Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi,

The driver prepaid for parking in Portsmouth in January from 22:30 until 19:30 the next day with Just Park. It was at Brunel House Car Park, which is apparently 'Private Land'.

The driver arrived at the car park at 22:22:34 and drove in, but did not park until the car was unpacked - after 10:30.
The next day the driver arrived back at the car at 19:25, and after moving the car (parked with boot against a barrier for extra security) repacked it and left at 19:33.

The driver just received a PCN from Euro Car Parks for £100 'The vehicle was parked without a valid Pay by Phone transaction.' The driver paid for 21 hours but they are saying 'parked' for 21 hours and eleven minutes.

Having spoken to the Just Park Bot, the driver was informed the early arrival is ok as long as the vehicle was not actually parked (how we prove this is unclear,) but on leaving, the three minutes (during which the driver had moved the car, but again, how does either party prove that?) constitute an overstay which the driver can be fined for.

Considering the driver paid for 21 hours, and not only was the overstay a maximum of three minutes and thirty one seconds, this seems excessively strict.

The driver would very much appreciate any advice on whether there are grounds to appeal considering the vehicle was not actually parked before the allotted time. The driver accepts the car was not driven out of the car park until three minutes past the allotted time, but this appears to be an excessively strict and unreasonable application of the rules - especially as the driver had returned to my car before the allotted time had run out and moved it to open the boot.

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Alistair

Thank you for your reply Richard,

Unfortunately I cannot see how to attach an image - I don't have URLs for the images and I can't see another option in the icons bar?

1. Post edited
2. PCN avaialable but can't attach.
3. Also have photo from Just Park through whose App the space was booked. The address is Brunel House Car Park - Portsmouth PO13DR. Cost was £14.29. Message from the Just Park Bot also available.
4. I am the registered keeper and the PCN was in my name.

It is the nearest car park to the Isle of Wight Ferry terminal. The car was left there during a visit to family.

If there is an easy way to attach an image I'd love to know how!

Thanks again.
Alistair

The PCN needs to be posted up.

Recently, Euro Car Parks PCNs have not been PoFA compliant so there could be an easy way out here but we need to see the wording on both sides of the PCN.

You might want to hide your full name and home address, this is a public forum.

Just wondering if the PCN threw any light on the matter - especially the PoFA compliance issue mentioned by InterCity125?

Any help most appreciated.

Al

In my opinion, the lack of relevant PoFA mandatory wording is a strong appeal point but it probably won't yield success until the matter is escalated to POPLA.


You should write an appeal making sure that you clearly state the appeal is being made purely as the registered keeper and as the person who pre-paid the parking - this doesn't mean that you were driving.

When you mention the driver you need to make sure that you only refer to him or her in the third person - ie the driver arrived / the driver left etc.

In your appeal to ECP you should set out your case as you have here - explain the arrival / departure times etc.

You can also mention that the NtK does not meet the full requirements of PoFA.



When that gets rejected, we can move onto the POPLA appeal.

Be sure to post up the appeal before sending.

Yes, but ECP will lie, reject the appeal, force the original poster to appeal to the IAS who will also reject the appeal, and force the initiation of court proceedings. The idea being to frighten the original poster into paying them money.

If ECP use DCB Legal then, eventually, the case will likely be discontinued rather than paying the court fee.

Agreed that waiting for court documents from Northampton is a good thing.

It's fatal to EuroCar Parks case if the OP stays the course, denies everything and waits for documentation from Northampton, surely?

I'm not sure we can describe something as 'fatal' to their case that, to my knowledge, has yet to actually be argued in court.

As has been noted, there's a very good chance that ECP will eventually discontinue (a good part of the reason it has, as yet, not been tested in court)