Parking Eye PCN, St James Retail Park Northampton

Brallaqueen

Hello All

I have received a parking charge notice from Parking Eye after parking at St James Retail Park Northampton, overstaying the 3 hour time limit.

The date issued on the letter is 23/10/2013 and I received it today.

Can anyone advise me on the next step please?

Stroma

Yes do an appeal on not seeing the signs, not adequate grace period, the charge is not a true pre estimate of their loss, they don't have a contract to pursue drivers for tickets and so on.

Always appeal as the registered keeper, don't name the driver though. Once they reject that come back here for help in going to popla.

By the way love Jim Rohn, his philosophies I use in business

Guys_Dad

See here for full procedure.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63099617&postcount=2

Brallaqueen

Thank you to both. I was not shopping in the retail park that day so cannot produce receipts, I knew that I was being a bit naughty doing this. Should I just take it on the chin and pay the fine?

Stroma

No don't pay , appeal on what I've said already, when they reject you can with our help appeal to popla, we win 100% of the time with forum assisted appeals. Those are actually not on what happened on the day, but on legal issues around their ability to operate, like their loss or their contract to issue tickets.

Coupon-mad

Brallaqueen wrote: »

Thank you to both. I was not shopping in the retail park that day so cannot produce receipts, I knew that I was being a bit naughty doing this. Should I just take it on the chin and pay the fine?

Nope!! You will win at POPLA regardless because we know how.

Just submit online, a challenge as the registered keeper. In your appeal, do not talk about what happened, nor do you imply who was driving. Write it in the third person about 'the driver' and make sure there are solid appeal points in there such as:

'the driver was unaware of the apparent time limit, so, as I am merely the registered keeper of this vehicle who is not local to that site, I conclude that your signage must have been wholly inadequate.

I also would say that this charge is a disproportionate penalty, a speculative charge from an agent who does not own the land and has made no loss. This is unenforceable in law, as ParkingEye were informed by District Judge Jenkins at Brentford County Court, in the case last week of ParkingEye v Sharma.

If you reject my appeal I want to know whether the charge is supposed to be for breach of contract or trespass and how exactly is the amount arrived at? I will also require a POPLA code of course.'

Let us know when you get your POPLA code and read up on this forum in the meantime on other threads, about POPLA. ANY threads on page 1/2/3 onwards at the top of the parking forum board (ignore the court case ones, not happening to you if you appeal) would tell you about appealing and how to win at the POPLA stage.

HTH

Brallaqueen

Copied with heartfelt thanks, added information that should be relevant

, A WALK THROUGH THE PROCESS

Firstly, you don't have to pay the charge, it is not a fine, it is not a penalty, it is a speculative invoice from a Private Parking Company that has no statutory authority. However, you will need to go through a few hoops to get rid of it.

(edited)

In a nutshell this is the process you will need to follow.

1. Read recent threads.

2. If the parking incident was at a retail park/shop go back to the store the Parking Charge Notice relates to and see THE manager, complain about a genuine customer being harassed and ask that they cancel the ticket. Show him/her any receipts for the day in question. If they are unable to do this ask for the name and address of the MD/CEO, as you will now write to them (and DO it!).

was not shopping at the retail park at the time, no receipts.

3. If it was a general car parking facility you need to find out who the landowner is (Google search) and send off a letter of complaint to them.

would a retail park class as this? there are several shops there. again, no receipts so not sure if i can do this

4. If you have receipts for the day (or bank/credit card statements) proving purchases, send (redacted) copies of them to PPC with covering letter stating you were a customer on the day, and shopping at their principal's establishment was the only cause of any overstay.

n/a
5. If 2, 3 or 4 above don't work, then you're into the more formal stuff.

