Parking Eye Charge Notice

xlator

I hve received a Parking Charge Notice from Parking Eye relating to a pay and display car park. The parking fees were as follows:

• Up to 1 hour: £1.80
• Up to 2 hours: £3
• Up to 4 hours: £5

We intended to pay for 4 hours, but only put £4.50 in the machine by mistake instead of £5. We stayed for just over 3 hours and have been hit with a charge notice.


In my estimation, we actually paid more than we should have done for our stay, but didn't fall into the 4-hour "band" because we accidentally underpaid by 50p. I still have the parking ticket to prove what we paid (and therefore our intention to pay the full amount - why would we have paid £4.50 otherwise?!).


I'm happy to contact them and offer to pay the 50p difference, not the £60/£100 they are demanding. Are they likely to be willing to accept this or will I be going down the POPLA route? If so, is this any sort of valid defence or should I use the standard (and successful) defences that have been used recently against them (P.S. I've read the forums in detail).


Thanks!

zzzLazyDaisy

First, well done for reading the forums and being prepared.

Second - can you provide some further info as follows please:

1 does the registered keeper (or driver if different) live in Scotland or NI, or did the alleged parking even take place in Scotland or NI?
2 is this a company car or a lease / hire car?
Did you get a windscreen ticket or a Notice to Keeper - probably called a Parking Charge Notice (PCN)? ( a PCN would come through the post with pretty pictures of your car)
3 date of parking event
4 date of first letter through the post

When you have given this information just hang fire as I am stuck at home with no gas, heating, hot water, or cooking facilities waiting for an 'emergency' boiler call out to mend a gas leak at the boiler which has resulted in the gas supply being disconnected at the meter ... and which 'may be tomorrow madam as we are very busy'. I don't think so!!!!!

And I fancy tearing a strip off someone and PE kinda fits the bill!!!

So yes, lets have some fun with the 50p. I'll draft you a letter when you have come back with the info requested above.

Daisy

xlator

Hi Daisy,

Thanks for your reply!

Answers below:

1 does the registered keeper (or driver if different) live in Scotland or NI, or did the alleged parking even take place in Scotland or NI?

=> registered keeper (driver) lives in England, car park is in England

2 is this a company car or a lease / hire car?

=> no, privately owned

Did you get a windscreen ticket or a Notice to Keeper - probably called a Parking Charge Notice (PCN)? ( a PCN would come through the post with pretty pictures of your car)

=> PCN through the post

3 date of parking event

=> 25/08/13

4 date of first letter through the post

=> 29/08/13

i.e. to appeal within 28 days I need to respond by 26/09/13


Thanks!!

zzzLazyDaisy

Okay, that's great. I'll be back shortly with a letter for you.

In the meantime, was this car park a service for customers of a retailer or retail park (if so which one?), and if so do you have receipts. Even if you don't have receipts, have you contacted the retailer(s) to ask them to get the charge cancelled?

D

xlator

Hi Daisy,

The car park was a public car park (operated by the local council) in a small rural village/beauty spot. Popular with tourists. Not linked to a specific outlet or retailer.

Thanks again!

Stroma

Have you found out who owns the car park ? Have you made any complaints to them ? Is it a retail park or shop like tesco ?

Thanks

zzzLazyDaisy

xlator wrote: »

Hi Daisy,

The car park was a public car park (operated by the local council) in a small rural village/beauty spot. Popular with tourists. Not linked to a specific outlet or retailer.

Thanks again!

Okay, in that case:

Telephone the local council (or look on the website) and get the contact details for the department that deals with parking. Then send them a cheque for 50p with the first letter below (please leave the letter up for bit before sending so other regulars can comment).

But don't run out of time - you do still also need to send an appeal to Parking Eye. See second letter below (send it to the normal appeal address, and to PE's legal department)

Come back when you have a response

Daisy

---

Dear ........

Re Parking incident at [insert location] car park on [insert date]
Vehicle registration number xxxxx


I am the registered keeper of the above vehicle and am writing to complain about a parking charge issued by your agents, ParkingEye Ltd in respect of an alleged [overstay? what 'offence' does it say on the PCN?] at [location] on [date].

