paid for parking but still received the ticket

smc217

Hello,

this is my first post on the forum, so please let me know if i disrespected any rules. I hope I am posting in right place.

I have received my first ever parking ticket today. Quite unpleasant experience. The details are:
the ticket is from Parking Eye (widely discussed on this forum)
I was the driver of the car and the timings displayed on the ticket are correct and precise.
I have parked in Manchester in one of the private car parks with an automated payment machine.
The Parking Charge paper states that I did not pay for the parking.

what bothers me is that I have paid for the parking. And I am 100% sure I have displayed the receipt on the right hand side under the windscreen. I am also sure that I did not overstay.

The fee is not massive. It is 85 and blah-blah reduced downto 50 if paid in time. But I don't feel like paying a fee when I have originally paid full price for parking.

The pictures that Parking Eye has sent me only involve the car I was driving (number plates clearly visible). But there is no way to prove that the receipt was or was not under the windscreen. I obviously don't have a receipt right now. I kept it for about a week after the event but binned it eventually.

I would appreciate any advice.
regards,
smc

Redx

PE usually use anpr and ticket machines where the reg number is entered

either way, you have several grounds for appeal, so please read the NEWBIES - READ THIS FIRST sticky thread at the top of this forum, then come back with your strategy from now on

you can insist they check the ticket machine details around the time you parked, so dispute it , ticket or no ticket !

smc217

Thanks for reply, Redx

Redx wrote: »

PE usually use anpr and ticket machines where the reg number is entered

That sounds reasonable, but I clearly remember paying coins into machine and getting the receipt. And if I did not enter the reg number then how would I get a receipt? Anyway, I did not keep it which is my own problem.

Do you really think it is relevant to contact PE and ask them to check their ticket machine details?

Oh, and here is another update: I just read that the situation might be different if it was a rented car. Well, that was the case, I was driving the rented car.

Redx

I have no idea how they decided you did not purchase a ticket , as anpr wont tell them if you did or didnt , it just shows the in and out times, so the only way they can check without a warden is with a ticket dispenser, hence my previous post, this is the usual business model too

anpr checks the reg and times in and out, ticket machine requires your reg number to cross check against the anpr cameras

you did not mention a windscreen ticket so I ruled out the wardens checking the actual ticket purchase and then issuing a windscreen ticket on the actual day itself

your soft appeal should therefore include the fact that you bought a ticket, letting them try to disprove your stance , instead of you proving it

you would also be challenging them on this at popla, making them prove their case

so have a read of this as it may help

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4835943

remember, this is about them proving any allegations at all, proving signage , authority to issue tickets , proving the GPEOL , everything must be proven

treat it like you would a nigerian scam letter

ps:- you did not mention the contravention date but it should be on their postal letter

they may have placed a windscreen ticket on the car, then sent an NTK to the lease company if you ignored the windscreen charge

then the lease company may have given them the driver details, hence the postal pcn to you

you really need to try to work out the timeline and the "what happened and why" part first , once you know all this you have a better idea on how to proceed

smc217

Thank you for a detailed reply. I really appreciate the help.

Here are more details on the situation:
The original event happened on 8th of December.
There was no windscreen ticket.
The first letter has arrived today (2nd of January). And is dated 28th of December. This is a good timing, I would say, considering all bank holidays.
The letter states that PE has contacted the car hire company and got my address from them, which I believe is both true and legal.

One thing keeps bothering my mind. How could I have paid for the parking and obtained the receipt (and I am 100% sure I did so) without keying in reg number (which I am 100% sure I did not). A parking machine malfunction? Bad design? I clearly did not know that I need to key in the reg number.

I know it might sound odd to you that I did not know about reg number, but I almost never drive a car in UK, I am a foreigner and all parking rules are just a nightmare for me. It is very frustrating when you are willing to pay the price and still get charged a fee...

As of now, I am planning to write a polite appeal to PE first. With all knowledge I have gathered from this forum this seams like the most relevant first action

Redx

it is, and so you should be asking them why they have no record of you paying it when you clearly did (tell them you are looking for the ticket but dont have it to hand at the moment but may produce it later)

ie:- admit to nothing, query everything, assume its your fault for not reading the ticket machine instructions for now , unless there was a fault

you still require them to prove their allegations , especially as you are disputing them

in future keep the tickets for 3 months or more, preferably as long as possible ( but no longer than 7 years !! )

smc217

Redx, please excuse my casual language and excitment, but I must say you are AWESOME!.

Even if I will not resolve the situation to my best, I find the whole thing very informative and educating for myself and I cannot appreciate your help more.
Once again, thanks.

I will keep updating the thread.

hoohoo

smc217 wrote: »

Redx, please excuse my casual language and excitment, but I must say you are AWESOME!.

Even if I will not resolve the situation to my best, I find the whole thing very informative and educating for myself and I cannot appreciate your help more.
Once again, thanks.

I will keep updating the thread.

As a foreigner you will not yet appreciate that parkingeye's charges have been found to be unenforceable.

Once you appeal to them and they reject, there is an independent appeals body you can appeal to called POPLA. POPLA always cancel the ticket for you as long as you appeal in the correct way, which is to use complex legal jargon that POPLA won't tell you about, but will respond to if you know the secret.

Aren't we British funny!

Coupon-mad

You are lucky the Hire company sent ParkingEye your details rather than just paying them and charging you! But do check in case they have debited an admin fee from your card, for passing on the info. You may be able to complain to the Hire firm if they did and if their terms & conditions of hire only talk about real 'fines & penalties' (which this is not).

Make sure you read the ''newbies'' thread to see how to word a POPLA appeal when you get the POPLA code or form. You must have the 'magic words' about the charge not being a 'genuine pre-estimate of loss' in the POPLA appeal.

smc217

To Coupon-mad:
I did not know that the hire company can do that. As far as I know they are only authorized to disclose my contact information in case someone contacts them about fees etc. And they could not charge me anyway, I have used a debit card and it is sitting at zero balance at the moment.

Thanks for you advice. I will definitely look carefully through recommendations for POPLA appeal later on. However at the moment I am at the stage of sending initial appeal to PE. I hope I am not asking for too much, if anyone is looking over the thread could you quickly look through the appeal text I have just sketched. Is that formal enough? Are their any obvious mistakes?

To whom it may concern

I am writing to appeal about the Parking Charge Notice sent to me by Parking Eye company. Please consider following circumstances.

I have received the Parking Charge Notice on 2nd of January. The documents states that the vehicle with reg number XXXXXX was parked at Corporations Street Retail Park on 8th of December 2013 between 13.53 and 16.09. I can confirm that location of the car park, date and time details are correct. I also confirm that I was the driver of that vehicle. However I assure you that I have read the information at the entrance of the car park and I have paid for the parking of the vehicle for the whole duration of stay.

I assume Parking Eye has experienced some technical or administrative problem and generated the Parking Charge Notice by mistake. If the company does not agree with this, please provide necessary documents, CCTV recording copies or otherwise prove that I have not paid the fee.

You have 14 days to provide requested documents starting from the day when this appeal is submitted. If Parking Eye fails to provide relevant documents in given time I will assume that the Parking Charge Notice is invalid.

With respect
Name Surname

Date: 03 January 2014

spacey2012

If you have not kept the receipt, then the appeal will fail quickly.
If you dont have the receipt, dont waste time arguing just soft appeal and GPEOL POPLA them.

The amount of people who dont keep such an important bit of paper staggers me.

SAVE ALL PARKING RECEIPTS FOR AT LEAST !12 MONTHS !