CPS Charge Notice Reminder - knutsford service station ANPR capture

[Frank Lundy]

Hi All

 

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding a PCN from CP Plus.

 

 

I parked in the services at Knutsford whilst I went to a meeting with a colleague in their car.

I totally forgot to pay for the parking somehow and only remembered when I received a notice.

 

I tried to appeal using the following;

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re: Notice Reference - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

I am challenging your parking charge notice dated 08/06/2015 on the following grounds. Please respond to each individual point that I state.

 

1. The large sum demanded amounts to a penalty and/or is not an accurate reflection of any loss suffered so it is not a reasonable charge.

Your monetary claim is disproportionate, punitive and unjustifiable in total. I

t may also be an unfair term and therefore in breach of Schedule 2 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

Please provide a breakdown of how your demanded charge is calculated so that I can consider further whether it amounts to a penalty.

 

2. The contractual breach can have caused no financial loss whatever to you or to the land owner

but if you believe it has please set out the details clearly in your response. I

f you believe I have committed a trespass please substantiate your consequential actual loss.

There were, for example, unoccupied places available for others to park so my presence did not prevent the parking of other cars and their making of payments.

 

3. Your Civil Parking Notice constitutes an invoice for payment.

Accordingly your invoiced charge must include an element of VAT.

However, your civil parking notice does not state either a VAT registration number

or an invoice reference number and so cannot constitute a lawfully valid demand for payment.

 

4. Having examined your parking charge notice I believe it is a non compliant demand for payment for the following reasons:

 

Your notice wrongly requires payment to be made “within” 28 days which is contrary to statutory requirement that provides a period of 28 days from the date of receipt.

 

5. I understand that, as a legal minimum, the Parking Charge Notice must include a prescribed set of information.

The following is not shown on your notice and therefore it is invalid.

 

The time and date when the notice was issued;

 

The amount of any discount for prompt payment of the charge;

 

The arrangements provided for the resolution of disputes or complaints – both for your own internal arrangements and for an independent appeals process.

 

6. If this challenge / appeal is rejected, to enable me to prepare a formal appeal to P.O.P.L.A please provide the following documentation:

 

Please delete any items which you do not require.

 

A copy of your contract with the land owner which authorises you to act on their behalf in the management of this car parking area.

 

A copy of the contract which you allege I entered in to when I parked.

 

Photographic evidence of the actual signs in situ, together with identification of the locations around the site where these signs are currently placed. Please also confirm the date when the photographs were taken (if not evident from the photographs themselves) and whether you have made any alterations to the signage since the photograph was taken.

 

A copy of the full terms and conditions for use of the land where I was allegedly parked wrongly.

 

A copy of your certificate of membership of the BPA

 

A copy of your protocol which your enforcement and CCTV operators are required to follow.

 

A copy of your standard appeal procedure and confirm whether or not it complies with the Arbitration Act 1996.

 

Full details of the owner of the parking area (if it is not already stated in the copy contract above) as I wish to send them a copy of my letter to you.

 

A copy of all of the images that you have of my vehicle. I understand that the Data Protection Act entitles me to all of this information.

 

A copy of your protocol for handling personal data such as images of my vehicle. I assume that such data is not disclosed to any third party (other than POPLA in the event of an appeal) but please confirm this.

 

Please provide this information within 35 days of receipt. If you are unable to provide any of the requested documents please provide a reason for each omission.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Subsequently they have sent this

 

Dear Sir,

 

Thank you for your correspondence concerning your Parking Charge Notice.

 

This PCN was issued legally and correctly according to the British Parking Association Approved Operators Scheme.

 

We are fully aware that this is a standard text, with no relation to any specific circumstances which might have represented

valid mitigation against the issue of this charge. We are not obliged to answer it point by point,

and we cannot accept it in place of a genuine appeal.

 

The amount owed is a genuine pre-estimate of the losses incurred in managing

the parking location to ensure compliance with the clearly-displayed Terms and Conditions.

