Alliance Parking ANPR PCN (NTK now LOC) - Appeal Refused - 17min Overstay - Harlyn Bay

[AllianceParkingHater]

1 Date of the infringement 29th May 2023

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] 2nd June 2023

PDF scan done Redacted and Attached

3 Date received 8th June 2023

4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? [Y/N?] No, not directly but has some wording about transfer to keeper

5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Yes, Entry and Exit times

6 Have you appealed? [Y/N?] post up your appeal] Yes, Panicked thinking JustPark had not updated Alliance with payment details HOWEVER not revealed the driver id
Have you had a response? [Y/N?] post it up I think so (very brief email, saying appeal failed, due to OVERSTAY of 17min)

7 Who is the parking company? Alliance Parking

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] Harlyn Bay, Cornwall

For either option, does it say which appeals body they operate under. IAS

 

This PCN is similar to below

Alliance ANPR PCN - overstay 11mins - appeal refused - Harlyn bay, Padstow Cornwall - Private Land Parking Enforcement - Consumer Action Group

that it was a bank holiday weekend and car park was rammed.

It was a very hot day, and we were first time parkers in this car park (not knowing the Alliance ANPR in play).

We entered the car park looking for our friends who were 2 mins ahead of us.

As the car park was in overspill mode there were 2 other fields open and after doing a circuit gave up looking and after a few more mins trying to find a space parked up on the grass at the top of the field. N.B. There were no signs anywhere near us.

We had to unload the kids, dog and beach bags etc .. and most importantly water the dog as he was so hot.

Then made our way across the fields to the parking machine. As it was so busy there was a big queue, so attempted to book with justpark (which took an age getting a signal). Eventually paying for 4 hours.

Upon leaving we were notified by Justpark that our time was up so proceeded to make our way back to the car, and within 6min had left the car park. So it was 11min to make the booking on JustPark and 6min after our 4hr time was up.

On 5th May 2024 we got a Letter of Claim and decided to post up here ..

As for next steps, we guess from others post on this forum we understand we need to write a "Snotty Letter" with a few key points.

Has anyone got best advice? otherwise we'll cobble something together from others posts.

 

 

Alliance NTK PCN+PAPLOC.pdf

[dx100uk]

have you still got your appeal and their reply please?

dx

 

[lookinforinfo]

Thank you for posting up the required details and well done for apparently not revealing the identity of the driver. I am assuming you are the keeper?

The depth of ignorance of the parking companies is absolutely amazing. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4 is the law relating to private parking and allows those rogues to be able to transfer the charge from the driver [whose name they do not know] to the keeper after 28 days . This is dependent on them complying with the Act. So many of the don't and Alliance is no different.

It would help if we could see what you appeal was and to post the back of the PCN as it is lacking so much of the wording necessary to make it compliant so that in your case only the driver is liable to pay the charge. And of course just entering the ANPR arrival times means that they have failed to specify the parking time which is a requirement.. 

Because the car park was so busy you had to drive around for quite a while before finally finding a place to park which is when the parking period may  actually begin. The poor dears at Alliance have not grasped that particular part of the legislation as yet. To be fair the Act has only been in place for 12 years so one must make allowances for their stupidity . We shouldn't really mock them- but it is fun.

You weren't to know but the chances of winning an appeal against Alliance and the IPC is around 5%-and that is high for them. If they allow you to cancel they lose the chance of making money and they would have had a field day when you were there with so many people being caught overstaying because of the chaos in trying to find a parking space then trying to pay. 

Your snotty letter could go something like this-

Dear Cretins,

Yes I mean you Alliance. After 12 years one would have thought that even you could produce a compliant PCN. Did you really think I would pay you a penny extra considering the time I wasted trying  to pay with  long queues at the parking machine, then trying to get a signal to call Just Park. On top of that you then had the cheek to ask for an additional £70 for what dubious unspecified pleasure? You must have made a killing that day charging all those motorists for overstaying because the queues to pay were do long and even walking to pay from the over flow parking fields takes time. And yes I did take photos of the non existent signs in the fields so please don't give me the usual rubbish about your signs being clearly visible.

