ParkingEye - Aldi Carpark Fareham - I wasn't on site!

Sprogladite

All,

I have been advised to start my own thread regarding this issue thanks to a forum member who noticed my post on the Aldi UK Facebook page.

On 20/11/13 I dropped my partner off at 08:22 on West Street in Fareham, tucking into the entrance of the ParkingEye-managed car park whilst doing so. I then proceeded directly to my place of work 2 miles away.

At 13:11 I did exactly the same after meeting her for lunch, again heading straight back to work.

At neither of these junctures did I have any intention of shopping in Aldi, nor using the car park for shopping elsewhere, nor parking there to have a 4 1/2 hour kip.

However, I received a PCN from PE stating that I was in the car park from 08:22:13 to 13:11:54 that day. The images shown on the PCN show my car entering and leaving the 'line of sight' of the camera at these times, but not leaving and entering a few seconds before/after the images on the letter.

I sent the below to ParkingEye the morning after I received the PCN:

********
To Whom it MayConcern,


With regards to the received PCN, I can confirm that I was, and am the only driver of this car, butdid not park in this car park for the 4 hours and 49 minutes identified in the PCN and therefore DID NOT ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH YOU; I was simply dropping my partner off before her start time of 8:30 in the AM and 13:30 (end of lunchbreak) in the PM. She works at [place of partner's work], directly opposite the car park. Between these times, the car was not present in the Aldi car park as CCTV footage will undoubtedly show. Myself, and the car [reg no.], was in fact at my place of work during the accused time window. Please review your photographic evidence and you will see that the first photo (with my steering on full lock in preparation for the turn):

Arrival Time:20/11/2013 08:22:13

Will be immediately followed by another (08:22:14 perhaps) showing the rear of my car (having just made the exact same maneuverer later in the day).

You will also see that the second image:

Departure Time:20/11/2013 13:11:54


Will be immediately preceded by another image (13:11:53 perhaps) of the front of my car.

I notice that these images - not present in the PCN - were not taken into account when reviewing this alleged incident. I regard this as negligence on your part - you are not doing your job properly. It appears the system that Parking Eye uses is not fit for purpose, as one of my colleagues helpfully pointed out this is not a unique instance of this happening, as covered in the Portsmouth News here:

(Search Aldi & The News Portsmouth for the article)

I have full intention of contacting The News about this incident also.

However I have no intention of supplying supporting evidence to you unless Parking Eye is willing to enter into a contract with me. Should you wish to do so, you will be invoiced for my, my partners, my company's and an Assistant Manager's time at Aldi (a close friend) in supplying:

* ISO Accredited security access logs showing that I was on [work] premises during the alleged time of contravention, with car.

* CCTV footage fromthe Aldi car park showing that I simply turned round

* Timesheet from my partner's work

* Statement from my colleagues at work

And of course, my Solicitor's time in collating this information correctly.

Given that I performed this maneuverer 5 times during the course of the week 18/11/13 -22/11/13 I trust you will return to your DVR systems and confirm that I was not in breach of a contract that I never entered into.

I would like to receive imminent confirmation that this matter will not be taken any further.

Kind regards andthanks in advance,

*****

Yesterday, I received a letter stating that my appeal had been declined and if I wanted to submit further evidence then I could.

I sent the following after speaking with a member of the ParkingEye team:


******

Further to my previous correspondence and receipt of a letter stating that I had not provided sufficient evidence to you with regards to this false PCN I spoke to one of your colleagues at 9am this morning.

She reviewed my appeal (which had obviously not been read when the letter went out to me indicating the decline) and advised that I send a letter from my employer stating that I was on site at [work] during the time you are apparently charging me for.


To reiterate, I turned round to drop my partner off at work in the morning, and at lunch and did NOT park in the car park nor enter into a contract with you.

Please find attached a copy of said letter and a copy of my electronic access logs showing that I WAS NOT IN THE ALDI CARPARK - AND NEITHER WAS MY CAR (unless I managed to walk 2 miles in 8 minutes making me the fastest man on Earth).

I look forward to receiving confirmation that this PCN will not be pursued, fruitlessly, by ParkingEye.

Kind regards,

*******

I then wasted my employer's time - they are all rooting for me though - in them collating the electronic access system logs and a letter from my HR Manager stating that I was categorically at my work premises during the time of accused contravention.

These were promptly sent to Parking Eye and I made a follow up phonecall.

"7-10 days before we can look again at your evidence".

I am FUMING.

Coupon-mad

Welcome to MSE! Not sure why you phoned Parking Eye, they aren't a 'normal' reasonable firm with any agenda for parking management. It's all about money to them.

All you need is a POPLA code and you never had to jump through their hoops. If they don't send you a POPLA code with the next reply, then demand one and report them to the BPA.

You need to know how to win the appeal at POPLA stage which we do 100% of the time. So this is nothing to waste your time over right now. Read the 'Newbies read this first' thread for info about how to appeal and how to win at POPLA. Shame in a way you've already dropped the clanger of saying you were the driver (next time you get another fake PCN for any reason, never do that!) but you'll win anyway if you follow our POPLA advice, in 2014.

This is as easy as all the other cases, we win them all at POPLA. I hope you realise people must never pay one of these fake PCNs.

Guys_Dad

There is another double dipping case ongoing at present. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4836350

There is a decent appeal in that thread that you might want to bookmark should this get to POPLA.

When they either cancel or you win at POPLA, then please do give some consideration to contacting Trading Standards to complain about either their faulty equipment, faulty software or badly trained staff. Clearly there is a fault with their system that could cost less robust drivers significant sums. With the evidence you are gathering, you have a real case for the Trading Standards to investigate and hopefully fine them.

Sprogladite

After posting on Aldi UK's Facebook wall yesterday I emailed their customer service team directly with the background of this.

I had a call 1st thing this morning from Aldi's parking department with an apology on behalf of ParkingEye, stating that they will be unequivocally cancelling the ticket.

Thanks for all your support guys.

Half_way

and what action are they going to take to make sure this never happens again?

Sprogladite

I will be taking that up with ParkingEye rather than Aldi; I feel a communication with Trading Standards is definitely in order, given that ParkingEye have substandard equipment and monitoring.

Half_way

I would also take it up with aldi and trading standards, pe are nothing more than the agents of aldi.

spacey2012

The Standards for use of ANPR equipment in ANY court are laid down by the agency known as VCS.
Only ANPR approved certified devices are acceptable for evidential purposes in any court case.
Some however prefer to use the BPA version "guidelines"

Always challenge validity of the foundation evidence.