ParkingTicketAppeals service hits £100,000 savings for motorists.

The ParkingTicketAppeals service has hit an important milestone, saving over £100,000 for motorists.

For a fixed fee of £16, the service takes the worry away from the busy or confused motorist. Subject to a few limitations, such as being in time to appeal, once you sign up to the service they will appeal on your behalf, and if the appeal is not upheld will pay the ticket for you.

Around half of the appeals are against ParkingEye. The 500th ParkingEye appeal was processed today, saving motorists between £35,000 and £50,000 on the full ticket price (ParkingEye tickets range between £70 and £100).

It is not all doom and gloom for ParkingEye either; as they uphold a substantial number of appeals before the POPLA stage they have saved themselves almost £7,000 on POPLA fees.

Other operators are not so canny, with Excel parking so far turning down all appeals. According to their own figures, it costs Excel £66 to produce a POPLA evidence pack, so it looks very much as if they have decided to stick their head in the sand and ignore the mounting costs.

Some operators are upholding all appeals and saving themselves substantial amounts of money.

The concept of the appeals service has been endorsed both by the BPA and POPLA, with POPLA's chief adjudicator Henry Greenfield making a special mention in his annual report.

There are websites that now offer to make an appeal, and even original representations to the operator, in respect of parking charge notices, again for a fee. It should be remembered that, as I refer to elsewhere, POPLA does not charge the motorist to appeal. The service offered by such websites may also include payment or part payment, should the parking charge notice be upheld. 

At POPLA, as in any fair appellate system, appellants can certainly get someone to act on their behalf. However, they must provide clear authority for them to so do and the motorist should always remember that it is ultimately their responsibility to ensure a charge due is paid. Any liability in law would remain with the appellant, rather than the provider of such a service.

Currently there is only one active appeals service website, so it is fairly obvious who Mr Greenslade is talking about. He does caution Parking Operators against trying to expand into offering appeal services:

It would not seem appropriate for such an appeal making service to be offered by an operator who is at the same time a member of the BPA Approved Operator Scheme.

The British Parking Association discussed the matter under any other business in their 10 April 2014 AOS Board Meeting. Graham Brown and Gary Brierly raised the matter.

This was discussed at great length and concluded that people have a right to be represented in such circumstances as occurs in other judicial proceedings.

To avail yourself of the service, click here.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster