Wheels fall off for Met Parking

The Parking Prankster thanks ParkingCowboys for bringing this thread to his attention on pepipoo.

To summarise, Met Parking issued several tickets to a motorist at a station car park. The motorist appealed them all to POPLA, and won every single one on the same grounds; the charge is not a true pre-estimate of loss.

This cost Met Parking £27 each time, and The British Parking Association (BPA) Limited an estimated £110 each time.

Any sensible person would by now have realised that the parking charges were unenforceable...but not Met Parking. They have now taken the decision to reclassify the car park, say that the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) does not apply,  and use railway byelaws to attempt to enforce their charge. They have refused the motorist access to the 'independent' appeals body, POPLA, on the grounds that they want to lower their costs.

There are several problems with this approach, according to the posters on pepipoo

• Enforcement under railway byelaws can only be initiated by the Train Operating Company (TOC), not the parking company, unless the parking company has the correct authority to act as agent
• Any monies enforced by the court will go to the magistrates court, not the parking company
• The DVLA does not allow parking companies to pick and chose enforcement methods on a per case basis. Having chosen to use railway byelaws Met parking must now be consistent and use railway byelaws for all cases in this car park. At a stroke they have removed all possibility of future revenue from this car park.
• The BPA Ltd Code of Practice states that an independent appeals process must be available to challenge tickets. Met Parking therefore run the risk of being expelled from the BPA Ltd AOS, which will remove their right to access the DVLA database. This will mean that they will lose the ability to enforce any charges whatsoever.
• All the tickets and correspondence Met parking have issued refers to both POFA and POPLA. They therefore open themselves up to Trading Standards complaints for false representation
• All previous tickets issued by Met Parking at the site were invalidly issued if they claim POFA does not apply

Met Parking seem to be so blinkered in their pursuit of one motorist that they would prefer to jeopardise their entire revenue stream and continued existence as long as they can 'get their man'. The Parking Prankster wishes them luck in their goal of self destruction.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster