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    • the Town and Country [advertisments ] Regulations 2007 are not easy to understand. Most Council planing officials don't so it's good that you found one who knows. Although he may not have been right if the rogues have not been "controlling" in the car park for that long. The time only starts when the ANPR signs go up, not how long the area has been used as a car park.   Sadly I have checked Highview out and they have been there since at least 2014 . I have looked at the BPA Code of Practice version 8 which covers 2023 and that states Re Consideration and Grace Periods 13.3 Where a parking location is one where a limited period of parking is permitted, or where drivers contract to park for a defined period and pay for that service in advance (Pay & Display), this would be considered as a parking event and a Grace Period of at least 10 minutes must be added to the end of a parking event before you issue a PCN. It then goes on to explain a bit more further down 13.5 You must tell us the specific consideration/grace period at a site if our compliance team or our agents ask what it is. 13.6 Neither a consideration period or a grace period are periods of free parking and there is no requirement for you to offer an additional allowance on top of a consideration or grace period. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________So you have  now only overstayed 5 minutes maximum since BPA quote a minimum of 10 minutes. And it may be that the Riverside does have a longer period perhaps because of the size of the car park? So it becomes even more incumbent on you to remember where the extra 5 minutes could be.  Were you travelling as a family with children or a disabled person where getting them in and out of the car would take longer. Was there difficulty finding a space, or having to queue to get out of the car park . Or anything else that could account for another 5 minutes  without having to claim the difference between the ANPR times and the actual times.
    • Regarding a driver, that HAS paid for parking but input an incorrect Vehicle Registration Number.   This is an easy mistake to make, especially if a driver has access to more than one vehicle. First of all, upon receiving an NTK/PCN it is important to check that the Notice fully complies with PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 before deciding how to respond of course. The general advice is NOT to appeal to the Private Parking Company as, for example, you may identify yourself as driver and in certain circumstances that could harm your defence at a later stage. However, after following a recent thread on this subject, I have come to the conclusion that, in the case of inputting an incorrect Vehicle Registration Number, which is covered by “de minimis” it may actually HARM your defence at a later stage if you have not appealed to the PPC at the first appeal stage and explained that you DID pay for parking and CAN provide proof of parking, it was just that an incorrect VRN was input in error. Now, we all know that the BPA Code of Practice are guidelines from one bunch of charlatans for another bunch of charlatans to follow, but my thoughts are that there could be problems in court if a judge decides that a motorist has not followed these guidelines and has not made an appeal at the first appeal stage, therefore attempting to resolve the situation before it reaches court. From BPA Code of Practice: Section 17:  Keying Errors B) Major Keying Errors Examples of a major keying error could include: • Motorist entered their spouse’s car registration • Motorist entered something completely unrelated to their registration • Motorist made multiple keying errors (beyond one character being entered incorrectly) • Motorist has only entered a small part of their VRM, for example the first three digits In these instances we would expect that such errors are dealt with appropriately at the first appeal stage, especially if it can be proven that the motorist has paid for the parking event or that the motorist attempted to enter their VRM or were a legitimate user of the car park (eg a hospital patient or a patron of a restaurant). It is appreciated that in issuing a PCN in these instances, the operator will have incurred charges including but not limited to the DVLA fee and other processing costs therefore we believe that it is reasonable to seek to recover some of these costs by making a modest charge to the motorist of no more than £20 for a 14-day period from when the keying error was identified before reverting to the charge amount at the point of appeal. Now, we know that the "modest charge" is unenforceable in law, however, it would be up to the individual if they wanted to pay and make the problem go away or in fact if they wanted to contest the issue in court. If the motorist DOES appeal to the PPC explaining the error and the PPC rejects the appeal and the appeal fails, the motorist can use that in his favour at court.   Defence: "I entered the wrong VRN by mistake Judge, I explained this and I also submitted proof of payment for the relevant parking period in my appeal but the PPC wouldn't accept that"   If the motorist DOES NOT appeal to the PPC in the first instance the judge may well use that as a reason to dismiss the case in the claimant's favour because they may decide that they had the opportunity to resolve the matter at a much earlier stage in the proceedings. It is my humble opinion that a motorist, having paid and having proof of payment but entering the wrong VRN, should make an appeal at the first appeal stage in order to prevent problems at a later stage. In this instance, I think there is nothing to be gained by concealing the identity of the driver, especially if at a later stage, perhaps in court, it is said: “I (the driver) entered the wrong VRN.” Whether you agree or not, it is up to the individual to decide …. but worth thinking about. Any feedback, especially if you can prove to the contrary, gratefully received.
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    • deed?  you mean consent order you and her signed? concluding the case as long as you nor she break it's conditions signed upto? dx  
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East Anglia or North London - your meter readings may be reversed


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I work as a meter reader for Southern and cover the majority of Norfolk (exluding the Kings Lynn/Fens area and the south west of the county) and some of North Suffolk.

