Free Traffic Legal Advice

I was recently issued a Parking Charge Notice, as my car was parked in my flat's designated parking space without a permit (the space does require a parking permit). Please can you look at my notes below and let me know if this charge is actually valid and if I should just pay it (I do feel it's unjust for the reason's I've listed below)

-    The parking space is specifically for my flat in a communal car park (each flat has its own space numbered) which I am renting - nobody else has a right to park there (so I wasn't taking someone else's space);

-    I have no authority to request parking permit directly from the Property Management company who issues these permits, it has to be directly from the property owner;

-    The car was purchased on impulse, it was not pre-planned prior to the date I purchased it, as it was an excellent deal and I was only passively looking with no real intent (I give this information to let you know I could not have pre-arranged a parking permit in advance of me purchasing the vehicle);

-    The car was purchased on a Saturday, I could not speak to the Estate Agent until the following Monday, who in turn (I guess), spoke to the property owner to start proceedings of getting a permit. I thought the Estate Agent would have a permit to just give to me, but they didn't.

-   I left my car in the designated spot thinking it'd be OK because I lived at the property and I had a permit on its way - but it clearly wasn't.

I received a charge notice on the following week (it was recorded on Wednesday and mailed to me by the end of that week), I didn't think too much of it at the time as I thought all I needed to do was say to them what I've stated above, proving that I lived there and the car purchase was new (I provided a copy of my V5C) along wit hthe information that I was in the middle of ontaining a permit, I thought that clear up the issue - it didn't.  The company who issued this notice replied to my appeal saying there were no mitigating circumstances here and it was my responsibility to ensure I had a permit to park in the spot I was in - they rejected my appeal and so I am intending to raise a POPLA appeal.

The parking charge notice did have some factually incorrect information on it, it said and I quote, "It was parked in an area at postcode XXXX" where the postcode given was wrong.

I do feel extremely hard done by here, but was I in the wrong and should I just pay it?  Would really appreciate your input/advice.
 

What, PRECISELY, does your lease/tenancy agreement say about parking? What it doesn't say about parking is equally important. For example, does your lease make any mention of a requirement to display a permit?

Once you have shown us everything that your lease says about parking, we can then give you the advice you need on how to deal with this.

Yes, the signs mean nothing if your lease or equivalent do not require you to have a permit.

Yes, the signs mean nothing if your lease or equivalent do not require you to have a permit.

Thank you for your response.  I do believe, however, that if I use the argument that "my tenancy agreement doesn't state that I require a permit", that their default response would be that my tenancy agreement doesn't say anything about a parking space being part of my tenancy.   

b789 - thank you very much for your comprehensive response and all the information provided, it is really appreciated, thank you for taking the time to write it.

You asked me a question, which might be rhetoric, "So, are you going to fight this or am I wasting my time?".  I did put in my initial post asking if I should just pay it, which possibly is where your question stems from.  I have absolutely no intention of paying and will fight to the very end, no matter who wins, I will exhaust (excuse the pun) all avenues.

Thanks again.

Good. So we now need to see the PCN, your appeal wording and their appeal rejection. You only need to redact your won personal info, the PCN number and the VRM. Leave everything else unredacted, especially all the dates and times.

You can search the forum for recent POPLA appeals and start to put something together which you can show us before you submit anything.

This will be a life learning experience for you. If you have any pre-existing concerns about this, feel free to ask and we'll try and explain.

PCN attached (redacted)

https://postimg.cc/56Mg07Vx

Appeal wording used:

The reason for my appeal is I am a tenant in the property where my car was parked (in Flat XX, XXX)- this is where you sent the parking charge notice to (please see attached) (edit:  this shows a picture of my car in its designated parking space at the address the PCN was sent to). I did not have a parking permit before purchasing this vehicle on 27/09 because I did not own any vehicle before or during my tenancy here. I recently purchased the vehicle (please see attached - edit: this is the V5C showing acquisition date) 3 days before I was given the charge notice. I did not have time to arrange for a permit from the Estate Agent who let the property to me and I do not have a XXXXX (edit - Management company of the property I was renting) account to request one independently because I am not the property owner. I spoke to my Estate Agent who will happily verify everything I'm saying: XXXXXXXXXXXX Estate Agents in XXX - contact name: XXX - Email address: xXXXXX.  Telephone No: XXX - Happy to provide any further information should you require.

I genuinely (stupidly) thought as soon as they knew I lived at the property, they'd waive the charge. I also replied late to the PCN because I don't really look at hard post anymore as I deal with nearly everything of importance online, but it was still replied to within the allotted time.

Their response:  We have carefully considered your appeal based on the information provided and the evidence supporting the parking charge. In this instance having completed our assessment, we consider the parking charge to have been correctly issued, as the vehicle was parked on site without displaying a valid permit. Our appeals process is now concluded, you may now choose one of the following options: - here they outline how I can pay, if I want to appeal to POPLA or what happens if I just ignore their request - I think you'll be aware that this is mostly generic info so I've not added it to this post.

