Parking Eye.... sigh

avem

Hello MSE'ers,

I am a regular poster here but am posting under another alias for privacy reasons

I received an invoice last month from Parking Eye for overstaying in a well known supermarket's car park recently. I contested the invoice on the basis that I visited the car park twice on the same day, there was a gap of more than 3 hours between visits (their boards say free parking for two hours and no return in two hours).

My problem is this: their initial paperwork shows me entering the car park at, say, 11am and leaving at, say, 5pm when in actual fact I entered at 11am, left around midday, returned around 3.30pm and left at 5pm.
Unfortunately I was at home in the period between midday and 3.30pm but am unable to prove this.

My letter of appeal suggested that their anpr cameras are faulty. I also asked for a POPLA code within 35 days if they rejected my appeal.

I received their famous EYE01 letter in response to my appeal today. It says the following….

“You say that you were not on the site for the stated period. After reviewing your case, there is no evidence to substantiate your claim therefore the Parking Charge still stands.

In order for Parking Eye to cancel this parking charge, we will need valid evidence indicating that you did not break the terms and conditions stipulated on the signage.

The Parking Charge has been placed on hold for 14 days in order for you to provide additional/further evidence”

I don’t know how to reply to this letter and any advice is most welcome :beer:

Stroma

It's up to them to prove you were there, not for you to prove that you were not. Write back and say that you have nothing to add, give me the popla code within 35 days of the original appeal. Per the BPA Code of Practice , or it's automatically accepted.

Don't give the wriggle room, they got two choices accept the appeal or the popla code

hoohoo

Did you email, post, browse the web, make a phone call, take a photograph?

Any of those might well help; the IP address, GPS, or other location based information these activities generate may be able to place you at your home.

Do you have two receipts from the store in question, or if you have lost these, two entries on your bank account? Do you have any other receipts for the time in question?

Do you have any witnesses, neighbours, family?

I have a similar case going through POPLA at the moment. We will see what they say.

avem

Stroma wrote: »

It's up to them to prove you were there, not for you to prove that you were not. Write back and say that you have nothing to add, give me the popla code within 35 days of the original appeal. Per the BPA Code of Practice , or it's automatically accepted.

Don't give the wriggle room, they got two choices accept the appeal or the popla code

Surely the photos they have of me entering/exiting the car park is their proof that I was on site for 6 hours?

avem

hoohoo wrote: »

Did you email, post, browse the web, make a phone call, take a photograph?

Any of those might well help; the IP address, GPS, or other location based information these activities generate may be able to place you at your home.

Do you have two receipts from the store in question, or if you have lost these, two entries on your bank account? Do you have any other receipts for the time in question?

Do you have any witnesses, neighbours, family?

I have a similar case going through POPLA at the moment. We will see what they say.

Good luck with your appeal

I'll have a look and see what I can dig up when I get home later. Unfortunately I no longer have the receipts from the supermarket as they were small cash payments and I threw them away

Stroma

avem wrote: »

Surely the photos they have of me entering/exiting the car park is their proof that I was on site for 6 hours?

No it's not, you say you were elsewhere for the duration, you have said that the system is faulty, you have asked them to review that, they will have to bring that to the popla appeal as well.

There are many many many appeal points though, like they don't have authority to issue tickets there, proof that the contract allows them to do that, it's not a pre estimate of loss, so a penalty. The creditor is not on the invoice, maybe the signs are not visible, maybe you are disabled under the equality act 2010 ?

Many points, and just a few above off the top of my head, the images are the last thing to prove anything , they in fact can't really use them for anything

nigelbb

Their crappy camera systems are very unreliable. There was a recent case at Peterlee Asda where after a power outage the clocks on different cameras were so wildly adrift that hordes of people were falsely ticketed. http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=78206 It took them over a week to notice or acknowledge the problem.

This first entry matched with last exit problem is seen all the time. Along with all the other points that you will be bringing to POPLA is force them to prove that the camera systems are reliable - when were they last calibrated? Logs of faults & calibration frequency etc etc

Coupon-mad

avem wrote: »

Surely the photos they have of me entering/exiting the car park is their proof that I was on site for 6 hours?

Absolutely flippin' not!! PPCs do this all the time, the old 'two visits' scam. And as already advised, it's up to them to prove their case and they cannot even show where or whether your vehicle was even parked.

Your choices are:

- Demand a POPLA code as per the above advice, then get help with that appeal here, don't rush it and you should get it cancelled by POPLA at PE's expense.

or

- Wait, do nothing and then write just after the 35 days have fully elapsed from your appeal being received, saying that as they have failed to provide a POPLA code which you specifically asked for already, then your appeal is deemed accepted (as per the BPA Code of practice). Ignore any silly replies - it's game over as far as you are concerned and you will have stated your position.

or

- Do nothing at all and let them waste money on other letters. Keep them all and in the unlikely event of them choosing you case for a random small claim, then you'll have evidence of their breach of the BPA Code as well as other allegations and points of defence that pepipoo can provide for free. But I believe that PE have only issued recent Court claims against ignorers so far, in the hope of easy pickings from victims with a bad or no defence offered.

edward123

As you asked for the POPLA code if they rejected your appeal and so if you do not contact them again and they do not give it in the required time....that's it...they have 'cancelled' the ticket whether they like it or not.

nigelbb

You don't need to ask for the POPLA code after all how are supposed to even know about the existence of POPLA? What they must offer as per the BPA CoP is a route to an independent appeals process i.e. POPLA. So if they don't offer POPLA they are in breach of the CoP & it's game over for their fake PCN.

Their delaying tactic of putting your appeal on hold for 14 days has no meaning either. They are required as per the CoP to accept or reject your appeal in 35 days & deliver the code for POPLA if they reject it. The 35 days starts from when they receive your very first challenge/appeal.

Stroma

edward123 wrote: »

As you asked for the POPLA code if they rejected your appeal and so if you do not contact them again and they do not give it in the required time....that's it...they have 'cancelled' the ticket whether they like it or not.

Yes that's true you've asked for it once, so if they don't supply it the appeal is automatically accepted. Why should anyone have to keep reminding this company to abide by their trade body's code of practice. If it ever went to court this is something in writing that shows this company is breaking the rules they signed up for.