I Want To Appeal A Parking Ticket
I Want To Appeal A Parking Ticket
A motorist will invariably incur a parking ticket when they breach any of the terms and conditions stated on car park signage which the motorist should have read prior to parking their vehicle to make an informed choice about whether to park or not. This applies to both privately owned and operated car parks and local authority parking facilities.
The main difference between the two types of parking situation lies in the legal basis for administering a parking ticket and the terminology used.
A Penalty
Charge Notice
is a parking ticket administered by a local authority or by the police under legislative powers conferred under the Traffic Management Act 2004.
A Parking
Charge Notice
is a parking ticket administered by a private parking operator. This is an invoice requesting a pre-agreed fee as a consequence of breaching a term or condition of the contract that the motorist agreed to by parking in a marked vacant parking bay. As mentioned before, the terms and conditions should have been clear to the motorist before they parked their car.
The fact that a Penalty Charge Notice
and a Parking Charge Notice
both have the same abbreviation, PCN, has been cynically exploited by some unscrupulous private parking operators to provide a veneer of legitimacy to try and compel payment when there is no valid legal basis in contract law or legislation.
If you receive a parking ticket, you should read it carefully and use due diligence in making sure that it is being administered by a legitimate parking operator. A quick internet search should quickly reveal whether your parking ticket has been administered by a legitimate parking company.
You might like to take the following steps:
1. A legitimate parking operator will belong to a DVLA Accredited Trade Association (ATA) of which there are only two in the UK, The International Parking Community (IPC) and the British Parking Association (BPA). A parking operator’s ATA affiliation should be clear and obvious on all documentation and parking signage.
2. Check the ATA website to see if the parking operator is a member.
3. A legitimate parking operator will always give you information on how to appeal a parking ticket on the ticket itself. This will be through the parking operator’s own appeals procedure in the first instance.
4. The next stage of appeal will be through an independent appeals service according to which ATA the parking company belongs to. For members of The International Parking Community (IPC) this will be the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). For members of the British Parking Association (BPA) their appeals service is called Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA). This should be clear on the parking ticket you have received.
5. If the parking operator has used Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology, details about how your personal data has been, and will be, handled should be stated on the parking ticket also.
6. Looking at the parking operator’s website will also give you a good idea about a company’s legitimacy.
7. The company’s name and company number should be stated on the parking ticket. A quick check on the Companies House website will provide accurate information and a guide to a company’s legitimacy.
What Do I Do Next?
When you've ascertained that the parking ticket is from a legitimate parking operator, you have two options:
1. Pay the parking charge and take advantage of any discount for early payment. Details will be found on the parking ticket.
2. Appeal the parking ticket.
Whatever you do,
never ignore a parking ticket!
If a legitimate parking operator has not received payment or a communication that you intend to appeal, enforcement or debt recovery action will be initiated against you which could result in County Court proceedings.
