Listeners to my podcast will know my wife received a parking ticket. I appealed – rejected – and then appealed to POPLA. The ticket was withdrawn.
This was quite a specific case revolving around the grace period for parking. But hopefully the template below that I successfully used will help show how to construct an appeal that works: be clear in playing back the parking regulations, clearly explain the situation that occurred, and explain your grounds for appealing.
As ever – get in touch and I’m happy to help and advise.
APPEAL POINT 1 – GRACE PERIOD
The parking session is not established by the photographs of the time of entry into and exit from the car park. My parking session only began once I had found a parking space and taken the time to find a sign and read it.
As stated in the British Parking Association Code of Practice:
13 Grace periods
13.1 Your approach to parking management must allow a driver who enters your car park but decides not to park, to leave the car park within a reasonable period without having their vehicle issued with a parking charge notice.
13.2 You should allow the driver a reasonable ‘grace period’ in which to decide if they are going to stay or go. If the driver is on your land without permission you should still allow them a grace period to read your signs and leave before you take enforcement action.
13.3 You should be prepared to tell us the specific grace period at a site if our compliance team or our agents ask what it is.
13.4 You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action. If the location is one where parking is normally permitted, the Grace Period at the end of the parking period should be a MINIMUM of 10 minutes.
As you will know, the BPA’s guidance specifically says that there must be sufficient time for the motorist to park their car, observe the signs, decide whether they want to comply with the operator’s conditions and either drive away or pay for a ticket. No time limit is specified for a grace period for entry into a car park. This is because it might take one person five minutes, but another person 10 minutes depending on various factors.
Then, at the end of the parking session, you will note a minimum of ten minutes is allotted for exiting the car park. This period is a minimum because it can take longer for people with specific circumstances.
I am a breastfeeding mother and I had to feed my infant child (3 months old at the time) before leaving the car park. It isn’t possible to predict or time when a 3 month old baby will require feeding, and there was no option for me to pay to stay longer or extend in any way, or notify of the issue. I had genuinely no option but to stay and feed my infant daughter.
From the time I entered the car park to the time I left was three hours and 12 minutes. The permitted maximum period was three hours. I was just 12 minutes over the allotted time, which is less than would be a reasonable set of grace periods at the start of parking (when I needed to find a space in a busy car park, read the signage and decide to stay) and at the end, when I needed to breastfeed my child.
Clearly, 10 minutes is not at all a reasonable grace period for a breastfeeding mother.
Furthermore, additional time should be allowed under the Equality Act 2010 for breastfeeding mothers, as I will now come onto explain. Taken together, it is clear that 12 minutes is not a sufficient or reasonable grace period under the circumstances and I therefore appeal the parking charge.
APPEAL POINT 2 – DISCRIMINATION
Upon returning to my vehicle and transferring my 3 month old daughter to the car, she became agitated and required me to feed her before I was able to leave.
Breastfeeding in public places is protected under the Equality Act 2010 for as long as an individual wishes to breastfeed a baby. The Act, section 13, is clear that it is discrimination to treat a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding. It applies to anyone providing services, benefits, facilities and premises to the public.
Equality Act 2010:
13(1) A person (A) discriminates against another (B) if, because of a protected characteristic, A treats B less favourably than A treats or would treat others.
(6) If the protected characteristic is sex— (a) less favourable treatment of a woman includes less favourable treatment of her because she is breast-feeding…
As a breastfeeding mother who stayed for just 12 minutes more than the permitted time, within a reasonable grace period as above, I consider that in rejecting my appeal Euro Car Parks has not given reasonable consideration to mitigating circumstances that meant I was unable, for good reason, to keep to the parking condition on this occasion.
Taken together, it is clear that 12 minutes is not a sufficient or reasonable grace period under the circumstances – exacerbated by the fact I was breastfeeding – and I therefore appeal the parking charge.