Parking 'fine' from Parking Collection Services Ltd.......

[Flat]

yeah I have tried, I have copy pasted it more than once and it keeps coming in as one massive chunk.

 

Not sure whats up with thathere it is again, sorry[noparse]I have googled this/read forum entries on here and MoneySavingExpert and am pretty certain I am correct in my approach.

 

Let me outline the situation I find myself in.I work in a hopsital as a salaried member of staff. I am disabled and hold a valid blue badge, but I dont always park in a disabled bay as some days I am better than others.

 

I also have a valid staff parking permit which I pay for, and valid daily parking scratchcards which I pay for. There arent enough spaces to go round, and the staff car park is only accessible with staff swipe cards.

 

The car park is 'managed' by CP PLus.Now I received through the post just before christmas a letter from 'Parking Collection Services Ltd' alleging that I had ignored a 'Parking Charge Notice' and now that 28 days has passed I allegedly now owe them £80.

 

The reason given was 'parking in a disabled bay'. No Parking Charge Notice had been affixed to my car. I had my staff permit on display, my staff scratchcard on display and my blue badge on the dash.

 

If I am honest I couldnt 100% swear that the blue badge was on display but I am certain it was.

 

I emailed them this, along with scans of my blue badge, permits and other supporting evidence and stated that I believed the ticket was issued in error as I am fully entitled to park in a disabled bay, that my staff parking costs are all fully paid and up to date and therefore the ticket issued was wrong.

 

I got the following reply:

 

I thank you for your email and note the contents.A Parking Charge Notice was issued to your vehicle ---------- on -- November 2012 at the site of --------------- Hospital because your vehicle was parked in a disabled bay without displaying a valid permit contrary to the site’s terms and conditions.

 

I acknowledge receipt of your disabled badge and your attachments therein. The bays in question on the site are reserved for valid disabled badge holders only; with such on clear display.

 

There are clear and sufficient signs warning drivers that should they park their vehicle, without a valid disabled badge on clear display, then this could result in a PCN being issued.

 

On -- November 2012 there was no such valid disabled badge on clear display, in contravention of the terms and conditions of the site. As such, a PCN was correctly and legitimately issued.

 

There are nearly 8.5 million people with disabilities in this country and driving provides the means for disabled people to access goods and services; and being able to park in accessible, wide parking bays are vital parts of this accessibility.

 

We have consulted with and taken advice from organisations for people with disabilities who aim to improve awareness among the general public of the impact misuse has on disabled people.

 

We strongly feel that being disabled brings enough obstacles and difficulties without the misuse of disabled bays and aim to ensure that designated disabled persons parking bays are used only by those entitled to do so.

 

If you are the holder of a disabled permit, I would like to remind you of your obligations under the Blue Badge Scheme: “When using the parking concessions you must display the badge on the dashboard or facia panel, where it can be clearly read through the front windscreen.

 

If there is no dashboard or facia panel in your vehicle, you must still display the badge in a place where it can be clearly read from outside the vehicle. The front of the badge should face upwards, showing the wheelchair symbol...

 

You must also ensure that the details on the front of the badge remain legible. If they become unreadable through fading or wear and tear, you must return the badge to your local authority so they can issue you with a new one.

 

Displaying a badge that is illegible may result in a parking fine.”(DFT Blue Badge Scheme Booklet 2007, page 9) “It is down to you to use the Blue Badge properly.

 

The badge and its concessions are for your use only. It is a criminal offence for you or anyone else to misuse the badge, and doing so could lead to a £1,000 fine.

 

Making sure that the scheme is not abused will benefit genuine badge holders...”(DFT Blue Badge Scheme Booklet 2007, page 7) Please see the following internet link for a copy of the Blue Badge Scheme Booklet:

 

[CANT POST LINKS SORRY]

 

I understand that this is not the desired outcome.

 

However, unless further evidence is provided, the decision on this matter is final.

