Parking Eye Fine - Fistral Beach

siross

Hi all, I wonder if you would be able to help or point me in the right direction?

My other half and I spent a long weekend down in Newquay last weekend for a wedding. The B&B we stayed at didn't have an official car park but stated that we could use the adjacent car park for £2.50 a day and they would provide a permit.

Cue me driving down and parking up in the car park across the road and going to check in and get a permit. After talking to the owner they told me I had parked in the wrong car park and I needed to move it. I legged it outside with my permit and moved it to the correct car park. I couldn't tell this was a car park managed by Parking Eye because the signs were not lit and it was dark!

I've just received a fine in the post for £100 (£60 if I pay within 14 days) from parking eye which took a picture of my car going in and going out. Apparently I was there for 10 minutes.

The car park is located near Fistral Beach by the way.

Thanks in advance for any help!

jeanraffio

Presume they said it was for failure to display a ticket?

Nothing really that much different from the 100s of other threads offering advice on here. In short, PE will take this to court, so don't ignore it, it is winnable with a POPLA appeal. And certainly don't pay it.

The fact that you made a mistake with the wrong car park won't wash, it's mitigating and PE and POPLA will dismiss it.

Read other threads, get a feeling for what is required, but in short

1) Appeal to PE
2) PE will reject but supply POPLA code
3) Appeal to POPLA
4) Win!

I believe from the volume of threads on Fistral Beach I've read that it's a bit of a money spinner for PE, so why contribute to their coffers and horrendous business practice?

siross

Thanks, I've had a look through the forums and I'm still a little confused. I think I need to do more reading.

Is there a recent case which I can copy?

jeanraffio

siross wrote: »

Thanks, I've had a look through the forums and I'm still a little confused. I think I need to do more reading.

Is there a recent case which I can copy?

Yes, do some more reading - it can be confusing at first and you will read some cases that are not applicable to your position. But persevere and get a handle on some of the language used.

No point copying a case if you don't understand what you are asking. Maybe do a search for 'Fistral' too for specific cases and information.

siross

Thanks, I'll do some reading.

My main worry is that I'll run out of time and end up having to pay before it goes up to £100

FatAndy

siross wrote: »

Thanks, I've had a look through the forums and I'm still a little confused. I think I need to do more reading.

Is there a recent case which I can copy?

Read through the "sticky" at the top of the forum headed "POPLA decisions". Start from the end (most recent cases) and work backwards. Mitigating circumstances don't come into it so the in's and out's of what actually happened are irrelvant so you can pretty much follow any of the cases in the POPLA decisions thread.

Step one though is to bang in an appeal to Parking Lie. It doesn't matter what it says as they'll automatically reject it so don't waste too much time drafting it, it's just a means to obtain your POPLA code. Once you've got your code then you'll need to do a little work on your POPLA appeal to ensure that you win.

siross

Thanks for that.

If I appeal and get the POPLA code how long do I have to put together my appeal before Parking Eye demand the full £100? Or does the appeal process put a hold on things?

Also, I was told by the B&B owner not to worry because they have a grace period of 20 minutes. Also found this which eludes to a 20 minute grace period: http://www.newquayvoice.co.uk/news/5/article/3428/ not exactly legally binding though.

Thanks

Simon

jeanraffio

siross wrote: »

Thanks for that.

If I appeal and get the POPLA code how long do I have to put together my appeal before Parking Eye demand the full £100? Or does the appeal process put a hold on things?

Also, I was told by the B&B owner not to worry because they have a grace period of 20 minutes. Also found this which eludes to a 20 minute grace period: http://www.newquayvoice.co.uk/news/5/article/3428/ not exactly legally binding though.

Thanks

Simon

Get your soft appeal in the next few days after you have had it OK'd by people on here (you can do this online).

The PPC then has 35 days to respond to your appeal (typically two weeks though) at which point, all stuff should be on hold (though PPCs rarely stick to it).

You then get turned down by PE and they send you a POPLA code - this then has to be submitted within 28 days (and you only get one of those, so it's use it or lose it).

Grace periods can be used in both the soft and POPLA appeal (though PE will ignore it in the soft appeal), but make sure that you post your POPLA appeal here first too.

siross

Thanks, I really appreciate the info. I've found a great thread to read through when I get home so I will draft my soft response to appeal to Parking Eye and post here before sending if that's OK? Want to make sure I get it right.

Thanks

Guys_Dad

If this car park was the notorious Fistral Beach car park itself, then you are in luck.

Take a look at this newspaper article http://www.newquayvoice.co.uk/news/5/article/3428/

Part of the deal when the council leased the land was that people had a 20 minute grace period.

I would quote this article and appeal solely on that point. I would ask if they have had planning permission for a variation of the grace period and if so, when. Invite them to cancel the charge or send you a POPLA code.

But if it was not the actual Fistral Beach car park itself, again use the grace period point saying that locally PE have 20 minutes' grace period on the Fistral Beach park and could they give you a reason why they believe 20 minutes is acceptable as a grace period for one car park and not another.

siross

It wasn't directly on Fistral Beach it was 5 minutes up the road on Dane Road. Still in Newquay though.

Simon