Successful complaints about private parking tickets - how to get them cancelled!

Le_Kirk

Philou said:

Response from Lidl:

Dear Mr. XXXX Our Ref: XXXXX

Re: Parking Charge Notice Thank you for providing the requested information.  We’re pleased to let you know that the parking charge has been cancelled with our Car Park Management company directly. We’re glad we were able to assist you on this occasion and we hope this update has made your day a Lidl better!  Just to make you aware, our Customer Care team aren’t able to cancel any further charges so please make sure to check the parking instructions on your next visit. Should you need any help in the future please speak to the parking management company and they’ll be happy to help. We hope to see you back in store soon.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about the service you’ve received today. To take part in our survey please click here and help shape your experience as a customer.

Yours sincerely, For and on behalf of Lidl Great Britain Limited

Dear Lidl
Shame, your letter was doing very well until you tried to put the failure on me.  Don't concern yourselves, there will be no need for me (nor any member of my family or any of my friends) ever to have to worry about parking instructions as we have made our last visit!

pjcw85

PPC: BaySentry
Cancelled following complaint to Go Outdoors (customer services forwarded to store manager who then took it up with the parking company).
Location: Urban Exchange, Manchester

I just got a ticket cancelled, initial fine was for £100 (£50 if paid in first 14 days) but was sent to my old address due to my V5C being out of date (now corrected) so I then got a £170 fine for "ignoring" the PCN. I emailed the parking company, shop I shopped in, and landowners. The parking company obviously stonewalled me but Go Outdoors got in touch and it's been cancelled now save a £10 admin fee for BaySentry - which Go Outdoors have said they will discount for me next time I'm in store. Thanks to everyone on this forum for previous posts and replies to my post about a week ago.

FingersLily

A family member received a PCN from Parking Eye for parking at Asda in Battersea. They claim the car arrived at 21:00 on 11/01/24 and left at 11:57 on 12/01/24 - 14 hours 56 minutes! Yet another example of a double-dip PCN.

Thanks to advice on this forum, I contacted Asda at Battersea by phone. I couldn't get a response for 2 days but was eventually told I needed to speak to Selina & they said I should call the next day when she would be available.

I phoned the next day to be told she was busy but they took my details & said she would call me back.

2 days later, having received no call, I rang again & was put through to the correct department. A VERY rude man (who wouldn't give his name) was EXTREMELY unhelpful & said there was nothing they could do. He said I'd have to take it up with Parking Eye. I pointed out this was incorrect & I knew of many cases where Asda had cancelled PCNs but he wouldn't budge.

I therefore gave up with him & googled the contact details for Asda Head Office. The number on their website was useless - it is just a recorded message that advises you to contact the branch! A further google attempt meant I found another phone number from a similarly disgruntled customer: 0800 952 0101.

I rang this number & spoke to an extremely helpful lady named Dhanya who APOLOGISED. She took all of the details of the PCN & my email address & said she would send me an email with a form to fill out (this obviously happens A LOT). Within 10 minutes I received the email which asked for the PCN Number, Registration Number, date, location, etc.

I sent the email back immediately & received an acknowledgement from Dhanya who said she would forward the details to the correct department & once cancellation has been requested, I would receive another email.

The next day I received another email from Dhanya saying that cancellation had been requested. She said that, if I hear nothing in the next 30 days I can assume it has been cancelled or, if Parking Eye do not accept the cancellation, I would hear from them direct.

I then logged into the Parking Eye website and entered the PCN details where it clearly states that the outstanding balance is £0.00!

Thank you for the excellent advice on this website. If you do receive a PCN for parking at Asda, don't bother trying to speak to the branch. Go straight to the Head Office by ringing the number in bold above.

Umkomaas

Well done @FingersLily on your determination, and not being fob-offed by the first pushback. 👍

patient_dream

Le_Kirk said:

Philou said:

Response from Lidl:

Dear Mr. XXXX Our Ref: XXXXX

Re: Parking Charge Notice Thank you for providing the requested information.  We’re pleased to let you know that the parking charge has been cancelled with our Car Park Management company directly. We’re glad we were able to assist you on this occasion and we hope this update has made your day a Lidl better!  Just to make you aware, our Customer Care team aren’t able to cancel any further charges so please make sure to check the parking instructions on your next visit. Should you need any help in the future please speak to the parking management company and they’ll be happy to help. We hope to see you back in store soon.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about the service you’ve received today. To take part in our survey please click here and help shape your experience as a customer.

Yours sincerely, For and on behalf of Lidl Great Britain Limited

Dear Lidl
Shame, your letter was doing very well until you tried to put the failure on me.  Don't concern yourselves, there will be no need for me (nor any member of my family or any of my friends) ever to have to worry about parking instructions as we have made our last visit!

Le_Kirk said:

Philou said:

Response from Lidl:

Dear Mr. XXXX Our Ref: XXXXX

Re: Parking Charge Notice Thank you for providing the requested information.  We’re pleased to let you know that the parking charge has been cancelled with our Car Park Management company directly. We’re glad we were able to assist you on this occasion and we hope this update has made your day a Lidl better!  Just to make you aware, our Customer Care team aren’t able to cancel any further charges so please make sure to check the parking instructions on your next visit. Should you need any help in the future please speak to the parking management company and they’ll be happy to help. We hope to see you back in store soon.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about the service you’ve received today. To take part in our survey please click here and help shape your experience as a customer.

Yours sincerely, For and on behalf of Lidl Great Britain Limited

Dear Lidl
Shame, your letter was doing very well until you tried to put the failure on me.  Don't concern yourselves, there will be no need for me (nor any member of my family or any of my friends) ever to have to worry about parking instructions as we have made our last visit!

My thoughts as well.  Lidl is NOT a so called god's gift to cheapo prices and if they must rely on a parking scammer to run their business, ..... FOOLS

As Lidl says, next time it will not be cancelled ?

NO NEXT TIME .... SHOP ELSEWHERE

boonyed

I visited The Cross Inn Kingswinford (Wetherspoons), in early January, and for one reason or another, my vehicle registration was not recorded on the keypad in the pub. Yesterday I received a PCN for £75 reduced to £45 if paid within 2 weeks.

I have succesfully challenged a number of similar PCNs over the years using the information on these pages, so i read through the information again, in readiness for the fight ahead. The advice on MSE suggests that the first port of call should be to speak with the company or organisation who run the car park. I tried raising a complaint through the Wetherspoons web site and via their app, but it seems they are not accepting comments, compliments or complaints at the moment. So, this morning i visited the pub and spoke to the manager. As soon as i mentioned Euro Car Parks and the PCN, he asked me if I'd got the letter with me and said he'd sort it.......without me having to get irate or even mildly upset. What a star! 

He went on to say that he had worked for a number of other organisations who do not own their own car parks and, in those cases, there is little they can do. However, Wetherspoons do own this particular car park and he can simply contact them to get the PCN rescinded. I have read negative comments on Facebook and Tripadvisor about similar stories of customers getting stung, so perhaps Wetherspoons Kingswinford should advertise the fact that they can do something about spurious parking fines for genuine customers......it might save a lot of bad press in the future,

1505grandad

Very well done.

".... so perhaps Wetherspoons Kingswinford should advertise the fact that they can do something about spurious parking fines for genuine customers......it might save a lot of bad press in the future,"

Which may be a breach of the KADOE contract by their agents:-

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/kadoe_service_contract_informati/response/1683411/attach/4/FOIR8718 annex 1.pdf

"G2. Publicity and Media

G2.1. The Customer shall notify the DVLA immediately if any circumstances arise which could result in publicity or media attention to the Customer which could adversely reflect on the DVLA or the KADOE Service.
G2.2. The Customer shall not create or approve any publicity implying or stating that the DVLA has a connection with any service provided by the Customer without the prior written approval of the DVLA."

BeUseful

SUCCESS - challenged overstay at St. Oswalds Car Park at Gloucester - I did overstay, but was a genuine customer.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6344456/nsgl-parking-st-oswalds-gloucester-parked-slightly-out-of-bay-on-purpose-pcn/p1

Coupon-mad

BeUseful said:

SUCCESS - challenged overstay at St. Oswalds Car Park at Gloucester - I did overstay, but was a genuine customer.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6344456/nsgl-parking-st-oswalds-gloucester-parked-slightly-out-of-bay-on-purpose-pcn/p1

Well done!  

But as I posted on your thread, if the landowner believes this, they'll believe anything:

"NSGL did confirm to me earlier that from the appeals they receive, around 70% are granted and the ticket is cancelled."

NO PARKING FIRM DOES THAT.

Also, if that was their business model (I mean come on Mr landowner, engage your brain) it shows a scattergun 'ticketing like confetti' approach.

What on earth makes him think that's true or remotely acceptable?  This line below, he's lifted directly from the PPC:

"Unfortunately, parking enforcement companies do get bad press, but mainly because they are carrying out a thankless task!"

The PPC are having a laugh at the landowner's expense so that he stays deluded, thinks they actually cancel 70% on appeal (which he can't check but they know he'll never ask anyway) and meekly renews the contract.

This is exactly the sort of rhetoric that we are up against every day (landowners will always fall for it) and - dangerously - this is exactly the sort of line that PPC World will spin to the next Government, even if/when the new Code of Practice comes in before a GE.

If the moneygrabbers don't take it out by JR this time, they will aim to have watered it down within 4 or 5 years (2 reviews) unless the Government realises and continues to consult with those who know what's really going on. 

BrooklyBay

Had a bit of a win with the Co-op and Horizon parking.

First notice I had that something was wrong was a letter turning up from Debt Collectors relating to a charge for overstaying at a co-op car park. I hadn't received anything from Horizon but could give them the benefit of the doubt as I was slow to update my VC5 address after moving house and the "offence" was a while ago so there is a reasonable chance the letters had been going to my old address.

This did mean that Horizon wouldn't deal with me as I had missed their appeal window, and the Debt Collectors couldn't care less obviously. 

What I did get from Horizon was the details of the overstay - 12 hours apparently! Overnight! This I knew was nonsense as I've never left my car there overnight (its right by my house!) and looking at the dates I knew the car had been elsewhere as they were around a specific work trip I had been, and messages between my wife and I and google location tracking backed that up (albeit not providing conclusive proof). So I knew what the cameras had actually captured was two separate trips, one in the evening, and one the next morning. Looking at where the cameras are located I'd be surprised if this doesn't happen fairly often - if you follow someone in closely, or someone follows you out closely I can see how the cameras view could be obscured.

I used the co-op CEO email I found online, and sent an email detailing that I had been charged in error and my proof for that, that I couldn't afford to continue to shop at that co-op if this was the risk I was running by doing so, showing how much I have spent in that co-op since moving into the area [to show I'm a regular customer], pointing out that we choose it over the sainsbury's that is across the road from it, and saying that I couldn't square their ethical stance on trading with their decision to associate themselves with such cowboys (this co-op seems problematic - a good chunk of its google reviews are people complaining about parking charges).

And slightly amaingly to me, I got an email back from the 'executive resolutions team' the email had been passed too, less than 24 hours later, apologising, and saying they had instructed Horizon to cancel the charge.