parking charge help!!!!!

diggidydale

Hi guys,

I'm kind of new here and need some advice here's my story.

So the other day me and as friend decide to go to the cinema in Leigh which is located in the loom leisure park Leigh. So I go pick him up and get to the park at around 4pm we go in buy our tickets but the film doesn't start for 45mins so we decide to have a walk through tescos and get a coffee in their cafe.

We then go to watch our film and afterwards decide itsd early so why not watch another so we buy tickets for a second film which starts at 8 so we go next door yo Frankie and Benny's we eat up and go watch our second film we leave at about 11pm after enjoying our day.

So today I get a nice letter from civil enforcement which states I broke the contract with regards to exceeding parking times and if I pay their charge within 14days its £75 if not its £150 I have 28 days to pay or further action will be taken.

Now I have been back and a admittedly the signs says free parking for 4hours but surly if I use the facilities there I shouldn't be charged.

Can someone help me what should I do should I just pay it or should I do something else??

halibut2209

First thing I would do is contact the cinema manager and demand that they get the "charge" cancelled.

Also, I would reply to CE saying something along the lines of

"I am appealing against your 'charge' as I was using the facilities the entire time (2 films and a meal). If you reject this appeal, you must send me a POPLA code so I can then appeal through them, costing you £27+VAT of course"

Guys_Dad

If you look at the BPA CoP, you will see that the maximum charge under their "rules" is £100, so these clowns have exceeded that.

As far as contravening, it doesn't matter what you think or we think about free parking for 7 hours instead of 4, you contravened their terms and you are guilty as charged !

So don't waste time on that, except to appeal to them on a two pronged approach.

Dear Sirs,

Your ref etc..........

I am the keeper of the above vehicle and I am challenging your PCN on two grounds.

The first is that the driver was using the facilities for which the car parking was provided and the visit to the cinema, meal and other activities took the time it took. You claim it to exceed 4 hours. As I was a customer for all of the time, then your clients were making money from me - far more than if I had left after 2 hours.

The second is your extortionate charges. The £150 non- discounted charge demanded exceeds the maximum allowed under the British Parking Association Code of Practice which states that you need to justify any charge over £100 to them.

When you produce a letter from them authorising this amount with an explanation to me as to why they believe this to be fair, then I may give further consideration to your letter but until then, accept this as my formal appeal and either cancel the charge or send me a POPLA code so that I may appeal to the independent adjudicator and you can attempt to convince them that £150 is a genuine pre-estimate of loss.

Yours faithfully,


The Keeper

Oh, can you give me the dates of the contravention and date of the letter? Chances are they might even have gone over the 14 days!

diggidydale

Cheers dates are incident 27/8/2013 pcn issued 10/9/2013

spacey2012

I do hope you have learnt not to use these outlets again.
They just have no correlation that these are your customers that are getting scammed.
As the older generation, we had a bit more about us, if someone was trying it on and scamming, we went elsewhere, a lot could learn from us and if more were like us theses scammers would not exists.
So after following the advice how to beat them back with the scam, do yourself a favour and find a pleasure outlet without scammers in the car park.

Coupon-mad

diggidydale wrote: »

Cheers dates are incident 27/8/2013 pcn issued 10/9/2013

Put right what I assume was a typo in the date; as you can see this will have arrived with you late, won't it (a private postal 'ticket' has to reach you within 14 days, regardless of excuses like a Bank Holiday, so you already have an appeal point).

Do as advised already by halibut2209 as your first complaint (CINEMA MANAGER OF COURSE, NOT THE FIRST PERSON YOU SEE OR SPEAK TO!). Spacey2012 is also right, use his points about 'not returning because of this scam' as part of your assertive customer complaint. Look, it works:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62837690#Comment_62837690

And then if the Cinema is useless, do as further advised by halibut2209 and Guys Dad, then start to read threads in readiness for a winning POPLA appeal in the end.

Guys_Dad

diggidydale wrote: »

Cheers dates are incident 27/8/2013 pcn issued 10/8/2013

I am assuming you mean 10/9/2013.

