the name and address of the landowner is fully redacted. Whilst it confirms the address, in the absence of the landowner’s name and address, I cannot conclude that the operator had a valid contract with the owner of this land on the date of the event. It is within the operator’s gift to provide POPLA with evidence to fully rebut the appellant’s grounds raised and in this instance, I am not satisfied the copy of the contract does rebut their grounds. POPLA’s role is to assess if the operator has issued the PCN in accordance with the conditions of the contract. As the operator failed to provide a full copy of a compliant agreement with the landowner , I am not satisfied that the operator has issued this PCN correctly, and accordingly the appeal is allowed. The appellant has raised other grounds in their appeal, but as I am allowing the appeal, it is not necessary for me to address these.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: April 08, 2025, 04:15:49 pm »You need to provide public access. Just make sure that all your personal data is redacted. Do not redact any dates or times.
Apologies. We'll get there in the end. Please try now. Have removed all personal details.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: April 08, 2025, 04:03:03 pm »I refuse to download large PDF files when you could simply host it as suggested and then I don't have to clutter up my HD with other people data. It's not difficult.
That's fair enough. No problem. here is the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/14xYdUOt-hivUcN7Ti_CxdqmM80iIvhVl/view?usp=drive_link
Appreciate your help.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: April 08, 2025, 03:26:47 pm »Please host the redacted evidence pack on DropBox or Google Drive.Should be attached to the previous post as as PDF. Can try a different link if you can't download it.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: April 08, 2025, 02:21:11 pm »
This is the evidence they've sent to POPLA, quite a big document!
Do I need to comment on this? I have the option to.
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Do I need to comment on this? I have the option to.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: April 01, 2025, 11:44:21 am »
Amazing! Thank you so much! The appeal was submitted this morning, so lets see what happens. I owe you a beer :-)
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 31, 2025, 03:14:45 pm »
Well it seems our friends at Britannia have not given up and are digging their heels in. I've just received another reply and got my POPLA code along with another fake "proof of posting" Please see attached. Any further advice gratefully received.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 25, 2025, 04:25:20 pm »
Ha! I like the tone of that. I have replied exactly as you suggest. Many thanks again for your input. I will let you know what response I receive :-)
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 25, 2025, 10:19:40 am »
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, I did as you suggested. I received the attached today. They seem to have ignored all my previous responses and still want me to name the driver.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 17, 2025, 12:25:44 pm »
In this particular car park it was a 3 hour "free" limit, and then you had to pay to go beyond that. So it's not really relevant if I had a ticket or not, the time was a few minutes over the 3 hours, so not sure what angle they were trying to take with this one.
Point taken about the stages, I guess by this, I meant that I was going to validate the ticket as the registered keeper before I went on to identify the driver... which of course I won't be doing :-)
I'm guessing from your profile name you're an amateur radio user?
De M0OOS
73 :-)
Point taken about the stages, I guess by this, I meant that I was going to validate the ticket as the registered keeper before I went on to identify the driver... which of course I won't be doing :-)
I'm guessing from your profile name you're an amateur radio user?
De M0OOS
73 :-)
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 17, 2025, 12:01:26 pm »
Sorry, just been through my sent items and I don't seem to have the original appeal wording. I guess its not in email form, and I didn't save a copy... however I did get this initial reply to my appeal.
Thank you for your appeal. Please provide us proof of purchase at the pub (E.g receipt showing
food/drink was purchased or a bank statement) and we will review this with your appeal.
We have placed the Parking Charge on hold for 14 days to allow for you to send this information.
Please be aware due to awaiting for additional evidence your appeal response may exceed our 28
day deadline.
Please email your additional evidence to parkingcharges@britpark.com referencing your Parking
Charge Number and Vehicle Registration or send it to our registered head office address in Poole
I assume here that they were trying to get me to admit to being the driver, since if I had a receipt it would prove I was there!
I replied as follows :-
Hi
Thanks for your message.
I am responding as the registered keeper of the vehicle. We are still at the stage of verifying the legality of your notice before we move on to identifying the driver.
Please provide the proof of postage I requested. You are obliged to have got this notice to me within 14 days which you failed to do.
Once we have addressed this plus other breaches of the standards you need to comply with, we can move on.
Unless you can provide proof of postage I don’t think we will get to the driver identification stage.
Thank you for your appeal. Please provide us proof of purchase at the pub (E.g receipt showing
food/drink was purchased or a bank statement) and we will review this with your appeal.
We have placed the Parking Charge on hold for 14 days to allow for you to send this information.
Please be aware due to awaiting for additional evidence your appeal response may exceed our 28
day deadline.
Please email your additional evidence to parkingcharges@britpark.com referencing your Parking
Charge Number and Vehicle Registration or send it to our registered head office address in Poole
I assume here that they were trying to get me to admit to being the driver, since if I had a receipt it would prove I was there!
I replied as follows :-
Hi
Thanks for your message.
I am responding as the registered keeper of the vehicle. We are still at the stage of verifying the legality of your notice before we move on to identifying the driver.
Please provide the proof of postage I requested. You are obliged to have got this notice to me within 14 days which you failed to do.
