The motorist paid by phone using Parkmobile.
"She inputted the registration number with a space on it, as it appears on a car. As a result we were sent a £100 fine".
The motorist appealed to POPLA, who failed to understand that paying by phone means there is not ticket to display.
The ticket was only cancelled as 'a gesture of goodwill' after the Guardian intervened. The Guardian commented that this shows how useless POPLA has become.
Prankster Notes
The Prankster has not seen the POPLA appeal or verdict, but if the Guardian has reported this correctly, he would have to agree that this is an example of how useless POPLA is.
Anybody who owns a car can check their registration document - it will contain a space. They can also go and look at their car - the registration plates will contain a space. It is therefore perfectly reasonable to enter a space when asked to input your registration.
Given that the Parkmobile app allows spaces to be entered, then the fault seems entirely that of UKPC and not the motorist.
The Prankster considers that UKPC had no valid reason to get keeper data from the DVLA database and the motorist should consider making a claim against UKPC for a breach of the data protection act. A claim in the region of £250 to £750 would seem to be appropriate.
Meanwhile, POPLA should reconsider whether a space is a valid character or not; and if it is not, why is the Parkmobile app allowing it?
Happy Parking
The Parking Prankster
Watch this space?
ReplyDelete(sorry, sorry, sorry, just had to!)
Sorry but did I misread that?
ReplyDelete"The Guardian commented that this shows how useless POPLA has become."
I was unaware that "New POPLA" - in any of its various guises (as opposed to "Old POPLA") had ever been anything else. Perhaps I need to read more widely?
I'm hazarding a guess here. An overwhelming majority of Registration plates have 7 characters (ABC123A, AB12ABC, etc), so the software is expecting 7 characters to be inputted. If somebody has an older car, or has a personalised Registration plate (ABC123 or ABC1A, etc), the software has to allow a space.
ReplyDeleteThe downside is; Somebody thinks that a character is missing an issues a ticket. The bizarre twist is: In order to issue a ticket. The Registration number has to be correct!
These companies are out of control and the dvla is complicit. This is one where reasonable cause cannot have existed and a simple human common sense check at any stage should have stopped any details being requested or issued. Dvla should check for reasonable cause in every case and strike out those companies that fail permanently.
ReplyDeleteThese companies are out of control and the dvla is complicit. This is one where reasonable cause cannot have existed and a simple human common sense check at any stage should have stopped any details being requested or issued. Dvla should check for reasonable cause in every case and strike out those companies that fail permanently.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone tried to enter their phone number in a web form? It is common to put a space between the area code and exchange number, but it is rejected because of the space. Let's not go down the route of putting the area code in brackets or a hyphen, all usually rejected. At least you get told it doesn't like what you entered, but for systems to accept the space, then deem the resulting VRM as non compliant is nonsensical.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me this is an open and shut data protection breach and the keeper should pursue a tort for that.
ReplyDelete