An objector to London Council accounts discovered that the parking appeals service POPLA was being run unlawfully. London Council employee Nick Lester has therefore rushed through an emergency vote to legalise the service.
Nick Lester is also a committee member of the British Parking Association. If the vote fails, the worse case scenario could be that all the parking companies have to leave the BPA and join the IPC to continue providing an appeals service. It can be said therefore that he has a vested interest.
Previously he has also misinformed investigators who raised the very legal issues which sre now plauging the system. It can be said therefore, that he either did not know what he was talking about, or he was lying. Either way, he does not appear to the lay observer to be the right person to resolve this issue, both having a vested interest and not really knowing what he is talking about.
The latest vote seems doomed to lead London COuncils deeper into the mire. It is not clear that the vote can be retrospective. The council are attempting to use the Localism Act but the case of Maydown Company v Basingstoke and Dean Borough Council establishes that the Localism Act cannot be used retrospectively and also that if a decision was taken under a specific enactment then it cannot be later claimed to be done for a different purpose.
It may therefore be prudent for the various councils to investigate this further before trusting anything that comes out of Nick Lester's mouth.
Happy Parking
The Parking Psnkster
It seems this is not the only problem facing London Councils...
ReplyDeletehttp://notomob.co.uk/discussions/index.php/topic,4410.msg28700/topicseen.html?PHPSESSID=rjabj1df1c5chtfiqjp0ms42a5#new
I wonder if this SNAFU will render all POPLA adjudications null and void??
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