Oh yes that £70. Please tell me and the Court whether that charge included VAT and if it did, why am I being charged to pay your vat? I am sure the Judge would look carefully at that as well as the Inland Revenue.

The truth is you had no reasonable cause to ask the DVLA for my data given the chaos at your car park and I believe that you therefore breached my GDPR......................

I expect others will give their views as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[FTMDave]

We have 10 cases, including yours, for this company.

There are no guarantees of course, but so far not once have they had the bottle to do court.  They seem to be a small company operating only in Cornwall and out of their depth when it comes to court.

BTW, thanks for filling in the sticky and uploading the PDF so quickly - we wish everyone who comes here would do that!

As dx asked, please post what you wrote in your appeal.

 

 

[AllianceParkingHater]

Actually one thing I forgot to mention was that our friends who got to the car park before us got an NTK too. What I didn't realise was that they paid their £60. Arrgghh!

I think AP made a huge amount of money on that day!!!!!

18 hours ago, lookinforinfo said:

Thank you for posting up the required details and well done for apparently not revealing the identity of the driver. I am assuming you are the keeper?

Can't comment on that. Let's say I'm legal counsel to the keeper!

Unfortunately the appeal was made direct on the alliance-parking.co.uk/appeals page not IAS, we now know that this was only to get driver details and was only after we submitted did we realise that should just ignored it.

As it was a web online form we have a screenshot.

But we stated that we had paid for parking and only really submitted our justpark receipt ref image BUT DID NOT confirm any driver details.

Only thinking they had somehow not got the justpark payment info.

18 hours ago, lookinforinfo said:

It would help if we could see what you appeal was and to post the back of the PCN

The back of the PCN is on page2 of the NTK+LOC. The LOC is page3+4

18 hours ago, lookinforinfo said:

Oh yes that £70. Please tell me and the Court whether that charge included VAT and if it did, why am I being charged to pay your vat?

Just a quick question on this. Where does the £70 come from? In our NTK&LOC it states £170? 

PCN-Appeal-HarlynBay-jun23redact.pdf

[FTMDave]

Thanks for uploading the appeal.  It was a waste of time but well done in not outing the driver.

Why have your friends paid £60 they don't owe to a cowboy private company that have no means of making them pay as they don't do court?  If they paid by card, as I presume they did, they should get on to their bank and do a chargeback immediately.

We call the £70 the Unicorn Food Tax.  The law specifically states they are only allowed to charge the original £100 but the PPCs and their bezzies in their trade associations allow this made-up extra £70 so £100 becomes £170.  Unfortunately for them the law doesn't.

Anyway, snotty letter time.

There is an example in post 32 here you can tweak as it's the same company but a different car park   https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/463964-alliance-anpr-pcn-lease-car-appeals-refused-daymer-bay-cornwall/page/2/#comments

 

Edited May 13 by FTMDave
Typo

[AllianceParkingHater]

I did ask them why, but seems they have more spare cash than we do .. ;-( .. I doubt their bank would even support a chargeback after a year has passed.

I've constructed my first DRAFT Snotty Letter .. so here goes ..

 

RE: PCN 4xxxxx

Dear ALLIANCE PARKING Litigation Dept,

Thank you for your dubious Letter Of Claim (dated 29th April 2024) of £100 for just 2 minutes of overstay. The family rolled around on the floor in amazement of the idea you actually think they’d accept this nonsense, let alone being confused over the extra unlawful £70 you had added. Shall we raise that related VAT issue with HMRC, or perhaps the custodians of the unicorn grain silos?

Apart from the serious GDPR breach you’ve made with the DVLA and your complete failure in identifying the driver, we’re dumbfounded that the PCN is still not compliant with the PoFA (2012 Schedule 4 Under Section 9.2.f) even after 12 years of pathetic trial and error.

We also doubt a judge would be very impressed at your bone idleness and lack of due diligence regarding the ANPR entry / exit periods compared with actual valid parking periods. Especially with no consideration of the legally allowed grace periods and the topological nature of the Cornish landscape versus a traditional multi-storey.

