Can I Challenge A PCN From My Own Parking Space?
This blog serves to answer the question “Can I Challenge A PCN from My Own Parking Space?” It clarifies the entitlement to challenge a Penalty Charge Notice from your own parking space (as a user of the parking lot) with the same rights as any other person that uses the facility. As with any parking PCN challenge, your evidence matters most to the success of your case, which will be handled by the parking officers at the car park just like an ordinary vehicle’s PCN challenge.
Can I Challenge A PCN From My Own Parking Space?
Yes, you can certainly challenge a PCN from your own parking space. But you also need to have evidence material to use for your PCN challenge (such as a video clip of your parking stay) in order to properly communicate your point of view to the authority. As a user of your (owned) parking space you are entitled to follow the same 12 contravention codes enforced in the car park by everyone else.
Similarly, you are also entitled to pay and challenge a PCN, which has been served for allegedly violating one of these 12 parking contravention codes. Your PCN challenge can be sent by mail or online on the parking services company’s website. Some parking management companies also allow you to send in your appeal by email.
You must make sure that you don’t mention a reason for your PCN challenge which indicates forgetfulness ( for instance you didn’t remember to park your vehicle within the markings of its designated parking space) or conveys a lack of knowledge of the parking contravention codes regulating your stay in the car park.
Evidence to prove that the traffic violation never took place needs to be in the form of a video clip that shows your vehicle in its entire duration at the car park. This can help to appeal against a variety of contravention codes enforced by your parking company and is priceless evidence without which there is no way to prove what you are mentioning in the grounds of your appeal actually happened.
In many cases, PCNs are not enforceable and you may be able to win your case and avoid having to pay your fine.
You could begin the process by speaking to an online solicitor for as little as £5.
Will I be charged as an ordinary parking lot user if I violate the rules of my own parking space?
Yes, of course. As your status is that of a parking space user for parking your vehicle there, as the owner of a car park, you will have to pay parking charges and be penalized with a parking PCN for failing to do so (or for any other parking contravention committed in the car park).
Your case will also have a fair probability of being accepted or rejected by the parking company, and needs to be strongly worded and based on facts. Authentic evidence material such as a video clip or a receipt of your paid parking charges needs to be kept available for using to support your parking PCN challenge.
Your words and assertions will be taken just as seriously as any other user of the car park and must be matched by pieces of evidence to prove their legitimacy.
What is a Penalty Charge Notice?
A Penalty Charge Notice is a monetary penalty issued to drivers or motorists for committing certain traffic contraventions including violating Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic restrictions. A PCN is issued for failing to follow Parking zone, bus lane enforcement, and moving traffic restrictions mentioned in the Road Traffic Act 1984 and the Traffic Management Act 2004.
A penalty charge notice can be handed to you by a Civil Enforcement Officer or dispatched to your (DVLA) residential address by post. Traffic contraventions are observed by CCTV cameras and Civil Enforcement Officers before a violation is detected and the vehicle is charged with a PCN.
A PCN might also be issued for failing to pay road charges on time. You have 28 days to decide how and if you would like to challenge your Penalty Charge Notice. After 28 days if you have neither paid nor challenged your PCN, your unpaid PCN amount will be registered as debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre at the Northampton County Court.
Can I submit a challenge to a PCN from my own parking space on the company website?
Yes, you can challenge a PCN from your own parking space, on the parking services company’s official website. You need to access the online formal representation form on the parking lot management company’s database by entering your PCN number and your Vehicle Registration Number.
On some council websites you have to select the contravention code (mentioned on your PCN) from a list of options and then choose an acceptable reason for your appeal from another list, Here it is important to understand that this reason that is being chosen will also be the same reason you will mention in your written formal representation and you have to provide authentic evidence material for proving the grounds of your appeal as well.
It is advisable to prepare the contents of your PCN challenge by typing it into a word processor first and eliminating any reasons which cannot be supported by available evidence material or which do not conform to the established grounds for challenging the relevant contravention code.
Once you have ensured that your explanation reinforces the evidence material you are going to upload with your formal representation, you can copy the text into the online formal representation form.
Evidence to use with your PCN challenge can be stored inside a folder on your computer by filming video clips of your road journeys in the council, which can be used to show how the traffic contravention never happened or help to explain your mitigating circumstances. Other evidence files in picture formats or pdf, doc formats can also be saved in separate folders for easy access.
You could have some authentic miitgating circumstances for challenging the parking PCN, such as a medical condition that led you to overstay the time limit mentioned on your parking charge. This must be a genuinely serious condition requiring immediate medical attention and also previously diagnosed by a licensed General Practitioner. A video that shows your pay and display ticket properly attached to your windscreen or your vehicle being properly parked within the markings of its parking space can be used to support your PCN challenge.
You never know when you might be handed a parking PCN so it is essential to always be prepared with evidence from your vehicle’s journeys in the parking zones in your council. It will be difficult for you to suddenly come up with evidence to use with a PCN challenge within 28 days and all this information would be lost unless you actively donate some time and effort into collecting and preserving evidence material.
Can I also challenge the Parking PCN from my own parking space by mail?
The second method for challenging your PCN which is available for most car park management PCN is by using the postal service. You can write your formal representation on the last page of your Notice to Owner document or in a printed downloadable form (in some cases) and send it by mail to the council’s address.
You must remember to attach evidence material with your letter in this case as it is an essential component of your formal representation. Photographs from the traffic violation scene filmed by a passenger travelling with you, medical certificates to explain your mitigating circumstances such as a serious health condition or a pay and display ticket (for challenging a Parking PCN) can be placed inside a small transparent file or stapled to your Notice to Owner Document.
