Parking Eye PCN Notice, Tower Road Newquay

DollyDee_2

We have just come back from a 4 night stay in Cornwall and decided to visit Newquay on Thursday. We hadn't been there for some time. We drove down Tower Rd. My husband mistakenly started to drive into the Golf Club, realised his error, carried on and took the next left for this car park. I said "Oh-Oh Parking Eye" - I knew about it from reading the threads on MSE.

I said this car park is camera controlled and you are timed from when you drive in and out NOT from when you get your ticket. There is a sign as you enter but you cannot see it from the car as it's 8-10 feet up a metal pole. You have no chance whatsoever of reading it as you drive in. The print is no where near large enough (even standing next to the pole). The camera is even higher up on the next pole.

We parked and my husband went to get a ticket. After some time I went over to see what the problem was. You have to put your Reg No. in and then insert the money (no change given). We had decided to pay for 3 hours. The coins just kept dropping right through the machine. I had got a purse full of change and my husband had got some as well. We spent some time swapping coins over but got fed up of them being rejected so got the coins out that the machine had actually registered. My husband went to the machine nearer the entrance and had the same problems again but eventually managed to get £4.80 in. Pushed the button for the ticket - great, only £4.30 had registered but the 50 pence coin hadn't dropped through. The machine does not display how much money has been "accepted". So we paid £4.30 for 2 hours parking! He did get the 50 pence out although we had paid £1.10 for nothing. Nobody there to complain to. Plus this took about 10 minutes from being recorded on camera entering the car park so not even 2 hours and you've got to get out in time.

While we were fiddling about with all of this, everyone who parked had the same trouble with the machines - at least 6 cars.

This car park is shocking. Best of it is, if we had gone about another 5 yards and took the next left, there is a council car park which is cheaper - you can see it from the PE Car Park but it was too late for us by then - I had a nasty feeling a NtK would drop on the door mat if we had driven off.

Anyway, the weather was vile (that fine rain that soaks you) so we didn't even stay 2 hours.

Google is way out of date for this site, post code TR7 1LS.

Sorry, this isn't really about Simon196's thread but just confirming the signage and P & D machines are terrible.

EHBA

simon196 wrote: »

Hi EHBA,
We actually paid £7.50 as we did not have enough change to pay the exact charge which was £7.20. The payment machine was the type which does not give change. £7.50 is printed on the ticket which I have.

As a random thought the hourly rate offered for 14 hours parking, 08.00-22.00 at £7.20 equates to about 51p per hour or 25p per half hour. Even if you'd arrived at 8 o'clock you had effectively paid for your extra half hour.

I'd agree with DollyDee ref the P&D machines, when I was there afew weeks ago a number of P&D machines in PE car parks were out of order, forcing people to queue at ones that were working.

I had a birds eye view of one PE car park and was staggered by how long people took to queue, work out what to pay, pay by phone etc.

simon196

EHBA wrote: »

As a random thought the hourly rate offered for 14 hours parking, 08.00-22.00 at £7.20 equates to about 51p per hour or 25p per half hour. Even if you'd arrived at 8 o'clock you had effectively paid for your extra half hour.

I'd agree with DollyDee ref the P&D machines, when I was there afew weeks ago a number of P&D machines in PE car parks were out of order, forcing people to queue at ones that were working.

I had a birds eye view of one PE car park and was staggered by how long people took to queue, work out what to pay, pay by phone etc.

Thanks EHBA (et al) for your helpful advice and comments.
I have re written my appeal letter to Parking Eye having considered your comments. Could I as you to take a look at it and let me know your comments please.....


Dear Sir,

Having recently returned froma 2 week family holiday in Newquay, Cornwall we now find ourselves in receiptof a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) for £100 from Parking Eye having used theTower Road car park in Newquay itself.

The PCN shows two images of ourvehicle entering the car park (time stamped 13.14) and leaving (time stamped22.30). The PCN implies that we were at fault either by not purchasing theappropriate parking time or by remaining at the car park for longer thanpermitted.