6. If it was a windscreen ticket, do not contact the PPC at this point, you must wait for the 'Notice to Keeper' (NtK) to arrive. This should be no sooner than 28 days after the incident and no later than 56 days after it. Theses dates are very important, and you must retain all tickets and letters you receive.
n/a

7. If it was an ANPR camera incident and the first correspondence you've received is the NtK, this needs to be received within 14 days of the incident; as above, dates very important, retain all paperwork.
date of incident was 19 oct, date issued 23 oct and recevied 26 oct so i think the dates are all in order

8. Once you receive the NtK the process below will need to be followed.

9. Soft appeal to the PPC (you'll understand this when you start reading the threads).
i take it this is the helpful info coupon mad has posted re registered owner did not see signs etc? Im sorry Im a bit dim and want to be sure i am picking up the correct info.
Do i complain in writing or can i do this via email as i'm worried that post delays will cause problems. What timescale do i have to adhere to?

10. Likely rejection, so in your soft appeal you ask that a POPLA code be given to you if your soft appeal is rejected.
tis was part of coupn mads sample so that makes sense

11. Lots more reading about POPLA Appeals (read the 'sticky' at the top of the forum index 'POPLA Decisions', especially the last couple of months' reports of victories - it will give you a good idea of which points win at POPLA).
thank you, i am not familiar with this section of the site thats really helpful

12. Draft POPLA Appeal and let us see it for further advice before submission.
how much time do i have to do this?

13. Send to POPLA.

14. Await POPLA (positive) result with PCN cancelled - we're running at 100% success rate on the forum. A POPLA decision is binding on the PPC, but (in the event of an unlikely loss), not binding on you.
thank you this is very reassuring

---

Please confirm a couple of things (if they are not already contained in your opening post)

a. Was the incident, and do you live, in England or Wales?
b. Is the car a lease/hire or company vehicle (important as the process will be slightly different and you will need to act quickly)?
c. Are you under 18?

---

Now - final, but IMPORTANT points.

* Never say who might or might not have been the driver on the day - there is no obligation on you to do so (some PPCs will ask you to name the driver/motorist before they can deal with your appeal - DO NOT comply with their wishes). In any correspondence with the PPC, always refer to the driver in the third person, never say 'I didn't see the signs' or 'my wife didn't see the signs', you say 'the driver didn't see the signs'.

* Always be aware of any deadlines, PPCs impose them (but most of these are challengeable), but if they are reasonable do keep to them. The important one is the POPLA deadline - strictly 28 days from the date the rejection letter containing the POPLA verification code is sent to you by the PPC. Miss it and you miss the one golden opportunity you have to totally kill this charge. I cannot stress that enough.

Sorry this is a bit long, but it does more or less cover most bases.

Coupon-mad

You have 28 days to get your appeal in, and yes it's easy to do online to PE (I have done one that way myself for a friend). Yep, now is the time to use the words I suggested, they will do the job which is to get a POPLA code!

When you get POPLA code the clock is already counting down 28 days from the date PE reject. So you will have plenty of time to create a masterpiece based on these examples and snippets of information:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62180281#Comment_62180281

Basically you will win as they made no loss, but it's best to include other points of appeal at POPLA in case one day PE come up with something to convince POPLA every charge is to compensate for a loss. At the moment they lose every time on that point.

Umkomaas

Brallaqueen wrote: »

Copied with heartfelt thanks, added information that should be relevant

, A WALK THROUGH THE PROCESS

Firstly, you don't have to pay the charge, it is not a fine, it is not a penalty, it is a speculative invoice from a Private Parking Company that has no statutory authority. However, you will need to go through a few hoops to get rid of it.

(edited)

In a nutshell this is the process you will need to follow.

1. Read recent threads.

2. If the parking incident was at a retail park/shop go back to the store the Parking Charge Notice relates to and see THE manager, complain about a genuine customer being harassed and ask that they cancel the ticket. Show him/her any receipts for the day in question. If they are unable to do this ask for the name and address of the MD/CEO, as you will now write to them (and DO it!).

was not shopping at the retail park at the time, no receipts.

