Euro Car Parks £70 Overstay Charge

BananaSandwhich

Today I received a letter from "euro car parks" saying the driver my vehicle overstayed their 4 hour free parking limit at a Sainsbury's in London. They claim this warrants a £70 parking charge payable within 28 days, discounted to £40 if paid within 14 days. As I understand it this kind of penalty is unenforceable, as we never entered in to a contract together where I agreed to be bound by these terms and issued fines if in breach of them (correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think a limited company has any grounds to issue a fine without such a contract).

But I don't understand what the best course of action is, I've seen conflicting information, some people saying don't reply, let the letter chain play out, and others saying the advice is now not to do that but to issue a reply instead. And what should this reply say exactly? Should I refuse to name the driver of the car?

Lastly is there any outside possibility they can actually prove they have a case? I.e. by providing photographic evidence of the driver and evidence that the car was parked on the premises etc. Thanks in advance.

Redx

read the sticky threads and all will become clear

if you have a good read of the forums and sticky threads and other threads you will see that by parking on private land it can be deemed that you have accepted a contract to park

the laws changed a year ago and plenty of info on here about it

overstays can usually get cancelled either by the car park landowner , or the PPC , or at the POPLA stage, if you words things well enough

best bet is not to make assumptions and follow the advice on here , ignore is not normally one of them any more either

normally you do not indicate who the driver was, but act as registered keeper only

lastly, these are parking charge invoices , not fines, they have no authority to impose any fines , so its an invoice for payment of what they consider to be an outstanding charge caused by an overstay

there are plenty of templates and links to previous letters for appeals to landowners, PPC,s and ultimately POPLA defence templates and examples of winning replies , I myself posted one on friday similar to your case but a different place and company

Coupon-mad

And what should this reply say exactly? Should I refuse to name the driver of
the car?

This is all covered in the sticky threads, look at 'Successful Complaints about PPCs' and get onto the Store manager or CEO of Sains, and read 'newbies...read this now!' which I am guessing you haven't!

moosty_moo

Hi,

I would do this:
Start with a softly loaded letter ( email) to the PPC ( private parking company) as follows:

Dear Sir,

With reference to the invoice XXXXXXX dated XX XXX , the keeper denies all liability for this charge as there is no loss to you or the landowner

The keeper requires that you immediately cancel this invoice. If you reject this challenge, please forward a POPLA verification code to appeal to them independently.


Faithfully

The keeper


This is with the goal to get a "POPLA" code. With this you can launch an " independent" appeal to POPLA.

When you get the code, reply back to your thread and you will win and get the "invoice" cancelled by POPLA

BTW, the PPC that tried to scam me ( as the keeper) had a picture of the "driver" outside of my car as well. So what, they can't prove a thing.

It's easy to get intimidated by these scammers - try to think of them as think morons and you'll be there

Regards.

Coupon-mad

Dear Sir,

With reference to the invoice XXXXXXX dated XX XXX ,
[STRIKE]the keeper[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]denies[/STRIKE] I am the registered keeper and I deny all liability for this charge as there is no loss to you or the landowner and your signage is unclear and not compliant with the BPA Code.

[STRIKE]The [/STRIKE][STRIKE]
keeper[/STRIKE] I require that you immediately cancel this invoice. If you reject this challenge, please forward a POPLA verification code to appeal to them independently.

yours Faithfully

The keeper

Well I have added a bit to that suggestion (you have to make it clear you are the keeper and have a definite appeal point like unclear signs). In this case I would be happier if the OP simply read the stickies first. He needs to complain as well and could do with understanding the POPLA stage as well and it's already covered.

moosty_moo

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Well I have added a bit to that suggestion (you have to make it clear you are the keeper and have a definite appeal point like unclear signs). In this case I would be happier if the OP simply read the stickies first. He needs to complain as well and could do with understanding the POPLA stage as well and it's already covered.

