South Wales Classic Car Club annual show
In 1983 a small group of about a dozen classic car enthusiasts got together to form what is now the South Wales Classic Car Club, and this year is its 35th anniversary. The fi rst annual show was held in 1986 at the Dow Corning Social Club in Barry, and later moved to the South Wales Constabulary Social Club in Waterton, Bridgend, where it remained until the closure of that facility some years later. A subsequent move to the former Agricultural College in Pencoed allowed the show to continue to fl ourish, on an annual basis until the weather intervened in 2014 (sorry Glastonbury but you don’t have a monopoly on muddy fi elds) which resulted in a further move from 2015 onwards to the Car Park of Cardiff City Football Club in Leckwith Road, Cardiff . The show is now in its fourth year at this venue and will hopefully continue
How Can I Fight a Parking Ticket?
The number of parking tickets issued by car park management fi rms in the UK rose by a fi fth in a year, hitting a record of more than 5.5 million last year. Recent data from the RAC Foundation suggests that car owners could pay as much as £100 for overstaying at private parking spaces. The government is preparing to introduce legislation to regulate the private parking industry but the question is: what is the real problem? If you are a car owner who is facing hefty penalty charges and are attempting to dispute it with the parking management operator or the British Parking Association, what do you need to do? DAS Law has revealed there are a number of important diff erences between parking tickets from the local council and those enforced by private companies. Sarah Garner, a solicitor at DAS Law, explains the lowdown on parking tickets and tells you how to pursue a dispute and avoid paying penalty charges.
What is the diff erence between private and public parking tickets? The clue is in the names – public parking tickets are issued for breaching parking rules on public land (such as on the road or in a public car park). Private parking tickets are issued for breaching the rules on private land, such as in a supermarket car park. Public parking tickets are enforced by the local authority or the police (or Transport for London, if you happen to be in the capital), and these sorts of tickets will come with fi nes (usually in the form of a Penalty Charge Notice, or PCN). Private parking fi rms, however, which enforce private parking tickets, have no power to issue fi nes. Instead of fi ning drivers, they are technically issuing invoices for an alleged breach of contract. This means that the private fi rm can’t send bailiff s to recover the money from you – they will need to take you to court to enforce the notice. This also gives the driver a lot more leeway to appeal against the ticket if they think that the ticket is unfair or the charge is too high. Private parking fi rms also have other restrictions – for example, unlike a council or local authority, they have no right to clamp or tow your vehicle (and they could be fi ned up to £5,000 if they do). However, private parking companies sometimes obscure this distinction, making drivers think that their tickets are actually local authority tickets.
How can I tell what type of ticket I have? The ticket should contain information on it to confi rm by whom it was issued – if the issuer was a private company, it is a private ticket.
Does the parking fi rm belong to a trade body? Once you have identifi ed the parking fi rm, you should fi nd out if they are a member of a trade body. There are two trade bodies for parking companies – the British Parking Association (BPA) and the Independent Parking Committee (IPC). Both organisations have lists of accredited operators BPA Approved Operators and IPC Approved Operators, and if the parking fi rm listed on the ticket isn’t on either of these lists, they don’t belong to a trade body. Trade bodies have their own appeals process, so if the parking fi rm rejects your appeal against the ticket, you can escalate matters. BPA and IPC members also have the right to access DVLA details to obtain your name and address. Non-members don’t have this access, so unless you write to them to complain about the charge, it is unlikely that they will be able to fi nd you and pursue you for payment.
How can I fi ght the private parking ticket? If you think the charge has been wrongly issued or is too high, don’t pay the company straight away or admit any sort of responsibility for the alleged off ence. There are diff erent options for what you can do, depending on your circumstances, your particular grievance with the ticket, and the strength of your will to resist demands for payment.
Can I appeal to the fi rm and their trade body? If you want to appeal against a ticket, you should start by appealing to the parking fi rm. You should be able to fi nd information on how to appeal on the ticket or on the fi rm’s website. If they reject your appeal, you can appeal to an independent organisation known as POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals). POPLA is run by the Ombudsman Service. Before you submit your appeal to POPLA, you should collect any evidence that would support your appeal (picture evidence of the car park, evidence of extenuating circumstances, etc). POPLA’s service allows you to submit and track your appeal online. When they have reviewed the evidence, they will make a decision, either upholding the ticket or throwing it out.
18 - Friday 11th May 2018 - Cardiff & South Wales Advertiser
to improve with age!! It is staged by the members of the club, now numbering some 100 or so active members, (although many more have come and gone over the years) on an entirely voluntary basis. Any profi ts from the show are distributed amongst various local charities, to which the club is pleased to have donated many thousands of pounds over the years. The club is always open to new members and further information regarding new membership, exhibiting at the show, charitable donations etc, can be fount on our website at
www.swccc.net. We meet at Pontyclun Athletic Club, Caston Road, Pontyclun, on the fi rst Thursday of every month, at which we will be please to welcome potential new members and visitors alike.
Sarah Garner
Can I get away with paying less than the full amount of the fi ne? If you are willing to pay but think the charge on the ticket is too high, you can pay a smaller amount to see if this will satisfy the landowner. For example, if you have been charged £60 for overstaying, and you instead pay £25, the parking fi rm may let the rest of the amount lapse, not bothering to take you to court over the remaining £35. If you pay the ticket within 14 days, the parking company is required to off er you a discount of at least 40% on the charge.
Can I just ignore the ticket? Some people have successfully managed to avoid paying a parking ticket by just ignoring it – if you do this, the only way the parking fi rm can take action is by taking you to court. In some cases, parking fi rms don’t bother, as the cost of taking you to court is not worth the possible reward of getting you to pay. If the parking fi rm is not an Approved Operator, they might not even be able to take you to court – unaccredited fi rms have no access to DVLA records, so they might not be able to fi nd your address and track you down. However, you should use caution when ignoring a ticket – if the fi rm decides to call your bluff and take you to court, you could end up paying a lot more.
www.cardiffandsouthwalesadvertiser.com
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