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Parking Charge Notice

May 3, 2018 • 0 Comment

Parking Charge Notices – How to Avoid, How to Appeal

A penalty charge notice (PCN) is a legal document given when a vehicle has been seen to violate a parking or traffic restriction.
It is served either directly to the vehicle (or to the person who appears to be the driver) at the time of the violation, or through the post, notifying the registered keeper of the violation.
PCNs can also be given on private land or in a car park operated by private organisations, on behalf of the landowner. These types of PCNs will be found in airports, railway stations, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, & out of town retail outlets, as well as those close to coastlines.
The following is a guide on how to avoid PCNs, & if you are given one, how to launch an appeal.

How to avoid a Parking Charge Notice

• Before parking your vehicle, look for signs describing terms & conditions. If signs are covered or difficult to find, this may benefit you should any appeals take place.
• Make sure your vehicle is parked within the required bays – operators will ticket vehicles parked over the lines.
• Do not park in disabled bays unless you have a blue badge.
• Take note of the time you can park, when you started parking, & whether you need to pay to use the car park. A timer on your phone can help keep track of time.
• Private parking companies are known to issue Parking Charge Notices even if you are just a few minutes late.
• Operators who are BPA members must follow the BPA code of practice, granting drivers a 10-minute allowance on parking deadlines. If you haven’t received this on a BPA owned car park & a parking notice was issued, you should have good grounds to appeal.

How to appeal Parking Charge Notices

An appeal can be launched in any incident where you feel the parking charge was given unfairly.

• Firstly, if you feel you have been unfairly charged, do NOT pay anything. To pay the fine is to admit wrongdoing on your end, & no appeal can follow on from this.
• Always keep evidence of the signs & their details, your return time, how the vehicle was parked, & proof of having stayed on site.
• Most private operators will reduce the penalty if it’s paid within 14 days. It’s therefore worth launching an appeal immediately, so that even if you lose the appeal, you have time to pay a reduced fee. The easiest way to launch an appeal is online.
• Always check if the parking operator belongs to the BPA or IPC; there is a code of practice they must follow, which will help determine if their ticket was fair or not. For example, the ticket should give reasons for the ticket & methods to pay, alongside information on how you can appeal.
• If the parking operator is not a member of the BPA, they may have their own rules; you may want to take advice from a legal representative at this point.
• Further appeals can be taken to POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals), a free service for motorists. However, POPLA will only consider appeals against Parking Charge Notices given by members of the BPA. Furthermore, the operator is likely to remove the option of a reduced parking charge, to cover their own costs.
• If POPLA rules in favour of the operator, you may then finally choose to take your appeal to the Ombudsman Services – they try to resolve complaints between consumers & companies in an independent setting.
• Your options after this are limited, & the private car park operator will likely use court threats & debt recovery enforcement to make you pay. It’s advised to pay at this point, as you could then be summoned to a small claims court.

Some Additional Points

• Clamping on private land became illegal in 2012 in England & Wales, so you would be within your rights to call the police to report clamping. If there are exceptions to this, they must be displayed clearly for you to see.
• Demanding penalties on the spot is also not allowed, & you’re within your rights to call the police if this happens. However, if you overstay by half an hour & the attendant asks for the standard fee for the extra half hour (i.e. no penalty), this would be fair.

It’s safe to say that pco cars for rent will generally be affordable, but that doesn’t mean you can afford to pay off fine after fine, or you won’t be making any profit. Keep an eye on where you park, and with the right understanding you can overcome any situation.
 

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Parking Charge Notice