Parking "fine" whilst on holiday in Newquay

dle1232003

Hello fellow MSE's,

long time fan of martin, and of the forums for help and advise, but never signed up.

Unfortuantely I now need your help.

Basically i was on holiday in cornwall,




It is a from a company called smart parking (also trading as town and city parking) whom have sent me a Parking Charge Notice.

it is £40.00 if paid in 14 days, and then £70 if if after, if not within 28 days an additional £10 admin cost will be charged.

They have a camera shot of the front of the vehicle at the apparent arriving time and a shot of it where it looks to be at an angle, apparently leaving the car park.

Now i need to know how to tackle it, as I have read a few things about these fines, one if you are a customer and can prove it with a reciept etc, then do so. dont show evidence yet, just send a simple response, (or a hilarious one claiming to be elvis, although i do believe I may be jesus )

Alternatively, they cannot request money from myself as I never entered a contract with them, as I was not a customer and therefore classed as trepassing on the land.

I was looking at this letter to send to them, before apealing, which seems to be good, but I would like your comments.

i cannot post the link it is the parking cowboys appeal letter,

please let me know if you need any info.

also, as i was on holiday there, i cannot go back and get pictures of the signs etc etc

the other great thing about this, is iirc, the land as you go onto it, is adsa at one end, huge car park, then rail station at the other, please see the pic, the car park is at the back of the rail station on the left hand side, and the way the parking is designed, makes it look completely seperate from asda, as all the signage etc is nearer to asda

tinypic /r/zmjb0n/5
tinypic /r/23mcyv/5

as you can see from the second image, you enter the carpark, and you follow it around, with the rail station and parking spaces on the left, and asda superstore and other parking spaces on your right.

thank you in advance for any help and advice given,

many regards!!!!

dle1232003

hi, can anyone offer any advice on what i have said?

i think im going in the right direction?

dle1232003

PasturesNew wrote: »

That car park was always a "pay for everything" one until Asda opened two years ago and they then picked up the bill for the first two hours for their customers. It's not big enough to spend two hours in there... it's tiny.

Asda, or the other end, it's only recently been 2 hours free.... in fact I never park up the end where you parked as I'm still nervous/unsure who runs that bit.

well like i said, i am also unsure about it, it looks to me as if it was part of the shops and railway which go onto the main road rather than asda itself, as its doesnt have loads of signs up stating such.

dle1232003

yeah, its not the best situation, i just need to know what to do about this invoice now

as if i say im trespassing on the land, then i cant have entered a contract with them, which means they cant say i owe them money,

i believe all they can do at the time is ask me to leave and if i didnt could call the police to remove me,

obviously im back up north now, so they cant ask me to leave.

ender4

I have exactly the same issue, but on a different day instead.

I overstayed the 2 hours free by a few minutes, in the car park that looks separate from Asda, but now its turns out its part of asda.

I did not shop at Asda whilst parked in the car park.

so my choices are:

1) Pay the fine
2) appeal (what grounds?)
3) ignore the letter

what should i do?

EHBA

ender4 wrote: »

I have exactly the same issue, but on the 19th July instead.

I overstayed the 2 hours free by a few minutes, in the car park that looks separate from Asda, but now its turns out its part of asda.

I did not shop at Asda whilst parked in the car park.

so my choices are:

1) Pay the fine
2) appeal (what grounds?)
3) ignore the letter

what should i do?

Ender, you should probably start your own thread, edit out the date

dle1232003

bumping to get hlep as someone has ended up in the same boat as me!

surfboy1

I would check the planning permission for the whole car park. It is not just for Asda customers. I would also look to see if there are any time limits for free stay in the planning conditions?
I often park there and go into town.

Coupon-mad

Standard advice on every thread where anyone posts about ANY fake PCN now, issued in England/Wales:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63099617&postcount=2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62804112#Comment_62804112

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=82525&st=0&gopid=860220&#entry860220

You simply send a challenge - but only once the first postal letter (Notice to Keeper) arrives, and within 28 days of it.

On this forum, bear in mind it's holiday time so less regulars around to answer every single 'same old, same old' query (sorry but it is...). Newbies can easily find out what to do, from reading pretty much any other current/recent thread, to be fair. NO CASES ARE DIFFERENT EXCEPT IN SCOTLAND!

In your appeal, do not talk about what happened, nor do you imply who was driving. Write it in the third person about 'the driver' and make sure there are solid appeal points in there such as:

'the driver was unaware of the apparent 2 hour limit, so, as I am merely the registered keeper of this vehicle who is not local to that site, I conclude that your signage must have been wholly inadequate. I also would say that this charge is a disproportionate penalty, which is unenforceable in law. If you reject my appeal I want to know whether the charge is supposed to be for breach of contract or trespass and how exactly is the amount arrived at? I will also require a POPLA code of course.'

Let us know when you get your POPLA code and read up on this forum in the meantime on other threads, about POPLA. NOT just Asda/Smart threads, ANY threads on page 1/2/3 onwards at the top of the parking forum board would tell you about appealing and the POPLA stage (where you will need to help to word it as a winner but should read examples as we can't write them all from scratch!).

HTH