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

BlueWand

Another success to report.

I recently received a PCN from Euro Car Parks telling me I had overstayed in the car park at our local Sainsbury's. The usual demand - pay £100 or we'll be very nice and drop it to £60 if you pay up within 2 weeks. 

I was surprised as we've been shopping there for decades and know very well that the time limit is 2 hours, which we had not gone over. 

It turned out that the maximum stay had been reduced to 90 minutes. There was no information inside the store advising customers of the change. They just very sneakily updated the exterior signage (which I never look at because there's no need - or so I thought).

They also removed a digital display near the entrance which used to flash up your car reg number on entry and show the time by which you needed to leave the car park.

I wrote a letter of complaint to the Sainsbury's store manager ('loyal customers for 40 years, taking our custom elsewhere now, etc'). I received no reply but when I went to appeal the PCN on the ECP website, it had been cancelled.

Many thanks to all on this thread/site. If I hadn't read the information and advice here, I probably would have paid up just to put an end to the matter. The stories here encouraged me fight my corner and I'm glad I did!

domfli

how can I check who is landowner of Southgate Park on Stansted where is Starbucks and McDonalds ?

I would like write complain about PCN sent to registered keeper of the vehicle 

Le_Kirk

domfli said:

how can I check who is landowner of Southgate Park on Stansted where is Starbucks and McDonalds ?

I would like write complain about PCN sent to registered keeper of the vehicle 

Check the profile of @Umkomaas, he often posts advice on how to do this.

Danny30

Hi all, you can see a successful letter which I forgot to tag 2 years ago for a Poppla appeal in the following thread.

Parking ticket with no photographic evidence. - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum 

Jomot

Success at having a PCN cancelled at Parkfield Road Retail Park aka Bridge Road Retail Park, Stockton.

The retail park has just four shops on it and is never busy, but apparently there's a 2-hour parking limit which we exceeded by 40 minutes. 

We only visited one shop - Matalan - but I tried on loads of clothes, which took me ages due to some dexterity issues. 

On receiving the PCN from Euro Car Parks we complained in-store but were told there was nothing they could do. 

Wrote to the CEO of Matalan expressing how distressed I was to be penalised this way simply because I have some physical difficulties that slow me down when shopping.  I enclosed a copy of my receipt (over £100) and asked them to intervene on my behalf, otherwise I'd have to return all of my purchases just to cover the fine, making it lose-lose for everyone except for Euro Car Parks.

The CEO escalations team e-mailed the following day saying I should have appealed directly to the parking company but they'd see if they could help - no promises.  The charge was cancelled the same day & ECP notified me by post.

Le_Kirk

Jomot said:

Wrote to the CEO of Matalan expressing how distressed I was to be penalised this way simply because I have some physical difficulties that slow me down when shopping.  I enclosed a copy of my receipt (over £100) and asked them to intervene on my behalf, otherwise I'd have to return all of my purchases just to cover the fine, making it lose-lose for everyone except for Euro Car Parks.

This is a really good tactic and should be used more often, retailers may then begin to realise just how much they would lose through their continued use of money-grabbing blooduckers (paraphrasing what MPs said in Parliament).

Nellymoser

Jomot said:

The CEO escalations team e-mailed the following day saying I should have appealed directly to the parking company 

It could help your complaint to CEO if you state you didn't bother appealing to the parking company as they don't offer a fair impartial appeals service.

321money_spending_expert123

Successful PCN cancellation

ParkingEye - Stafford Enterprise Park East Car Park, 'overstayed by 15 mins', complained about ambiguity of signage and gave the classic disappointed customer to the business at Stafford Soccer Centre- email memberships@beaconsport.co.uk

Whilst the soccer centre didn't own the car park they had some sort of contract with them and could appeal for cancellation directly to PE. 

