For a fixed fee of £16, the service takes the worry away from the busy or confused motorist. Subject to a few limitations, such as being in time to appeal, once you sign up to the service they will appeal on your behalf, and if the appeal is not upheld will pay the ticket for you.
Around half of the appeals are against ParkingEye. The 500th ParkingEye appeal was processed today, saving motorists between £35,000 and £50,000 on the full ticket price (ParkingEye tickets range between £70 and £100).
It is not all doom and gloom for ParkingEye either; as they uphold a substantial number of appeals before the POPLA stage they have saved themselves almost £7,000 on POPLA fees.
Other operators are not so canny, with Excel parking so far turning down all appeals. According to their own figures, it costs Excel £66 to produce a POPLA evidence pack, so it looks very much as if they have decided to stick their head in the sand and ignore the mounting costs.
Some operators are upholding all appeals and saving themselves substantial amounts of money.
The concept of the appeals service has been endorsed both by the BPA and POPLA, with POPLA's chief adjudicator Henry Greenslade making a special mention in his annual report.
There are websites that now offer to make an appeal, and even original representations to the operator, in respect of parking charge notices, again for a fee. It should be remembered that, as I refer to elsewhere, POPLA does not charge the motorist to appeal. The service offered by such websites may also include payment or part payment, should the parking charge notice be upheld.
At POPLA, as in any fair appellate system, appellants can certainly get someone to act on their behalf. However, they must provide clear authority for them to so do and the motorist should always remember that it is ultimately their responsibility to ensure a charge due is paid. Any liability in law would remain with the appellant, rather than the provider of such a service.Currently there is only one active appeals service website, so it is fairly obvious who Mr Greenslade is talking about. He does caution Parking Operators against trying to expand into offering appeal services:
It would not seem appropriate for such an appeal making service to be offered by an operator who is at the same time a member of the BPA Approved Operator Scheme.The British Parking Association discussed the matter under any other business in their 10 April 2014 AOS Board Meeting. Graham Brown and Gary Brierly raised the matter.
This was discussed at great length and concluded that people have a right to be represented in such circumstances as occurs in other judicial proceedings.
To avail yourself of the service, click here.
Happy Parking
The Parking Prankster
well done chaps
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Almost worth trying to get a ticket in order to use their service and show support!
ReplyDeleteBest to make a subscription to PPP and DIY it. Or don't make a payment of any sort then still DIY it.
ReplyDeleteIf this scheme expands it will mean just another enterprise cashing in on the motorist.
On the other hand, if some service pops up to take on court cases on a no win-no fee basis I would heartily endorse that one.
FT, some of us do take on court cases, and usually all we ask is that the defendant covers our travel costs to attend the relevant court.
DeleteWith costs in small claims normally limited to £90, there isn't much scope for a no win no fee type of arrangement.
Fractitious Tart as we see time and time again on the forums there are plenty of people who simply do not have the time or the confidence to deal with tickets and they would quite happily pay a nominal amount to make it go away.
ReplyDeleteI personally think the appeals service is a fantastic business. Their profit margins are not too big, but they are a business and so they do need to earn a living.
If PPCs played by the rules then the appeals service would not exist. I am sure we can all agree that most of their customers would end up paying the full £100 if the appeals service did not exist. I for one would much rather see the PPCs lose (especially at POPLA) at the relatively small cost of £16 to the motorist.
I don't disgree with your opinion. I know many people are just too thick or lazy to string a decent appeal together.
DeleteI spent many, MANY hours working on individual cases on PPP where the OP's don't have a clue and give you sod all back in feedback, let alone any sort of reimbursement for time spent.
Promises of such things as a nice flower arrangement for my wife who's time I was taking up never happened. All the answers are on PPP nevertheless and those unable to comprehend them are in need of assistance. BUT, it's still a service which is cashing in on the motorist.
My endorsement of this service is more to do with the denial of money from the PPC's rather than saving money for the motorist, albeit they being inextricably linked.
As an addendum to that, I wonder how long it'll take for an ambulance chasing mentality. People following parking attendants around to swoop down and leave another note in the ticket packet.
DeleteYou got it - NO FUN ...Im terrified ofparking in the last 4 years I have had more PCNs with a Blubadge parking even more carefully with it. Than I have had in Over 40 years of driving I started at 7 years old with my 16 year old Brother [private farmland}
ReplyDeleteIt's a little cruel to call people "thick" me thinks, certainly there are those who have been ill educated, but that is something quite different.
ReplyDelete