Free Traffic Legal Advice

My wife was recently issued with a PCN for allegedly going over the 3 hr stay in a Tesco car park. Despite two failed appeals we are now at the stage of taking it to popla. The pic of the car leaving the site is blurred to the extent that the last four digits of the reg number are illegible so due to lack of evidence we are not in a position to agree with UKPC that there has been an infraction.  Is this grounds for an appeal to popla.

Which PPC?

UKPC

The PoS folks perhaps not, but try to speak to a manager. Ideally take along receipts for purchases made on the date in question.

I don’t have receipts per se but could show a bank statement.

Certainly better than nothing.

Do you think popla would be receptive to the fact that the picture fails to identify the car leaving the area?

Probably not, but worth a go. I suppose a useful question to ask yourself would be: did your vehicle leave at the time alleged? UKPC have a blurry photo, but one that was seemingly good enough for their ANPR system to identify as your car. ANPR systems are error-prone, but if your car definitely entered the site, it must have left at some point - you can raise the potential of an error (and the burden of proof is ultimately on them to prove their case, not yours to disprove), but any evidence on your part that it was not your car would help.

If POPLA reject you, this is not the end of the world. UKPC generally make use of DCB Legal to do their County Court litigation for them - the good news there is that, while we cannot offer any guarantees, a solid pattern of behaviour has emerged with DCB Legal where, provided a defence is mounted, they inevitably discontinue before the matter reaches a court hearing. For some evidence of this pattern, look here: DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS.

The course of action that involves by far the least faffing around is convincing Tesco to intervene, so I'd put some effort into that first.