Hi everyone,
Upon entering the car park, the driver found a space, parked up, and went into KFC for a meal and a catch up with a friend. The driver was unaware of any regulations in this car park and assumed it was just for customers and there would no be issue sitting in the restaurant for a meal.
However as the registered keeper of the vehicle, received a PCN for "exceeding the notified maximum free parking period of 60 minutes". I appealed this PCN with a receipt of my purchase in KFC thinking this would be a quick and easy fix as 60 minutes is a short time when chatting over a meal in a restaurant - it was of course rejected.
I then went into KFC to ask them if there was anything they could do and they said they could cancel the PCN no problem at all.. problem was, they could no longer cancel it as after waiting for the response for my appeal, was now over 28 days since the date of the incident so they weren't able to cancel it.
Had I not appealed and gone straight to KFC, they would have cancelled it immediately because I was a customer of the restaurant.
I have already appealed with POPLA, probably not very well as I didn't know how aggressively you need to prepare for these things it seems. My points in my appeal were the fact it's not ample time for customers to park and use the restaurant to sit in for a meal and the signs are not visible enough.
I've attached images that Civil Enforcement responded with, some of which are 3 years old. There are 3 signs lit up, one is in overgrown bush/trees, one is behind a large bin and one is down the side of a carwash that's on the carpark. The entrance to KFC is around the far left side where there are no signs. If arriving at night in the dark, these signs are not visible which I also stated in my appeal.
They attached images of the entrance and exit, registration is only visible if editing the brightness, exposure and contrast to the maximum if that counts for anything?
POPLA have asked for comments in response to Civil Enforcements response - is there any chance at all to win the appeal or will KFC's doors never be darkened at this location again by the vehicle in question.
Sorry that's quite a hefty message.
I appreciate any advice