 

I would urge all people that live in the Eastern area and are supplied by Southern (or Atlantic, Marks & Spencer, or Ebico) and have a day and night meter to check whether their readings are billed the wrong way round or not. Please note the Eastern area covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, a small part of Buckinghamshire (I believe) and much of North (and North West) London.

 

The problem stems as follows:

 

Traditionally in the Eastern area rate 2 is the day rate and rate 1 is the night rate. (some day and night meters display only rate 1 and 2 on the digital display, rather than quoting normal and low). Now, Southern (being originally based in the South of England and parts of Scotland) traditionally do things the other way round: they term rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate.

 

If your day and night meter was fitted by Siemens (or some other contractor they have used) then rate 2 will be the day rate and rate 1 the night rate. There should be a card placed behind the meter if this is the case.

 

However, Southern started changing their own meters in the Eastern area at some point during 2010 (I don't know when exactly unfortunately). If your day and night meter was changed (or you moved from a single rate meter to a day and night meter) during 2010 or 2011 I would urge you all to check your bills. This is because Southern use rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate in the Eastern area.

If Southern have changed the meter, there should be a sticker placed on the meter board (ie: the wooden board on which the meter is attached), rather than a card placed behind the meter. THIS MEANS THAT RATE 1 IS THE DAY AND RATE 2 IS THE NIGHT.

 

Unfortunately, meter readers are not informed of the past readings on our handheld machines so unless we see the meter in front of our eyes (and even then this is not failproof) we cannot be sure which is the day and which is the night rate. If you leave a card out for the meter reader, you need to know which is the day and which is the night rate - otherwise you run the risk of being grossly over (or under) charged. Please bear the above in mind.

 

 

I anticipate that a lot of Southern customers that are on the day and night tariff, and live in the Eastern metering area, will encounter problems with their bills in future. They are quite likely to have their readings transposed.

 

This may also apply to other areas of the country too. However, I believe most other areas class rate 1 as the day rate ands rate 2 as tge night rate. Unfortunately, the Eastern area traditiionally does it the other way round. Norfolk has a saying of "we do things different". Well, it doesn't really help here!

 

In conclusion, what rate 1 and 2 stand for on your meter will be detrmined by who has fitted the meter. Please be aware of this and prevent future problems!

 

 

Site moderators - would it be possible to put this post on as a sticky on the site? I think this would be very useful!

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Thanks for this. Are you using your real name? I don't think that the companies would be too pleased about this - even if it is true

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Also, amzingly, I am sure that we had someone complaining exactly about this problam a few days ago.

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Also, amzingly, I am sure that we had someone complaining exactly about this problam a few days ago.

 

BF, is this the one you are thinking of.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?304165-Transposed-E7-meter-readings

 

Have popped a link to this revalation on the above thread :)

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Yes, it is my real name. There are only four other meter readers employed by Southern covering the same geographical area as me.

I was thinking that the thread would be useful to Southern as well as myself (I have brought it up to my manager at work) as it will mean hopefully that some customers are able to understand why they may be getting excessively high bills at an at an early stage - thus making it easier for Southern to resolve the issue when the customer contacts them.

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I've sent you a pm and also an email

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Reading this posting about Atlantic faulty billing reminded me of a slightly different experience regarding the actual (faulty) computation of the figurework on their bills when there was no confusion about the actual meter reading or number of units used.

 

Please see my separate post below headed "Atlantic gas & electric possible faulty billings software (not re night & day)"

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I had this problem with EON. Some years ago, they decided that the meters were the wrong way round and switched them over without doing a physical check. Then two years ago (2009) they swapped the meters back AND back billed me for the whole period (not allowed by their code of practice). While checking the meters I noticed that meters were very old (certified March 1986) and hence probably being used well past their legal life (typically 10 years)

 

I complained to the Energy Ombudsman pointing out that I felt that when meters are transposed this should not be done without a physical check and that I was concerned that the meters were being used past their certified life.

 

Re the transposition with out a physical check, the Energy Ombudsman felt that EON "could do this".

 

Re the age of the meters, initially I was told that EON's records showed that the meters were replaced May 1998. When I challenged this the replacement date changed to August 1997. But again I had irrefutable evidence that the meters were not replaced then.

 

I have given up on getting the Energy Ombudsman to do anything.

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Jeremy, this is interesting. Whos is the energy ombudsman? I haven't heard of this before

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They are supposed to resolve complaints from consumers about the energy companies. But is funded by the energy utilities. They relaunched in April this year but based on my experience they have a lot of work to do.

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Ta

Have you got a link to their website please

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