Smart Parking Ticket at ASDA

fossilette

Please can anyone advise me as to what to do re:a parking ticket.

I parked in my local Asda store this morning and parked into a disabled bay as I do normally. I am just recovering from bladder cancer which has left me with weakness there. I needed to visit the ladies urgently and I put my disabled badge on the dashboard, it is enclosed in a leather cover which has the disabled symbol on the front, but stupidly because I was in such a panic I didn't open it up to display my badge. When I returned to my car after shopping I had a Smart Parking ticket stuck on my windscreen saying the Contravention:Disable Bay and that £70.00 is due but if paid within 14 days it will discounted to £40.00. Obviously I am really upset about this as I am on a small income and really can't afford this fine and more so can do without the stress it brings. I would appreciate advice on what to do now. Thank you.

Stroma

Its not a fine! So don't worry about that side of things. They should not have ticketed you with a valid badge on your car, even though the blue badge scheme does not apply to private parking which this is. you have 3 choices

1) pay them
2) appeal to them to cancel it, when they turn you down go to popla if England or Wales
3) Ignore them

I don't recommend 1 at all, because why come to a money saving website? 2 is fine if you fancy a fight and are militant enough to cost the parking company £32 for using popla. Or 3 simply ignore the almost illegal attempt to ttake money off you.

atilla

Safe to ignore - and all following junk mail, but if you feel in a feisty mood, next time you're in there, take the letter and demand to see THE Manager and instruct them to cancel it.
Sorted.

fossilette

Thanks Stroma and Atilla for your advice. I've never encountered anything like this before and I wasn't sure if they could do anything because I didn't show my official badge only the wallet it is in. I do feel very annoyed now and I think I will be paying the manager a visit tomorrow. Thanks again

Stroma

fossilette wrote: »

Thanks Stroma and Atilla for your advice. I've never encountered anything like this before and I wasn't sure if they could do anything because I didn't show my official badge only the wallet it is in. I do feel very annoyed now and I think I will be paying the manager a visit tomorrow. Thanks again

Yes give the manager a piece of your mind, if he fobs you off complain directly to their head office, the more complaints they get the better as its the only way that they will reconsider having scammers in their car parks.

fossilette

Thanks Stroma and Atilla for your advice. I've never encountered anything like this before and I wasn't sure if they could do anything because I didn't show my official badge only the wallet it is in. I do feel very annoyed now and I think I will be paying the manager a visit tomorrow. Thanks again.

spacey2012

If you visit the manager, just take the badge and the fake parking ticket, show them both and ask them would you like to sort this out before I call the Daily Mail.
Dont mention about the badge been closed, it is invalid on private land.

Just say "I am very sorry I have Cancer and may not look disabled, but i am, sorry".
Bet it gets cancelled on the spot, if it does not, do it, call the Daily Mail, it is nothing less than they deserve.

atilla

fossilette wrote: »

Thanks Stroma and Atilla for your advice. I've never encountered anything like this before and I wasn't sure if they could do anything because I didn't show my official badge only the wallet it is in. I do feel very annoyed now and I think I will be paying the manager a visit tomorrow. Thanks again

Don't worry, I collect tickets from this lot for fun.
Depending on mood I'm in/how busy I ignore or appeal. Can't get past first base on appeals though.
If the Manager doest do has expected let us know which store and we'll give you the contact details of someone the Manager won't want to get involved.

Coupon-mad

fossilette wrote: »

Thanks Stroma and Atilla for your advice. I've never encountered anything like this before and I wasn't sure if they could do anything because I didn't show my official badge only the wallet it is in. I do feel very annoyed now and I think I will be paying the manager a visit tomorrow. Thanks again.

Do not apologise or beg for the ticket to be cancelled or anything.

Go in and demand that it's cancelled because:

- the Blue Badge scheme does not even apply on private land

- you DO NOT have to show a Blue Badge, this is a myth and the signs are completely wrong and misleading. Any disabled person with a medical need caused by their condition can use disabled bays, unharassed, even those people with NO BLUE BADGE (e.g. if only just diagnosed with cancer, for example).

- tell the Manager you are disabled, here's the proof anyway (show the irrelevant Badge as it's all some people understand)

- the parking firm are in breach of the BPA code of practice

- if ASDA allow their agent to pursue this charge they (ASDA) will immediately be in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and you can sue them.

- if they say the car park 'is owned by the Council' tell ASDA they are wrong as they often try that little fib. We know that Smart parking are ASDA's agents so this is ASDA's disability law breach, their fault.

- Demand that your car reg is added to a Store 'white list' of cars which must not be issued with a fake PCN under any circumstances. As described here in a post about the ASDA Greenhithe store, see this MSE thread, see post #73.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showth...6581&page=4

Copy & paste & print that email the person has quoted in post #73 and take it into your Asda branch.

Show them your receipt as a customer and show them your printout of that reply from the Greenhithe store. Tell them that the Blue Badge scheme does not even apply in private car parks like this but the law does - the Equality Act 2010 allows a disabled person's car to park there if they have a 'protected characteristic' which means they need to use that special bay. An upside down BB or even a missing BB does not take away the disability nor does it take away the right to park there.

This is a disability discrimination issue and is SERIOUS for the retailer as soon as they know about the issue. It's up to you to tell them (onsite retailer) right now so they have to act to cancel this harassment of you.

Get your car on the store's 'white list' right now, this week! And if they say they don't have one, demand that they start one and your car reg can be the first one on it.

If they refuse then tell them they are making it worse as it would be another disability breach as it's a perfectly reasonable request, being denied, and you suggest they check with Head Office Legal Dept because you'll be claiming damages for harassment if the PPC is not 'called off' this minute.

fossilette

Wow thanks coupon mad and spacey 2012, I feel very empowered now with all the information from the forum and I will be going to see the manager at Asda tomorrow, I will have to practice first though!! I will give an update to let you all know how I got on. Thank you to everyone again as I felt terrible yesterday as I really couldn't cope with anymore stress at the moment, you've all given me the strength to fight it, I really appreciate your help.

fossilette

I went back into the asda store today and spoke to the manager.
I explained what had happened and straight away she said it was not a problem and not to worry about it, she took the ticket from me and said if I had any other problems parking them I had to go back and see her.
I didn't feel the need to go into why I shouldn't have been given a ticket in the first place as she was very apologetic, but it does annoy me that other people would have just paid the fine as they wouldn't have been any wiser like I would have done before I came onto the forum.
Once again a big thank you to you all for your advice and to give me the encouragement to make a stand, I really do appreciate it.