Parking Eye - Parking Notice Charge

scoobygilo

This morning in the post I received a parking notice charge from Parking eye for £60 which will go up to £100 if not paid within 14 days.
This is a private car parking management company operating for the marriot hotel in Langley.

Can anyone offer any advise please? I have heard these can be a scam and not legally entitled to charge a fine?

The_Slithy_Tove

scoobygilo wrote: »

Can anyone offer any advise please?

Yes. use the search box at the top of the page, search for Parking Eye, then read some of the hundreds of threads concerning them (preferably the more recent ones), and learn all you need to about them.

You'll need to appeal, though it doesn't matter if you win or lose. You won't be paying them.

Can you explain how you came to get this ticket? What were you doing in said car park, how long were you there, what petty made-up rule did you allegedly break?

scoobygilo

It says I was in the car park for 1 hr 3 mins which is about right.

I was meeting a friend as I had some car parts to give to him. As he lives in Reading and me in Bedfordshire we just said we would meet somewhere.

I saw the signs but I thought it said the first hour was free and as I wasnt leaving the car I didnt think it would be an issue

The parking charge has photos of my registration plate and is date and time stamped.

So I need to appeal rather than just ignore?

The_Slithy_Tove

scoobygilo wrote: »

So I need to appeal rather than just ignore?

Yes. Current advice for Parking Eye is always appeal. They are picking out some ignorers for special attention, i.e. court papers. Best to nip it in the bud (they still would most likely lose in court, but best not to get that far - too much hassle).

scoobygilo

Will I need to go back to Langley to find out what the signs stated? Its over an hour drive from where I live but if I need to state in the appeal anything from here, then I will have to go back

I appreciate your help with this. Thank you

HO87

Would I be correct in assuming that the details of your arrival/departure were obtained from CCTV cameras at the entrance/exit? If that is the case then the truth of the situation is that you were within the car park for 1 hour 3 minutes but were you actually parked for that length of time? I would respectfully suggest that the answer to that is "no", after all you had to drive into the car park, locate a space and manoeuvre into it and on leaving had to do the reverse.

As Slithy Tove has suggested an appeal to PE is the ticket.

Before you do so a little checking and preparation might be in order to set a reasonable time for how long it took you to drive in and park and then leave.

As I suspect this notice (Is it entitled "Notice to Keeper?) was issued as a result of the use of ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) then if PE intend to make use of the Protection of Freedoms Act to pursue the keeper (as opposed to the driver) the Act requires that the notice was received by you within 14 days of the alleged event (counting the day on which the parking event took place as Day 0). Is that correct?

scoobygilo

Yes you are correct. There was a camera that detected my number plate on entry (photo attached with date and time) and another camera on exit (again date and time stamped photo attached)

I actually drove round for a while before parking up, so yes, I wasnt parked up for this total amount of time.

Date of event states 19/05/13
Date issued was 24/05/13
Date I received this charge is 28/05/13

It isnt entitled "notice to keeper" though, but it does state that they dont know who the driver is.

What is the need to send in an appeal now rather than just ignore? Has the guidelines changed in their favour now?

Stroma

So you were there 3 minutes over the 1 hour, which doesn't give a reasonable grace period to do all that HO87 said above. And if you are disabled it could be a breach of the Equality Act as well.

This is what the bpa says about this in their CoP , 3 minutes is a joke

13.4 You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action.

scoobygilo

I will need to double check that it was free for the 1st hour though.

Like I said, as I didnt leave the car I didnt think it would be a problem

The_Slithy_Tove

They don't know who the driver was, what a shame. Even better, they can't use the Protection of Freedom Act to then pursue the registered keeper as they have failed to abide by its timescales. Do not admit who the driver was in any correspondence. Don't say "I was in the car park" or anything like that. It just puts another spanner in the works of PE.

nigelbb

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

They don't know who the driver was, what a shame. Even better, they can't use the Protection of Freedom Act to then pursue the registered keeper as they have failed to abide by its timescales. Do not admit who the driver was in any correspondence. Don't say "I was in the car park" or anything like that. It just puts another spanner in the works of PE.

I think that you have misread the dates. The parking event was on 19th May & the NTK received on 28th May i.e. 9 days later & well within the 14 days set down in POFA 2012.

Don't worry scoobygilo even without that extra mistake on the part of PE there are plenty of other appeal points that will ensure that you won't pay this charge.