Parking Charge Notice Parking Eye

BASFORDLAD

NW23 wrote: »

Ok thanks for all the advice people it's putting my mind at ease! There has been a lot more people saying dont pay than actually telling me to but couldn't help but have doubt last thing I want is to end up in court with a load of solicitors costs etc

they dont do court.

Even if they did you dont have solicitors costs in small claims courts

fisherjim

NW23 wrote: »

Ok thanks for all the advice people it's putting my mind at ease! There has been a lot more people saying dont pay than actually telling me to but couldn't help but have doubt last thing I want is to end up in court with a load of solicitors costs etc

The signs, the ticket, and all the follow up letters are just like an old Hitchcock film, all carefully put together to scare you into a knee jerk reaction.
Just like a film, in the cold light of day get over it and tell yourself it's only make-believe!;)

henauvin

Sorry, same old chestnut, first post! Have a £100 charge from Parking Eye.now caught up with me Enterprise Car Hire, Fully understand that I should not pay!!
Questions:
1. Without any reference to me, Enterprise have deducted £35 from my credit card as Admin Fee (in my mind making them complicit in the scam!!) If I ignore PE now, can Enterprise be approached to settle and could I find the charge deducted directly?
2. Enterprise say they have had hundreds of enquiries about PE but that the law changed in Oct 2012, now giving new rights to Companies like PE. Is there therefore any more reason to pay now, than there was pre-October??

I live in France, if that makes any difference.
Thanks for any advice

Stroma

Unless the T&Cs of enterprise specifically say that they charge for this, they can't legally take money out of you. Check the terms in the fines and penalties section, if its not there demand your money back as its not an authorised deduction. Also complain to your card provider and tell the charge by enterprise is not authorised.

The bvrla the trade body for hire/lease companies have specific instructions to their members, it tells them to fill in a form that the RK gets and post it back to the parking company with the hirer details, charging £35 for that is in itself is a penalty.

Once the parking company has a serviceable address they cannot go back to the hire company, and you can ignore the scam completely. The complication is that you live in France , did you use an address there for the hire ? If you did they may try and go back to the hire company, make sure you tell them that they must not pay this charge as its nothing to do with them. And tell your card company not to make further payments to enterprise .

And by the way please don't hijack threads, make a new one for any further advice.

Coupon-mad

henauvin wrote: »

Sorry, same old chestnut, first post! Have a £100 charge from Parking Eye.now caught up with me Enterprise Car Hire, Fully understand that I should not pay!!
Questions:
1. Without any reference to me, Enterprise have deducted £35 from my credit card as Admin Fee (in my mind making them complicit in the scam!!) If I ignore PE now, can Enterprise be approached to settle and could I find the charge deducted directly?
2. Enterprise say they have had hundreds of enquiries about PE but that the law changed in Oct 2012, now giving new rights to Companies like PE. Is there therefore any more reason to pay now, than there was pre-October??

I live in France, if that makes any difference.
Thanks for any advice

Have Enterprise replied to PE and told them you were driving? That was the only thing for them to have to do to get zero liability and they SHOULD have done this.

I would now URGENTLY write to Parking Eye and appeal as you need to hook them in your direction. Just one simple appeal letter - sent from France to make them realise they are on a hiding to nothing with you - saying they have no interest in the land and have made no loss so cannot pursue it. Add in any other factors you want to mention (lack of signs, any disabled/elderly/child passenger and/or any receipt for shopping to prove your custom, etc.). Say that any further contact except for confirmation of cancellation of the 'ticket' will be considered harassment and you will not reply, in the absence of real Court papers. These will never come!

Meanwhile complain to Enterprise that their hire t&cs do not cover private parking fake tickets and that the BVRLA (lease hire companies' Trade Body) advice is to simply supply the driver's details. Then Enterprise get zero liability as long as they do that within 28 days. Did they? If not why not as they then do not necessarily have zero liability so would be exposing themselves to (unlikely but potential) risk and also not carrying out the simple steps for Hire/lease Companies as covered in the Act.

