'letter before action' from parking eye

loopylou

hi
Just received a letter from Parking eye headed Letter before Action which states that they WILL take action and start COURT proceedings. This relates to overstaying my time at the car park in Wythenshawe civic centre (Asda) in January.

The time given free of charge is 2 hours but I was parked in a disabled bay with my Mum and was there for about 3 hours which is the norm when using a blue badge.

I have heard that they have started to issue court summons so what should I do, would appreciate a little guidance now

Many thanks in advance

Loopylou

Jojo11

Hi,

I followed advice and ignored all their letters, and I got same as you. I read on another forum someone was ordered to pay £250 ish through court, so I decided to pay £85 and cut my losses. Wishing I would of just paid the £50 now. Parking Eye you won this time, but I would not use your car park if it was the last on earth! I was 4 mins late back to my car.

Gryphon005

Hi Loopylou,
A little surprised that no-one has replied to your post yet, but as you've now received a Letter before Action from Parking Eye, it's important that you reply with a suitable acknowledgement within 14 days.

Read carefully this recent thread from member zzzLazyDaisy for some excellent advice on this matter:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4705657

A good letter of acknowledgement showing that you are aware of the Practice Direction and the shortcomings in their LBA, will probably cause Parking Eye to drop the action like a hot potato.

Also, see this thread where a member has drafted an acknowledgement to Parking Eye and some further advice has been given re sending the letter etc:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4632911

Please post in this thread for further advice and to let us know how you get on.
Good Luck!

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi Loopy, just a note to say I have clocked your thread.

Have a go at preparing an Acknowledgement, Keep it short, just to the main points, no need to go into a big list of additional extras at this stage as we will be slamming home on the Equality Act point (I'll help you with that part).

I'll call back tomorrow evening and see where you are up to.

Daisy x

Stroma

Jojo11 wrote: »

Hi,

I followed advice and ignored all their letters, and I got same as you. I read on another forum someone was ordered to pay £250 ish through court, so I decided to pay £85 and cut my losses. Wishing I would of just paid the £50 now. Parking Eye you won this time, but I would not use your car park if it was the last on earth! I was 4 mins late back to my car.

The problem was that since you got that advice last October Parking a eye has changed tactics, we don't have crystal balls, and we can't forsee the future. You didn't have to pay anything to these idiots if you followed the advice now, like the poster has been advised here.

loopylou

Thank you Gryphon005 and Daisy for replying with suggestions on how to go ahead. I did follow the link but was overwhelmed with what I was reading. My beautiful Mum passed away a couple of weeks ago and we have just had her funeral. I now have to deal with all of her personal effects etc and my head is full of cotton wool.
I really don't know where to start with this latest problem with Parking Eye. Its not as if they have sufered any loss of income as parking is free for 2 hours.

Many thanks....loopy

zzzLazyDaisy

loopylou wrote: »

Thank you Gryphon005 and Daisy for replying with suggestions on how to go ahead. I did follow the link but was overwhelmed with what I was reading. My beautiful Mum passed away a couple of weeks ago and we have just had her funeral. I now have to deal with all of her personal effects etc and my head is full of cotton wool.
I really don't know where to start with this latest problem with Parking Eye. Its not as if they have sufered any loss of income as parking is free for 2 hours.

Many thanks....loopy

Hi Loopy, I am very sorry for your loss, and I realise that this issue is just one extra thing for you to deal with at this time, which you could do without.

We are very willing to help you on here but unfortunately we just don't have the time or man power to do it all for you. Gryphon has given you excellent advice at post 3. If you go to the link

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4705657

there are simple step by step guidelines for writing an acknowledgement. All we are asking is that you have a shot at preparing your own first draft and we will help you from there.

With your Equality Act point (which we will add into the letter for you) there is an excellent prospect of the PPC cancelling the charge before it goes any further.

I am truly not being difficult here - but you need to understand that you are already in a formal pre-court process. While we would hope to see this off straight away on the EA point, we obviously can't guarantee this, and you may have to write further letters (with our help). There is even a (hopefully very small) chance that despite all our efforts the PPC may still proceed with court action. This is not very likely, but the point is these are court proceedings, and this may not be a 'one letter quick fix' though that is what we are aiming for.

So it is very important that you do get involved in this case against you at an early stage, as this is the only way that you will understand the issues of the case that the PPC is trying to raise against you.

Just have a go - we really want to help you.

Daisy

Edit - could you also add a short post to the above guidance thread just saying 'please see my thread' - this just makes it easier for us to find you x

zzzLazyDaisy

Hello Loopy

I am just thinking of a way to make things easier for you in your current circumstances.

I suggest that you write to Parking Eye and tell them exactly what you told us in your first post, about having your disabled mum with you, parking in a disabled space and displaying a blue badge, and the fact that you were only there three hours which is a normal time limit for a blue badge. This is only one hour overstay and Parking Eye (and the landowner) has a legal obligation under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

Parking Eye are also members of the British Parking Association. Their code of practice which all members are required to comply with states that

"If your landowner provides a concession that allows
parking for disabled people, if a vehicle displays a valid Blue
Badge you must not issue it with parking charge notices."

