Honours even between motorists and parking companies as POPLA publishes first appeals results

Drivers who receive parking charge notices when using private car parks across England and Wales have been able to appeal to an independent body for the past six months.

The figures show that decisions made by the assessors of the new Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) service has been fairly evenly split between motorists and private parking companies.

POPLA’s first report covers six months of appeals heard from its launch on 1 October 2012 until 31 March 2013. In all, 4,051 appeals were received by POPLA. Of the 1,969 appeals decided, 1,058 (54%) were in favour of the motorist and 911 (46%) in favour of the operator.

The report was launched by local transport minister Norman Baker, who said: “For a long time, motorists who felt they had been treated unfairly by parking providers operating on private land could only defend themselves in the courts. POPLA provides motorists with a free service to appeal against these tickets. This report shows that motorists are using this new, free appeals service in significant numbers and, in more than half of cases, having their appeals upheld. This shows the new system is working for drivers and for the parking industry.”

POPLA is an independent appeals service, covering England and Wales, set up in October 2012. Its creation coincided with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) which, in Section 54, outlawed wheel clamping and the removal of vehicles on private land without lawful authority.  

However, PoFA did not create an appeals service, so POPLA was established by the British Parking Association (BPA) after discussions with central government. The BPA’s chief executive, Patrick Troy, welcomed the first POPLA report. “The BPA has long called for regulation of the private parking sector and planned to develop an independent appeals service even before both government and organisations representing motorists endorsed the parking profession’s decision to set up POPLA,” said Troy.

The association runs the Approved Operator Scheme (AOS) for private parking companies, membership of which provides access to electronic details of the keepers of vehicles. This access enables parking companies to identify the keeper of vehicles that have been issued parking charge notices in person or by post.

The operation of POPLA is wholly funded by the private parking industry via annual fees and a fee for each appeal they contest.

Because it was not created by the PoFA or any other legislative provision, POPLA is not a statutory tribunal. However, the appeals service is run under contract from the BPA by London Councils, which operates the capital’s statutory Parking &?Traffic Appeal Service (PATAS).

“The Parking on Private Land Appeals scheme is completely independent of both parties,” said London Councils’ corporate director of services Nick Lester. “It provides a simple, free service for the motorist who has incurred a parking charge on private land to appeal. For the operator, an impartial assessor will determine the case and provide a reasoned decision.

“In less than six months almost 2,000 people have been helped by this service and at least half of them have avoided a county court hearing because of POPLA. There was previously little regulation of parking on private land, but this new appeals scheme provides an independent appeals service for motorists to be settled in a fair and transparent way.”

Under the scheme, a motorist who has received a parking charge on private land must first appeal to the operator that issued it. If the driver’s representations are accepted, the parking charge will be cancelled, but if their representations are rejected by the operator, the motorist has the option of taking their case to POPLA. There is no charge to the motorist for appealing to POPLA and appeals are dealt with online or by post.

The assessors’ judgements are binding on the parking companies but not motorists. Where a driver does not pay a parking charge, the company can opt to pursue the debt in the civil courts.

Not all private car parks are covered by the scheme, which only applies to AOS members and does not extend into Scotland or Northern Ireland. The BPA is pressing for POPLA to be adopted in Scotland and Northern Ireland and at places such as railway stations and airports, where it is currently not available to motorists.

The BPA’s Patrick Troy said: “We are now consulting on the governance of POPLA, and it is crucial that the independence of the service is both maintained and demonstrated to the motorist. We believe that public confidence in POPLA’s free service to motorists is high and will continue to rise.”