ParkingEye, Swindon

jola5

I am a newbie who has been hit with a Parking Charge Notice issued by ParkingEye.
Nothing new there, but my immediate problem is that I was driving my wifes car (legally) at the time, and so the PCN has been sent to her as the Registered Keeper. But I don't want her to be bothered by any more letters.

I suppose I will have to draft a reply for her to send to ParkingEye stating that I was the driver, and that further correspondence should be addressed to me?

The PCN says that because I exceeded 2 hours free parking (by 48 minutes) I owe £100 ("discounted" to £60 if paid within 14 days).
My wife would prefer me to simply pay up, but I am minded to fight it.

For the record, the car park in question is the one serving Halfords and The Range in Fleming Way, Swindon. I have used this car park for many years, but not since ParkingEye set up shop there. It has always been, and still is, a free car park but is now adorned with ParkingEye's ANPR cameras and notices saying that parking over 2 hours will incur a charge.

I complained about the PCN to the manager of one of the shops at the car park. He was not unsympathetic once I had shown him my receipt from his shop. He said he was unable to get involved before I appeal to ParkingEye, saying that if the appeal fails, then come back to him.

So, I guess I should follow the appeals procedure, rather than, say, use MoneySavingsExperts "militant" approach i.e. simply write to ParkingEye, giving reasons why I won't pay and stating that I will not engage in any further correspondence.

Can anyone advise on the tone and content of my initial appeal to ParkingEye ?

My grounds for not paying would be that I did not see the notices and that the demanded fee is disproportionate and far exceeds the landowner's loss, which is nil (as there are normally no parking charges and the car park was not full).
Also, that the 2hr 48 minutes I spent there is not excessive, and I have a receipt proving that I was shopping at one of the stores at the time in question.
And possibly, I could challenge ParkingEyes authority to issue PCNs (the landowner is apparently Scottish Widows, who presumably lease it to the adjacent shops).
Is there any other argument I could use?

Looking through some of the POPLA decisions in the sticky thread, it seems they tend to agree with PPCs that one has entered into a contract by the mere fact of using the car park, and that therefore the PPC has a right to impose the parking fee.
If it gets that far, would a Small Claims Court be likely to agree?

Umkomaas

If you've got a receipt (and any other proof of shopping on the day - bank/credit card statements) then send copies of them off (redact any personal data from the statements) to PE with a pretty polite letter. Explain that you were a genuine shopper who had lots of stores to visit on site (I presume it is a multi store site?) and that you simply ran out of time doing what you had to do there.

This approach has worked very many times with PE who are one of the most responsive PPCs in this regard.

For the time being send this on behalf of your wife as the RK. Being the RK is provided with more protection than a driver would have - more on that later if needed.

Let us know of any outcome.

Stroma

You've got everything to appeal to them, use the wording pre estimate of loss in it, also say that you look forward to taking this to popla if they reject, that is a 100% winner there

zzzLazyDaisy

Umkomaas wrote: »

If you've got a receipt (and any other proof of shopping on the day - bank/credit card statements) then send copies of them off (redact any personal data from the statements) to PE with a pretty polite letter. Explain that you were a genuine shopper who had lots of stores to visit on site (I presume it is a multi store site?) and that you simply ran out of time doing what you had to do there.

This approach has worked very many times with PE who are one of the most responsive PPCs in this regard.

For the time being send this on behalf of your wife as the RK. Being the RK is provided with more protection than a driver would have - more on that later if needed.

Let us know of any outcome.

I agree with the above advice, but just to be clear, you need to state clearly that this letter is the registered keeper's appeal against the parking charge, and refer to the driver when talking about the shopping ( ie keep it all in the third person).

It is also worth adding a second paragraph along the lines of Stroma's post (so they can see that you won't be relying only on mitigating circumstances if it goes to appeal).

Keep the letter calm and polite and end by asking them to cancel the charge, and if they are not willing to do this, to send you a POPLA code so you can appeal.

Daisy

Coupon-mad

Just to say you can do the PE appeal online (see the ticket, go to the webpage it mentions). I did an appeal in 20 minutes for a cousin, including setting up a generic Hotmail email account in his name (not mine) but writing as if I was him. Attached receipts and got it cancelled.

You should write as if you are your wife the rk; do NOT infer who was driving. You can attach 'the driver's receipts' to the online appeal and have it all done by the end of today. If they reject (unlikely with receipts) come back for POPLA appeal advice.

jola5

Many thanks to Umkomaas, Stroma and zzzLazyDaisy for their very quick and very helpful replies.

I am drafting an appeal to the PPC along the lines suggested, to be signed by my wife as RK, although this will, unfortunately, keep her name in the firing line rather than mine.
I'm not really clear as to why the appeal is better coming from the RK than from the driver, who, I understood, she would otherwise be expected to identify.

Anyway, I will report back in due course !

zzzLazyDaisy

jola5 wrote: »

I'm not really clear as to why the appeal is better coming from the RK than from the driver, who, I understood, she would otherwise be expected to identify.

The RK is not required to identify the driver.

If the PPC pursues the RK, they have to jump through a lot more hoops which gives them more opportunities to make a mess of it. You'd think they would have got their heads round this by now, but no - they keep on making mistakes!

jola5

Thanks to you too, Coupon-mad - our posts crossed.

I was aware you can appeal online, but I'm suffering password memory overload and I can do without any more accounts just now. I daresay it would speed things up though, so thanks for mentioning it.
I've also noted your comments about the wording. Ta.

Coupon-mad

I wrote the new email account name and password on the PE letter while I awaited a reply. I knew I would forget it otherwise!

jola5 wrote: »

Many thanks to Umkomaas, Stroma and zzzLazyDaisy for their very quick and very helpful replies.

I am drafting an appeal to the PPC along the lines suggested, to be signed by my wife as RK, although this will, unfortunately, keep her name in the firing line rather than mine.
I'm not really clear as to why the appeal is better coming from the RK than from the driver, who, I understood, she would otherwise be expected to identify.

Anyway, I will report back in due course !

Gives the registered keeper MUCH more to use in their winning POPLA appeal, if the first challenge is rejected. The driver's position is slightly weaker at appeal.

jola5

I have received another letter from PE, in response to my appeal.

My appeal letter explained that I was a genuine shopper at the car park, and in support of this I had attached a copy of a shop receipt, showing the date and time of a transaction and the items purchased. I had redacted other information from the receipt : the credit card number, credit card issuer, the price paid for each item and the total paid.

Now PE is asking for a copy of the receipt that shows the amount of money paid.

It seems to me that this is none of their business. Should I give them this additional information ?

Stroma

They are looking for a figure of £30 plus before cancelling which is utter BS! You are a customer end of, there can be no loss! Was it for over that amount ?