Stansted Airport Parking - Empark - Deferred Payment Declaration

RENEGADE_2

pompeyrich wrote: »

If you had taken the trouble to click on the link in the 3rd reply, you would have seen that the £30 is the advertised fee for parking between 45 and 120 mins. So a service has been provided, albeit an expensive service, and the op, or his dads friend, did not have the funds to pay on exiting the car park so was offered the opportunity to pay later.

The fast rising tariff is clearly a way of keeping the "short stay 15 min pick up car park" as they call it, just that. A convenient location to drop off or pick up a passenger and go, it rises to £70 a day after the 2 hour band.

Peterbakers post might offer some hope and maybe the car park will reduce the fee, do you think the garage, in my previous post, would drop the bill because I don't like the amount of fuel duty/VAT there is on petrol? Surely a similar scenario.

I didn't click the link but then I never disputed that the £30 may be for an actual service. With that, it will not be made cheaper, just as a driver without money for fuel can complain at the inexcusable rates of petrol. My point is whether the OP has a legal obligation and none of us is able to answer this. The fast rise may be looked upon as a penalty if there are laws restricting such acts.

RENEGADE_2

vax2002 wrote: »

It is a criminal offence to make a copy of any passport for any reason, this includes "photocopy's"

Banks take copies when customers open new accounts.

esmerobbo

Without seeing what the OP signed were guessing! However I have signed a few "Deferred Payment Declarations" for containers I used to import.

They normally had within them a term such as. I declare payment will be made upon receipt of goods and after inspection. Years ago they were promissory notes!

If the OP has promised to pay, then if they don't it could cost them a lot more!

Assuming Empark bother but is it worth the risk for £30??

pompeyrich

RENEGADE wrote: »

To make matters worse, was £30 the price for staying? Or is it a penalty? These things are also taken into consideration. It may be a crafty way of discouraging longer parking but presented as an option, it makes this scenario opaque.

RENEGADE wrote: »

I didn't click the link but then I never disputed that the £30 may be for an actual service. With that, it will not be made cheaper, just as a driver without money for fuel can complain at the inexcusable rates of petrol. My point is whether the OP has a legal obligation and none of us is able to answer this. The fast rise may be looked upon as a penalty if there are laws restricting such acts.

Ok, I guess our private discussion isn't helping the OP but in the 1st quote above you weren't sure if the fee was an advertised fee, or a penalty. I would have checked that before offering further advice as I believe it makes a vast difference. If it had been a P&D type of car park and the driver had overstayed and been issued a PCN/invoice type of charge, then there would be a good case for not having to pay. I believe that morally, if not legally, the driver should pay, in this case but as you say that is just my opinion, not a legal statement, maybe a lawyer will come along and advise.

DailyClicker

I emailed them the following after listening to the advise on this forum, but have had no reply.

It states on the Deferred Payment Declaration, that you can pay by calling 01279 666068 with credit card, but nobody picks up this phone. I have also tried their Customer Service number 01279 666064, and again nobody picks up.

What's best to do?

---

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have now sought legal advice and now believe the amount I was pressurised into signing under dispute, last night is a de facto penalty which I would of preferred to have resolved by adjudication.

I am neither the driver or registered owner of the vehicle so cannot be held responsible for this payment but had to sign the form to be able to leave.

My father’s friend collected me from the airport, and arrived at 22:58 and accidently drove into the incorrect car park, as there was a lot of traffic behind him and felt under pressure. He always uses the normal Short Stay car parks. My RyanAir flight from Shannon was delayed, and the queue for the machines to pay for the parking were extremely long, as everyone seemed to be pressing the “Call for Assistance” button. This meant that they were just over 45 mins, which came up as £30.00.

As a final and full settlement I would be willing to pay double the amount of what they would have had to pay in the Short Stay Car Park which is £10.00. I can give you my card details over the phone, or send you a cheque for this amount.

The law states that no company or organisation can issue a penalty to someone for making a genuine mistake, so if you do not wish to accept my offer of £10.00, then you may have to take legal action which would be extremely timely and costly to yourself.

I am also sending this via Royal Mail to your address:

Customer Services Building
Bassingbourn House
Mid-Stay Car Park
Stansted Airport
CM24 1PZ

Look forward to your prompt reply within 7 days of this email.

Regards,

Coupon-mad

Sounds like a fair response from you, IMHO - especially as you were neither the driver nor the registered keeper of the car.

I would have taken the same stand as you. It will be interesting to to see what threatograms you get, do keep us in the loop.

dzug1

DailyClicker wrote: »

The law states that no company or organisation can issue a penalty to someone for making a genuine mistake, ,

mmm not sure it does ('I genuinely believed it was a 30mph zone officer'. Do you think that would work?). And it's by no means a foregone that it was a 'penalty' anyway.

I suspect that they won't think it's worth pursuing, though

Sirdan

dzug1 wrote: »

mmm not sure it does ('I genuinely believed it was a 30mph zone officer'. Do you think that would work?). And it's by no means a foregone that it was a 'penalty' anyway.

I suspect that they won't think it's worth pursuing, though

I would contend that it is a penalty because no-one is going to agree to pay £30 for 45 mins parking..if compared to the norm for airport parking even the inflated rates in the short term facilities.
The £30 charge is clearly there as a deterrent to discourage people from staying over 45 mins.
That makes it a penalty , the relevant legislation is

"The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts regulations 1999"

and the enforcement body for that legislation is the Office of Fair Trading, and here is what they have to say about charges like the one the OP has posted :-

"5.9 The Regulations are concerned with the intention and effects of terms, not just their mechanism.
If a term has the effect of an unfair penalty, it will be regarded as such, and not as a 'core term'.
Therefore a penalty cannot be made fair by transforming it into a provision requiring payment of a fee for exercising a contractual option."

2sides2everystory

I hope the OP gets this sorted reasonably.

Meantime, I have just re-read

vax2002 wrote: »

It is a criminal offence to make a copy of any passport for any reason, this includes "photocopy's"

Are you sure vax? Typical front-line bank staff opening accounts and processing large transactions do this several times a day??

DailyClicker

Thanks for all your replies. I had received no reply from them and could not get through to them on the phone until today, and they said they are emailing me agreeing to accept the £10 cheque rather than £30.