Parkingeye PCN for Costa car park

DaveSmith2020

I am (was!) a regular 7 day per week customer at a local Costa, spending up to £2K per year with them. To my horror, I found out from staff (too late) that the parking rules there had changed, and is now restricted to 1 hour only, with fines of £100 if you overstay. I had been going there for ages before the change of rules and didn't notice any new signs being erected. To be honest, if you go regularly somewhere, you don't look for changes to parking signs every time. That would be ridiculous! I told them that if I have to pay anything of a parking fine, I would never go to Costa again, ever!

So, I have received a PCN from Parkingeye, with the date of events as 24/3/24 and the date issued as 28/3/24. My time in the car park was 1hr 45m, something which I had been doing for months previously. But not with the change of rules, I am a criminal!

What would you do given these circumstances?

Fruitcake

It is not a fine nor are you a criminal.

Plan A is a complaint to the manager and/or CEO of Costa and the landowner if different. Show copies of receipts showing how much you spend there.

Find out if possible when the change occurred, then check the relevant part of the BPA CoP regarding bedding in periods (the period when extra signage must be installed warning about the change of Ts and Cs).
Also contact the local planning department to find out if,
1) Advertising consent was obtained for installation of the original signs. Failing to do so is a criminal offence and a breach of paragraph 12 of the PoFA 2012.
2) If advertising consent was obtained for the new signs
3) Costa/the landowner approved the reduction in permitted parking time

If Plan A fails, then appeal using the template in blue text from the sticky Announcement for NEWBIES. Don't do it too soon so you can get answers to points 1-3 above. 


 

Coupon-mad

Yep - Costa can cancel this.

DaveSmith2020

Would you recommend I post a letter, or send an email? And I am assuming you mean the manager of the local branch I went to?

The change happened on the Wednesday and I went on the Sunday, so 4 days later. I think it is only reasonable to give some advanced notice of parking changes. Not sure how I know if there were any bedding in notices or not, since I didn't notice any but can't prove that one way or another.

GrumpyDil

I would recommend going to the actual Costa and speaking directly to the manager.

nopcns

How long between the last period you visited without restrictions and the next time when you received a PCN?

BPA CoP v9: 13.10 Material Changes

Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a motorist entering controlled land that is or has been open for public parking, you must place additional (temporary) notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the change making it clear that new terms and conditions/ charges apply, such that regular visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges

.

Fruitcake

DaveSmith2020 said:

Would you recommend I post a letter, or send an email? And I am assuming you mean the manager of the local branch I went to?

The change happened on the Wednesday and I went on the Sunday, so 4 days later. I think it is only reasonable to give some advanced notice of parking changes. Not sure how I know if there were any bedding in notices or not, since I didn't notice any but can't prove that one way or another.

A visit in person to see the manager, and/or an email to the CEO is best, with copies of receipts or bank/card statements. Get photos of the site and signage whilst you are at it.

If Plan A fails to get a cancellation, complain to PE about the lack of bedding in period, quoting the relevant part of the latest BPA CoP, and a warning that failure to cancel will result in a complaint to the BPA about the CoP breach. This should be in addition to, and separately from an appeal to PE using the template in blue text from the NEWBIES plus a point about the breach of BPA CoP.

If that fails, then appeal to PoPLA. Do complain to the BPA once PE have replied to your complaint, even if they cancel the charge.

In any case, do check with the council planning department to see if advertising consent was applied for and approved for the signs at the site, especially the new signs.

DaveSmith2020

Coupon-mad said:

Yep - Costa can cancel this.

May I ask what makes you so sure about this?

Coupon-mad

Seen it hundreds of times. Including from Costa.  I've also studied landowner authority documents and normally there's a simple PCN cancellation clause to shut down 'noise' so that the PPC thugs can carry on regardless & seek out more gullible victims.

ParkingEye have a 'User Manual' for retailers that includes a (clients only) PCN cancellation request email address for cases like yours.

I believe that PEye expect to cancel a good third of PCNs.  It's a numbers game:

The typical private parking ANPR model is:  Issue hundreds of auto-PCNs per week with no human intervention, and cancel any where patrons complain.  Keep the client sweet.  ... Carry on... rinse and repeat.

I'm here every day & have helped with parking cases for around 15 years.  I wrote and edit the NEWBIES thread and there's a reason why "complaint to the retailer" is PLAN A!

DaveSmith2020

Coupon-mad said:

Seen it hundreds of times. Including from Costa.  I've also studied landowner authority documents and normally there's a simple PCN cancellation clause to shut down 'noise' so that the PPC thugs can carry on regardless & seek out more gullible victims.

ParkingEye have a 'User Manual' for retailers that includes a (clients only) PCN cancellation request email address for cases like yours.

I believe that PEye expect to cancel a good third of PCNs.  It's a numbers game:

The typical private parking ANPR model is:  Issue hundreds of auto-PCNs per week with no human intervention, and cancel any where patrons complain.  Keep the client sweet.  ... Carry on... rinse and repeat.

I'm here every day & have helped with parking cases for around 15 years.  I wrote and edit the NEWBIES thread and there's a reason why "complaint to the retailer" is PLAN A!

Thanks for your response. Very nice work you are doing there. I will drive down to the Costa now and ask to speak to the manager about this. What a royal pain in the butt!

DaveSmith2020

nopcns said:

How long between the last period you visited without restrictions and the next time when you received a PCN?

BPA CoP v9: 13.10 Material Changes

Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a motorist entering controlled land that is or has been open for public parking, you must place additional (temporary) notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the change making it clear that new terms and conditions/ charges apply, such that regular visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges

It would have been about 4 days between when the new signs went up and I got nabbed. I see it says, "not immediately apparent". However, they have signs on entering the car park. I just did not notice them because I wasn't looking for them.