In other words, Parking Eye is in breach of the BPA code of conduct by issuing you with a parking charge in the first place.

The problem for Parking Eye is that they depend on automatic cameras that log your car registration as you enter and leave the car park. They don't actually monitor disabled spaces and blue badges, so they do issue parking charges to vehicles displaying a blue badge (as you have discovered).

However, equally, when the owner of the vehicle alerts them to the fact that they have issued a charge to a car displaying a blue badge, they do normally cancel the charge.

So I suggest that you just to write to them and explain what happened, and ask them to cancel the charge.

Hope this helps

Daisy

Coupon-mad

loopylou wrote: »

hi
Just received a letter from Parking eye headed Letter before Action which states that they WILL take action and start COURT proceedings. This relates to overstaying my time at the car park in Wythenshawe civic centre (Asda) in January.

The time given free of charge is 2 hours but I was parked in a disabled bay with my Mum and was there for about 3 hours which is the norm when using a blue badge.

I have heard that they have started to issue court summons so what should I do, would appreciate a little guidance now

Many thanks in advance

Loopylou

Send a version of this (see thread below where I wrote a complaint in similar circs for someone alleged to have overstayed when disabled). Send it to Asda Head Office (by post headed up 'FTAO Executive Relations'), and to the Store Manager by name at the actual shop as well, and separately send an acknowledgement of the LBA to PE as already advised (go back to the guidance thread, read the first part of the first post (in blue) and then go to post 45 and follow the instructions there).

Here's a version of that complaint letter you can use for Asda immediately as well:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=79515&st=0

See post #13 written by me as SRM on pepipoo. Change it a bit to suit your circumstances and say how victimised you feel when you were simply shopping and now your lovely Mum has recently died it is even worse for you to be reminded of this by their shark of a parking agent. Demand Asda act to cancel the damn thing immediately.

Do not stint on the responses needed for PE though. You must make an effort now to stop the small claim by acknowledging the 'LBA' now and then following it with a full response (including a copy of your late Mum's BB and a proof of purchase for that day if you have it). See the links already given, you don't want to get this taken to small claims as you are not in a position to deal with that right now.

Jojo11 wrote: »

Hi,

I followed advice and ignored all their letters, and I got same as you. I read on another forum someone was ordered to pay £250 ish through court, so I decided to pay £85 and cut my losses. Wishing I would of just paid the £50 now. Parking Eye you won this time, but I would not use your car park if it was the last on earth! I was 4 mins late back to my car.

More fool you for paying the scammers instead of a couple of simple letters and a complaint to their client on site. Flippin' heck there's a sticky about how to reply to LBAs and you only had to make your case so 'hot' by complaining to the retailer that PE drop it before court. The person who paid didn't pay £250 AFAIK, they paid less than that and had no CCJ or anything either.

And they got small claim papers in the first place because they ignored the LBA - which you would have responded to if you'd bothered to ask for help. Your case was nothing like theirs at LBA stage and was never a reason to just fold and pay like a con victim.

.

Moneymiser344

Like so many other people, I received, in december last year, a notice fro Parking Eye for overstaying 15 mins at Aldi. Like so may people on here and other forums, I was defiant and ignored all the following letters. I now wish I hadn't, simply because it appears that since Parking Eye have changed their MO and started these letter before action notices, there is the distinct feeling that those people advising to ignore appear to have lost confidence a bit and appear out of their depth. I became really fed up with the slight but significant anxiety I have lived with for the past few months and have now decided to just pay the £70 they bumped it up to to be able to put it out of my mind for good. It stung me to pay it, but I did and I feel better for it, not having to think about what to do next if I get a summons etc. I hate Parking Eye - they are crooks, and ultimately they may or may not have the law on their side, but ultimately I would rather just get on with my life than have this hanging over me a minute longer. Life is full of annoying things that we may just have to put up with, and I include private parking companies. They won't get me again, because I will not let them, but I've wasted more than enough time and angst on this. Good luck to those who hold out, but my time is worth more than the scandalous charge. Yes, parking eye have won this time, and I've been ripped off. Now it's time to get over it. Wish I'd just coughed up in the first place instead of taking part in this well meaning but time consuming waste of time. If it had been a year earlier, when PE and the others DID simply stop after the half dozen letters then fine - but clearly things have changed. Anyone who now asks for my opinion on what to do will be told to just pay up and don't let them get you again. Before I get accused of it, no I am not a mole for Parking Eye, just a motorist who was caught in this crooked net but wants to get on with life.

Moneymiser344

I wonder how many people, like me , wished they'd just paid up in the first place rather than put themselves through all this. I accept that PE's methods have changed and that was not predictable. I think saying "more fool you for paying" is rather offensive as you are making the assumption that people have nothing better to do with their time than to write letters and try to figure out a way to beat them, whilst all the time wondering if they are going to have to justify themselves in court. My earlier post explains why I gave up on this and paid - maybe I was a fool too - but I feel MUCH better for putting this whole ugly mess behind me.