Parking Eye - Always a scam??

trudij · 28 January 2012 at 9:02PM

Ive got a letter/invoice from this lot today, and reading on here about them - im not sure if i should pay up or ignore...

Basically, they have got me as arriving at a hotel at one time, and leaving 4 1/2 hours later (fair cop - I was late leaving cos i didnt keep a good enough eye on the time) I paid for 4 hours parking (by phone, so no ticket) and wasted 20 mins attempting to register to use the phone pay system (didnt have enough change for the car park!) not that it makes any difference to the fact that i was late out!!

this letter/invoice ive got says that i was in a private car park and either didnt buy a ticket or overstayed my welcome and to cough up £90 by Feb 8th or it will go up to £120.

This is fair enough - I read the sign, thought I was ok, forgot the time at the party I was at - and left late.

BUT

Everything I have read on here (even when people have been late leaving and admit to being late out) says to ignore these letters and it will all just go away eventually??

so which should I do?? (besides take a lot more notice of the time in future) I cant afford the £90, let alone £120 - so if its "pay up and learn" then i need to do that sooner rather than later...

please help someone stupid!!!

taffy056 · 28 January 2012 at 9:13PM

Far from being stupid you have come to the right place for advice, and the advice is to ignore parking cry completely, this is clearly a penalty and not a reflection of losses incurred, a private company cannot issue penalties unless acting for a council, and they are not in this case, are they ?

Read the sticky threads and educate yourself to the scam that private parking companies do, they are full bluster and crap, and they don't do court, and when they do they lose 99.9% of the time, the scam relies on people panicking and being model British citizens , meaning that people cough up as that is what people are taught to do here, so using a very Brit trait against you. Just beleive what you read here it is a scam, and the advice is to ignore unless signed stamped court papers arrive.

pogofish · 28 January 2012 at 9:19PM

Its nearly two years since Parking Eye last sent me a threat, so I reckon the chances of anything else are pretty slim.

Just ignore

The_Slithy_Tove · 28 January 2012 at 10:33PM

The most you owe them is a further half hour's parking - that is all they can legitimately ask you for. And that stance is backed up by a recent court case (even though that alone does not make it case law). But you should still ignore them and not pay - the will give up. And they ought to owe you half an hour if their payment mechanism is so cumbersome it takes 20 minutes to do so :eek:.

Sir_Roger_deLodger · 28 January 2012 at 11:08PM

Parking Eye - Always a scam??

Yes.

bluelight · 28 January 2012 at 11:11PM

Parking Eye did take someone to court in connection with one of their PCNs.... and got crucified by the judge. They ended up nearly £4k out of pocket. I understand they're still smarting from that one and do not appear, as yet, to have lodged an appeal against the judgement.

bluelight · 28 January 2012 at 11:15PM

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

The most you owe them is a further half hour's parking - that is all they can legitimately ask you for. And that stance is backed up by a recent court case (even though that alone does not make it case law). But you should still ignore them and not pay - the will give up. And they ought to owe you half an hour if their payment mechanism is so cumbersome it takes 20 minutes to do so :eek:.

Is this the same case I am referring to in my post? If so, Parking Eye deserved everything they got. The judge who heard the case should be hailed as a hero.

Kite2010 · 29 January 2012 at 12:24AM

The only time Parking Eye isn't a scam is when they try to collect the genuine losses, which most of the time is zero.

But then didn't someone once get sent a letter from Parking Eye saying that the amount outstanding is zero?

Got to love pay-by-phone parking, normally involves a 0845 number (which for mobile phones can be costly), and takes ages to try and register, and you get hit with extra fees on top.

Ich_2 · 29 January 2012 at 1:25AM

My son got one yesterday from this lot, which is being ignored by us.
He was talking with his friends today and they are plotting all going to park there and get tickets with the intention of screwing them around with the admin costs.

I'm actually part hoping I get one whilst working on one of these sites as I can then legally cause all sorts of problems for the businesses involved!! (As I can for councils anyway)

taffy056 · 29 January 2012 at 8:12AM

But remember that a council PCN is enforceable , so not to be messed around and should be appealed properly and in certain time frames.

trudij · 29 January 2012 at 11:23AM

You lot are fab, thankyou! It was a hotel car park that parking eye run as a pad one, so I presume I am safe to ignore it and see what happens then.... Parasites!!!

Parking Eye - Always a scam??

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