I would appreciate any help with this Notice to Keeper that I've been asked to help with. Private parking charges are not really my forte.
This PCN seems to be a bit odd. The location appears to be a Council run car park on St. Nicholas Ave, behind Sainsburys and Savers just before Northwood Avenue.

I would expect to see a Council PCN not a PPC. So I've contacted the driver and asked for confirmation of the location and photos of any signs.

This concerns a London Taxi. Apparently the driver dropped a passenger off in the car park to collect from one of the shops and then waited to pick him up again. The driver was under the impression that the car park was free, at least for a short stay and might have failed to get a ticket. They didn't notice any signs on the way in. This might be because the sign is on the street between the entrance and the exit. Council car parks and on-street are currently free during the pandemic.

So how best to proceed, assuming the car park is no longer council and is actually private.

Thanks,

It must have been infested quite recently. See here.

Someone has stuck up ANPR cameras.

Worth checking that the council PPO's have been rescinded.

@Jlc
Well spotted. I've checked and that 'new management' sign is no longer in-situ.

So far as I can piece together the car park was leased by Havering Council. It looks like the lease has recently been relinquished by Havering and the site acquired by some other party who now operate their own private car park. Probably pending planning approval to build on the site.

I'm struggling to find when the Parking Places Order has been amended accordingly.

Anyway the Council signs are no longer present today. Below are the replacements. Looks like our driver might have failed to buy a ticket for a £1 as they assumed this was still a Council operated car park and such places are currently free of charge in Havering.

How best to proceed?

Thanks,

By that £100 is hidden well away in the small print, it should be more predominant.
Not a defence on its own thou.

That's got to be some of the worst signage. The core term is virtually hidden.

Another angle is that the driver did not accept the terms of parking and left. (It's a taxi and was doing what taxi's do!)

They are mildly litigious so a court claim is possible. Perhaps offer the £1 tariff and something to cover the admin?

Everybody is talking Havering but the location on the NTK is Elm Park Car Park Hornchurch. The post code is Horncburch and includes an Elm Park Avenue and and St Nicholas Avenue. The car park in post #2 is st Nicholas Ave West car park and not the one in the NTK. Are have I got this horribly wrong

My link is the correct one - just around the corner here.

It's Havering council...

Some googling suggests that the land owner terminated the lease to Havering Council at short notice around a year ago. The landowner then commenced operating a private car-park. Possibly the original landowner sold the car-park on as part of the process.

Try as I might I can't find any reference on Havering's website or the London Gazette to the car-park being delisted from the PPO.

So I emailed Havering and asked for details of any amendment to the off-street parking places order delisting the car-park. Nearly two weeks ago and I have no response.
Havering had suspended all charging in their car-parks at the relevant time.

So a challenge on the basis that the car-park is still subject to the PPO and no charge was payable can't hurt. That said all the Council's signs appear to have been removed.
In addition, inadequate signage due to small print. And this was a taxi dropping off.

Can we say that the requirements of the POFA have not been complied with and that the RK can't be compelled to name the driver?

All help appreciated.

Thanks,

There is not a requirement anyway to identify the driver.

With a PPO in place then it is not relevant land for the purpose of POFA

@OP - read what a Judge recently said about OPS signage. Something that could be referred to should it get to a court case.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discus...traint-order/p1

OPS far from out of the woods, the Judge threatening them with the possibility of a Civil Restraint Order. I suspect they will tread very carefully about issuing any new proceedings.

Still no response from Havering to my request for the Off Street Parking Places Order showing that the St Nicholas Avenue West car park has been delisted. And try as I might I can't find anything relevant in the Gazette.

Anyway the RK submitted an appeal and made it clear they were not prepared to name the driver since the Protection of Freedoms Act doesn't apply to the car park since the PPO has not been rescinded. Plus some other points, including the signage.

And success! The ticket has been cancelled. We didn't even have to appeal to POPLA, which was a bit unexpected.

No reason given other than all 'relevant mitigating circumstances' were considered.

Sounds like they know there is a PPO in place, and if they do then trying to invoke PoFA would be fraud...

If the Landowner dumped on the council by terminating at short notice I doubt they will be in a particular rush to rescind the PPO!

Was personal information accessed without reasonable cause?

I would say not, there is no requirement in KADOE for PoFA compliance or for PoFA to be able to be applied.

I don't think a court wold necessarily reject a contractual claim just because a PPO was in place either, so on that basis I think the PPC can argue reasonable cause t enable them to contact the keeper to try and elicit payment from the driver, in the same way they could pre 2012.

I suspect that Civil Restraint Order hanging over them is making them very nervous about falling foul of the courts by pursuing something the know they shouldn't.

For whatever reason, a good result for the OP.

If there's a cage to rattle... But the right outcome.