Free Traffic Legal Advice

Next step is your POPLA appeal. You actually have 32 days, not 28 days from the date of the email you received with your initial appeal rejection. No need to rush this.

The letter of complaint you have shown needs slight tweaking. Has that already been sent? If so, was it acknowledged as a complaint received?

What about the council? Did you contact anyone there. A similar complaint should be sent to the council. You just need to try and find the person/department responsible for the car park at that location. You may want to find the name of your local councillor and ask for their assistance in finding out who to complain to at the council.

Did you try to contact anyone at Torbay Council. They are the landowners and are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents, Premier Park Ltd. As such, they can instruct their agents to cancel the PCN. If you are not sure who to contact at the council and you are a local, try contacting your local councillor and asking them for help in dealing with this and pointing you in the right direction for who you should be complaining to at the council.

Your next step is going to be an appeal to POPLA. You have 32 days from the date of the rejection email to file your POPLA appeal. We will help you put that together. A complaint to the BPA is also in order for the failings of their member to fully comply with the BPA CoP section 16.5.

You can fire off a complaint to the BPA with the following:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Formal Complaint Against Premier Parking Ltd for Non-Compliance and Discrimination

I am writing to formally lodge a complaint against Premier Parking Ltd, an AOS member of the BPA, regarding the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued to me on [Date], PCN reference number [PCN Number], and their subsequent handling of my complaint.

Discrimination and Non-Compliance with the Equality Act

The PCN was issued for the alleged infringement of "not parked fully within the bay". The parking bay in question does not conform to the required standards set out in the “Inclusive Mobility” section of the Equality Act 2010 (EA) and as such, is a breach of the BPA Code of Practice section 16.5. As a disabled person, I require bays that meet the required standards to ensure I can safely and effectively access my vehicle. The inadequate width of the bay, due to it not having the extra 1,200mm width and with bollards on the edge, forced me to park with a minor and unavoidable deviation, with my tyre marginally touching the edge of the bay marking. This minor infringement was deemed de minimis and did not obstruct or inconvenience others.

By failing to provide disabled parking bays that meet the necessary standards, Premier Park Ltd has discriminated against me as a disabled person. Discrimination under the Equality Act is an offence in law. While Premier Park Ltd may not own the land, they are responsible for the management of the car park and must ensure that the disabled bays conform to legal requirements. A similar complaint is being lodged with the landowner, Torbay Council.

Breach of BPA Code of Practice and Inadequate Response

Moreover, the failure of Premier Park Ltd to adequately respond to my complaint, separate from my appeal, constitutes a breach of the BPA Code of Practice section 9.7. Section 16.5 of the BPA Code of Practice stipulates that operators must have regard to their duties under the Equality Act. Issuing a PCN for a de minimis infringement in a non-compliant disabled parking bay, and then ignoring a legitimate complaint about this issue, is neither reasonable nor proportionate.

Request for BPA Review and Action

In light of these points, I request the BPA to:
1. Conduct a thorough investigation into this matter.
2. Take appropriate action against Premier Park Ltd for non-compliance with the Equality Act and the BPA Code of Practice.
3. Mandate the cancellation of the unjust PCN.
4. Ensure that Premier Park Ltd rectifies the bay dimensions to comply with the “Inclusive Mobility” standards.

I would appreciate your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response and a resolution to this issue.

Yours faithfully,

[Your Name]

thanks so much for your time, I didnt get the messages at first only "edited : hence not understanding.

Yes I did make formal complaint to torbay council it is under investigation as copied below. Normally anything they employ  firms to do, they dont ever monitor these firms and there are always problems which they never learn to start monitoring them

the one to premier was a formal complaint but they dont seem to have took it as a formal complaint. just an appeal.
thankyou for the BPA letter that looks so good will send that and what for others to reply too


the response form Torbay Council was
"The Council operates a one stage complaint procedure. Complaints are investigated by either an officer within the relevant department or by the Information Governance Team.  Where a complaint is investigated within the department, the Information Governance Team will review the response to ensure it has been investigated thoroughly and fairly and provides an independent review of the response prior to it being sent.
 
We are currently arranging for your complaint to be investigated under the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure and you should expect to receive a response by 12 June 2024. If there is going to be a delay we will notify you as soon as possible.
 