 

Furthermore, while any further correspondence contesting the decision will be noted and filed, I cannot assure you of a response unless fresh evidence is provided that would have a bearing on the decision.

 

As a gesture of goodwill, I will place the account of £80.00 on hold for 14 days to allow time for payment to be made. I am willing to split the balance into two monthly instalments and if you would like to discuss this option, please contact the office as soon as possible.

 

However, if no payment is received within this period, the matter will be passed on to a debt recovery agency for collection; with further costs incurred as a result.

 

Now this got my goat as I felt it was quite a condescending email, they didnt acknowledge my position at all and it annoyed me, especially the 'goodwill' bit. I replied:

 

I acknowledge receipt of your email dated --/01/2012.Without prejudice I would like to raise the following points: - Thank you for acknowledging your receipt of the scan of my current blue badge, verifying my entitlement to park in disabled parkingspaces, and my current trust parking permit as well as my ‘disabled’exempt tax disc.-

 

No Parking Charge Notice (PCN) was affixed to my windscreen on the day of the alleged offence.- I strongly dispute the alleged offence, and have no intention inpaying what I believe is an erroneous fine as I am fully entitled to park in a disabled bay and have current, valid documentation to prove this.

 

In addition, please provide any photographic evidence you may have of this alleged offence because as of todays date , -- January 2012, you have failed to do so.

 

I just want to check that I am ok to ignore this, as I dont believe I have done anything wrong. All the talk about the debt collectors and solicitors etc is a bit alarming!

 

I have photos of the parking bays and there is no signage about blue badges whatsoever - just about the trust parking permits. I havent heard anything from them yet but I fully intend to ignore any further communicatons and not give them any money.

 

Correct me if i am wrong but as my employer is the land owner, it would have to be my employer that would take me to court not the parking collection people but that couldnt happen as I am fully paid up so the landowner has not lost out on anything?Basically, no matter what they send me, is ignoring this the right thing to do?

 

CheersF[/noparse]

Edited January 5, 2013 by citizenB
formatting

[stu007]

Hi Flat

 

Could you please 'EDIT' your first post for us and put some paragraphs in their as its difficult to read as a whole due to its size.

 

Thanks.

 

Also I would at the least expect them to provide physical evidence that you contravined the disabled bay by not displaying a Blue Badge by providing 'Photographic Evidence' so have they provided this or just the speculative invoice?

Edited January 5, 2013 by stu007

[Flat]

wow its done it again, sorry I dont know why that is doing that, might be the rubbish computers at work. can a Mod/admin try editi it for me please?thanksf

[memgrubb]

This is a PPC there is no 'appeals' process.

 

'Marked' bays in a private car park are no more than graffiti.

 

Ignore and refrain from any future correspodence relating to this speculative invoice.

[stu007]

Hi Flat

 

Not to worry I will ask the Site Team for you.

 

Request sent to Site Team for you

[Flat]

thats what I thought, I just wasnt sure where I stood completely, I am well happy to ignore but swmbo was getting a bit worried.again apologies for my weird editing, will try it again from home in a few hours. it seems to be doing it on all my posts and I have tried the BBcode and that didnt work either.....

[dx100uk]

copy from NOTEPAD

 

not word etc

 

dx

[stu007]

Hi Flat

 

Dont Worry about the editing its not a problem have asked the site team if they could fix for you.

 

Did they just send the speculative invoice without any photographic evidence? Who is to say that individual isnt just clocking up their ticket quota for the day so to speak.

[Flat]

nope, no photographic evidence received yet. Just their letter and the emails above.Will copy from notepad next time, rather than from my email!

[dx100uk]

do it now i will replace the posts

 

dx

[Flat]

cant do it now, not got long enough left on my break. Will do it in the daytime.

[havinastella]

Don't bother. Its a Private ticket. Don't waste the bandwith, Ignore it!

[Flat]

I have re=-read the corporate policy on parking sanctions and it makes repeated reference to fines, and fixed penalty notices and enforcement notices. Is that pertinent information?

