I am a tenant of a residential building and rent a parking place in the garage belonging to the building. Each apartment has one space allocated to it (and tenants rent these for a monthly fee). In autumn 2022 a private company took over parking enforcement, putting up the usual ‘no unauthorised parking’ signs all over the garage (this change to parking rules was made unilaterally).
Come December - a speculative invoice for failing to display a permit. While my wife keeps the permit in her car, she was explicitly asked not to attach it to the windscreen by her landlord, as tenants change and the sticker may need to be handed over. In this particular case the permit fell off the dashboard, which makes the charge all the more bitter.
A few points to note:
Parking charge notice was received by mail (no windscreen ticket) though photographic evidence was not from ANPR.
Conveniently for the company, this letter arrived 16 days after it was dated, immediately pushing the charge up from £50 to £100 and leaving us only 5 days to appeal! (May have been delayed due to RM strikes, but is there a burden on the company to prove this?)
In a rush to appeal before Christmas, did not have time to read forums and unfortunately identified the driver in the appeal.
The change to permit parking was made unilaterally, without mutual agreement from the tenants (can we invoke Primacy of Contract?)
The parking area is gated by a barrier that can only be opened with a fob. Tenants park in their agreed spot (this is unchanged) - they are effectively reserved spaces.
Received a ‘FINAL CHANCE BEFORE ACTION’ notice on 03/01/23 - probably meaningless, but attached this for completeness.
I have been doing quite a bit of reading and opinions seem split between:
appealing in vague terms;
appealing in specific terms (though fully aware IAP will likely uphold the charge);
writing to building management, who will likely reject so they can keep their commission;
ignoring and hoping it doesn’t get to a court case
Happy to do the latter if we can be fairly certain we have a strong legal position - otherwise would prefer to avoid the headache. Any specific advice would be much appreciated!
1 The date of infringement?
December 1st, 2022
2 Have you yet appealed to the parking company yet?
Yes - appeal attached
Has there been a response?
Yes - response attached
Have you received a Notice To Keeper? (NTK) [must be received by you between 29-56 days]
Yes
What date is on it?
03/12/22 (though received by post on 19/12/22) - this was the only notification (no windscreen ticket)
Did the NTK provide photographic evidence?
Yes - see attached PCN
3 Did the NTK mention Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) [Y/N?]
Yes
4 If you appealed after receiving the NTK, did the parking company give you any information regarding the further appeals process?
[it is well known that parking companies will reject any appeal whatever the circumstances]
Yes - appeal through IAP.
5 Who is the parking company?
UKCPM
6. Where exactly did you park?
Residential parking Southampton
PCN Summary.pdf