It was at this point I came to the conclusion that this isn't going away and can't believe they're following through with it.  I started a POPLA appeal, not before going over everything in fine detail this time, noticing the error on the PCN where it states where I was parked (wrong postcode and it saying "in an area" instead of in a designated parking spot.  I didn't want to leave anything to chance with POPLA, so I posted on another forum and someone kindly directed me to here.

I am putting some wording together for POPLA now, thanks again for your help.

Just note that UKPC probably get paid nothing for putting up signs and “policing” the parking area, in return for which they get to keep all the money they can extort from people they decide have broken their rules.

The amount of money to be made by frightening people into paying them is large. The real villains in the piece are the people who engaged them in the first place.

I think they'll have a contract with the Flats' Management Company (who I need to request the parking permit from, but not directly, as I'm not the homeowner!).  Wouldn't surprise me one bit if this whole situation where the delay of issuing them is rinse/repeated in order for this parking company to extort people like me. I tend to keep myself to myself and don't speak to anyone in my vicinity, but wouldn't surprise me if I wasn't the first this has happened to.   

Trust me, you definitely will not be the first to have been snared by this scam. The main point is that you are not liable for the invoice. You have not breached any contract.

As long as you are aware that they will escalate this all the way to a county court claim in the hope that you are gullible enough to pay it out of ignorance and fear. They also know that if you let it go all the way, they are likely to get spanked in court and so will discontinue if the claim isn't first struck out.

Having just looked at the latest statistics for all claims issued in the county court for the last year, less than 3% ever reach a hearing. That's out of 1.73 million claims issued.

Hi b789,  OK if I follow up on just a couple of things with you?

I submitted my appeal to POPLA, mostly with what you provided (I only tweaked a few things to make it sound as if I was writing it, and added some things which I felt were relevant).   POPLA sent my appeal to UKPC who responded literally within an hour or two with 7 documents full of information - mostly picture of where I was parked.

We did establish that because there was no mention of the advertised parking space being permit-oritentated on my tenancy agreement, that I had no contractual agreement with UKPC.  UKPC went into detail about this and I have copy/pasted their response to POPLA:  "

"The contract between UK Parking Control Ltd and the landowner (or their managing
agent) authorising UKPC to provide parking management, and therefore issue
parking charges to vehicles breaching the terms of parking, is confidential and we
are unable to provide a copy for reasons of commercial sensitivity. We have
however provided a redacted copy, with sensitive information covered. The
redacted contract confirms our authority in an ongoing agreement. If neither party
terminates the contract, as in this case, the contract will continue on a rolling basis.
We have provided the T&C’s in relation to the rolling contract.
Although the BPA Code of Practice outlines what authorisation must set out, we
have also shown that beyond checking documentation; there is equipment, signage
and on occasion personnel on site to manage the function of enforcement and this
cannot happen without the landowner’s authority. I am sure that if the parking
operator was not allowed to issue charges on site the landowner would not permit
the parking operator to keep its signage on site nor would the landowner allow
motorists to park on its land without authorisation"

No doubt this is a generic response - hwoever they did provide a copy of the signed contract between UKPC and the land owner. My response to their authorty to issue me a ticket was that my tenancy is the only contract that matters here. My right to live in the flat – and to use the facilities that come with it.  Will this still hold up, baring in mind that the home owner (my landlord) signed a contract with UKPC themselves?  They further state:
"The parking charges issued by UK Parking Control Limited are based on a
contractual agreement between UKPC and the driver, as detailed on the signage
displayed in the car park." 

Now I'm not really sure how to respond to this, other than saying that I had a sign in my car that if it's photographed, then the individual/company who took that photo, if they didn't obtain permission first, they will need to pay a £100 charge.  I will create a sign and take a picture of it in my car.   However, I know this is a facetious response and I don't really want to go down that route as I do not find this whole situation funny.

Lastly, with regards to my comments to POPLA that the parking charge notice said I wasn't parked in the space the notice said I was, UKPC's response was:

"Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 refers to ‘relevant land’, which
must be specified on a parking charge. However, the act does not require the
identity of the road, or city or any other place- only the ‘relevant land’ is essential.
The name of the land provided by UKPC has been chosen to reflect the site, and in
the cases of large sites, a single name is chosen for convenience, with one address
for ease of location. Of course, large sites such as XXXXX often consist of many
interior roads and areas and it would be impractical to detail every section in one
address of the parking charge notice. Instead, only the name of the relevant land and
a single address are included and as such, we are confident that we have correctly
identified the relevant land, to reasonably reflect the car parking area the parking
charge was issued, and we reject the motorist’s argument that we have failed to do
so."
 
I have written my reply to this, please let me know if you feel any adjustments are required: I have quoted their paragraph and stated: UKPC have stated "the act does not require the identity of the road, or city or any other place- only the ‘relevant land’ is essential".  The parking charge notice should be considered invalid because they did not adhere to schedule 4, as per their comments.   In my charge notice they DID identify the road where I was parked - and it was incorrect. I was not parked at XXXX like the notice states.  I was parked in the parking space allocated to me at XXX when I signed the tenancy agreement.  I have attached confirmation of where my car was parked (in the picture in their notice) in my previous submission, along with an email from my Estate Agent confirming this.

As always, thanks again for your help fighting this.