I would like to point out thereasons behind our alleged departure at 22.30 which gave rise to the PCN thatParking Eye has issued.

Firstly when we arrived atthe car park there was no signage at the entrance to the car park whichexplained the terms and conditions of parking. The only signage present at thispoint was a sign indicating that parking was available. The only sign that wasevident was located at the entrance to the main area of the car park, it wasfacing in the opposite direction to our direction of travel. We did howevermanage to note that there was an ‘ALL DAY’ parking option available which weconcluded would be best for our intended plan for the day. This was all wemanaged to note from the sign as we were swiftly directed past the sign by theparking attendant.

The car park was extremelybusy and as mentioned, we were immediately directed by a parking attendant towhat appeared to be an overspill area adjacent to the car park itself. Thisarea was a grassy area with no bay markings and again no signage in place.

We parked our vehicle on thegrassy overspill area of the car park. We then instructed our son to purchasean ‘ALL DAY’ parking ticket on our behalf whilst we unloaded the car. Our son,who I might add is 11 years old, returned with the ‘ALL DAY’ option ticketwhich he placed upon the dashboard inside the car as instructions displayed onthe ticket mention.

We left the car park andheaded to meet up with our parents who had managed to park in a disabled carpark near to the beach. We spent the remainder of the day in Newquay and returnedto our car after helping our father, who suffers from a physical disability,back to and into his car.

After returning to our car wethen realised that the parking ticket actually had an expiry time stamped at22.00. We walked back to the sign at the entrance to the main parking area inorder to find out why as we understood that we paid for an ‘ALL DAY’ ticket.Unfortunately the sign was not illuminated and therefore we could not read allof the text. From what we could see, the ‘ALL DAY’ parking option which was ina large font, actually had a time printed next to it, in ‘small print’ (muchsmaller than ‘ALL DAY’ text). The ‘small print’ read 8am – 10pm. Unfortunately our son had not seen this whenhe purchased the ticket on our behalf as the text was much smaller and unnoticeable.

We checkedthe sign further and from what we could read and understand given the poor lightingconditions, it was possible to pay anextra charge by buying a further ticket to extend the ‘ALL DAY’ option beforeleaving the car park. This we were going to do, but reading the sign stillfurther, our understanding was that this was unnecessary as the car parkcharging actually finished at 10.00pm. Theactual wording on the signage reads ‘Parking Tariffs apply 8.00am – 10pm’. We therefore did not purchase anyextension to our parking ticket as we understood that this was not required.



I also note that the parking ticketpayment machine on the car park gives no change. When my son purchased theparking ticket he actually paid £7.50 for the ‘ALL DAY’ parking option as wehad no small change to pay the exact actual fee of £7.20. This being the case,I believe that we overpaid the parking fee and by my calculations the parkingfee per hour is £7.20 ÷14Hrs (assuming 8am-10pm) = £0.51 per Hr. I conclude that the extra£0.30 that my son overpaid would actually cover the extra parking fee thatwould be due for the overstay between 10.00 – 10.30pm that is alleged on theissued PCN. If this is not the case then I would appreciate it if Parking Eyecould advise the extra costs that were incurred by Parking Eye as a result ofthis alleged overstay.

I would also like to pointout that we are honest law abiding people who always ‘pay our way’. If we hadintended to park without paying then we would not have paid the £7.20 for the ‘ALLDAY’ parking that we did. As I mention the alleged overstay described in thePCN was completely unintended. Had we have known that we should have vacatedthe car park by 10pm then we would have done this.

I would therefore ask that ParkingEye review the issued PCN and cancel it. If it is decided that cancellation isnot possible then I would request that you inform me in writing and issue aPOPLA code so that I can appeal against what I believe to be an unfair decision.

Many thanks for your time inconsideration of my appeal. I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours Sincerely

Coupon-mad

In my book it's far too grovelly, you write as if you think this is a fair and upstanding company! Too many 'please and thankyous' for my liking - because we know they are going to reject your appeal.

I do like the 'we' throughout because that doesn't tell them who was driving (a good position to take in readiness for a POPLA appeal as the registered keeper ONLY).

