Free Traffic Legal Advice

Just to confirm... that PCN you have shown us has been sent to the Hirer in their name. I am assuming it is because the wording states that the recipient has been named as the "Hirer".

If so, it is what is known as a Notice to Hirer (NtH). What you must understand is that neither the hire company nor Park Watch (PW) know the identity of the driver. There is no legal obligation on the Hirer to identify the driver and they must not do so.

Unless there was included with the NtH:


Then there can be no Hirer liability for the charge. I very much doubt that PW included copies of those documents with the NtH. Because of that, PoFA does not apply and only the unknown driver can be liable.

So, appeal ONLY as the Hirer, with the following:

I am the Hirer of the vehicle and I dispute your 'parking charge'. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner.

As your Notice to Hirer (NtH) does not fully comply with ALL the requirements of PoFA 2012, you are unable to hold the Hirer of the vehicle liable for the charge. Partial or even substantial compliance is not sufficient. There will be no admission as to who was driving and no inference or assumptions can be drawn. Park Watch has relied on contract law allegations of breach against the driver only.

The Hirer cannot be presumed or inferred to have been the driver, nor pursued under some twisted interpretation of the law of agency. Your NtHK can only hold the driver liable. Park Watch have no hope at IAS, so you are urged to save us both a complete waste of time and cancel the PCN.

Do not select anything that indicates the person appealing was the driver. Only select options that show "Other" or "Hirer/Keeper".

Re. timescales - from the Code of Practice (link in my signature at the bottom of this post):

8.4. Process for appealing a parking charge
8.4.1. Where a parking operator accepts payment of a parking charge, they do not need to offer the ability to appeal providing this is clear in the notice. Parking operators must provide a process for motorists to appeal against a Parking Charge (including unpaid parking tariff) in accordance with Annex C,
which:

a) allows that the parking charge may be appealed within 28 days;
b) requires the parking operator to respond to appeals within 28 days or, where a decision on the appeal is not concluded within 28 days, requires the parking operator to acknowledge the appeal and confirm the timeframe for concluding it, including the supply of additional information;
c) requires the parking operator to consider appeals received outside of the normal 28-day period allowed for lodging an appeal where the appellant provides evidence of exceptional circumstances for the appeal not being lodged within the normal timeframes.

If (when) your appeal is rejected, you can appeal to the IAS if you wish. I'll be honest, they're a bit of a kangaroo court, so your chances there are low too, but the few successes I have seen have usually been on blatant PoFA points like this, so this case would be worth a go at the IAS in my opinion.

Hi again all,

Response received from Park Watch on 22/11 rejecting the appeal and giving 21 days to appeal to IAS. I guess most if not all of the wording in the letter is generic, if any help though this is the relevant paragraph from the rejection:
"Whilst we note your comments and reason for appeal, we can confirm that your vehicle was parked in an obstructive manner. Therefore as your vehicle was parked in contravention of the terms and conditions as advertised on the signage displayed on site, this PCN has been issued to you correctly."

21 days from the 22/11 is around 12/12, could someone please help with what wording I should appeal to the IAS with? Should I just re-use what I sent for the original appeal?

Thanks again

Please also confirm that when you received the Notice to Hirer (NtH) in the Hirers name, did they include copies of the following documents:


Also, please confirm that you only appealed using the wording I advised earlier in this thread and that you did not select any option that said the Hirer was the driver.

In which case simply appeal to the IAS with the following:

Independent Appeals Service (IAS) Appeal Submission
Appellant: [Your Name]
PCN Reference Number: [Insert PCN Reference]

Grounds for Appeal

I am appealing as the Hirer of the vehicle and dispute the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) on the following grounds:

1. Non-Compliance with Schedule 4, Paragraph 14 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA):

The Notice to Hirer (NtH) issued by the parking operator does not comply with the mandatory requirements of Paragraph 14 of Schedule 4 of PoFA. Specifically:

• The operator failed to include a copy of the Notice to Keeper (NtK) as required under Paragraph 14(2)(a).

• The operator failed to include copies of the documents as required under Paragraph 13(2)(b).

These omissions mean that the operator cannot transfer liability for the alleged parking charge to me as the Hirer of the vehicle.

2. Rejection of Initial Appeal Fails to Address the Core Issue:

The operator’s rejection of my initial appeal failed to address the fundamental issue of non-compliance with PoFA. Instead, their response merely reiterated the alleged contravention without recognising that liability cannot be imposed on the Hirer in the absence of compliance with statutory requirements.

3. No Evidence of Contractual Breach by the Hirer:

Even if the operator’s NtH were PoFA-compliant (which it is not), they have provided no evidence that I, as the Hirer, personally entered into any contract with the operator or that I was responsible for any alleged contravention.

4. Failure to Establish Hirer Liability:

As liability has not been properly established in accordance with PoFA, the operator cannot hold the Hirer liable for the charge. Any attempt to do so is a misrepresentation of the law and unenforceable.

Summary

The NtH issued to me as the Hirer is not compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and the operator has failed to establish liability. As such, I request that the IAS allows my appeal and cancels this PCN.

Yours faithfully,


[Your Full Name]

Hi all, an urgent question please given the IAS deadline for this appeal by my calculations is tomorrow (12/12/24).

So I've just tried entering the details on the IAS website for this appeal. I've used the short PCN number from ParkWatch, the long OCN number (just added 0s at the start), and have done this over multiple attempts, each time checking both PCN number & reg. to make sure its right. Keep getting this error message (I would've uploaded a photo of the error message but it wont be till later this evening) - I just wanted some quick advice please on how to manage.

"Your PCN or Registration Number has not been recognised. Please try again.

Please Note: If you have had your appeal rejected and you have been told to enter your appeal on this site but keep receiving this message; please contact the operator that issued the charge for assistance.

The IAS will not have the information to assist you at this stage.

Operator Contact Details can be found at www.theipc.info/aos-members."

The only contact details for ParkWatch on the PCN is the payment/appeal link, an automated payment call line, or a postal address. The link at the end of the IAS error message also dosen't work and just gives a 404 error message on the IPC website and nothing in the website seems to have any further details of this or other parking operators in general.

I'm just concerned they will later claim that I did not appeal to IAS in time, which of course would not be my fault, and it seems there isnt a way to call and tell them that on the IAS website these details aren't working. No other details have been received from ParkWatch re: any different details to appeal to IAS with, everything received is posted on the links in previous posts on this thread.

The best I could think of was to send them an email a screenshot of the error message with the PCN number and reg visible, such that I end up having something in writing if needed later, but the problem seems to be there isn't an email address for them either.

On ParkWatch's website itself the 'get in touch' form seems to be geared towards people seeking ParkWatch to manage their car park, so does the provided email address: managemycarpark@parkwatch.co.uk

The only other thing I can find is ParkWatch's 'complaints policy' on it website which says: "Motorists can submit a complaint via letter or by sending an email to complaints@parkwatch.co.uk" and a bit later that "All complaints must be acknowledged within 14 days and must be responded to within 28 days.
However, we aim to acknowledge within 5 working days and respond within 10 working days."

Please could you advise how to reach out to them and in such a way that both I am not liable for not appealing to IAS in time and also possibly if this can be used to say due to the error the PCN ought to be cancelled.

Post deleted as duplicated in error.