Parking Eye - Gordano Service Station - Have Ignored First 3 Letters Due To Old Info

Harveyt4

Please help, I have ignored the first 3 letters due to old information that comes up first on Google. I have no idea what to do now, is it too late to not pay?

I'd appreciate any advice, sorry to make a separate thread, I'm just quite worried and panicking.

Stroma

First thing don't panic over this, and thank you for creating a new thread. Can you answer a few questions

1) is this England or Wales ?
2) are you the registered keeper?
3) was the registered keeper driving?
4) have you made any complaints to the retailer?

Thanks

nigelbb

Stroma wrote: »

First thing don't panic over this, and thank you for creating a new thread. Can you answer a few questions

1) is this England or Wales ?
2) are you the registered keeper?
3) was the registered keeper driving?
4) have you made any complaints to the retailer?

Thanks

Gordano Services is on the M5 in Somerset http://www.motorwayservices.info/gordano_services_m5

Harveyt4

Stroma wrote: »

First thing don't panic over this, and thank you for creating a new thread. Can you answer a few questions

1) is this England or Wales ?
2) are you the registered keeper?
3) was the registered keeper driving?
4) have you made any complaints to the retailer?

Thanks

1) England
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) No, I did not make a purchase so have no proof.

Half_way

another question, have you complained to the service station?

4consumerrights

Can you tell us the date of the alleged parking contravention and the date the first notice to keeper arrived?

How long was the alleged overstay?

These are relevant facts as ParkingEye could very well be in breach of the BPA COP.

Parking Eye are not the best PPC to ignore though due to the numerous court papers they issue.

You should certainly be making a complaint to the service station regardless if you spent any money or not - they are designed of course also to take a break on long journeys and use the rest facilities.

Harveyt4

4consumerrights wrote: »

Can you tell us the date of the alleged parking contravention and the date the first notice to keeper arrived?

How long was the alleged overstay?

These are relevant facts as ParkingEye could very well be in breach of the BPA COP.

Parking Eye are not the best PPC to ignore though due to the numerous court papers they issue.

You should certainly be making a complaint to the service station regardless if you spent any money or not - they are designed of course also to take a break on long journeys and use the rest facilities.

I think I got the first letter about 6 weeks ago. I'm afraid I don't have any paperwork as I threw it all away to avoid panicking and replying. The overstay was 13 minutes I believe. What should I be saying to the service station? Thanks for all the help by the way guys, I really appreciate it.

Coupon-mad

You seem to have missed the FAQs in the sticky threads as you are asking things that are already covered in:

'Successful complaints about PPCs' (If this was Welcome Break do not email the CEO, read post #3 in that sticky, about who to complain to instead).

read that, and also read:

'Have you got a private parking ticket, newbies please read this first!' (where I explain about appealing anyway...even if late)

You could also have searched the forum for the word 'Gordano' to find other threads like yours. There's a 'search this forum' heading next to 'forum tools' above the 'sticky' (info, FAQs) threads at the top of the forum. Please post again with any questions about your complaint and the late appeal you need to make, AFTER you have read those sticky threads and searched the forum for other similar threads. ParkingEye sometimes sue people who ignore them so you must not ignore them - what a shame you read old advice and never checked the date of it nor simply clicked one click to page one of the forum. We've spent nearly a year telling people not to ignore ParkingEye!

Not sure how to get back to page one & see the 'sticky' threads & the 'search' heading? See my signature below; one click on the blue breadcrumb trail gets you there.

And in a Services you are allowed a full 2 hours REST and PARKED, as required by the Dept for Transport. For PE to show pics of a car driving in and out a mere 13 minutes over the two hours is atrocious, bearing in mind they have no idea how long the car was actually parked. Could have been getting petrol, adjusting the luggage, checking the oil, filling up with water for those extra minutes, or queuing to park/queuing to get out. This should form your assertive complaint - there was no parked overstay.