I would change this a little:

''If this is not the case then I would appreciate it if Parking Eye could advise the extra costs that were incurred by Parking Eye as a result of this alleged overstay.''

to:

''If you consider this is not the case then I will require Parking Eye to provide a detailed breakdown of any loss incurred by Parking Eye as a direct result of this alleged overstay.''


HTH

doughnut76_2

Hi all,

sorry to crash this thread but can not seem to get a new one started....please please please help


Please could someone one advice if this is the right avenue to follow?

Recently went on a family holiday to Newquay. We decided to visit Fistral beach, when we arrived we sorted the children out and completely forgot to get a ticket.
We decided to leave and on the journey back to the apartment we remembered about the ticket.

We were there for less then an hour (52 mins according to parking eye) and truly would have paid, but got distracted by the kids. Annoyingly I did the pay the charge the day before. So proof that I wasn't purposely out to be dishonest and it was a genuine mistake.

After reading a few web sites I am now unsure what step to take and was thinking this maybe a good abjection to the charge?
Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Umkomaas

doughnut76 wrote: »

Hi all,

sorry to crash this thread but can not seem to get a new one started....please please please help


Please could someone one advice if this is the right avenue to follow?

Recently went on a family holiday to Newquay. We decided to visit Fistral beach, when we arrived we sorted the children out and completely forgot to get a ticket.
We decided to leave and on the journey back to the apartment we remembered about the ticket.

We were there for less then an hour (52 mins according to parking eye) and truly would have paid, but got distracted by the kids. Annoyingly I did the pay the charge the day before. So proof that I wasn't purposely out to be dishonest and it was a genuine mistake.

After reading a few web sites I am now unsure what step to take and was thinking this maybe a good abjection to the charge?
Your help would be greatly appreciated.

There does seem to be some problems with new accounts starting new threads. So here is a stock answer for dealing with PPC tickets. It was designed as a reply to a ParkingEye ticket, so does have some specific applicability to your circumstances - but obviously skim over the bits that don't apply (like store receipts).

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

But, if you can start a new thread as soon as possible, then that will deal specifically with your case, and it won't get confused with advice given on this one to the OP.

Try this link to start a new thread, then copy and paste your post above into it - you will get far more help on your own bit of the forum.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=163

doughnut76_2

thank you started new thread

simon196

Coupon-mad wrote: »

In my book it's far too grovelly, you write as if you think this is a fair and upstanding company! Too many 'please and thankyous' for my liking - because we know they are going to reject your appeal.

I do like the 'we' throughout because that doesn't tell them who was driving (a good position to take in readiness for a POPLA appeal as the registered keeper ONLY).

I would change this a little:

''If this is not the case then I would appreciate it if Parking Eye could advise the extra costs that were incurred by Parking Eye as a result of this alleged overstay.''

to:

''If you consider this is not the case then I will require Parking Eye to provide a detailed breakdown of any loss incurred by Parking Eye as a direct result of this alleged overstay.''


HTH

I agree it is a little 'grovelly' however I just thought that they may show a little kindness in return !!.....maybe I'm expecting a lot ? but have never dealt with them.

Just going to mod the letter now based on your comment,

simon196

Here is my final draft.

Please let me know if there are any further recommendations.

Thank you all for your great help and advice so far !



Appeals Department
Parking Eye Ltd
40 Eaton Avenue,
Buckshaw Village,
Chorley
PR6 6HT


Date:17/09/2013
Ref: PCN xxxxxx/xxxxxx

APPEAL AGAINST PARKING CHARGE NOTICE xxxxxx.

Dear Sir,

Having recently returned froma 2 week family holiday in Newquay, Cornwall we now find ourselves in receiptof a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) for £100 from Parking Eye having used theTower Road car park in Newquay.

The PCN shows two images of ourvehicle entering the car park (time stamped 13.14) and leaving (time stamped22.30). The PCN implies that we were at fault either by not purchasing theappropriate parking time or by remaining at the car park for longer thanpermitted.