3. If it was a general car parking facility you need to find out who the landowner is (Google search) and send off a letter of complaint to them.

would a retail park class as this? there are several shops there. again, no receipts so not sure if i can do this . If you can find out who the landowners are there's no reason not to complain about harassment via an unenforceable punitive parking charge of a potential customer of the park.

4. If you have receipts for the day (or bank/credit card statements) proving purchases, send (redacted) copies of them to PPC with covering letter stating you were a customer on the day, and shopping at their principal's establishment was the only cause of any overstay.

n/a
5. If 2, 3 or 4 above don't work, then you're into the more formal stuff.

6. If it was a windscreen ticket, do not contact the PPC at this point, you must wait for the 'Notice to Keeper' (NtK) to arrive. This should be no sooner than 28 days after the incident and no later than 56 days after it. Theses dates are very important, and you must retain all tickets and letters you receive.
n/a

7. If it was an ANPR camera incident and the first correspondence you've received is the NtK, this needs to be received within 14 days of the incident; as above, dates very important, retain all paperwork.
date of incident was 19 oct, date issued 23 oct and recevied 26 oct so i think the dates are all in order. Dates look OK

8. Once you receive the NtK the process below will need to be followed.

9. Soft appeal to the PPC (you'll understand this when you start reading the threads).
i take it this is the helpful info coupon mad has posted re registered owner did not see signs etc? Im sorry Im a bit dim and want to be sure i am picking up the correct info.
Do i complain in writing or can i do this via email as i'm worried that post delays will cause problems. What timescale do i have to adhere to?
. Yep, that one will be fine, the main purpose is to hook a POPLA code. Send it email and snail mail (free proof of posting from your PO) to be sure they've received it. The PPC should have indicated in the NtK the timescale they have for their appeals process.
10. Likely rejection, so in your soft appeal you ask that a POPLA code be given to you if your soft appeal is rejected.
tis was part of coupn mads sample so that makes sense

11. Lots more reading about POPLA Appeals (read the 'sticky' at the top of the forum index 'POPLA Decisions', especially the last couple of months' reports of victories - it will give you a good idea of which points win at POPLA).
thank you, i am not familiar with this section of the site thats really helpful. Very useful, and necessary reading.

12. Draft POPLA Appeal and let us see it for further advice before submission.
how much time do i have to do this?. 28 days from the date of your rejection letter.

13. Send to POPLA.

14. Await POPLA (positive) result with PCN cancelled - we're running at 100% success rate on the forum. A POPLA decision is binding on the PPC, but (in the event of an unlikely loss), not binding on you.
thank you this is very reassuring

---

Please confirm a couple of things (if they are not already contained in your opening post)

a. Was the incident, and do you live, in England or Wales?
b. Is the car a lease/hire or company vehicle (important as the process will be slightly different and you will need to act quickly)?
c. Are you under 18?

---

Now - final, but IMPORTANT points.

* Never say who might or might not have been the driver on the day - there is no obligation on you to do so (some PPCs will ask you to name the driver/motorist before they can deal with your appeal - DO NOT comply with their wishes). In any correspondence with the PPC, always refer to the driver in the third person, never say 'I didn't see the signs' or 'my wife didn't see the signs', you say 'the driver didn't see the signs'.

* Always be aware of any deadlines, PPCs impose them (but most of these are challengeable), but if they are reasonable do keep to them. The important one is the POPLA deadline - strictly 28 days from the date the rejection letter containing the POPLA verification code is sent to you by the PPC. Miss it and you miss the one golden opportunity you have to totally kill this charge. I cannot stress that enough.

Sorry this is a bit long, but it does more or less cover most bases.

Hope the above help

Brallaqueen

as requested - England, car is a personal vehicle not a lease, and i am over 18.

Umkomaas

Brallaqueen wrote: »

as requested - England, car is a personal vehicle not a lease, and i am over 18.

OK, thanks. Now you need to get on with your initial appeal to PE, nothing over-elaborate, you just want to hook that POPLA code.

There's every likelihood your appeal will be rejected, but don't feel disheartened by this - everyone who has won at POPLA was initially rejected by PE!