Parking Eye "fine"

ButtonIt

I parked in a location in London Hotel a couple of weeks ago. There were no barriers and the machines could only be paid by coins or mobile phone.

I did not have the £24 worth of coins for my stay and (I know this is hard to believe) I do not have a mobile phone.

I left the car park without paying, it was a Saturday and the car park was mostly empty.

Upon my return there was no ticket issued, the car park was still mostly empty and there was no barrier. So I drove off.

I've now received a "fine" in the post asking for £100 (reduced to 60 if I stump up quick).

Information I've read here in the past has suggested to just ignore all correspondence and they'll go away.

Somebody else has suggested sending them a cheque for the initial £24 parking fee.

Other threads I've read talk about court action etc. So, I'm a little unsure what to do.

pogofish

If you are reading ignore, you are reading old/pre-POFA threads. Have a look at current threads and those dealing with formulating a POPLA challenge instead.

ButtonIt

Thank you for responding, I'm reading more about it. I must have read some old information. So should I go for a POPLA challenge or go with the cheque for £24?

jeanraffio

Firstly, DO NOT IGNORE!

Secondly, have a read of this:

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.

The first thing you MUST do is to start to understand what all this stuff is about. The only way to do this is to spend a day or so reading this forum - the most recent threads, say from the past month. If you see the advice 'IGNORE' you MUST ignore it. Ignoring a Parking Charge Notice will bring you months of fun and games that I can assure you, you don't want to be dealing with.

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!).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

10. Likely rejection, so in your soft appeal you ask that a POPLA code be given to you if your soft appeal is rejected.

11. Lots more reading about POPLA Appeals (read the 'sticky' at the top of the forum index 'POPLA Decision', especially the last couple of months' reports of victories - it will give you a good idea of which points win at POPLA).

12. Draft POPLA Appeal and let us see it for further advice before submission.

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.

---

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.

Thirdly, sending the £24 is always an option, but this would be sent to the hotel who would have to cancel the ticket. The PPC will want it's 'fine'. It's possible, but this rarely works IMO.

Fourthly, contact the hotel NOW, they can get this cancelled if you explain you were a genuine visitor with a genuine reason for not paying at the time.

ButtonIt

I was not using the hotel facilities, just their car park. It was an ANPR and NTK sent within 14 days. I did not overstay, just failed to pay as they did not provide means to make payment.

ButtonIt

I've a feeling I don't have a leg to stand on and will have to pay their charge.

tykesi

ButtonIt wrote: »

I've a feeling I don't have a leg to stand on and will have to pay their charge.

Then you obviously haven't done enough reading and can't be bothered to do so.

Yeah - you best just pay up, eh?

pogofish

No, formulate a proper challenge to POPLA and you have a very good chance. All the info is right at the top of the boards.

jeanraffio

Stick with it and appeal in the usual way and then appeal through POPLA if necessary. Remember, the POPLA appeal isn't about whether you paid or not, it'll be centred around about:

a) whether they gave sufficient approved methods of paying (£24 in coins?!), and, most importantly:
b) GPEOL - i.e. How they've come to equate a non-bought £24 ticket = a £100 fine.

POPLA appeals that have been submitted with this forum's help have all won (100s since Easter 2013) as no PPC can prove that £24 = £100 !!

Guys_Dad

Let me simplify this.

Whereas I don't approve of you walking off without paying the correct amount or even offering the hotel the amount when you returned (I suspect you thought you had got away with it!), your eventual salvation will be that the amount the PPC are charging is not a real estimate of any losses they or the hotel may have incurred by you parking there.

As said, read a few recent POPLA decisions in the sticky at the top of the page, or the Parking Prankster's blog where he listed all of the POPLA wins in recent months and what they were won on.

Read some other recent threads too and find out what GPEOL, POFA, POPLA procedures and BPA CoP are all about and it should convince you we can save you £60/£100.

But it's your money - your choice. Whatever you decide - good luck.

Coupon-mad

ButtonIt wrote: »

I've a feeling I don't have a leg to stand on and will have to pay their charge.

A fool and his money...doesn't often come on MSE!!

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=83749&st=0&gopid=874216

Wakey wakey. Appeal time, round one. WE WIN EVERY POPLA APPEAL.