I would like to point out thereasons behind our alleged departure at 22.30 which gave rise to the PCN thatParking Eye has issued.

Firstly when we arrived atthe car park there was no signage at the entrance to the car park whichexplained the terms and conditions of parking. The only signage present at thispoint was a sign indicating that parking was available. The only sign that wasevident was located at the entrance to the main area of the car park, it wasfacing in the opposite direction to our direction of travel. We did howevermanage to note that there was an ‘ALL DAY’ parking option available which weconcluded would be best for our intended plan for the day. This was all wemanaged to note from the sign as we were swiftly directed past the sign by theparking attendant on duty.

The car park was extremelybusy and as mentioned, we were immediately directed by a parking attendant towhat appeared to be an overspill area adjacent to the car park itself. Thisarea was a grassy area with no bay markings and again no signage in place.

We parked our vehicle on thegrassy overspill area as directed. We then instructed our son to purchase an‘ALL DAY’ parking ticket on our behalf whilst we unloaded the car. Our son, whoI might add is 11 years old, returned with the ‘ALL DAY’ option ticket which heplaced upon the dashboard inside the car as per instructions displayed on theticket itself.

We left the car park andheaded to meet up with our parents who had managed to park in a disabled carpark near to the beach. We spent the remainder of the day in Newquay andreturned to our car after helping our father, who suffers from a physicaldisability, back to and into his car.

After returning to our car wethen realised that the parking ticket actually had an expiry time stamped at22.00. We walked back to the sign at the entrance to the main parking area inorder to find out why as we understood that we paid for an ‘ALL DAY’ ticket.Unfortunately the sign was not illuminated and therefore we could not read allof the text. From what we could see, the ‘ALL DAY’ parking option which was ina large font, actually had a time printed next to it, in ‘small print’ (muchsmaller than ‘ALL DAY’ text). The ‘small print’ read 8am – 10pm. Unfortunately our son had not seen this whenhe purchased the ticket on our behalf as the text was much smaller andunnoticeable.

We checkedthe sign further and from what we could read and understand given the poor lightingconditions, it was possible to pay anextra charge by buying a further ticket to extend the ‘ALL DAY’ option beforeleaving the car park. This we were going to do, but reading the sign stillfurther, our understanding was that this was unnecessary as the car parkcharging actually finished at 10.00pm. Theactual wording on the signage reads ‘Parking Tariffs apply 8.00am – 10pm’. We therefore did not purchase anyextension to our parking ticket as we understood that this was not required.



I also note that the parkingticket payment machine on the car park gives no change. When my son purchasedthe parking ticket he actually paid £7.50 for the ‘ALL DAY’ parking option aswe had no small change to pay the exact actual fee of £7.20. This being thecase, I believe that we overpaid the parking fee and by my calculations theparking fee per hour is £7.20 ÷14Hrs (assuming 8am-10pm) =£0.51 per Hr. I conclude that the extra £0.30 that my son overpaid wouldactually cover the extra parking fee that would be due for the overstay between10.00 – 10.27pm that is alleged on the issued PCN. If you consider this is notthe case then I will require Parking Eye to provide a detailed breakdown of anyloss incurred by Parking Eye as a direct result of this alleged overstay.

I would also like to pointout that we are honest, law abiding people who always ‘pay our way’. If we hadintended to park without paying then we would not have paid the £7.20 for the‘ALL DAY’ parking that we did. As I mention the alleged overstay described inthe PCN was completely unintended. Had we have known that we should havevacated the car park by 10pm then we would have done this.

I would therefore ask that ParkingEye review the issued PCN and cancel it. If it is decided that cancellation isnot possible then I would request that you inform me in writing and issue aPOPLA code so that I can appeal against what I believe to be an unfairdecision.

Many thanks for your time inconsideration of my appeal. I look forward to receiving your reply.


Pleasenote that this is my formal appeal, no further information will be provided.



Yours Sincerely

Coupon-mad

Nice. And they are not...nice...so expect a rejection and start reading up on POPLA appeal wording!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62180281#Comment_62180281