And don’t even get us started on the invisible signage during the ultra busy bank holiday carnage, that is otherwise known as the random parking chaos in the several unmarked over-spill fields, or indeed the tedious “frustration of contract” attempting to get a data connection to Justpark. 

We suggest your clients drop this extreme foolishness or get an absolute hammering in court. We are more than ready to raise the issues with a fair minded judge, who will most likely laugh your clients out in less time than it takes to capture more useless ANPR photos. We will of course be requesting “an unreasonable costs order” under CPR 27.14.2.g and put it toward future taxis to Harlyn Bay instead. 

We all look forward to your clients' deafening silence.

Legal Counsel on behalf of the Vehicle Keeper.
 

[FTMDave]

Well done on the epic level of snottiness!

It'd probably be best to not play so many of your cards so early, in case Alliance do decide to do court - even though they have never had the bottle to do so so far.

I'm knackered now but all the regulars will suggest tweaks over the next couple of days.

BTW, Alliance Parking don't have a Litigation Department.  It's just Kev  https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09766749/officers  who obviously is too thick to get a proper job so he puts his signs up where no-one will ever see them and tries to threaten motorists into paying him money that they don't owe.

[honeybee13]

Is it a good idea to sign the snotty letter 'Legal Counsel'?

HB

[Nicky Boy]

Here's a suggested modified version for consideration by the team.

(Not sure whether it still gives too much away?)

 

RE: PCN 4xxxxx

Dear ALLIANCE PARKING Litigation Dept,

Thank you for your dubious Letter Of Claim (dated 29th April 2024) of £100 for just 2 minutes of overstay. The family rolled around on the floor in amazement of the idea you actually think they’d accept this nonsense, let alone being confused over the extra unlawful £70 you added. Shall we raise the related VAT issue with HMRC, or perhaps the custodians of the unicorn grain silos?

Apart from the serious GDPR breach you’ve made with the DVLA and your complete failure in identifying the driver, we’re dumbfounded that the PCN is still not compliant with the PoFA (2012 Schedule 4 Under Section 9.2.f) even after 12 years of pathetic trial and error.

We also doubt a judge would be very impressed at your bone idleness and lack of due diligence regarding parking periods. Especially with no consideration of section 13 in your own trade association's code of practice and the topological nature of the Cornish landscape versus a traditional multi-storey.

And don’t even get us started on the invisible signage during the ultra busy bank holiday carnage, that is otherwise known as the random parking chaos in the several unmarked, unmanaged over-spill fields, or indeed the tedious “frustration of contract” attempting to get a data connection to Justpark. 

We suggest your clients drop this extreme foolishness or get an absolute hammering in court. We are more than ready to raise the above issues and more, with a fair minded judge, who will most likely laugh your clients out in less time than it takes to capture a couple of useless ANPR photos.

If you insist on continuing this stupid, money grabbing quest, after having all of the above pointed out, we will of course show this letter to the Judge and request “an unreasonable costs order” under CPR 27.14.2.g and put it toward future taxis to Harlyn Bay instead. 

We all look forward to your clients' deafening silence.

Signed, "Spot". (Vehicle Keeper's pet Dalmation).

[FTMDave]

In both versions the three references to "your clients" near the end need to be changed to "you" or "your" as Alliance are not using solicitors, they have sent the LoC themselves.

Personally I'd change "Dear ALLIANCE PARKING Litigation Dept" to "Dear Kev".  It would show you'd done your homework, looked up the company, and seen it's a pathetic one-man band rather than having any departments.  The PPCs love to pretend they have some official power and so you should be scared of them - showing you've sussed their sordid games and you're confident about fighting them undermines all this.  In fact that's the whole point of a snotty letter - to show you'd be big trouble for them if they did do court so better to drop you like a hot potato and go and pursue mugs who just give in instead.

In the very, very, very, very unlikely case of Kev doing court, it'd be better that he didn't know in advance all the legal arguments you'd be using, so I'd heavily reduce the number of cards being played.