You can mention a checklist of your evidence material at the end of your PCN challenge to ensure that no item escapes the attention of the parking officer judging your case. Another important point to remember when sending in your PCN challenge by mail is that first class mail takes 1 to 2 days to deliver your formal representation to the council and second class mail takes between 3 to 5 days. So you need to send in your appeal by the 22nd day after receiving your PCN, at the latest.
This formal representation can also first be typed into a word processing software such as MS word to remove any unclear sentences or reasons which display a lack of awareness of the contravention code, as all such grounds for a PCN challenge will be rejected. You can write down the same sentences on paper once you have matched the text of your formal representation with your available evidence material and clearly explained the cause and effect relationship between any mitigating circumstances which led to the traffic violation.
What happens if I don’t pay a PCN from my own parking space within 28 days?
You should not consider a private car park PCN any less than a regular PCN issued by your local council. The lower level parking contravention codes enforced by your parking management company make you legally bound to respect them while using the company’s parking zones (regardless of your status within the company).
If you neither pay your Parking PCN within 28 days nor decide to appeal against it, you will be sent a letter from the car park company to pay your PCN in full within 14 days. If you don’t pay the PCN within the next 14 days, your (nonpayment) case will be passed on to enforcement agents or bailiffs. Your actions will also result in the filing of a court order (for recovery of debts) against you by your parking management company.
Your unpaid Parking PCN amount will be treated as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at the Northampton County Court.
The court order for debt recovery enforces that the charge certificate amount must be paid in full within 21 days the county court will have to use additional powers to recover the money from your possession which means employing Enforcement Agents, to (contact you or) visit your personal premises.
Can I dispute my Notice of Rejection with POPLA if my Parking Space dismisses my appeal?
You can dispute your Notice of Rejection of Representations from your parking space with the Parking on Private Land Appeals service (POPLA). Your challenge can be sent in 2 different ways, the first method is to download the POPLA Appeals Form, print it out and send it to the Parking On Private Land Appeals service postal address:
POPLA,
PO Box 1270,
Warrington,
WA4 9RL
The letter must mention the 10 digit reference number contained in your Notice of Rejection from your parking space. You need to remember that the appeal to POPLA is just like a regular Parking PCN challenge. You can upload evidence such as video clips of your traffic violation scenes (taken from inside your vehicle), medical certificates from a certified General Practitioner, and scanned copies of “pay and display” tickets.
The evidence is necessary to convince the Parking on Private Land Appeals service that you did not breach the relevant parking contravention code. You should preferably memorise all these codes before using your parking space’s car parks, so that you know how to challenge a PCN and can do your best to avoid getting one.
If you have mentioned mitigating circumstances in your POPLA appeal, you must be able to explain the cause and effect relationship between the condition which led you to commit the traffic violation (such as leaving your vehicle parked for an extended period of time owing to a medical emergency).
The evidence material to be sent with your written representation needs to be a document or photographs from the scene of the incident. You can convert a video clip into photographs by using a video player or video editing software by simply taking snapshots of the relevant frames showing your claim.
A first class mail letter takes between 1 to 2 days to reach POPLA and second class mail takes between 3 to 5 days. So you need to send in your challenge by the 20th day at the latest for it to be considered side by side with the car park company’s legal proposition.
You also need to remember that you must submit a challenge to your Notice of Rejection from your car park management company to POPLA within 28 days of receiving your Notice of Rejection.
How can I submit my challenge to the Notice of Rejection of Representations from my car park company by using the online form?
In order to submit your challenge to the Notice of Rejection of Representations from the car park management company online, you need to visit the POPLA website. On this page you need to first agree to the terms and tick each one off and enter your 10 digit verification number stated on the Notice of Rejection from the car park management company. You need to click on “I Confirm that the operator is correct” and click on “Start Appeal” after that. On the next page you will be asked for your Parking PCN Number, Vehicle Registration Number, the reasons for your challenge and the evidence material to support your case (which can be uploaded onto the POPLA system).
Here you can easily attach evidence material such as video clips and scanned copies of your medical certificates (for supporting your mitigating circumstances) through your computer. It is also an advantage to be able to first edit the text of your formal representation in a word processing software and then transfer it onto the online appeals form on the POPLA website. A better worded parking contravention challenge which mentions the legal technicalities stated in the Road Traffic Act 1988 or the Traffic Management Act 2004 regarding your parking contravention code to put forward your challenge will be considered as a strong formal representation.
The evidence attached with your challenge should also be correctly matched with the grounds of your appeal and not seem out of place. The document or video clip needs to clearly prove your mitigating circumstances or show that the traffic contravention didn’t occur, and convince POPLA to accept your evidence over that provided by the Parking Services Company.
Once POPLA is satisfied that your car park management company’s case has been refuted outright by your representation of the matter, the adjudicant (or assessor) of your case will probably make the final decision in your case.
This decision will be sent to both you and to your Parking Services company via email simultaneously. If the decision by POPLA is made in your favour the Parking PCN will immediately be cancelled.
If your appeal is rejected by Parking on Private Land Appeals service, you will have to pay the fine within the next 28 days to avoid your case being taken to the debt collection stage by the Parking Services Company.
At POPLA “assessors” or adjudicators of your case will make their final decision based on :
- The act of legislation your case (traffic contravention) refers to such as the Traffic Management Act 2004
- The Code of Practice used by The British Parking Association
- The articles of evidence put forward by the Parking Services Company and you which are representing opposing viewpoints of the situation.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “Can I Challenge A PCN from my own parking space?” You need to provide authentic evidence relating to your parking contravention for getting your PCN cancelled and make sure that you generally observe these rules when using your car park. A PCN from your own parking space can also be challenged with POPLA after receiving your Notice of Rejection of Representations from the car park management company.