Once we have addressed this plus other breaches of the standards you need to comply with, we can move on.
Unless you can provide proof of postage I don’t think we will get to the driver identification stage.
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 17, 2025, 11:16:37 am »
Thanks both for your replies. Unfortunately I didn't see your messages in time, so replied broadly on the same lines without the detail. I complained about the quality of the "photo evidence" and that the letter had arrived outside the specified time frame.
I got the reply below today - please see their attachment for the "proof of postage" I've replied with the information you gave above, and also stated that this "Unity 5" document does not qualify as proof of postage - this seems to be a third party cloud based app they use to process their letters. It doesn't prove it entered the royal mail system who delivered the letter.
Good Morning,
Thank you for your email.
Please be aware that you have been notified under paragraph 9(2)(b) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 that the driver of the motor vehicle is required to pay this parking charge in full.
You are advised that if, after 28 days from the date given, (which is presumed to be the second working day after the date Issued), the Parking Charge has not been paid in full and Britannia Parking do not know both the name and current address of the driver, we have the right to recover any unpaid part of the Parking Charge from the registered keeper. This warning is given to you under Paragraph 9(2)(f) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and is subject to our compliance with the applicable conditions under Schedule 4 of that Act.
Should we be provided with an incorrect address for service, we will pursue the registered keeper for any Parking Charge that remains unpaid. Therefore, after 28 days if you have not provided us with the driver’s name and address you will be liable to pay the Parking Charge, regardless of whether you were the driver at the time or not.
Please be aware that this site is an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) controlled car park. It is not feasible to calibrate the ANPR system to recognise the driver.
Our cameras are designed to only capture the vehicle and the registration plates.
Due to GDPR, should the images capture motorist faces, we will black these out. Therefore, we are unable to provide you with photographic evidence of the driver at the time of the contravention.
It is the keeper’s responsibility to make sure that only authorised individuals are entitled to use their vehicle.
Please provide us full details including name and address of the driver at the time of the contravention otherwise, as registered keeper you may hold liable for the Parking Charge.
Please see attached requested postage certificate.
Please be informed that the Parking Charge has been issued and sent to you on 13/02/2025 the contravention had place on 07/02/2025, therefore Parking Charge has been issued and sent within 14 days.
Britannia Parking cannot be held responsible for postal correspondence once they have entered Royal Mails postal system.
Kind Regards,
Magdalena
Client Services Administrator
Britannia Parking, 7th Floor, County Gates House, 300 Poole Road, Poole, BH12 1AZ
Tel: 01202 555888
Web: www.britpark.com
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
I got the reply below today - please see their attachment for the "proof of postage" I've replied with the information you gave above, and also stated that this "Unity 5" document does not qualify as proof of postage - this seems to be a third party cloud based app they use to process their letters. It doesn't prove it entered the royal mail system who delivered the letter.
Good Morning,
Thank you for your email.
Please be aware that you have been notified under paragraph 9(2)(b) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 that the driver of the motor vehicle is required to pay this parking charge in full.
You are advised that if, after 28 days from the date given, (which is presumed to be the second working day after the date Issued), the Parking Charge has not been paid in full and Britannia Parking do not know both the name and current address of the driver, we have the right to recover any unpaid part of the Parking Charge from the registered keeper. This warning is given to you under Paragraph 9(2)(f) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and is subject to our compliance with the applicable conditions under Schedule 4 of that Act.
Should we be provided with an incorrect address for service, we will pursue the registered keeper for any Parking Charge that remains unpaid. Therefore, after 28 days if you have not provided us with the driver’s name and address you will be liable to pay the Parking Charge, regardless of whether you were the driver at the time or not.
Please be aware that this site is an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) controlled car park. It is not feasible to calibrate the ANPR system to recognise the driver.
Our cameras are designed to only capture the vehicle and the registration plates.
Due to GDPR, should the images capture motorist faces, we will black these out. Therefore, we are unable to provide you with photographic evidence of the driver at the time of the contravention.
It is the keeper’s responsibility to make sure that only authorised individuals are entitled to use their vehicle.
Please provide us full details including name and address of the driver at the time of the contravention otherwise, as registered keeper you may hold liable for the Parking Charge.
Please see attached requested postage certificate.
Please be informed that the Parking Charge has been issued and sent to you on 13/02/2025 the contravention had place on 07/02/2025, therefore Parking Charge has been issued and sent within 14 days.
Britannia Parking cannot be held responsible for postal correspondence once they have entered Royal Mails postal system.
Kind Regards,
Magdalena
Client Services Administrator
Britannia Parking, 7th Floor, County Gates House, 300 Poole Road, Poole, BH12 1AZ
Tel: 01202 555888
Web: www.britpark.com
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 07, 2025, 02:38:48 pm »
Got the first reminder through today, looks like I'm going to have to do something. Anyone have any further advice for me?
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Private parking tickets / Re: Britannia Parking overstayed 3 hour limit.
« on: March 03, 2025, 10:01:14 am »
Hi - Thanks for the advice. I've attempted plan A and contacted the pub but I don't seem to have got very far with that. The manager seems to be ignoring me. Appreciate any advice as to my next step. :-)
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