Further information on the Council's Complaints Procedure can be found online at www.torbay.gov.uk/complaints
 
With regards to the issues raised in your complaint, I understand these to be as follows:
That Premier Parking who the Council employ fail to comply with BPA CoP Section 16.5 and have discriminated against you as disabled person.
Torbay Council as landowner fails to provide fully accessible parking bays at Wren Retail Park, Torquay TQ2 7BJ, such as an end disabled parking bay with bollards on one side without the extra 1200mm space recommended by 'inclusive mobility' in the relevant part of the Equality Act 2010 is related to disability discrimination.
Disabled parking bays are also situated in unsafe areas such as the middle of the car park, making it unsafe for disabled people to cross the car park to get to the shops.
Should Premier Parking not cancel the PCN their discrimination goes from 'indirect' to 'direct' discrimination.
The outcome you are seeking from your complaint is:
You would like to know how many disabled people are employed on this retail site and how many disabled parking spaces there are.
The parking spaces need to be redesigned.
If we have misunderstood the issues or outcome you seek, please reply to this email within 10 working days clarifying clearly, the issues and outcome sought.
 
Should you wish to challenge or appeal a PCN you have been issued by Premier Parking you will need to contact them directly and follow their process. "
 

BPA won't get involved until the complaints process of the operator has been concluded, which given they've seemingly treated your complaint as an appeal, it hasn't been.

The scent of desperation in that operator response. It is also fairly obvious that whoever wrote it is either ignorant or just plain stupid when they refer to "a reasonable grace period to check the terms and conditions" when it is a consideration period, not a grace period. Not that you can use their intellectual malnourishment against them in your POPLA response. Pity.

In your response to the operators response, you must highlight that the photos the operator provided are old and the signs are not present there now as evidenced in the photos you sent in. Also highlight that they have not responded to your claim that they have breached the BPA CoP in that the disabled parking bay does not meet their own guidelines nor those under the Equalities Act.

"The hatched markings are in place to allow disabled motorists additional space to manoeuvre around the vehicle and are used by motorists on both sides. They do not form part of the marked bay.". The bay in question, whilst marked as a disabled bay, does not provide additional space on one side and the driver had no option but to park as they did in order to be able to manoeuvre around the vehicle in order to access their wheelchair.

The operators response does not explain why they have not allowed the driver the "additional space to manoeuvre" in order to access their wheelchair. The driver has protected characteristics  and has been discriminated against because the operator has been treated less favourably than it treats or would treat others by providing a disable parking space that does not comply with the requirements of both those stipulated in the guidance in the Equality Act and in the BPAs own CoP.

Keep going through their response and list all the points they either haven't answered or are trying to squirm out of that you raised. You are limited to how much you can put in your response as you have to use their pathetic little webspace. I think it may be limited to 10,000 characters  so you may want to format your response in a text editor that can do a character count for you.

Hi
This is all I have managed to write as a response  as chronically ill to POPLA regarding premiers response if anyone can comment on it. I did ask for extra time due to not being able to do anything which I got an extra week.
Also had a refusal to uphold my complaint by Torbay Council on grounds of discrimination as copied AT END.
as they have 6 compliant disabled space??

My response for Popla grateful for any comments BELOW

"Premier Parking state, “The hatched markings are in place to allow disabled motorists additional space to manoeuvre around the vehicle and are used by motorists on both sides. They do not form part of the marked bay.
By the Appellant parking not wholly within a bay and over these markings, the vehicle was further causing an obstruction.”

No part of my vehicle was on the hatched markings, as evidenced by Premier Parking’s supplied photo. Therefore, my car was neither an obstruction to any other vehicle or to any other wheelchair user.


Premier Parking state, “motorists are given a reasonable grace period to check the terms and conditions and to leave the site before a PCN is issued.”

This is both inaccurate, misleading, and discriminatory. According to the law, it is a consideration period; not a grace period, and because there were no terms and conditions displayed at the disabled parking bays so therefore were no notices for me to consider and thus no contract was entered into. To add further insult, to expect me to leave the site because I had not read a notice that was ultimately not visible from the disable parking bay, is wholly discriminatory against myself as a disabled person.


Premier Parking states, “It is the driver’s responsibility to seek out the terms and conditions and ensure that they understand them, before agreeing to the contract and parking.”

A stated in my response above, there were no terms and conditions at all, that were visible from anywhere near the disabled bay in question. This is against regulations / law, that require such notices to be observable from the disabled bay itself. As such, no terms and conditions could be read or accepted, and thus no contract entered into.

The pictures provided by Premier Parking to illustrate positioning of such notices, are actually from 2017 and 2019, as evidenced by the fact they show Mothercare which closed down over 5 years ago, These photos do not portray the positioning of the signs as they are today. In reality, the nearest notice, from my subsequent research, is half way across the centre of the carpark, as shown by my own photos that were supplied previously, in a location that can easily be missed, is dangerous in the middle of the road  and is in no way observable from the disabled car parking bay as legally required as facing opposite way.

