Surge in parking ticket appeals

By Fleet News
|
11 July 2014

There has been a 12-fold increase in parking ticket appeals in the past year, according to Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA).

The Parking on Private Land Appeals (Popla) service was established in October 2012 to consider appeals from motorists relating to charges for parking on private land, such as supermarkets or hospitals.

In the twelve months ending 31 March this year 25,214 valid appeals were registered and 23,500 appeals were decided. Of these, 10,661 (45.37%) were allowed and 12,839 (54.63%) were refused.

Lead adjudicator, Henry Michael Greenslade, said: “Popla is working well and is valued by the public. Since my last report the number of cases being decided has grown substantially and we are now receiving up to 600 appeals each week. However, the number of matters coming to appeal is very small in comparison to a figure of well over two million requests to the DVLA from private parking operators for vehicle and owner details.”

The appeals service is independent of parking operators and the British Parking Association. It is operated by London Councils, which also runs Patas, the appeals service dealing with on-street parking appeals in London.

When an appeal is received it is copied to the relevant parking company for them to submit their own case, including evidence. Before any case can be determined by an assessor it must have been considered and then rejected by the company that issued the parking charge notice.

The news follows ACFO's parking seminar, where it was revealed six out of ten fleets don't appeal parking tickets.

Author: Fleet News

Comments (2)

Login to comment

Comments

Patriot - 11/07/2014 16:52

Sloppy journalism FN, PPC's do not and cannot issue 'fines'. Penalties and Fines are protected terms used by the Police and LA's. PPC's issue invoices and no PPC has ever won a properly defended case. you should also be aware the BPA is run by PPC's, it is not an 'independent' service. Anyone with more than two brain cells will always appeal the toilet paper issued by PPC's. If a Fleet Manager gives a PPC a driver's details without asking the driver for permission to do so he/she is very likely to fall foul of the DPA. "There is nothing more that we can do because we are not allowed to divulge a driver’s details in relation to private parking like we can in relation to local authority parking fines." http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2012/8/21/fleets-need-to-reassess-parking-policies/44541/page/3/ Only a fool will pay a PPC invoice to bolster the bank accounts of unregulated and unethical companies. http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/plcdev/files/138/original/CuttsTalk10July2012copy.pdf
- 0
- 0
- Bo the Engineer - 12/07/2014 14:50
  
  @Patriot - I agree. Sadly there is a foolish middle man called a lease company that makes a mess of it all. At the time clamping was abolished the government threw a bone to the private mugging business by giving them a new legal liability upon the registered keeper instead the driver. Its an astonishingly 'illegal' bit of law because contract law forbids someone committing some else to a liability. Yet here the driver is able to park on private land and therefore enter into a contract with the landowner on behalf of the registered keeper without their consent. This has caused the lease companies to go all a quiver and most will pay any invoices received automatically whether the driver agrees or not!! passing the cost to the driver by contract clauses - a lazy ill informed policy. Even if I pay the charge myself the lease company charge an outrageous £18 for a postage stamp to post it on to me. Yes lets all get in on the act and fleece the driver! (yes you L_X!) It would be nice if lease companies treated drivers like customers and tried to provide the best for them but in reality few drivers have any say in which one the company chooses for them so why should they care? And why the government felt they should give with one hand and take away with the other is a mystery, I suspect either a drop in fund donations or maybe the fear of hundreds of clamping highwaymen roaming the country unemployed was too scary. So they all traded their clamps in for CCTV and now sit in an office remote-mugging us instead, I bet they love it as its easier than all those grubby clamps, the lease companies ably assist them instead of their clients.
  0
  
  0
- christopher.smith - 14/07/2014 09:05
  
  @Patriot - thanks for your comment - we've now replaced the one use of the word 'fine' with ticket. The article also only states the appeals process is independent.
  0
  
  0
- Patriot - 14/07/2014 11:34
  
  @christopher.smith - The appeals process is NOT independent despite what you may have read or been told by the BPA.. The BPA Ltd is not a Governmental organisation; it is paid for and run by its members for their benefit. In September 2012 the British Parking Association Ltd’s AOS scheme ran into controversy with several members being suspended from accessing DVLA data. The suspensions were put in place as a result of members breaking the DVLA’s rules on signage for privately-issued parking tickets. The rules at that time stated that parking companies must not make reference to liability by anyone other than the driver. It was revealed that back in June 2012 the BPA Ltd had been warned by the DVLA about the issue and had been instructed to put out a warning to all members. It appears that these warnings were not heeded, and this resulted in the suspension of several companies, including Combined Parking Solutions, Excel, Roxburghe Debt Collectors, MET Parking, VP Parking Solutions, and ANPR PC Ltd. Both Excel and Combined Parking Solutions are understood to have representation on the BPA Ltd board, so it is perhaps surprising that they should fall foul of their own rules. The main issue here is the failure of many Fleet Managers and Lease Co's.to recognise the difference between lawfully issued tickets eg: LA or Police and the invoices issued by PPC's, I would suggest they spend 5 minutes on the 'net to appraise themselves of the true situation and read carefully the advice from the BVRLA on this subject.
  0
  
  0
- christopher.smith - 14/07/2014 11:44
  
  @Patriot - This article is referring specifically to the POPLA body. While the BPA members fund POPLA, the service was created in October 2012 in response to a Government bill, and isn't run by them. The service is available for a next-step appeal, and this stage is independent - http://www.popla.org.uk/about.htm - though as you say, the handling of tickets by leasing companies varies.
  0
  
  0
- Patriot - 14/07/2014 12:53
  
  @christopher.smith - Point taken however you might find this interesting 'POPLA guards its judicial independence fiercely' I wonder what the Judicial Appointments Board would think of that statement? POPLA has deas well above their station and role.
  0
  
  0
Tony Nickeas - 14/07/2014 10:17

PRIVATE LAND, Ignore it JUST PUT IT IN THE BIN
- 0
- 0