[citizenB]

I have formatted the first post and removed the duplication.

 

You have 24 hours in which to edit a post - simply click on the "edit" button underneath the post and scroll through adding extra carriage returns where needed.

[dx100uk]

I have re=-read the corporate policy on parking sanctions and it makes repeated reference to fines, and fixed penalty notices and enforcement notices. Is that pertinent information?

 

what corp policy?

 

dx

[crem]

If you are the holder of a disabled permit, I would like to remind you of your obligations under the Blue Badge Scheme: “When using the parking concessions you must display the badge on the dashboard or facia panel, where it can be clearly read through the front windscreen.

 

If there is no dashboard or facia panel in your vehicle, you must still display the badge in a place where it can be clearly read from outside the vehicle. The front of the badge should face upwards, showing the wheelchair symbol...

 

You must also ensure that the details on the front of the badge remain legible. If they become unreadable through fading or wear and tear, you must return the badge to your local authority so they can issue you with a new one.

 

Displaying a badge that is illegible may result in a parking fine.”(DFT Blue Badge Scheme Booklet 2007, page 9) “It is down to you to use the Blue Badge properly.

 

The badge and its concessions are for your use only. It is a criminal offence for you or anyone else to misuse the badge, and doing so could lead to a £1,000 fine.

 

Making sure that the scheme is not abused will benefit genuine badge holders...”(DFT Blue Badge Scheme Booklet 2007, page 7) Please see the following internet link for a copy of the Blue Badge Scheme Booklet:

Well they go to great lengths to bring your attention to the Blue Badge users handbook, even quoting interesting relevant (in their scewed view) paragraphs about how to use it. However, they inadvertantly forget to mention the the booklet also clearly states that the Blue Badge scheme DOES NOT OPERATE ON PRIVATE LAND!!.

 

Bit of an oversight that init!

[Flat]

The hospital has a policy on parking for staff that outlines all sorts of things like when the chargeable hours are, where you can park, how to pay and a small section about if you don't park correctly. It was written by a 'parking committee' composed of I don't know who.

 

 

 

Well they go to great lengths to bring your attention to the Blue Badge users handbook, even quoting interesting relevant (in their scewed view) paragraphs about how to use it. However, they inadvertantly forget to mention the the booklet also clearly states that the Blue Badge scheme DOES NOT OPERATE ON PRIVATE LAND!!.

 

Bit of an oversight that init!

 

 

So let me get this right, I wouldn't matter a single bit whether I had my blue badge on display or not as its private land. So really by having my trust parking permit on display I have complied with their stipulations and in a nutshell they really don't have a leg to stand on.

 

Would it be the landowner who would take me to court or the parking people? Either way I am not sure there's anything to take me to court for anyway as the landowner hasn't lost anything (I have pre-paid to park so therefore there is no alleged debt as the landowner has their money for my parking). I also had all documentation out on display, and can produce it all again if necessary.

 

Thanks for sorting out the editing, appreciated.

[dx100uk]

only the landowner can take you to court for a ny 'loss'

 

just ermember as has been pointed out

 

blue badges

 

bay marking

 

yellow lines

 

etc etc

 

are purely tarmac GRAFFITTI that mean NOTHING on private land.

 

it makes no odds at all if you hold a BB or not.

 

dx

[ericsbrother]

The only thing you should take notice of is what your employer says. Dont tell your employer about this and they can say nothing. The PPC cannot pass on its information and nor can your employer without getting into serious trouble. Best thing to do is as all suggest and just ignore them. The more you try and justify your position the more they will think that you actually care about what they think and it increases their belief that you will eventually crack and pay up.

I enjoy playing letter tennis with these people but I am retired and a certified mental case to boot so I have nothing to lose and love wasting their time and postage stamps.

[Flat]

yeah i checked with my boss, she says the work side of things wont be an issue. so i am going to ignore, and inform all my work colleagues of this issue. cheers!