On that basis, the POFA wording reads

(5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

(6)A notice sent by post is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been delivered (and so “given” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)) on the second working day after the day on which it is posted; and for this purpose “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales

Now, and please would someone check my calculations, we have

Day 1 27th
28
29
30
Day 5 31
1
2
3
4
Day 10 5
6
7
8
9
Day 15 10

So, in order for the NtK to meet POFA requirements, they would have had to send the NtK on Friday 6th. As it is dated 10th, it is out of time!!!!!!!

So,

Letter now reads

Dear Sirs,

Your ref etc..........

I am the keeper of the above vehicle and I am challenging your PCN on two grounds.

The first is your extortionate charges. The £150 non- discounted charge demanded exceeds the maximum allowed under the British Parking Association Code of Practice which states that you need to justify any charge over £100 to them.

When you produce a letter from them authorising this amount with an explanation to me as to why they believe this to be fair, then I may give further consideration to your letter but until then, you and I both know you are on a hiding to nothing.

The second is even more outside the rules so to speak.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is absolutely specific about the time scale that you MUST follow when issuing a notice to owner/keeper. I refer you to the relevant section

9 (4)The notice must be given by—

(a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

(5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

(6)A notice sent by post is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been delivered (and so “given” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)) on the second working day after the day on which it is posted; and for this purpose “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales.

The relevant date for the notice to be in my hands was September 10th, but as you only sent the letter on that date, you have failed to adhere to the lawful time period and I am not, therefore, obliged to name the driver or accept the charge.

I invite you to accept this as my formal appeal and either cancel the charge or send me a POPLA code so that I may appeal to the independent adjudicator and you can attempt to convince them that £150 is a genuine pre-estimate of loss and that for you, time has stood still.

Yours faithfully,


The Keeper

diggidydale

Cheers i have typed the letter and am going so send it recorded delivery first thing tomorrow i will keep you updated.

Do you think they will just drop it?

Umkomaas

diggidydale wrote: »

Cheers i have typed the letter and am going so send it recorded delivery first thing tomorrow i will keep you updated.

Do you think they will just drop it?

Nope. Not in the DNA.

Expect a bit of prevarication from them, possibly ignoring your appeal and sending a PCN reminder letter. So be ready to keep at them, you need to get that POPLA code.

CEL are being particularly litigious at present, mainly with ignorers from a couple of years ago, so you need to get your case killed off with a POPLA uphold of your appeal to ensure you don't get these clowns sending you court papers in 2015.

Guys_Dad

Yes, come back if you have heard nothing within 14 days.

You could always add a cc

cc British Parking Association

And a sentence saying "I am sending a copy of this to the BPA with a complaint on both points"

Do it too, and that just might get them to move fast. And they can't deny receiving anything either It also gives you another reason to write to the BPA after 14 days if you hear nothing and 35 days if they don't reply at all. Your next letters to the BPA would then refer you to this complaint.

SpunkyBubble

Hi Guys, been reading up on posts, and could do with some help of my own if Pos.......

(I have received a parking charge from CP Plus)

So driving late night on motorways, and thought we needed a break as dangerous to drive tired. So we pulled in to Reading services and parked up in the car park at 02:03am on the 19/08/13 to get a break in. We fell asleep for 2 hours, then went in to Costa for coffees , drank them and left at 04:54am.

Now I received this parking charge yesterday 10/09/13 and it is asking I pay £50 by 17/09/13 or thereafter will be £90 and the date of Notice is 03/09/13....... Now there was no visible signs to me at the time, but we were both tired and this form says there was a parking sign saying 2 hours free. It has 2 still photos of my car entering and leaving at these times, and CP Plus is operating in accordance with BPA's code of practice.

Now, my questions are.. Do I have to pay these, considering the signs all over the motorway are DONT DRIVE TIRED, TAKE A BREAK......

And secondly, the date of notice on the parking charge is 03/09/13........ So if the offense took place at 02:03am on the 19/08/13 and they only issued this on the 03/09/13, then they are outside of a 14 day period clause that people are talking about on here Day 1 20/08
21/08
22/08
23/08
Day 5 24/08
25/08
26/08
27/08
28/08
Day 10 29/08
30/08
31/08
01/09
Day 14 02/09
Day 15 03/09 Date on Notice


Could I have some feedback on how to go from here, Thanks