For Premier Parking to insist that a disabled person should hunt around the car park for these notices, is both disgusting and discriminatory.
It is actually the responsibility of the operator to ensure that the terms and conditions of parking are visible from a disabled parking space. Premier Parking have quite clearly failed in this regard.


Premier Parking did not respond at all to the fact they have breached the BPA CoP in that the disabled parking bay does not meet expected practice, as well as fail the Equality Act.
They offered no explanation for why they failed to provide the 1200mm of additional hatched space for access for wheelchair users as required by law. If their parking bay had met these guidelines, I would have been able to park within the bay, without my tyre on the yellow line because I would have had ample space to operate my wheelchair to access both sides of the car? However, this was not the case.

Further more, no explanation was given by Premier Parking for why boulders have been placed on the line of a disabled parking space that should have had 1200mm of space and did not. To place boulders there, and then penalise people for having to position their vehicle accordingly so that doors can be opened and wheelchairs removed, is both ridiculous and discriminatory against wheelchair users.
It also makes it difficult to turn into to park and dangerous.Probably a Health and Safety issue.

I have protected characteristics and have been discriminated against because Premier Parking have treated me less favourably than it treats others, by providing a disabled parking space that does not comply with the requirements of both those stipulated in the guidance in the Equality Act and in the BPA’s own CoP".




COUNCIL RESPONSE TO FORMAL COMPLAINT
"That Premier Parking who the Council employ fail to comply with BPA CoP Section 16.5 and have discriminated against you as disabled person.
Torbay Council as landowner fails to provide fully accessible parking bays at Wren Retail Park, Torquay TQ2 7BJ, such as an end disabled parking bay with bollards on one side without the extra 1200mm space recommended by 'inclusive mobility' in the relevant part of the Equality Act 2010 is related to disability discrimination.
Disabled parking bays are also situated in unsafe areas such as the middle of the car park, making it unsafe for disabled people to cross the car park to get to the shops.
Should Premier Parking not cancel the PCN their discrimination goes from “indirect” to “direct” discrimination.
Your desired outcome
The outcome you seek from your complaint is:
You would like to know how many disabled people are employed on this retail site and how many disabled parking spaces there are.
For the parking spaces to be redesigned.
What I have investigated
Set out below are the key issues that have been investigated:
What are the Council’s responsibilities in respect of the car park at Wren Park. 
What reasonable adjustments we are required to make in respect of parking available at the site.
The Council’s Complaints Procedure
The Council operates a one stage complaint procedure. Complaints are investigated by either an officer within the relevant department or by the Information Compliance Team.  Where a complaint is investigated within the department, the Information Compliance Team will review the response to ensure it has been investigated thoroughly and fairly and provides an independent review of the response prior to it being sent.
How I considered your complaint
In investigating your complaint, I have:
Spoken with our legal services department who in turn have liaised with Paul Palmer, Strategic Head of Asset Management and Colliers who manage the estate for us at Wren Park.
Considered the responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.
Considered the guidance Inclusive Mobility and the BPA Code of Practice.
Background
Torbay Council own the Wren Park site as a commercial investment property. Council / public services are not provided in relation to this site.  The car park is for use exclusively by our tenants in the carrying out of their business, which are the retail units operating at the site.  The site itself is managed on our behalf by a third-party agent.

A Disability Access Audit of the site was carried out in 2022 by an independent organisation. The site itself has circa 180 parking bays.  The Inclusive Mobility 2021 guidance recommends:
For car parks associated with shopping areas, leisure or recreational facilities, and places open to the general public: a minimum of one space for each employee who is a disabled motorist, plus 6% of the total capacity for visiting disabled motorists.

This 6% would equal approximately 11 spaces.

In respect of the space available to allow for access the guidance recommends:
Where the spaces are perpendicular to the access aisle, an additional width of 1200mm should be provided on each side. This extra width may be shared with adjacent spaces.

The audit carried out in respect of parking at Wren Park identified the following provision at the site:
7 accessible parking spaces with a 1200mm clearance either side, but none to the rear.
6 accessible parking spaces with a 1200mm clearance to one side with none to the rear.

In order to achieve full compliance with the guidance, it has been identified that 4 of the 13 accessible parking spaces with 1200mm clearance to one side would need to be upgraded to benefit from 1200mm clearance on both sides and an additional 1200mm clearance would need to be added to the rear.

The Inclusive Mobility guidance 2021 is a best practice guide and specific requirements in respect of accessible parking spaces are not set out in legislation.

Investigation

That Premier Parking who the Council employ fail to comply with BPA CoP Section 16.5 and have discriminated against you as disabled person.