Stroma

They have started a thread on this coupon
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4443031

follower

Hi all
posted on Ist Dec so an update.
Received 4 letters so far. 3 demands and today one from a firm called Debt Recovery Plus : I quote:
"....if we do not receive full payment or contact from you with your proposal for payment,this matter may be passed to the landholder,s solicitor to commence County Court proceedings. Please see our website ] for further details..."
I note the word "may"
I will ignore as I have done so far. But any comments?

Stroma

Yes ignore them, they will write to you as zenith next, a close look at the bottom of the letter will reveal that they are the same company. Ignore them as well and the scam will be over for you.

Always_Learning

Well, I have just received my first PCN (parking charge notification) from Parking Eye for parking 14 minutes over the allowed 90 minutes at an Aldi car park, after I did a trolleyful of shopping at their store. About 20 minutes of this was spent (a) asking for prices that were not displayed and (b) packing my shopping into bags after check-out, because they don't give you time to place in bags at the till. PCN is anxiety raising. But this ole-gal is not paying up.

Coupon-mad

Always_Learning wrote: »

Well, I have just received my first PCN (parking charge notification) from Parking Eye for parking 14 minutes over the allowed 90 minutes at an Aldi car park, after I did a trolleyful of shopping at their store. About 20 minutes of this was spent (a) asking for prices that were not displayed and (b) packing my shopping into bags after check-out, because they don't give you time to place in bags at the till. PCN is anxiety raising. But this ole-gal is not paying up.

Good! :T


This is indeed a scam and is NOT a fine. You may think it is because it impersonates a parking ticket. You will just get the usual letters just as other posters do.

Your choices are to ignore it or (if this was in England or Wales only) to appeal, then insist on a POPLA appeal, where you can then ignore it if you don't win the appeal. Explained here by pepipoo forum:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46975

and here's a thread about POPLA:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4263959

and a thread discussing a successful appeal to POPLA which involved Parking Eye:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4447137

Your other choice is to COMPLAIN in writing (or in person, but NOT by phone) to Aldi about this harassment of their paying customers. I would make it known that you are angry about all the harassment you are now going to get. Maybe wait a few weeks, for some debt collector letters to arrive (as long as you are the registered keeper) then photocopy them and march into the store on a busy day. Slap the copy threatograms down on the CS desk, insist on seeing the Store Manager and demand to know how they think this sort of hassle adds to their customer satisfaction and chances of keeping your business?

Tell Aldi about Parking Eye's online reputation and how this association is damaging Aldi's reputation, to be in bed with a firm which has NO agenda of parking management whatsoever, purely a penalty mentality which is actually unlawful and victimises their most vulnerable customers who will not know that these are fake parking fines and should never be paid.

But basically, like all the other posters on this board, you have a fake PCN, a misleading invoice.

The whole scam of fake PCNs relies firstly on people's ignorance of the fact that a random private company can't fine anyone, and secondly on their natural fear of parking tickets and the escalating costs/bailiff scenario. So PPCs copy the look of a real parking ticket and - hey presto! - the cash rolls in from victims who know no better.

This is not a penalty at all. It's rubbish, there are no bailiffs letters, just debt collector standard template threatograms (all hot air, we can tell you this for certain).

Tick off the threatening letters as you get them, here.

Watchdog clip with expert Solicitor's opinion here.

Barrister's opinion on a legal Q&A website here.

Thread about the Protection of Freedoms Act - and parking tickets still being as unenforceable as ever - here.

The letters are actually quite funny when they arrive at the address of someone who knows it's all hogwash and not a real parking ticket at all.

My 18 year old niece has EIGHT fake PCNs so far - almost all from Parking Eye! - and laughs & texts me every time she gets one. She is just a new driver, a teenager, and she knows this is all a con like a series of phishing emails. Boy does she get a lot of junk mail!

I would happily collect more fake PCNs than the 2 that I already have for overstays (more than an hour overstays, both times when shopping at Supermarkets at busy times). Plus I have a nice collection of amusing/alarmist debt collector letters which I carry in my handbag to show friends & colleagues if the subject crops up!