Mmm , I sort of agree, but why not keep it simple? I think the process completely confuses new OP's and there is no reason to make it more complex than it should be.

The Parking Company MUST provide a POPLA code if they reject the first "appeal" to THEM. That's the only reason to send them an email in the first place. I don't see why it should be any different than the one I used. The PPC will always reject whatever appeal you send them anyway.
I would say; Give OP's a simple formula, 'cause that's all that is required

Am I off target here ?

Just edited this a little to say:
Process is:
Send the soft appeal email. get a rejection and, therefore, POPLA code.
Write POPLA appeal with " No Genuine Pre-estimate of loss" + 3 other killer points. That's job done.

Why not have a sticky that mentions JUST that ?
A sticky that says; Hey, read this first - it's probably all you need ?

moosty_moo

How's about making a simple flow type chart for newbies?

1) Have you recieved a notice to keeper like this ... link?
Yes, then go to 4)
No, ....

4) Did you get a notice to driver? - Something on the winscreen or given to you?
Yes, the go to 10)
No, .....


etc, etc, etc?

Maybe ????

Stroma

You've got to give them an appeal point, otherwise they could write back and say that it's not a valid appeal point you've just tried. I would actually send in something like this.

Dear Sir,

With reference to the invoice XXXXXXX dated XX XXX , I am the registered keeper and I deny all liability for this charge on the following points

1) This is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss
2) The signage is unclear and not compliant with the BPA Code of Practice
3) You do not have authority or contract to issue these invoices

I require that you immediately cancel this invoice. If you reject this challenge, please forward a POPLA verification code to appeal to them independently. As you are aware Popla always uphold appeals on the above.

yours Faithfully

The keeper

Coupon-mad

moosty_moo wrote: »

How's about making a simple flow type chart for newbies?

1) Have you recieved a notice to keeper like this ... link?
Yes, then go to 4)
No, ....

4) Did you get a notice to driver? - Something on the winscreen or given to you?
Yes, the go to 10)
No, .....


etc, etc, etc?

Maybe ????

The 'newbies read this now' sticky thread which I directed the poster to, already does that! Only not in flowchart form as I don't think that works. We tried, and pepipoo has one... Anyway the newbies thread takes them through Umkomaas' walk-through' and then tells newbies everything else they need to know. It saves us a huge amount of typing the same thing every day and shows them debt collector info, how to win at POPLA, anything/everything (I hope).

The Parking Company MUST provide a POPLA code if they reject the first "appeal" to THEM.

You think?

The reason why you don't keep it quite as simple as your version of the letter was because that was an old version and was knocked back by a couple of PPCs who said there was no appeal point, so they didn't treat it as an appeal. And the BPA backed them and the people never got a POPLA code. We want all posters to get a POPLA code and win.

Another PPC who saw the letter said 'the keeper denies' decided to argue the letter didn't look as though it was written by the keeper themselves...hence why I advice an appeal should start 'I am the registered keeper and...'

We really have been there, done that, tested our advice already. And the OP only needs to read a sticky thread or two, including the 'complaints' one.

angrykid

Hello everyone,

So today I parked in a euro car parks and displayed my disabled badge, and returned to find a ticket for not displaying a valid parking ticket.

I thought it would be free however it did say no concessions for disabled badge holders.

What should I do? I have read a lot about ignoring them, writing a letter and so on and am not sure what the most up to date advice is. Please help!
I really don't want to fork out £40 for the sake of 10 minutes.

Regards

Angrykid

Coupon-mad

Start a new thread! Really, it is the answer. Welcome to MSE but...new thread please, all cases are different, we'd need dates/details about where you are in the process. See my signature (below, not the red words) for how to get to the front page of current threads on the forum, where you will see sticky advice notices at the top, read them first. Then start your own thread there - you are one click away at the moment.

And you seem to have missed the fact that one of the 'sticky' forum notices says 'Private parking ticket? Newbies please read this first!' and answers all the usual FAQs.