Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello all, I was hoping you could help me with a charge which came through the other day to my daughter's mother. She is too busy and stressed at the moment to deal with it all. It is a pretty straightforward one.

She received a parking charge letter on 31st Jan, for an alleged overstay at McDonalds on the 13th Jan, making the letter 18 days after the alleged event, so the charge looks to have been sent way too late.

I have been back to the site, and the signage is tiny and hard to read, even when standing right in front of it. It is also quite new, so regular visitors would be likely to just drive in and park as usual without feeling the need to scour the area for signs.

The McDonalds has a soft play area, making it extremely likely that kids would want to stay for a long time, so it seems unfair that such tiny, high, illegible signage is deemed adequate.

I have appealed to MET, on the grounds of bad signage, but I assumed this was just a formality and would be rejected so I didn't put much effort into that. No driver has been identified, I ticked the box on the appeal web form to say she is the keeper only.

I just wanted to check what you think and is it worth getting a POPLA appeal ready now for when the inevitable rejection letter comes?

I have attached a link to pics of the signage, and the charge letter. Thank you very much!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b-nNx02EcULUgUT1vvq5mQt0ZHW6MFnR?usp=sharing

The letter may have arrived on the 31st but it was dated the 15th so deemed delivered 2 working days after that so well within the POFA 14 days. Signage looks pretty standard, can't read it as the image resolution isnt good enough. The most critical signs are the ones on the entrances and looking at Google street view the 1.5 hours max stay is pretty prominent and visible on those.

If all you did was appeal on the grounds of bad signage then yes expect a rejection. I can't see that appeal working at POPLA either. Was there no option to register to extend the stay? Did anyone speak to McDonalds? The overstay was significant. Did you send the appeal in? Only the registered keeper or driver can appeal. The keeper might be busy at the moment but this isnt going away and will need engagement at some point otherwise there is a small risk of a CCJ.

Doesn't the 14 days start from the date of the alleged event ie: 13th Jan? Also, I thought weekends were included in this?

Yes it does and yes they are.

• Date of parking event: 13th January
• Date of issue of notice: 15th January
• Date of presumed delivery: 19th January
• Days elapsed: 6 days

Of course, you say the keeper received the notice later than this, and the presumption of delivery can be rebutted. The difficulty you will have is proving that it was delivered outside of the 14 days. You can put them to proof as to when they posted it, but if they produce some evidence, then you'd need to consider what counter evidence you have.

Yes, as I said in the post I appealed on behalf of the keeper and I am engaging with the charge.

You could do with clarifying what exactly you mean by this. Did you use the keeper's name and address/contact details in the appeal (i.e. submitting everything in their name, just doing it for them), or did you use your own name and address/contact details and say you were appealing on their 'behalf'?[/li][/list]