The situation was that the driver was confused by the signs and, intending to pay for 4 hours, inserted £4.50 into the ticket machine (the actual fee being £5). I wish to make it clear that this was a genuine error by the driver, and there was certainly no intention to underpay. In fact, as you can see from the enclosed Parking Charge Notice, the vehicle was in fact only in the car park for a total period of three hours and xxx minutes.

Whilst I have no objection at all to reimbursing the [xxxxnamexxx] council for the loss of 50p parking revenue occasioned by the driver's mistake, I do consider a penalty of £60 (rising to £100 if not paid within xxx days) to be unfair and grossly disproportionate to the offence. Accordingly I am enclosing with this letter a cheque in the sum of 50p by way of recompense for the loss of parking revenue, to enable the council to mitigate its loss at this early stage.

In the circumstances described above, I request that you instruct your agent to cancel the charge on this occasion.

I enclose for your attention copies of the parking ticket showing the sum paid, and the Parking Charge Notice.

I thank you in advance of your assistance in this matter, and look forward to receiving your positive response shortly.

Yours.....

---

Letter to Parking Eye
LEGAL DEPARTMENT

For the personal attention of Rachel Ledson


Dear Ms Ledson

Formal Appeal against Parking Charge Number xxxxxx

I am addressing this appeal to you, for your personal attention, in your capacity of Senior Solicitor of your client's Legal Department, as I am somewhat concerned that the staff in your client's Appeals Department may not have sufficient understanding of the law relating to mitigation of loss, upon which this appeal is based.

I am the Registered Keeper of vehicle registration number xxxx, and this appeal relates to an alleged parking offence at [xxlocationxx] on [xxdatexx]

The facts are that the driver of the vehicle on the day in question was confused by the signs and, intending to pay for 4 hours, inserted £4.50 into the ticket machine (the actual fee being £5). I enclose a copy of the parking ticket purchased, for your information.

I wish to make it clear that this was a genuine error by the driver, and there was certainly no intention to underpay. In fact, as you can see from the Parking Charge Notice, the vehicle was in fact only in the car park for a total period of three hours and xxx minutes.

I have no objection at all to reimbursing your client's Principal [xxxxnamexxx] Council for the loss of 50p parking revenue occasioned by the driver's mistake. Accordingly, I have already forwarded to your Principal a cheque in the sum of 50p by way of recompense for the loss of parking revenue, to enable it to comply with its duty to mitigate its loss at this early stage. I enclose a copy of the said cheque for your information.

Further and in any event, I consider your client's demand for £60 (rising to £100 if not paid within xxx days) to be totally unreasonable and grossly disproportionate to the Principal's loss and cannot in any way, shape, or form, be considered to be a 'genuine pre-estimate of loss' incurred by an accidental underpayment of 50p. I am sure that, as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court, you are fully aware that it is the landowner's losses that are the focus of any argument around 'genuine pre-estimate of loss', and that in any event there can be no claim for costs of the business which are tax deductible when assessing loss for these purposes. In this regard, I respectfully refer you the many POPLA decisions that have gone against your client on this point.

In all the circumstances described above I invite you, as supervising solicitor, to instruct your staff to uphold this appeal and cancel the charge.

If your client declines to cancel the charge, please forward a verification code in order that I might make a formal appeal to POPLA regarding this matter.

I trust that this will not be necessary and I look forward to receiving your client's positive response within 35 days of the date of this letter.

Yours .........

Coupon-mad

I am confused because I know of no Council car parks where PE exist. They never act for Councils.

zzzLazyDaisy

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I am confused because I know of no Council car parks where PE exist. They never act for Councils.

Looks like we need clarification before any letters are sent....

DollyDee_2

OP probably did pay £5.00 - PE's machines are faulty.

We paid £4.80 at Tower Road, Newquay, but the ticket was for £4.30. We got the 50 pence coin out of the machine when we pressed the button to return coins AFTER the ticket had been printed, however, as it had not dropped through at the time we did not know the 50 pence had not registered.

zzzLazyDaisy

Interesting - another point for OP to clarify and possibly make use of.