 

However, in Parking Eye Ltd v Beavis, it was found, both at County Court and Court of Appeal level, that appealing a Parking Charge Notice

on the basis that the amount is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss is, in fact, not a successful legal defence.

 

In light of the above, on this occasion, your representations have been carefully considered and rejected.

 

We can confirm that we will hold the charge at the current rate for a further 14 days from the date of this correspondence.

 

Although we have now rejected your appeal, you may still have recourse to appeal to Parking On Private Land Appeals (POPLA), an independent appeals service.

POPLA will only consider cases on the grounds that the Parking Charge exceeded the appropriate amount,

that the vehicle was not improperly parked or had been stolen, or that you were otherwise not liable for the Parking Charge.

 

To appeal to POPLA, please go to their website and follow the instructions.

If you would rather deal with this matter by post,

please contact our Appeals Office and we will send you the necessary paperwork.

 

Your POPLA reference number is: xxxxxxxxxxx

 

Please note that if your appeal does not relate to the above criteria or is rejected by POPLA for any reason, you may be requested to pay the charge at the full amount and will no longer qualify for payment at the reduced rate.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

CP Plus Limited

 

I'd really appreciate it if somebody could advise what to do next? If they would accept the £12 that it would have cost initially then I'd be willing to pay that amount.

[f16]

Was this a "windscreen ticket" or ANPR job ?

 

If the latter . What date was the "offence" and what date did the first letter land on your door mat ?????????

[Frank Lundy]

Was this a "windscreen ticket" or ANPR job ?

 

If the latter . What date was the "offence" and what date did the first letter land on your door mat ?????????

 

This was an anpr job. I'm not sure of the exact date of the offence as my fiancee has misplaced the letter. It was sometime in early may. I think they must have sent a letter that never arrived as the letter I have (had) states that the time for reduced payment was over.

[f16]

 

 

I parked in the services at Knutsford whilst I went to a meeting with a colleague in their car. .

 

So what date was the "meeting" and the date of the first letter you got ??????????????????

[Frank Lundy]

So what date was the "meeting" and the date of the first letter you got ??????????????????

 

The meeting was on 14th may and the first letter was 8th June. As i said I think they must have sent one before then as the letter I received said that I'd missed the deadline for the discounted rate

[ericsbrother]

Then you respond by telling them that they are timed out under the protocols of the PoFA to claim against the keeper of the vehicle and they should send all future correspondence to the driver, who is unknown to you. You didnt say that you were driving in your appeal as the RK so they cannot assume that you were.

[Frank Lundy]

What would happen if I were to tell them that I wasn't driving. Ignoring the fact that this might not be wholly accurate.

[Frank Lundy]

Thanks for your help so far.

 

I've managed to find the notice -

 

OK - I've uploaded an edited version of the charge notice.

 

Any chance this will be useful to help me tell them to get stuffed

[dx100uk]

thread tidied and title amended

 

 

dx

[Frank Lundy]

Thanks DX.

[ericsbrother]

they have to prove who was driving at the time as there is no longer a keeper liability. If you want to tell them you were driving then do so and just pay up and then you wont have to worry about wasting time posting further comments here. If you want to stop them profiting from their grubby practices then tell them that they are too late to claim from you and to kind the driver themseleves as you cant help them in that quest.

As for them no accepting your letter as an appeal, it is not for them to decide what grounds you may appeal on so they should have given you the POPLA code anyway. You can appeal to POPLA on any grounds you like, if you say it is beacuse martians teleported your car you are unlikely to win but they will still have to respond to the request for evidence from POPLA.

A common theme for appealing this tye of claim is inadequate signage, parking at service stations of free for a set period and after that you are expected to pay an amount somewhere. As you are supposed to read these signs whilst travelling at up to 70mph it can be a bit tricky to read the small print so a carefully worded paragraph will make them try and justify their signage and often they cant.

Read the other common threads and appeal on several grounds, -lack of contract with landowner (usually true as they sign up with agent who has no such authority to sign contracts),lack of planning permission for signage making any contract based on signs unlawful, confusing or illegible signs, no loss to companiy so amount not a GPEOL etc