Highview Parking Ltd -Charge Notice - Scotland

Coupon-mad

You didn't mislead me; the Equality Act covers 'elderly' as well as disabled people and why should she not have more time to park?

Anyway, yep, the easiest approach is simply to tell Mum you've dealt with it and she should never pay one of these fake PCNs. Then just email the PPC and hook the letters in your direction so she never sees them at all.

Job done, and you can just match each letter against the letter-chains thread, see the preview pics of all letters received over the years from these companies - 5th from top of the parking forum.

You could also use the second appeal stage of the POPLA verification code they have to give you within 35 days of your 'appeal'. That's a good way of getting your own back on the PPC for bothering your Mum as it costs them £27 plus VAT and is only binding on them, not you! Also if you make it clear in your first appeal that you know about POPLA and the cost them, then we have seen lots of fake PCNs cancelled as the PPCs do not want the bother of POPLA with a clued-up motorist who is clearly out to cost them money and will never actually pay them.

Mrs_Scrooge_2

My husband got one from that Almondvale Retail Car Park in Livingston today alleging that he had left his car there for TWENTY-TWO HOURS! Who in their right minds would do that? He had to get home, 8 miles away, and was home by 4.30.pm WITH CAR on the first day (12thDec): plenty of witnesses to that! He spent the night at home as usual, went back the next day for other shopping. Their cameras just seem to pick up things selectively - chose to ignore him leaving on 12th Dec or re-entering park on the 13th. On neither day did he stay more than the free 2 hours. Copied Appeal letter to West Lothian Council Traffic Management - who possibly give out the licences or franchises for these scammers to malfunction and cause distress all round.
Apart from all the advice to ignore this, my husband and his car were not even there when they said he was! Is this the next stage in their bullying? :mad:

Stroma

If it's highview the advice is to ignore them, I gather you contacted the council in regards to this, did you speak to trading standards there ?

Sir_Roger_deLodger

Mrs_Scrooge wrote: »

Their cameras just seem to pick up things selectively - chose to ignore him leaving on 12th Dec or re-entering park on the 13th.

Of course they do, this is a well known scam. Just ignore.

Coupon-mad

Mrs_Scrooge wrote: »

My husband got one from that Almondvale Retail Car Park in Livingston today alleging that he had left his car there for TWENTY-TWO HOURS! Who in their right minds would do that? He had to get home, 8 miles away, and was home by 4.30.pm WITH CAR on the first day (12thDec): plenty of witnesses to that! He spent the night at home as usual, went back the next day for other shopping. Their cameras just seem to pick up things selectively - chose to ignore him leaving on 12th Dec or re-entering park on the 13th. On neither day did he stay more than the free 2 hours. Copied Appeal letter to West Lothian Council Traffic Management - who possibly give out the licences or franchises for these scammers to malfunction and cause distress all round.
Apart from all the advice to ignore this, my husband and his car were not even there when they said he was! Is this the next stage in their bullying? :mad:

This lot are nothing to do with the Council - and as you do not have POPLA in Scotland you have no independent appeal to refer this scam to. It's the Retail Park who should be answerable to this con as they appointed this lot to be there.

We have seen this with ANPR cameras a lot. Happens all the time.

Send a copy of the letter to the Site Manager at Almondvale Retail Car Park and say that if they do not tell their parking agent to cancel this scam ticket then you will end up suing Almondvale Retail Car Park for harassment. Remind them they are responsible in law for the actions of their agent even if no money changes hands - and this ticket is fraudulent, not a mistake but when researching it online you have found it is a very common swindle by these ANPR private firms. Point out that even when a parking firm are a BPA member it means nothing because their clear, SOLE agenda is money, NOT parking management and certainly with no thought of customers and their needs.

No consideration is ever given to laws such as Harassment law and the Equality Act (no reasonable adjustments for disabled people given by camera for example, which leaves Almondvale Retail Car Park open to suing for disability law breaches). And in your case they have basically lied or at best, their cameras failed - whatever it was has left you so angry that you are minded to report the situation to your MP, Trading Standards and the local paper as a scam.

Ask why they are allowing an agent on site to threaten customers with random invoices & debt collector letters, and also exposing Almondvale Retail Car Park to lawsuits. All they need is better signs of their own and a pay on exit system which would also encourage people to shop for longer, without fear of fake fines.

You never know, maybe your complaint will be one of many and will get this bunch kicked off site. It has happened before with other PPCs in other car parks.

Big_dee_2

I also got one of these invoices for parking at Livingston at the argos and currys car park. I was "like most people" going to pay this but thankfully decided to google the company only to read that it is a scam, who is to say that I did not go out then return or drive around for some time before finding a space... They can take me to court before I pay anything as requesting £75 for overstaying by 40 minutes in a free car park is totally out of order. They can whistle for it.....

Mrs_Scrooge_2

Thanks for all the advice: will certainly pursue it if Highview Parking do not withdraw the charge: as they should, as the car and my husband just WERE NOT THERE all the time they allege!
And will probably write a letter to all the shops in that Retail Park so they know how Highview are driving their shoppers away! Not surprised that WLC said nothing to do with them, tho' I thought they might have at least shown a little interest in something that affects trading in the town! However, not spoken to Trading Standards - yet!

notsoBraveheart

Got one in the carpark at Livingston (beside SCS) too just before Christmas, I did not see any signs saying there would be a charge for parking...read this forum and did nothing about it, have just received another demand for the total £75 and am trying not to pay it, but getting quite afraid of what might happen....not done anything about it or replyed to it yet!!!!

trisontana

What is there to be afraid of? Just treat their letters as you would any other junk mail.

Coupon-mad

notsoBraveheart wrote: »

Got one in the carpark at Livingston (beside SCS) too just before Christmas, I did not see any signs saying there would be a charge for parking...read this forum and did nothing about it, have just received another demand for the total £75 and am trying not to pay it, but getting quite afraid of what might happen....not done anything about it or replyed to it yet!!!!

You must just ignore them!

In Scotland you just ignore the whole thing. There is really no reason for you to appeal because you do not have the POPLA system to cost the PPC money so it will go nowhere and the PPC will reject any 'appeal'.

If you still have your shopping receipt from that day you could go in and COMPLAIN to the Store Manager and demand the fake PCN is cancelled because you were a customer and why are they allowing their Christmas customers to be harassed when the store was busy and the queues long - do they want to chase away repeat business? Do they not want people to browse before a big purchase? If this is how they treat their customers then you'll go elsewhere but you are giving them ONE chance to sort out this con.

But don't contact the PPC - and refuse to do so if the Store suggest it, tell them that all PPCs are known scammers, have they never watched Watchdog?

This link will take you to a YouTube video of a BBC Watchdog piece on PPCs. The expert Solicitor's advice still applies COMPLETELY in Scotland. Here are pictures of the letters that will arrive for a few months, like clockwork, just like a series of obvious phishing emails!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2329119

We have all been there, done that, ignored some of these letters. It really is no biggie - so my final advice (and I am female) is to grow a pair!!




HTH