Southend Airport Express Drop Off

Hello,
My car was used to pick someone up from Southend Airport Station this evening. The driver pulled into the express drop off area as there are no signs saying about charges. In the area, there are signs everywhere saying don't forget to pay, but from what could be see, not a single one saying what the charges are, just saying 10 minutes max stay. There is a pay machine near the exit, but this requires a ticket and does not list charges for the express drop off area - it appears to be for the neigbouring short stay.

I will pull the dash cam footage tomorrow to grab details of visible signage.

Having googled since leaving, it turns out that there is a £8 fee.

Based on the lack of signage, and airports being relevant land, are we likely to win an appeal when the inevitable ticket arrives, or should we suck it up a d pay the £8 fee? The vehicle was stationary longer trying to find signs than the time for the passenger actually getting into the car!

I'll update with still from the dashcam tomorrow evening if useful, as Google maps has old imagery.

Hello,
My car was used to pick someone up from Southend Airport Station this evening. The driver pulled into the express drop off area as there are no signs saying about charges. In the area, there are signs everywhere saying don't forget to pay, but from what could be see, not a single one saying what the charges are, just saying 10 minutes max stay. There is a pay machine near the exit, but this requires a ticket and does not list charges for the express drop off area - it appears to be for the neigbouring short stay.

I will pull the dash cam footage tomorrow to grab details of visible signage.

Having googled since leaving, it turns out that there is a £8 fee.

Based on the lack of signage, and airports being relevant land, are we likely to win an appeal when the inevitable ticket arrives, or should we suck it up a d pay the £8 fee? The vehicle was stationary longer trying to find signs than the time for the passenger actually getting into the car!

Looking at the Southend Airport website you've got until midnight tomorrow to pay the fee, so it's not too late to deal with the matter before it escalates.

I know I can pay now to avoid the fine outright, but given there was no indication of having to pay until pulling in, and even then to indication ofnwhat the fee was, I'm loathed to pay them if their lack of signage saying the fee is sufficient to dispute it. If it's not, then obviously I would rather just pay the fee.

In my opinion you should pay £8 and be done with it. It’s likely to cost you time and effort contesting this, I believe the car parks are operated by VCS who are nasty and litigious and may well take you to court if you do not pay. Even if you do not identify the driver and appeal on the basis of the location not being “relevant land” they will dismiss your appeal with a load of rubbish and issue a county court claim in due course. You are right that if signs are unclear then you might get the IAS to uphold an appeal on this basis, but they only uphold a small number of appeals referred to them. Honestly, for £8 it’s not worth months of hassle in my opinion.

From what has been described, you’re not being penalised in any way, the fee if paid is the same as it would have been at the time. I don’t see the point of going down a path of not paying and contesting the relatively small amount, it’s not as if you’re now required to pay £100 if I understand this correctly.

If you don’t agree, then I suggest you search the forum for other cases at the same location.

Even if you do not identify the driver and appeal on the basis of the location not being “relevant land” they will dismiss your appeal with a load of rubbish and issue a county court claim in due course.



@jfollows , I understand your point about £8 possibly not being worth the time and hassle.



However, is that the only point you are making?

Or are you also saying that there is a chance that, if it gets to court, a court might find against the OP? Are there precedents on this?

It is one thing to tell the OP:

you are very likely to win, but it will cost you a lot of time, so you might want to consider paying £8 now

and quite another to tell them:

this may go to court, and, actually, the chance of you winning is not that high, it could go either way

It's pretty irrelevant.
If the original poster didn't pay the £8 yesterday, they're likely to be invoiced by VCS for £100, taken to court and possibly even forced to attend court. For £8 this doesn't make sense. They might also lose in court and have to pay more like £200 with costs.
Search the forum for VCS if you haven't done so already.

Again, I understand your point about a small sum not being worth the hassle, but that was not my question.
I understand that VCS is more litigious than other firms and more likely to take a motorist to court, whereas eg DCB Legal is notorious for rarely doing so. But that was not the question, either.

To be clearer, my question was:

what are the legal precedents when these firms take the registered keeper to court?
Do courts tend to accept that liability can never be transferred to the registered keeper?
Do courts ask the defendants if they were driving, and, if yes, then they find against them?

I have not been able to find answers to these questions. That's why I was asking. I think it would be useful context for the OP

You're not researching by searching the forum.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4 is the legal framework under which liability can be transferred.
Most cases never go to court but, yes, if they ever do nobody should open themselves up to a perjury charge by lying.
Many of these firms take people to court by raising a claim, which costs nothing, and by collecting when the defendant doesn't respond.
All very well documented here,
Look up how many claims are not defended and therefore given a judgment in default in favour of the claimant.
You are jumping on tried, tested and documented examples which you can find here.

I don't think this discussion is helping the original poster in any way, but feel free to open up a new thread if you want to engage further is my suggestion.

Again, my questions remain unanswered.

Yes, I did search both this forum and MoneySavingExpert.
Yes, I know about the Protection of Freedom Act.
Yes, I understand that a court outcome can never be guaranteed.
No, it never crossed my mind that anyone should ever lie in court.

But my questions remain.
What are the precedents on this?
Can a court ask if the Defendant was the driver, and, if so, find against them?
Can a court not find against the Defendant, even if they were the driver, because they should have been identified earlier in the process as the driver?
If the registered keeper can prove they were not the driver, can the Court ask them who was the driver and find against the driver?

I searched this forum and MSE but I have not found answers on these points.

Again, my questions remain unanswered.

The purpose of this thread is to assist the OP, not to answer your questions.

As stated this is for the OP`s help.

Unfortunately, different judges at different small claims courts can give different answers to such questions.

The original poster has not been back since http://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/southend-airport-express-drop-off/msg132019/#msg132019 so presumably either decided to pay £8 or take the implications described before then.
If I did not misunderstand, then paying what might be equivalent to the price of a pint of beer in London to close this down must surely be the sensible option. And yes, irrelevantly, I recall my first >50p pint in 1981, which was in London.