Harveyt4

UPDATE

I sent the following email to Welcome Break parking services;

To whom it may concern,

About a month ago I pulled into your station at about 10pm during a drive home from Scotland. I had a nap, purchased some coffee and food then I was on my way. I am now getting letters from a private parking company telling me I am being fined and threatened with court action for overstaying by 13 minutes. I think this is absolutely disgraceful, I am a paying customer and I am outraged. How can you claim to be customer friendly, then hire a private company to prosecute us for trying to keep the roads safe by pulling over when tired? There was not even any visible signage as it was dark. I am absolutely appalled by this and will never be using a Welcome Break service station again, I will also be warning everyone I know to do the same.


I received this reply;

Thank you for your recent email regarding the parking charge you received after a visit to Welcome Break, Gordano.

We have a 2 hour maximum free parking policy throughout our Welcome Break sites which allows our customers to utilise the rest facilities. After this timeframe charges do apply.

There is signage detailing these charges on the entrances to the car parks and also on the main walkways to the main buildings to highlight that charges apply after the free 2 hour period.

Parking Eye manage the car parks on our behalf to enforce this policy and to make sure that there is adequate spaces available for customers to use.
All appeals should be made through Parking Eye by letter or email; alternatively I can forward your correspondence on to the appeals team on your behalf.




What can I do now? I appreciate any help.

Redx

post #8 explains it all, including your last question

4consumerrights

Harveyt4 wrote: »

UPDATE

I sent the following email to Welcome Break parking services;

To whom it may concern,

About a month ago I pulled into your station at about 10pm during a drive home from Scotland. I had a nap, purchased some coffee and food then I was on my way. I am now getting letters from a private parking company telling me I am being fined and threatened with court action for overstaying by 13 minutes. I think this is absolutely disgraceful, I am a paying customer and I am outraged. How can you claim to be customer friendly, then hire a private company to prosecute us for trying to keep the roads safe by pulling over when tired? There was not even any visible signage as it was dark. I am absolutely appalled by this and will never be using a Welcome Break service station again, I will also be warning everyone I know to do the same.


I received this reply;

Thank you for your recent email regarding the parking charge you received after a visit to Welcome Break, Gordano.

We have a 2 hour maximum free parking policy throughout our Welcome Break sites which allows our customers to utilise the rest facilities. After this timeframe charges do apply.

There is signage detailing these charges on the entrances to the car parks and also on the main walkways to the main buildings to highlight that charges apply after the free 2 hour period.

Parking Eye manage the car parks on our behalf to enforce this policy and to make sure that there is adequate spaces available for customers to use.
All appeals should be made through Parking Eye by letter or email; alternatively I can forward your correspondence on to the appeals team on your behalf.




What can I do now? I appreciate any help.

So you did spend some money then- did you pay by card?

Make an appeal to Parking Eye yourself but also let WB forward the correspondence as well. If you can send a redacted bank statement for the purchases so much the better.

There are also many example of successful complaints to WB on Coupons Successful complaints thread.

Where did you make the complaint to for WB - have you tried contacting the Gordano services directly? And try again more forcibly this time - stating that PE are not keeping to their code of practice regardig grace periods plus the questionable accuracy of their ANPR timings.

13Grace periods
13.1Your approach to parking management must allow a
driver who enters your car park but decides not to park,
to leave the car park within a reasonable period without
having their vehicle issued with a parking charge notice.
13.2 You should allow the driver a reasonable ‘grace period’
in which to decide if they are going to stay or go. If the
driver is on your land without permission you should still
allow them a grace period to read your signs and leave
before you take enforcement action.
13.3You should be prepared to tell us the specific grace period
at a site if our compliance team or our agents ask what it is.
13.4You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave
the private car park after the parking contract has ended,
before you take enforcement action.

There is signage detailing these charges on the entrances to the car parks

N.B it is a requirement in the contract with the landowner and parking eye's "management " that parking eye adhere to their code of practice;)

*************************


We drove around the roundabout today by Gordano services entrance and there was certainly no visible Parking Eye notice - probably hidden behind all the lovely shrubbery (will make a special detour next time passing and enter the services and take some some piccies)