Parking ticket at M&S car park

purple_coral

Would appreciate guidance on my case - I parked at an M&S carpark, did my shopping at the store, then popped into another shop nearby - all in less than an hour. I came back and found a ticket from Eurocar parks for £50 for failing to display a ticket. When the store first opened at the site (they took over from somerfield), they introduced a parking machine and people had to display a ticket - the first hour is free. After a few months, the machine stopped working. In fact, it stopped working for quite a long time that I forgot all about it. On the day I got the ticket, I have to admit that I did not get a display ticket so found the penalty notice on my window when I got back to the car.
Following the advice on this website, i ignored the ticket, then after 28 days, I received a letter stating that the penalty has now gone from £50 to £70 and that if I fail to pay up, my case will go to a debt collector. I then wrote back complete with an SAE to say that I thought their penalty was exorbitant considering the first hour was free and that I had my shopping receipt to prove I was at the store and I was happy to present the credit card receipt as proof. I also wrote to M&S head office and to the store manager but have not heard back from them nor from the car park company. Any suggestions on what I should do, other than wait? I am getting a bit anxious that they may "blackball" my name. Would appreciate other people's suggestions.

bargepole

purple_coral wrote: »

... Any suggestions on what I should do, other than wait? I am getting a bit anxious that they may "blackball" my name.....

Your credit rating can only be affected IF they take you to court, AND you lose the case, AND you don't pay the judgement within 28 days. All of that is about as likely as your winning the lottery two weeks running, especially as it's Euro and they've never been known to take anyone to court.

I suggest you read the other 240,000 similar threads on here, and follow the advice given to all the posters - ignore all letters, never contact them, and never, ever, pay them a penny.

Coupon-mad

With EuroCrapparks I think you get pretty letters from Euro, then maybe Brinx, certainly a couple from 'Control Account' mentioning that litigation 'may' follow and putting scary stuff in bold about the consequences of a CCJ.

What they don't tell you is that Euro don't actually take people to Court so never even get any CCJs. So no bailiffs, no credit issues, no blackballing - absolutely nothing will happen.

They get their money from their victims (those who pay up). Don't!

And don't waste any more stamps.

Spartacus_Mills

Ignore, it is a mail scam. The first hour is free anyway so it is not like you have deprived them of any income.

AS has been said you will get letters from debt collectors and a solicitor, probably different desks in the same office, with ever increasing threats to kidnap your cat, sell your kids etc etc and if you are lucky one of the letters will have a red border to it as well.

Ignore and move on with your life. ECP do not do court.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

As per the above posts, ignore ECP. It is all a scam.