Parking Eye vs Somerfield

Lgtravel

Does anyone know how much Parking Eye won off Somerfield I heard it was £1m.

HO87

I don't know that the final figures were ever disclosed but legal fees could well have pushed it over the figure you have mentioned.

Lgtravel

How could they win so much if there process is illegal. I have a fine from one of their car parks and have appealed it following all of the advice on this web site. i.e. ownership of car park but I was talking to my sister in law who is the only lawyer I know and she said that they had won a load of money from Somerfield. She used to work for Pannone and the win got a lot of publicity about 2 years ago when they won. She worked in the ambulance chasing division so knows nothing about the case or parking law. I am now worried that they can go to court and win if a big supermarket like Somerfield lost. Does anyone know why Somerfield lost.

Orford

ParkingEye Ltd v SSL 1st judgment.pdf‎

Parking eye v Somerfields.pdf‎

Coupon-mad

Lgtravel wrote: »

How could they win so much if there process is illegal. I have a fine from one of their car parks and have appealed it following all of the advice on this web site. i.e. ownership of car park but I was talking to my sister in law who is the only lawyer I know and she said that they had won a load of money from Somerfield. She used to work for Pannone and the win got a lot of publicity about 2 years ago when they won. She worked in the ambulance chasing division so knows nothing about the case or parking law. I am now worried that they can go to court and win if a big supermarket like Somerfield lost. Does anyone know why Somerfield lost.

Oh for Gawd's sake this could not be more irrelevant if you tried!

PE won money from Somerfield because Somerfield were stupid enough to agree to a long contract to let PE infest their car parks, and they did not have a clause that would let them end the contract if PE 'misbehaved' towards customers. PE did act badly and so Somerfield just dumped them. Therefore it was breach of contract.

NOTHING LIKE a fake PCN situation.

Shame on her for working for Pannone. They have also acted as debt collectors for PPC fake PCNs so - sorry to tell you - she has a hidden agenda and a biased outlook. IGNORE her and ignore the fake PCN. Ask her to comment here if she thinks differently!!

trisontana

Wasn't it Pannone who turned up mob-handed with four legal bods in the famous Smith v Parking Eye case? They claimed thousands of pounds for legal expenses and only got less than £100 for their troubles. Although they "won" the case, the only money awarded by the judge was £15 , the price of two unpaid P&D tickets.

Coupon-mad

trisontana wrote: »

Wasn't it Pannone who turned up mob-handed with four legal bods in the famous Smith v Parking Eye case? They claimed thousands of pounds for legal expenses and only got less than £100 for their troubles. Although they "won" the case, the only money awarded by the judge was £15 , the price of two unpaid P&D tickets.

Hahahaha, I think you are right!

Lgtravel, that is a much more relevant example, ask you sister in law about that one! PE have not tried a small claim since, AFAIK, it burnt their fingers so badly.

Lgtravel

Still don't get it why do Parking Eye keep winning if they haven't got the right to send out fines on car parks they don't own. Surely Somerfield and Smith could follow the advice on this forum and the judge would have let them win rather than Parking eye

Stroma

Lgtravel wrote: »

Still don't get it why do Parking Eye keep winning if they haven't got the right to send out fines on car parks they don't own. Surely Somerfield and Smith could follow the advice on this forum and the judge would have let them win rather than Parking eye

Keep winning ? They don't its that simple ! Comparing the PE v somerfield case with fake invoices is completely ridiculous, there is no semblance of it being comparable, yes it's parking eye but that's where it ends!!

And by the way they are not fines! Ask your sister if she knows the difference between a fine and a speculative invoice that is based on contract law?

HO87

Hi lgtravel

Lets get things in perspective.

In 2011 a total of 1.8 million invoices were issued by private parking companies. In 845 case private parking companies issued proceedings of which ParkingEye made a total contribution of just 5. Of those 845 only 49 (yes, forty-nine) cases ended up before a judge and the private parking companies won only 24 of them.

ParkingEye don't "keep winning" any more than any other private parking company does. They just try to make a lot of noise about the few case they do, collectively, take to court because that is what frightens people into believing the baloney about how enforceable their tickets are.

The Somerfield case has no bearing on private parking tickets whatsoever and simply demonstrates how careful supermarkets - or any other concern considering taking on a private parking company - should be when reading through and understanding the contracts they are asked to sign.

The case, known as Smith v ParkingEye, was heard in Manchester and PE were represented by no fewer than four solicitors from Pannone's. A number of spurious arguments were advanced in order to justify a total claim from PE in excess of £4,000. The judge scotched that, threw the arguments out and directed that Mr Smith simply pay the cost of the original tickets he should have bought. Technically a victory but it cost PE well over the £4,000 Pannone's attempted to claim in court, to recover just a few quid. That's not what I would call a victory.

PE will not be rushing back to court not only as a result of their more recent experiences but because their ability to fulfil requirements set out in another court case (VCS v HMRC) will be brought into question. No private parking company has prevailed in any defended case - to our knowledge - since that case has been quoted (together with other relevant law) in the defences of those any PPC has been unwise enough to have a pop at. At the moment things are as quiet as I can remember then - in terms of the number of court cases on the go.

Stop listening to your seemingly ill-informed sister-in-law and avail yourself of the facts. Do some research - don't take my word for it. Google some of the points I have made and see what the truth is. I will guarantee it will not match what you are being told outside this forum.

Lgtravel

So Smith lost and only had to pay for the charges he should have paid on the day and he didn't have to pay any costs. wouldn't like to own a car park seems like you don't need to pay. this is what happened to me in Manchester as well. did he claim that Parking eye can't send out fines cos they don't own the car park. does anyone know what car park mine was on Bloom street.

Still don't understand Somerfield though. I can't work either of the links above. if you are not allowed to send fines out how can you win £1m if someone stops you doing something you are not allowed to do in the first place.