Payment machine not working

Overview 

The parking operator issued the Parking Charge Notice because the motorist had failed to purchase the appropriate parking time.

Motorist’s case

The motorist thought that the Parking Charge Notice was unfair as the payment machine was faulty. The motorist sent in a picture of the payment machine saying “sorry payment currently unavailable”. 

Evidence

POPLA looked at the evidence provided by the motorist and the parking operator, which included signs at the car park and a list of payments made on the day from other parking machines 

The signs on the carpark clearly listed other locations where motorists could find other parking machines. There had been payments from other machines on the day the motorist was parked on the car park

Decision

POPLA acknowledged that the parking machine was faulty, however, as there were other working parking machines on site, the motorist should have found another machine to pay for parking. POPLA’s decision was that the motorist should have paid for parking.

Outcome

In accessing the evidence provided by the motorist and parking operator, POPLA decided in favour of the parking operator, as there were other working machines on-site.