Parking Eye - Nasty tricks

baz_on_solent

trisontana wrote: »

Also just in, CAG and Pepipoo are reporting that Excel recently took somebody to court for stopping a cheque, but have had the case struck out because they failed to pay the court fees.

Being taken to court for Stopping a Cheque is one thing,
Parking is another.

dorianb

Hello,

Sorry this long but useful I hope.

I too got a Parking Eye "Parking charge notice to owner" and will be ignoring it and all the other letters I'm going to get from them as per the advice here and elsewhere.

I found a forum which says:
"A private parking company needs to overcome many significant legal hurdles in order to be successful, which include:

• Establishing that any claim is under the law of contract;
• Establishing that all of the elements of a contract (offer, acceptance, consideration) are present;
• Establishing who the driver was on the relevant occasion, as any contract can only be enforced against the driver, who may or may not be the registered keeper of the vehicle;
• Establishing the prominence and adequacy of any warning signage, and that the driver actually saw and understood the signage;
• Establishing that the amount claimed is not an unlawful “penalty”, including that there was no attempt to “frighten and intimidate” the driver;
• Establishing that any contract does not fail foul of the Unfair Contract Terms Act and associated regulations."

I bet you'll find several of the points there support you and not Parking Eye. You know, I cant recall if I was driving that day or not. And even if I was driving, which I might not have been, I definitely didn't see any signs on entry. And I gave no consideration (paid nothing). So there was no contract. And this Parking Charge Notice seems deliberately to suggest a PCN acronym and has a police style checkered border, hinting at being an official Penalty Charge Notice which is isnt. So that makes it an attempt to intimidate. All that wouldn't go well in court for them if they were brave enough to try.

So they can stick it. Right up.

Anyway onto my main point now:
Parking Eye got my address, and your addess from DVLA. Under the Data Protection Act they shouldn't give those details out to just anyone. DirectGov says DVLA are not allowed to do so, except to statutory bodies, police, legal bodies etc. and to others who have good reason to justify obtaining it. Parking Eye are even listed on the 'companies we've given info to' page.

SO my question is this: Has anyone challenged DVLA to justify their support of Parking Eye's methods and disclosure of data without our consent, to what is effectively a scamming company?

I know people have discussed the BPA etc. but surely DVLA info is the lifeblood of these guys? they stop giving information, we stop getting mail.

Coupon-mad

This is an old thread, with old advice which no longer applies from 2013 onwards!!!!!


STOP READING NOW THIS IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME, GO TO PAGE ONE OF THIS FORUM INSTEAD (ONE CLICK AWAY, AS EXPLAINED IN MY SIGNATURE BELOW).


YOU MUST APPEAL NOW IF IN ENGLAND/WALES!!!!!!

Celia_Gabriel

I have just picked up a notice from my local Aldi announcing that they are to use Parking Eye. They may be a discount(ish) store, but firstly they have no hand baskets and now this offensive notice really is further alienating the customer. The most problematic part is that you're not allowed to return to shop within 4 hours. Sometimes I forget produce and have to return or return if an item is faulty, now at the risk of being charge £70! This is outrageous. And if the statements by others in the threads suggest that this is not an enforceable fine, it makes the implementation even more bullish and nazty.
I have tried to find an email address to pass my views on to Aldi without luck and am disinclined to write in and waste money on a stamp!

Kite2010

Celia_Gabriel wrote: »

I have just picked up a notice from my local Aldi announcing that they are to use Parking Eye. They may be a discount(ish) store, but firstly they have no hand baskets and now this offensive notice really is further alienating the customer. The most problematic part is that you're not allowed to return to shop within 4 hours. Sometimes I forget produce and have to return or return if an item is faulty, now at the risk of being charge £70! This is outrageous. And if the statements by others in the threads suggest that this is not an enforceable fine, it makes the implementation even more bullish and nazty.
I have tried to find an email address to pass my views on to Aldi without luck and am disinclined to write in and waste money on a stamp!

Oh look it's another shop which doesn't want repeat customers to come back if they forget something, and let me guess they will have a time limit of 1 hour 30?

Check to see the planning permission to see if limiting the car-park is against the terms when they got permission

Celia_Gabriel

Yes, absolutely right, 1 and a half hours!

I will check the planning permission at the Local Council, although the District Council is as keen to deter visitors and local shoppers with exorbitant parking fees. I live in Thanet in East Kent: they wonder why people don't visit in their droves!

esmerobbo

Email: aldistores@webershandwick.com

Must be time to fill a basket to the brim with high price frozen foods. Get to the checkout. Oops sorry I have to go my times up, can you put them back please!

Celia_Gabriel

Lovely esmerobbo! I recall this kind of supermarket action during the anti-apartheid years.
As they have no baskets, it'll have to be a trolley...a pound well spent..anti-Aldi parking policy, weekend of action..........

angrymotorist

Hi
I have read through a lot of these posts and I kind of wish I had done so sooner. I received a letter from Parking Eye stating that as I had not responded to their previous letters my fine was now £120 (first I'd heard of a fine!). I read some advice on the internet saying to send them a letter saying simply "I admit I am the registered keeper of this vehicle. You will have to take this matter up with the driver of the vehicle at the time". I received a letter back from them stating that I will need to either pay up or tell them who was the driver. It also quoted a case in 2008 Oldham County Court vs Stephen Thomas whereby the judge awared that in all probability he was the driver (even though it couldn't be proved) and was ordered to pay the fine and legal costs on top of it. Letter was dated 31st May. Arrived with me FOUR DAYS later, and they have only given me 7 days to pay up/appeal. I am worried now that because I have responded to them once they will take it further if I don't reply again.
I sought legal advice yesterday from a solicitors to see whether I am duty bound by law to inform them who the driver was at the time. Long and short of it was not really, but because of the case in 2008 that PE quoted the solicitor said his "tentative" advice would be to offer them £60 (which was probably the "discount" amount) saying it was in full and final settlement without prejudice, as I didn't receive the first (and second) letters.
Now I'm just wondering whether to pay the £60 to get them out of my hair, or to just ignore them. Perhaps if I'd ignored them from the start it wouldn't be as much of an issue as it is now.

trisontana

That solicitor is talking out of his rear end. What you actually do from now on is to ignore the bunch of clowns called Parking Eye. You don't owe them a penny and it will never get to court.