Free Traffic Legal Advice

No one who comes here pays ECP a penny. What signs are there in place at the location informing drivers that there is a material change from the previous parking controls?

Can you go back and take some photos of the signs at the location? We need to see any entrance sign, terms signs within the car park and the view of any signs from a drivers perspective when parked in a disabled bay.

When did they introduce the new ANPR system? If it was within the last 4 months...

The new Single Code of Practice (SCoP) states at section 3.4:

3.4. Material changes – notices

Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a driver entering controlled land that is or has been open for public parking, the parking operator must place additional (temporary) notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the change making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges.

NOTE: Examples of material changes can include introduction of parking enforcement where none has previously applied, introduction of time-limited free parking, or reductions in the time limit within which free parking is available. Given the need to avoid confusion and clutter at entrances the test is whether the fact that a change has been made is clearly signalled to drivers on entering the land and the nature of the change is clearly displayed thereafter – it may also be necessary to install repeater notices depending on the scale of the premises.

So, unless there is obvious signage that informs the driver on entry to and, in the case of a vehicle parked in a blue badge bay, obvious notice on the signs visible from within the vehicle, ECP are in breach of their SCoP.

The reason I have suggested that you take photos of the signs, especially as seen from within the vehicle when parked in a blue badge bay, is that section 4.1 of the SCoP states:

4.1. The parking operator must ensure that at least one sign containing the terms and conditions for parking can be viewed without the driver needing to leave the vehicle, in order for drivers with a disability to be able to make an informed decision on whether to park at the premises.

If you can provide photographic evidence that the signs do not conform to the requirements of the SCoP, you have another arrow in your quiver for a POPLA appeal.

Phoning the Leisure Centre to ask for the PCN to be cancelled is not the recommended method. You need to contact someone as high as possible up the management food chain. You will also need to put them on notice that they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents.

Iain Varah is the CEO of "Vision, Redbridge Culture and Leisure" who operate the Leisure Centre. A complaint to him is the best place to start and it should be emailed to him at iain.varah@visionrcl.org.uk and copy in this general enquiries email: mayfield@vision-rcl.org.uk.

I suggest the following should be sent to Iain Varah together with a copy of the Notice to Keeper (NtK):

Formal Complaint Regarding Parking Policy and Euro Car Parks' Handling of Blue Badge Holders


Dear Mr Varah,

I am writing to formally raise concerns regarding the actions of your appointed parking management company, Euro Car Parks (ECP), and to request your intervention to cancel an unfair Parking Charge Notice (PCN) that I recently received while attending your facility.

Approximately 7 months ago, I participated in a GP rehabilitation programme at Mayfield Leisure Centre, during which I regularly parked my vehicle in the designated bays, always displaying my blue badge as required. Recently, I was invited to attend a 6-month follow-up session and parked in the same manner, displaying my blue badge. However, I was surprised to later receive a PCN for that visit. A copy of the PCN is attached.

Upon contacting the leisure centre, I was informed that the parking policy had changed two months ago, and that visitors are now required to submit their vehicle details inside the centre to validate parking. I was not informed of this change at the time of my visit, nor was there any visible signage alerting me to this new requirement. When I asked why clients were not informed, I was told that this information was communicated for the first week after the change, but after that, no further notification was deemed necessary. I find this response dismissive and unacceptable, particularly given the clear failure to properly inform regular visitors of material changes.

The new BPA/IPC Single Code of Practice, section 3.4, explicitly requires that when there are material changes to any pre-existing parking terms and conditions, additional temporary notices must be placed at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months. This is to ensure that regular visitors, familiar with the old terms, are not unfairly penalised. It is clear that this requirement was not followed, and I was unfairly issued with a PCN as a result.

Moreover, section 4.1 of the same Code of Practice mandates that parking operators ensure at least one sign containing the terms and conditions for parking can be viewed without the driver needing to leave the vehicle. This is particularly important for drivers with disabilities, so they can make an informed decision on whether to park. I did not see any such signage in the blue badge bays, and as a disabled user, I was not given a fair opportunity to be informed of the new parking requirements. The lack of accessible signage constitutes a breach of the obligations set out in the Code.

I believe that your failure to adequately inform disabled users of the new policy, in addition to not ensuring that signs are visible to those parking in blue badge bays, is discriminatory and in violation of the Equality Act 2010, which requires reasonable adjustments to be made for disabled individuals.

I am therefore requesting that you liaise with Euro Car Parks to have this PCN cancelled. The failure to notify me of the change in parking validation requirements is a clear violation of sections 3.4 and 4.1 of the BPA/IPC Single Code of Practice. I also expect a response explaining what steps will be taken to ensure that disabled visitors are properly informed of such changes in the future, so that no one else faces a similar issue.

I trust that this matter will be resolved swiftly, and I look forward to your response within the next 14 days.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Contact Information]

They have another week to respond. What are you “wary” of? Are you talking about the “mugs discount”?

I already advised you that no one pays ECP if they are receiving advice on here. In your case, you have been invoiced unfairly as ECP have breached their Approved Operator Scheme (AOS) Single Code of Practice (SCoP).

Any appeal to ECP is never going to succeed. They will only cancel if instructed to do so by whoever contracted them or if they are unsuccessful at POPLA.

Even if a POPLA appeal were unsuccessful, you are under no obligation to pay. It would move on to the ultimate dispute resolution service, the small claims track of the county court.

There is no way they would let his get as far as an actual hearing because they know they would receive a spanking from the judge. They are simply hoping you are low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree and will capitulate once litigation is initiated.

From years of experience, I can safely say that as long as a claim is defended, they will discontinue before they have to pay the trial fee and move on in search of lower-hanging fruit. I challenge anyone to bet against that outcome with odds of 100:1.

In the meantime, give Plan A a chance. You need to go through the motions of Plan B in order to receive the POPLA code to initiate Plan C. Should Plan C be unsuccessful, Plan D will eventually work. We go through these steps in order to get this alleged debt resolved as quickly as possible.

So, please ignore the “mugs discount”. The Leisure Centre have until next Monday to respond. Of course they’re not “obliged” to respond but it is in their interest to do so in order to avoid their risk of unlawfully discriminating under the Equality Act.

If they have not had the PCN cancelled by then, you still have until Tuesday 19th November to submit a Plan B appeal. This is tried and tested advice which means that, ultimately, no one pays a penny to ECP.

We cannot offer you any guarantees, as unfortunately none of us have yet developed the ability to see into the future, but if you want some interesting reading as to how ECP's law firm of choice have been operating for the past couple of years, take a look here: DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

In which case there is no Plan C and you are now waiting for Plan D. You are going to receive reminders and debt collection letters. You can safely ignore these and we certainly don't need to know about them.

If/when you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) let us know.