(Parking) Penalty Charge Notice when trains disrupted

[WestAnglian]

I have received a PCN from NCP on behalf of Greater Anglia. I couldn't remember an occasion when I could have incurred the charge but it seems it was my wife. The situation was as follows.

My wife gave my daughter a lift to Audley End Station one Sunday evening to drop her off for her train to Cambridge. The station has a large yard with many parking places, and is the place that cars, buses and taxis drop off and pick up. It turned out that a problem with the overheads a bit further south meant that London to Cambridge GA services were disrupted. My wife and daughter knew that there should have been GA and XC trains between Stansted Airport and Cambridge but none were showing on the PIS in either direction. But after some time (20 or 30 minutes) I saw a train on RTT that seemed to be running, so I sent them a message and they waited for it. It arrived and my daughter got home safely.

As she was just dropping off and she hadn't expected disruption it didn't occur to my wife to pay for parking. And she couldn't just leave my daughter there, a solo female stranded in the dark with no idea when (or if) a train would arrive. it seems unreasonable for GA to (indirectly) charge for delays to services. I don't think she even used a space, but just stayed where she was. However entries and exits are monitored by ANPR.

Does anyone have experience in fighting these charges with a TOC?

 

[thejuggler]

Is it a parking or penalty charge? This detail is important.

Don't act in haste, There is plenty of good advice on moneysavingexpert private parking ticket forum. If it is a parking charge notice and the car park is subject to Railway Byelaws it should be easy enough to appeal and avoid paying the invoice, but you need to do it correctly.

There are examples of effective straight to the point appeals setting out the legal position which have resulted in NCP cancelling the charge.

 

[MrToad]

My local station has 20 minutes free parking - for those dropping off or waiting to collect passengers. This is monitored by ANPR and run by one of the national parking companies. It all works well until a train gets delayed then people start getting penalty charge notices through the post for waiting longer than 20 minutes in the car park. However and surprisingly for a parking company, these appear (on the oracle that is the towns facebook page) to usually get waived in these circumstances. I believe it is some local agreement between SWR (or whoever runs the station) and the parking company.

 

[WestAnglian]

My local station has 20 minutes free parking - for those dropping off or waiting to collect passengers. This is monitored by ANPR and run by one of the national parking companies. It all works well until a train gets delayed then people start getting penalty charge notices through the post for waiting longer than 20 minutes in the car park. However and surprisingly for a parking company, these appear (on the oracle that is the towns facebook page) to usually get waived in these circumstances. I believe it is some local agreement between SWR (or whoever runs the station) and the parking company.

That's the sensible and in a sane world obvious way to do it.

Is it a parking or penalty charge? This detail is important.

Don't act in haste, There is plenty of good advice on moneysavingexpert private parking ticket forum. If it is a parking charge notice and the car park is subject to Railway Byelaws it should be easy enough to appeal and avoid paying the invoice, but you need to do it correctly.

There are examples of effective straight to the point appeals setting out the legal position which have resulted in NCP cancelling the charge.

Thank you. I'll take a look at MSE.