Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all

I have received, and appealed, a private parking ticket from a company who are registered with POPLA.  My appeal was rejected by the private company even though I have shared evidence in my appeal that proves I wasn't in the country at the time the ticket was issued.  I understand that I am under no obligation to determine who was driving the car at the time.  I have requested evidence from the private company to help me identify who was driving the car, and they have been unable to share any with me.  They shared photos of my vehicle, but they don't show who was driving the car.

They have said only the driver can continue the appeal with POPLA, not me as the registered keeper.  And they have given me a short time period to pay the fine.

From reading up on this, as far as I can tell they do have the option to take me to court, but on the basis I can prove I wasn't in the country, I imagine I would have a strong case.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

If they really say that only the driver can use POPLA, this is a lie. More likely, they have sent the standard fishing letter trying to get you to divulge the identity of the driver, which you can ignore, and in due course they will reject your appeal “after careful consideration” but send you a POPLA code which you can use on the simple basis that keeper liability under PoFA does not apply in Scotland. Essentially they are trying to scare/trick you into paying up because that’s all they care about.

If you think otherwise, please post what you have received rather than leaving us in the dark.

Yes, the statement about only the driver being able to use POPLA is untrue, but fortunately POPLA isn’t party to this falsehood, so since you have a POPLA code you should construct an appeal and I suggest you post it here first because you seem side-tracked by unimportant things.
As registered keeper you can not be held liable because PoFA 2012 does not apply in Scotland and therefore they can only pursue the driver, whom you will not be naming.
POPLA will cancel this, but any case would be laughed out of court on the same basis anyway.

Personally I would take the debt collector letters and use them as free toilet paper.

Thank you, that’s good to know.

Good to learn something new!

So ignore, then, and don’t think any more about it.

A Scottish Keeper cannot use POPLA unless they are appealing as the driver. @jfollows, when making definitive statements, pease make sure you are not misunderstanding the legal implications of your statements.

For the OP, Do not even attempt to make a POPLA appeal. Do not contact the parking company again.

You haven't shown us exactly what you put in your appeal but as long as the driver has not been identified, just get on with your life and ignore everything that these rogue companies send you from now on. NOTHING is going to happen.

Ignore all useless debt recovery letters. These bottom-dwelling firms are powerless to do anything except try and scare the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying up out of ignorance and fear. Never, ever communicate with a powerless debt collector. You can safely shred their letters and use them as hamster bedding. Ignore.

Eventually, they will give up because they have absolutely no way yo recover anything from the Keeper and the have no idea of the drivers identity. Asking them to help you identify the driver is a really silly move. Why on earth would you want to assist an unregulated private parking company to identify the driver... in Scotland?

For now, in Scotland, if you receive a Notice to Keeper (NtK) for an alleged parking contravention on private land, you simply appeal as the Keeper and refer them to the answer given in Arkell v Pressdram (1971). Nothing will happen.