As some of you may know I work very closely with the Private Parking industry, so I thought a thread like this may be of some use to the members of CS.
Firstly I would like to point out that I do not work for a Private Parking Company and that I'm taking the time to post this thread to help other members understand the changes in law. I do NOT want this thread filled with peoples opinions on the Private Parking industry, nor do I want this thread littered with comments such as "Just ignore it, it will go away". This thread is for informational purposes on the changes in law and documentation provided by the Department For Transport, British Parking Association, Parking On Private Land Appeals and the Home Office. I will ask for this thread to be removed if that does happen, however any legitimate questions will be answered.
As of October 1st the laws have changed significantly with regards to PCNs (Parking Charge Notices) issued on private land in England and Wales. Now I know we have a few Scottish members on here so for their information; from what I've read and been told this law change does NOT apply to ANYONE parking on private land in Scotland, however, it does apply to a Scottish resident parking on private land in England and Wales.
The below applies for any PCN issued in England or Wales on or after 1st October 2012, any PCN issued prior to this date OR in Scotland will still be subject to the old laws.
So, a few things to note firstly.
Banning of clamping on private land
As set out in Section 54 of the "Protection of Freedoms Act 2012", clamping on private land has now been banned. It is now illegal for a private company to clamp and or tow your vehicle. This was one of the conditions of the new laws issued by the Department For Transport (DFT). The exception to this is where bylaws are enforced, such as some train stations and airports.
Keeper Liability
As of October 1st the registered keeper is liable for any parking charge notice in the event that:
They fails to provide a serviceable address for the driver within 28 days of the PCN being issued
They provide a name and address but said person claims to have not been the driver, the onus will then be on the registered keeper to prove otherwise
The keeper does not know who was driving the vehicle at the time the contravention took place
This removes the ability for the registered keeper to claim they were not driving the vehicle at the time of the contravention which gave Private Parking Companies (PPC's) a difficult task of pursuing the ticket as the keeper was under no legal obligation to provide details of the driver.
What to do if you are issued with a PCN.
1) Check that the PPC is a member of the BPA (British Parking Association) AOS (Approved Operators Scheme). A full list of members can be found here, although some PPC's may be a trading name/style of another parking company and therefore do not require membership for all trading names/styles. If they are a member it will be clearly displayed on any signs on the site you were issued the ticket or on the ticket itself.
If the PPC is NOT a member of the AOS then they cannot apply to the DVLA for your details so the PCN isn't worth the paper it's written on.
2) Check the PCN contains all the required information and that all information is correct.
A PCN must contain at least the following:
when and how the parking offence took place;
how much is due;
what any discount is for prompt payment of the charge;
how and to whom payment may be made;
the time and date when the notice was issued; and
what the arrangements are for the resolution of disputes or
complaints - this includes any internal arrangements offered by the
parking operator as well as any independent appeals process.
3) That a discount of 40% has been offered for payment within 14 days (minimum) and that the full ticket amount does not exceed £100. This is an amount that has been agreed by DFT, BPA and OFT (Office of Fair Trading) as a fair pre estimate of loss.
4) That the site of contravention has signs stating the parking terms and conditions of the site
If all of the above conditions are met then the ticket will stand up in court. If the above isn't correct I would strongly advise that you DO NOT ignore it. You should write to the PCC to state this and your ticket should be cancelled. If it is not your and your appeal is rejected then you will be provided with a POLPA appeals form and reference number where your appeal should be accepted if what you state is correct.
If your ticket was issued correctly but there are mitigating circumstances then again I would advise that you DO NOT ignore it. You should again write to the PPC explaining these circumstances, however, if your appeal is rejected you will still be provided with a POPLA appeals form but unfortunately POPLA do not have the authority to cancel a ticket based on mitigating circumstances, although they will investigate and speak to the PPC to advise that perhaps it should be cancelled. By rule of thumb PPC's go off a "Mail on Sunday" process, this means that they will cancel any ticket where they would not like it to appear in the press, for example if it was a man rushing his wife to hospital as she was in labor and the PPC issued them with a ticket for not displaying a pay and display ticket in their car.
PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU PLAN ON MAKING AN APPEAL YOU MUST PROVIDE ALL EVIDENCE TO THE PPC AND POLPA OR YOUR APPEAL WILL BE REJECTED.
What is POPLA?
POPLA (Parking On Private Land Appeals) is an Independent Appeal Service (IAS) brought in to give motorists a chance to a fair and unbiased appeal, this was one of the conditions set out under POFA 2012. The company brought in is the same company that deals with all council issued PCN's (in this case Penalty Charge Notices) issued in the Greater London area.
You cannot appeal to POPLA without first appealing to the PPC. If you fail to appeal to the PPC within 28 days then you will no longer have the right to appeal with POPLA. You will have 28 days; actually 35 days with the leeway added by the BPA - supposed to be a secret , to appeal to POPLA from the date on the letter of rejection received from the PPC, if you fail to appeal within this time then you will no longer have the right to appeal again to POPLA.
If you choose to appeal then the discounted amount of 40% will be revoked and in the event your appeal is rejected by both the PPC and POPLA you will have to pay the full ticket value.
PPC's will be charged £27 per case that goes to POPLA, so as you can imagine, they are not likely to reject a valid appeal. (I'm not entirely sure if they get charged this regardless of whether the appeal is successful or not).
The POPLA appeal form can be found here. Please note that you can NOT appeal to POPLA without a reference number provided by the PPC which they will also send to POPLA to allow them to verify which appeals have gone through the correct procedures.
I think I've covered everything but I've probably forgot a LOT. I'll have another check back at some point to see if I've missed anything. Hopefully this thread can be of some use to people.
My personal honest advice
The Private Parking industry is clamping down (excuse the pun) massively on this now. There are a lot of laws in place to make ticketing on private land fairer and better regulated. As such there WILL be a massive rise in the number of people taken to court over unpaid parking tickets. There are still some cowboy companies knocking around that give the legitimate PPC's a bad name, but I wouldn't take any advice from the people on pepipoo or money saving expert, I also wouldn't post anything on there if you do receive a letter or a PCN. Parking companies and Debt Collection Agencies alike are very active on there and love nothing more than making an example of anyone they can link to a PCN they have issued or are chasing on behalf of a PPC. We personally have taken pepipoo forum users and moderators to court and won. There was a very large thread on pepipoo for a court case between ourselves, a client (PPC) and a member of pepipoo. They were very convinced that they would win, however the case was laughed out of court and ourselves and the PPC won, as we personally have with EVERY case we have taken to court.
Honestly. If you've parked in breach of terms and conditions and have no valid reason for doing so then just pay the ticket. It's really not worth the hassle. If you want to appeal in the off chance you get your appeal accepted, then go ahead, you never know, you might just get your ticket cancelled but you will however forfeit the right to a discounted rate.
You could always ignore it and hope it never gets taken to court, but with the new regulations in place I'd personally say it isn't worth the risk, as tickets have just got a whole lot easier to enforce, but it's your choice.
I think I've covered everything but I've probably forgot a LOT. I'll have another check back at some point to see if I've missed anything. Hopefully this thread can be of some use to people.
P.S. To anyone who gets a ticket and moans that it's unfair and just a money making scheme blah blah blah. Why not just read the signs and stick to the VERY simple rules and regulations. It's not difficult, it's common sense, and lets face it, if you struggle to park within a marked bay, park for 8 hours in a car park close to a train station whilst you get a train to work or park in a disabled bay when you're perfectly fit and healthy, then you're an idiot, and deserve the ticket you get. If people could stick to a few simple rules, then all these "cowboys" would be out of a job and you'd never have to hear about them again.
