Consumer Rights Act 2015
Summary
Consumer Rights Act 2015, Section 49 provides that every contract to supply a service includes an implied term that the trader must perform with reasonable care and skill. Section 62 makes unfair terms in consumer contracts non-binding. Applied to parking: where an operator provides a broken payment machine or a failing app as the sole payment method, the service has not been supplied with reasonable care and skill, and a motorist who attempted to pay but was prevented by the failure cannot fairly be penalised. Payment error appeals succeed in approximately 65% of cases where contemporaneous evidence of the failure exists.
Operative Text
Section 49 — Service to be performed with reasonable care and skill: 'Every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.' Section 62 — Requirement of fairness: 'An unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer.' Applied to parking: where the operator provides a payment mechanism that fails to function, or service provision is inadequate, the consumer cannot be penalised for failing to comply with terms that the operator itself prevented compliance with.
What This Means for Your Ticket
Where you attempted to pay but the payment system failed — broken machine, crashing app, no signal for an app-only system — the operator has failed to supply the parking service with reasonable care and skill. A charge issued in those circumstances is based on a breach of the consumer's obligation (failure to pay) that was caused by the operator's own service failure. The Consumer Rights Act gives the consumer a direct counter-argument in those circumstances.
Evidence to Collect
The Act supports your appeal most strongly when backed by evidence:
- ✓Screenshot of app error or failed transaction with timestamp
- ✓Bank statement showing attempted payment or declined transaction
- ✓Photo of out-of-order notice on machine with timestamp
- ✓Evidence that no alternative payment method was available or communicated
Impact on Appeal Outcomes
Approximately 65% success where contemporaneous evidence of the payment attempt and system failure is produced. Without evidence the success rate drops significantly — the Act requires proof of the service failure.
Sources
- Consumer Rights Act 2015 (c.15), Sections 49 and 62
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does the Consumer Rights Act apply to all parking charges?
- The Act applies to consumer contracts for services — parking agreements are consumer contracts. However, the specific Section 49 argument (service not supplied with reasonable care and skill) is most directly relevant to payment system failures. For other defenses, the BPA Code and POFA are the primary tools.
- Can I use s.62 to argue the whole charge is an unfair term?
- Post-Beavis, this is difficult — the Supreme Court found parking charges at commercial sites generally are not unfair consumer contract terms. However, s.62 remains available where a charge is truly disproportionate or where the term was not brought to the consumer's attention (connecting to signage arguments).
- Does the Act apply to council parking?
- Council PCNs are statutory penalties under the Traffic Management Act 2004, not consumer contracts. The Consumer Rights Act applies to private parking operators as commercial service providers, not to councils exercising statutory enforcement powers.
- What if the operator says the machine was working?
- Your contemporaneous evidence — timestamped app screenshot, bank record — contradicts their assertion. The balance of probabilities standard at POPLA means that credible, contemporaneous evidence of a payment attempt is strong. An operator's bare assertion that the machine was working, without maintenance logs or contemporaneous records, carries less weight.
Related
- payment-error
- grace-period
- inadequate-signage
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