[FTMDave]

Notice how Kev goes about his scam.  In Kahunaburger's case they left the car park well before the time shown on the ticket they had purchased.  But because Kev added on the time taken to look for a parking spot and queue to pay/try to get an internet signal he still sent them an invoice.

So If you had left before the Justpark message, say at 3:55, Kev would still have managed to turn that into a stay of 4:06 and thus an overstay and an invoice.

Unfortunately for Kev, judges have ruled against his reasoning.  Have a read of this famous case  http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2014/03/waiting-for-space-is-not-parking.html

 

[Nicky Boy]

OK,

In post 10, I've highlighted 3 sections in red as suggestions for removal.

Do we reckon this is enough to give them a clue, without giving them the whole gameplay?

[FTMDave]

I suppose it doesn't make a massive amount of difference as Kev has never had the guts to do court - well at least not yet - but to me the number of cards played still needs to be reduced. 

Given the OP has already referred to the "very busy and overflowing car park" in the appeal I'd refer to that and tell Kev to go and look up case no.3JD08399.

[AllianceParkingHater]

Thanks all, especially the information about Kev! Yes, I'll make the mods you all suggest, especially the client bits (didn't realise it was a one man band).

The only thing I'm not sure of, is the best way to "sign off", especially as the Keeper is not so keen to sign. So I'd much rather send it from our pet dog.

BTW does anyone know about the landowners at Harlyn Bay? I did try to find out last year but couldn't find anything useful, and whether it is worth raising this massive cash generator scam with them. I'm guessing the landowners get a small percentage, so happy to go along with it?

Just made a small donation. Maybe a little help to continue the good work you guys are doing. I'll post up my tweaks before sticking in the post (with confirmation of posting).

BTW anyone not signed the parking petition please do so now! Only 339 as of now .. 

[dx100uk]

not sure on the silly petition, they'll neve get it through whilst the same rules dont apply to councils first.

dx

 

[AllianceParkingHater]

Revised with all comments from the experienced members:-

RE: PCN 4xxxxx

Dear Kev,

Thank you for your dubious Letter Of Claim (dated 29th April 2024) of £100 for just 2 minutes of overstay. The family rolled around on the floor in amazement of the idea you actually think they’d accept this nonsense, let alone being confused over the extra unlawful £70 you added. Shall we raise that related VAT issue with HMRC, or perhaps the custodians of the unicorn grain silos?

Apart from the serious GDPR breach you’ve made with the DVLA and your complete failure in identifying the driver, we’re dumbfounded that the PCN is still not compliant with the PoFA (2012 Schedule 4 Under Section 9.2.f) even after 12 years of pathetic trial and error.

We also doubt a judge would be very impressed at your bone idleness and lack of due diligence regarding Section 13 in your own trade association's code of practice, including the lack of differentiation between the topological nature of the Cornish landscape versus a traditional multi-storey.

And don’t even get us started on the ultra busy bank holiday carnage , i.e. the "very busy and overflowing car park" that degraded into random parking chaos in the several unmarked over-spill fields. Perhaps you need a refresher and go and look up the ParkingEye case 3JD08399.

We suggest you drop this extreme foolishness or get an absolute hammering in court. We are more than ready to raise the issues with a fair minded Judge, who will most likely laugh you out of court in less time than it takes you to capture more useless ANPR photos.

If you insist on continuing this stupid, money grabbing quest, after having all of the above pointed out, we will of course show this letter to the Judge and request “an unreasonable costs order” under CPR 27.14.2.g and put it toward future taxis to Harlyn Bay instead. 

We look forward to your deafening silence.

The Vehicle Keeper’s Dog, 

Vince
 

[FTMDave]

That's fine.  The important thing is to show Kev you're trouble and so best to drop you like a hot potato.

Invest in a 2nd class stamp tomorrow - all Kev is worth - and get a free Certificate of Posting from the post office.

[AllianceParkingHater]

Thanks @FTMDave it's now posted.

Let's see if Kev has any bottle. I guess we still have to wait the remaining 5yrs .. to know for sure.