Appeals system a mess

[Updated 6/6/2014 with information from the BPA. See below]

The Prankster has been aware of several situations where parking companies have jumped ship from the BPA Ltd to the IPC, and motorists who appeal regarding tickets issued before the leaving date have been left in limbo.

POPLA refuse to accept the appeal because the operator is not longer a member.

The IAS refuse to accept the appeal because the operator was not a member when the ticket was issued.

The Prankster suggests the BPA, the IPC and the DVLA get together in a locked room and thrash the issue out, not leaving until a solution is agreed on. If necessary, somebody could slide pizzas under the door to keep them going.

It cannot be right that the motorist is left without a way to appeal.

Meanwhile, the Prankster suggests that all Notice to Keeper documents issued in this situation do not comply with the requirements of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4. This means that keeper liability does not apply and only the driver can be claimed against.

9(2)(g) states information which must be present on a notice to keeper for it to be valid (7(2)(d) and 8(2)(g) contain similar clauses  for notice to driver and the following notice to keeper)

inform the keeper of any discount offered for prompt payment and the arrangements for the resolution of disputes or complaints that are available;

If the notice contains incorrect information, or information about a procedure that is not available, then this requirement has not been met.

The letters between the government and the BPA made it clear that access to a free independent appeals service was a criteria for allowing keeper liability provisions in POFA 2012 to go ahead.

The Prankster also suggests contacting the landowner to get them to cancel the charge if the operator refuses to provide a valid independent appeals process.

Update 6/62014

Steve Clarke of the BPA has been in touch, and apparently the meeting with the locked door and pizzas slid underneath has already happened. There were some teething problems when the IPC first started, but these should be ironed out now.

The situation now is, all parking charges issued when an operator is a member of the BPA should be able to use POPLA to appeal. This is the official viewpoint of the BPA.

If anyone has experienced otherwise in a particular case, please contact Steve Clark at steve.c@britishparking.co.uk with information about your case, and he will see that POPLA hear the appeal and the the appropriate training is given to the person who thought POPLA could not hear the appeal.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster