3. Hitchin Unity House private PCN
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Hitchin Unity House private PCN
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Hello,

On the 11th July, I briefly parked in the Hitchin Unity House car park to visit my father, who lives in Kennedy Court right next to the car park. The car park is managed by PCM UK. At the time of parking, the car park was completely empty and I was visiting my father with my disabled younger brother as my father was ill. I didn't have his blue badge present at the time as it was with my mother, therefore resulting in me getting a ticket. I appealed the ticket as soon as I recieved it, explaining that it was an emergency and I had to drop my brother off at my father's and I included images of the blue badge in the appeal, as well as my father's proof of address. PCM of course denied my appeal and stated that I need to have a permit to park there.

My father's complex has its own car park however it is only accessible if you have the key to open it. The only other nearby parking was permit restricted street parking, so naturally I chose to park in the closest car park to my father's residence.

It baffles me slightly that I am not allowed to park for a short while in a deserted car park to no one's inconvenience to drop off my brother. The fine is £60 however if i choose to appeal again it will go up to £100. The letter they sent me threatens to take me to court after 28 days and/or debt recovery. Is there anything i can do to counter this?

Thank you

EDIT: included a satellite image of the area I parked at and the distance to my father's residence
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« Last Edit: August 03, 2023, 03:36:21 pm by jotachin »
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Re: Hitchin Unity House private PCN
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Firstly, very sorry to hear about your father - I hope he's on the mend.

Secondly, so that you are going into this with your eyes open: there will be no quick or easy resolution to this matter, and PCM can be a litigious company. If you want to fight this, you'll need to be prepared for the possibility of defending this in court (a loss at court would probably be about £200-220, so this will depend somewhat on your attitude to risk).

In order to be able to offer detailed advice, we'll need to see a couple of things:
  • A photo of the Notice you received from PCM (Show us both sides, redact personal information, leave on all dates and times
  • Photos of the signage at the car park, showing their layout in the car park, any signage at the entrance, and also a close up so we can read the terms and conditions
  • A copy of the appeal you submitted, and their response

Now to a couple of things from your post:

Quote from: jotachin on August 03, 2023, 03:32:34 pm
didn't have his blue badge present at the time [...]
PCM of course denied my appeal and stated that I need to have a permit to park there.
What was the charge issued for? If it was issued for not having a permit, then the presence or absence of a Blue Badge is irrelevant. A blue badge does not grant any special rights on private land, unless the signage in the car park explicitly says so.

Quote from: jotachin on August 03, 2023, 03:32:34 pm
It baffles me slightly that I am not allowed to park for a short while in a deserted car park to no one's inconvenience to drop off my brother.
By the looks of it, it is a residential car park, therefore there's a good chance residents of the adjoining building pay for  use of the car park, with PCM hired to ensure the car park remains for their exclusive use as paying residents. The argument around it being empty won't fly - this is about whether a contract was entered into or not, and the car park being empty doesn't affect that (and at any rate, there's no way to know whether an empty car park will remain empty throughout one's stay).

(To note - I'll be away from tomorrow until Monday. If you don't get any replies before then, it's not because you have been forgotten about)
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Re: Hitchin Unity House private PCN
« Reply #2 on: »
Unfortunately it's not unreasonable for a landowner to want to be able to decide who parks on their land, I'm sure you wouldn't want someone parking on your driveway just because it's empty.

The Supreme Court has taken this view.

As this is a BPA company your best chance is a PoFA fail, so lets see ALL the PCN, also modify that post to not give away the driver ID, 'the driver' drove, with no I, we, he or even the dog.  You will deal with the matter as the vehicle keeper.
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There are motorists who have been scammed and those who are yet to be scammed!
Re: Hitchin Unity House private PCN
« Reply #3 on: »
As you probably know, this car park provides easy pedestrian access to the park and fly parking was probably the bane of residents' lives until they put in controls.

Where would you normally park when visiting your father?
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Re: Hitchin Unity House private PCN
« Reply #4 on: »
Quote from: The Rookie on August 04, 2023, 07:55:13 am
Unfortunately it's not unreasonable for a landowner to want to be able to decide who parks on their land, I'm sure you wouldn't want someone parking on your driveway just because it's empty.

The Supreme Court has taken this view.

As this is a BPA company your best chance is a PoFA fail, so lets see ALL the PCN, also modify that post to not give away the driver ID, 'the driver' drove, with no I, we, he or even the dog.  You will deal with the matter as the vehicle keeper.

I have attached the original PCN letter plus the letter I recieved after they rejected my appeal. If it comes down to it, I might have to pay the £60 since going to court sounds tedious and ultimately not worth it. Thank you

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Re: Hitchin Unity House private PCN
« Reply #5 on: »
Quote from: Ugly duckling on August 04, 2023, 10:10:05 am
As you probably know, this car park provides easy pedestrian access to the park and fly parking was probably the bane of residents' lives until they put in controls.

Where would you normally park when visiting your father?

Normally I would park in the car park just below the circled apartment building, however as my father was ill and the button to open the gate was in his car I didn't have much of a choice.
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Re: Hitchin Unity House private PCN
« Reply #6 on: »
So far from what you have posted there doesn't seem to be much that would amount to a sound defence.

We've not yet seen the signs - the terms might be 'forbidding' if they say 'Permit Holders Only' or similar, but this is another point you'd probably need to try in court.
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