Would be grateful of assistance as to how I should respond to my PCN. 30th August at 548 pm. Unsure of how to upload my pcn copies. Thanks
The PCN was issued at St Michael's Mount & Long Stay Marazion Car Park, TR17 0EN at 5.48 pm on August 30th. I entered the car park and, having paid for parking in a car park adjacent earlier in the day, was unaware of any ANPR cameras on site. As I was planning to only park for a matter of minutes, I parked away from a virtually empty car park away from the machines. I also presumed that the parking was only chargeable until 6pm which I now understand was incorrect. I am afraid I dont have any photos of the parking signs and as I dont live in the area, this would be hard to find unless I can find it online. I exited the car park having had a quick dip in the sea at 6.21 pm. Do I have any support in terms of my length of stay and the proportionality of the fee? Any help would be welcomed.
Please read the thread linked to above and provide the information it asks for, then we will be able to offer advice.
From what you say, you parked in a car park with clear signage and you did not pay for parking. I can see no obvious technical deficiency with the PCN you have posted, but others may do.
A £100 charge discounted to £60 has previously been ruled to be proportionate, although the precise details may not be identical.
Ok, thank you. Would I have any basis to appeal against the fee given the amount of time I was parked
33 minutes?
Maybe if it had been 3 minutes.
You have to ask why did the driver fail to pay for the parking? Were they aware that payment was required? If not, why not? Were the signs prominent enough to adequately bring the charge for failing to comply with any terms to the drivers attention. Does Initial Parking have a valid, contemporaneous contract flowing from the landowner that authorises them to issue Parking Charge Notices in their own name? And so on.
Just because a Notice to Keeper (NtK) may be PoFA compliant, you have to take into account all the other factors.
thanks b789. How would I find out if there is a valid contract in place?
If an initial appeal fails, you could put them to strict proof of a valse contract in your POPLA appeal, although there may try and get away with a statement that says they have a valid contract, in which case, it would not be until it reached court that they would be obliged to prove their standing.
I think the car park is owned by the St Aubyn family who own St Michael's Mount. So my initial appeal would be to Popla or to Initial? thanks for everyone's help so far
The process if it goes all the way is:
Appeal to Initial -> Appeal to POPLA -> Defend yourself in court
If either of the previous stages are successful of course, then it doesn't go all the way. If you are planning to defend this it would be sensible for us to also look at the signage and see if any argument is to be made there. At this stage we have no idea of the status of any contract with the landowner, so there's risk involved in challenging the matter on that point alone.
The official car park stretches from immediately opposite the island along the road to Penzance. I parked in the far end. I have found a copy of the signage on entering the main car park in Marazion so assume that this would have also been apparent where I parked.
