ParkingEye "fine" - advice!!!

Jle756

This morning my father received a notice from Private Eye informing him that he had contravened the terms of parking on a site that they manage, and he was therefore required to pay £80 (reduced to £50 is paid before next Wednesday and increasing to £110 thereafter).

My parents are law-abiding (if not a little naive!) citizens and were naturally worried by the "official" and threatening style of the letter and considered paying immediately. The letter implies, but does not specify, apparently serious ramifications for non-payment.

With some coercion, however, I encouraged them to let me have a little snoop on Google first. Alas! It has become quickly apparent that this "fine" is probably unenforceable, that Parking Eye use unfair and misleading methods and that this "fine" is actually an invoice that is unlikely to come to anything.

The facts:

On a Sunday my parents visited a car park on a business park that they have used numerously to shop at places such as Asda, HMV, Outfit, Starbucks.... etc. Hitherto, parking was free on Sundays. Twenty minutes after leaving the first store, however, my father realised people were paying... got a little anxious and then discovered a notice saying that Parking Eye now monitor the site and that it was pay and display. My father realising his mistake (being an honest, law-abiding citizen), naturally went and paid immediately.

The notice informs us that we entered the car park at 13:23 and left at 14:18. As in, we were parked for 55 minutes. My father realised the rule-change and purchased the ticket at 13:45 for an hour, costing £1 and subsequently left, as mentioned, at 14:18.

Therefore, we parked for 33 minutes without a ticket, and 22 minutes with a ticket displayed. Altogether we were parked for a total of 55 minutes WHICH IS LESS than the hour we paid for.


I'm inclined to just ignore these scammers. Their methods seem far from acceptable; the "fine" is nothing other than extortion as the commercial interests of the companies whose stores the car park serves weren't disadvantaged as we paid £1 for an hour, and parked less than an hour!!! Even if we didn't pay at all, how could it be justified that for less than one hour's parking we are required to pay a minimum of £50 and maximum of £110.

Would I be correct in recommending ignorance as a course of action to my parents? My Mum is very anxious about this - which is all she needs at the moment! I need assurance that despite an inevitable barrage of increasingly threatening letters, this will ultimately come to nothing.

I have already emailed their appeals address outlining the facts as above - was this a mistake? I notice the advice everywhere I look is just to ignore them!

I appreciate that this forum itself is littered with advice about dealing with this frankly criminal company but, for my peace of mind, I'd like to see what advice people give before going back to my folks.

Advice greatly appreciated!!!

trisontana

You really shouldn't have appealed but never mind. From now on ignore them and all the subsequent stupid letters they will send to you. Of course your parents are law abiding, and they will be pleased to know that they haven't broken any laws over this matter.

AlexisV

Your thinking is correct - you've paid to park, end of.

Ignore the threatening junkmail and relax.

RENEGADE_2

I get ParkingEye invoices frequently, my latest concerns overstaying ten minutes at Pizza Hut, Weston Super Mare.

First comes the initial document, two weeks later comes the "FINAL NOTICE" template informing you that the "last two notices were ignored". Don't worry, it's routine. After the final notice from their man in the so-called "legal department", they throw in the towel.

For the record, their demand IS illegal so even if they changed tactics, be sure that whether you bought a ticket or not, you owe nothing.

Kite2010

A business park which is trying it's best to get rid of customers by charging to park & bringing in Parking Spy?

Stupid mis-management of the site.

hillcats

I have ignored (with no contact what-so-ever) Parking Eye's 3 letters per chain, three times now and they now seem to be ignoring me... ??? Twice at various locations and also I drive to & from work via their 1 hour car park whereby they THINK I have overstayed and send their junk, all I actually do is drive through their car park to access my employers car park and then back out passing through again.

Just ignore them.

robredz

Ignore ignore ignore. The PPC's rely on confusion as to the law and fear, to extract their Invoice fee dressed up as an UNLAWFUL Civil "Fine"

Jle756

Thank you everyone above! Your advise has really put my mind at ease...!! The "Sticky: Private Parking Companies' Letters: What to Expect" was particularly helpful, and I will now sit back and enjoy the fact that I know what letter has arrived before I even open the envelope and that ParkingEye are wasting both their time and money sending these ridiculous demands.

I am currently writing a letter to be circulated to the management at each of the stores on the retail park in question, informing them of the unscrupulous methods of the company that is managing their parking facilities and that it is to the detriment of their commercial interests as they have now lost our custom (as well as countless other victims of this scam!). My father noticed on the day of the alleged "contravention" that the car-park was much less busy than usual..... looks like many are falling foul to their methods and moving elsewhere (just a shame some of them probably just paid-up straight away!)

Thanks again for the advice. I'm new to MoneySavingExpert but imagine becoming quickly addicted! Great to see good people standing up to these companies! :j

patty65

I am currently writing a letter to be circulated to the management at each of the stores on the retail park in question

We should all do this, I got my so called charge cancelled after emailing the CEO of the supermarket when I was charged for visiting their cafe.

trisontana

patty65 wrote: »

We should all do this, I got my so called charge cancelled after emailing the CEO of the supermarket when I was charged for visiting their cafe.

Surely the objective is not just to get the charge cancelled, but to actually get rid of the PPCs altogether.

bondy_lad

trisontana wrote: »

Surely the objective is not just to get the charge cancelled, but to actually get rid of the PPCs altogether.

correct.correct,,correct,,the sooner the better.