I did have to chase multiple times (literally about 20 emails) but, just as I was about to give up and pay, 4 months later, I got a cancellation email from PE!!  

fplalexa

Successful PCN cancellation

I recently received a PCN from UK Parking Patrol Office on behalf of an Estate that is owned by CBRE Group Inc telling me my car had parked for 9 minutes in a private area only meant for commercial loading vehicles. In reality the area looked like a side road with no barrier or overhead sign on entry and the driver never even left the car. Of course they want £100 (£60 bribe price offered as usual) for waiting in this area for 9 minutes. Appeal to UK Parking Patrol Office was rejected. Emailed the MD for the group in my location:

Dear Joe et al.

We received a harassing letter (attached) from "UK Parking Patrol Office", the private parking company who are presumably agents sub-contracted to "manage" a private area on your behalf, demanding payment of £100 for parking in a private loading area.

We stop by at the Sainsbury's local in this area all the time on our home but this time to be extra cautious the driver reversed into what looked like a side road and stayed in the car the entire time with the engine running and no intention of leaving the car there, while the passenger nipped into the shop to sort out a refund. This is evidenced in the pictures captured as entry picture shows the back of the car and the brake lights are visibly active in both pictures (and any videos recorded will show the same). There was little to no chance of the driver seeing a parking sign that was only on one side of the area especially since they entered the road in reverse and then didn't even leave the car or intend to park there. The area in question has no barriers or any overhead sign on entry. It simply looks like a side road.

The refund process at Sainsburys took longer than expected but despite this the letter says we were recorded as being there for just 9 minutes on a very quiet Sunday. Now we are being asked to pay an outrageous value of £100. We live in the area and have been customers of many business on <Estate Name> for many years including Sainsbury's Local, <Coffee Shop Name> and <Cinema Name>, so it is extremely disappointing to be treated this way.

We ask that this charge is cancelled and that "UK Parking Patrol Office" are advised to desist from sending us any further harassing letters.

Parking Services Management: UK Parking Patrol Office

Reference Number: XXX  

Date of Event: XXX

Date Issued: XXX

Regards

Me

Response from Estate manager:

Good Morning Me,

 

I have been forwarded the below email regarding a PCN you received when entering one of the loading areas on <Estate Name>.

I can confirm the PCN was issued by UK Parking Patrol who are contracted to enforce the parking restrictions on the private roads and loading areas of <Estate Name>. 

I requested our on-site security team to review any CCTV footage of the area for the time the PCN states and come back to me with a response. 

Our security has confirmed that at the time noted on the PCN: “The vehicle has driven into the <Street Name> loading area from <Main Road> and proceeded to turn around, which is where the vehicle appears to be first captured on the ANPR enforcement system.  The front seat passenger does appear to enter Sainsburys as stated and returns after a few minutes and then the vehicle drives away.  The driver is not observed to leave the vehicle at any time”. 

Under normal circumstances, I would not intercede with our service provider as this PCN has been issued correctly in accordance with the signage in this loading area, which is designated for commercial vehicles only, whilst loading or unloading.

However, on this occasion, I will request the PCN is cancelled as a gesture of good will, and hope that you continue to enjoy utilising the amenities on <Estate Name> in the future.

@Security Supervisor please can you liaise with UK Parking Patrol and ensure that this PCN is cancelled.

Best Regards

The security supervisor has also emailed confirming the PCN has been cancelled. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the threads. Follow the guides given. They work!

Coupon-mad

This OP got an East Midlands Airport VCS PCN cancelled:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6546381/clutch-failure-took/p1

"The Vehicle Control Services Limited company have sent me a Charge notice letter in my name. Still images show times of stopping before a roundabout for 1 minute 17 seconds.

The van unfortunately stopped due to the clutch slave cylinder failed, pedal went straight to the floor and van stalled on the approach to a roundabout within East Midlands Airport. It took just over a minute to figure out how to get it back into gear and set off again, then managed to get out of the airport without any more stalling. The new clutch kit was ordered the same day and was fitted a few days later.

After trying to find a working email for xxxx xxxxxx at East Midlands Airport, I found the 2nd best option was to email all evidence to ioan.reed-aspley@eastmidlandsairport.com

Conclusion - It's well worth contacting the land owner, and even when the initial contact dismisses saying there's nothing they can do to help, escalate to as high as you can."