Having considered the BPA Code in place at the time of this complaint, I do not agree that the parking available at Wren Park fails to comply with the code.  The code states as follows:
16.1 The Equality Act 2010 says that providers of services to the public must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to remove barriers which may discriminate against disabled people.
16.2 ‘Reasonable adjustments’ to prevent discrimination are likely to include larger ‘disabled’ parking spaces near to the entrance or amenities for disabled people whose mobility is impaired.

As the audit of the car park has identified, reasonable adjustments have been made in that there are accessible spaces available at Wren Park and these are close to the entrance of the retail units, these spaces are larger in size and do have additional space around them.

Torbay Council as landowner fails to provide fully accessible parking bays at Wren Retail Park, Torquay TQ2 7BJ, such as an end disabled parking bay with bollards on one side without the extra 1200mm space recommended by 'inclusive mobility' in the relevant part of the Equality Act 2010 is related to disability discrimination.

The Inclusive Mobility guidance 2021 is a best practice guide and specific requirements in respect of accessible parking spaces are not set out in legislation. As set out above, there are reasonable adjustments in place in respect of spaces which are designated as accessible parking spaces and these are larger, with additional space around them.

It is recognised within the audit that there are a total of 13 accessible bays which is in excess of the recommended 6% of bays.  However, the audit did identify that 4 of the accessible parking spaces with 1200mm clearance to one side would need to be upgraded to benefit from 1200mm clearance on both sides and an additional 1200mm clearance would need to be added to the rear. This would ensure full compliance with the guidance.

Therefore, I am satisfied that whilst there are some improvements which could be made to the car park, there are accessible bays available at Wren Park and there is no contravention of the Equality Act 2010.

Disabled parking bays are also situated in unsafe areas such as the middle of the car park, making it unsafe for disabled people to cross the car park to get to the shops.

It is noted that 2 of the accessible parking spaces are located in the middle of the car park, with the majority of the accessible spaces available directly in front of the retail units and thereby complying with the recommendation associated with location in the guidance:
Ideally, designated accessible spaces should be located adjacent, or as close as possible, to the entrance to the facility they serve and no more than 50 metres away.  The route between parking place and venue should be well maintained with no obstructions to access.

Should Premier Parking not cancel the PCN their discrimination goes from “indirect” to “direct” discrimination.
This is a matter for Premier Parking to consider whether the PCN was issued correctly for a contravention identified at the time. As such this is not a matter which Torbay Council can consider.
Consideration of Outcomes Requested
In investigating your complaint, I have also considered the outcomes requested:

You would like to know how many disabled people are employed on this retail site and how many disabled parking spaces there are.

We do not hold information about how many disabled people and / or disabled motorists are employed at the retail site.

The number of accessible parking spaces is as set out above:

7 accessible parking spaces with a 1200mm clearance either side, but none to the rear.
6 accessible parking spaces with a 1200mm clearance to one side with none to the rear.


For the parking spaces to be redesigned.
The improvements highlighted within the audit were identified as medium and low priority requirements.  Although it has been noted that our agent will be requesting a follow up review / audit be undertaken.
Conclusions
Whilst it is noted that there are some improvements which could be made to the accessible parking facilities at Wren Park, I am satisfied from my investigation that reasonable adjustments have been made to allow for an appropriate number of accessible spaces.   

I therefore do not uphold your complaint.
Recommendations
As a result of this investigation, the following recommendations have been made:
That the Council fully consider the recommendations from any further audit undertaken.
Parts of the complaint I did not investigate
I have not investigated the following complaint issue:

Should Premier Parking not cancel the PCN their discrimination goes from “indirect” to “direct” discrimination.
As stated above, this is a matter for Premier Parking to consider whether the PCN was issued correctly for a contravention identified at the time. As such this is not a matter which Torbay Council can consider.  However, we have requested from you in an email sent on 27 June 2024, details of the PCN issued as the agent we use to manage the site has said they may be able to consider this matter.

So they have taken it as a 'simple appeal' and not a formal complaint.

So now you need to take the complaint to the BPA and one prong will be the fact they haven't even addressed the complaint in the reply contrary to the CoP as well.

Also you need to prepare a POPLA appeal although they are poor on the equalities act, this is so egregious that it may just spark their interest.

Hello everyone thankyou
no I havent written to the newspaper, ive had enough struggle writing POPLA reply Im chronically ill so in bed most of time and neurologically struggle.

 B789 Premier have not complied with the BPA sign readable from the car, they sent photos from over 5 years ago which are not there today and I sent photo showing this to POPLA originally showing no sign and so saying there is no contract
I have complained to the BPA but no response as yet but did originally try to get out of it.
I did send details of my PCN too the council for premier to decide apparently even though they are overall responsible

The Rookie My POPLA appeal response to Premiers comments on my submission was there at the beginning of this post for comments, and teh original in this thread.

thanks again everyone