Parking Charge Notice received

Richard_T_

After joining MSE forums as a result of the content on the mobile phones/internet/tech sections, I discovered this little section ( parking tickets fines and parking) I browsed through it every now and again, but the over riding thing was - It could never happen to me as I don't spend that long in these places, and im always extremely careful with Pay and display car parks and parking straight in a space.

So the other week, I visited one of the Albrecht brothers discount stores, twice in one day on the first visit it was packed inside the store ( although there was ample parking) and on the second visit they didn't have what I was after so I left empty handed and went off to a Tesco.
I'm trying to avoid specific name mentioning at the moment as if things are to be believed they are spying on this place ( ??? real or paranoia)

I then received a letter in the post saying that I owe a rididculous amount for parking as they seem to think I was there for over 8 Hours!! ( if the parking management company was doing its job a foot patrol warden would have noticed my vehicle was not there)

Ive got a few concerns/issues with the letter as it appears to state that under the protection of freedoms Act the Driver is required to pay the amount in full - reading through various topics on here this appears to be anything but the case, isnt this fraud/miss representation, demanding money with menaces, and probably a multitude of other things? - I will attempt to post this up later if anyone want to see it
and if so then why arent these people responsible being locked up?
Also is the shop anyway liable for all of this?

Im just about to pop off to the shop in question to speak to the manager to see if He/She will sort this out, i will post back later.

Redx

best to see that manager

parking prankster has blogged about this , and calls it "double dipping"

its where they conveniently see the first log in , and the last log out , and total it as one stay , so they miss out the log out and log in in the middle of the periods involved

its quite common actually , and as private parking is unregulated, that is probably why they are not locked up !! (its not criminal either, but its morally indefensible)

should you get nowhere with that manager or the retail park staff (or landowner) , read this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

and read pranksters blogs about highview and "double dipping!

The_Deep

When you say that it (double dipping), is not a criminal offence Redx, are you sure? If these cameras are used to charge people for parking time, should they not be accurate? Should they not fall to be calibrated by Trading Standards, just as are petrol pumps and airline baggage scales.

If I was OP, I would be inclined to raise this with his TSO.

Stroma

You need to appeal to parking eye (I presume it's them) , pointless going to certain store as they will not help you if you don't have a spend there. So send a suitable soft appeal followed by an appeal to popla when they reject

Redx

The_Deep wrote: »

When you say that it (double dipping), is not a criminal offence Redx, are you sure? If these cameras are used to charge people for parking time, should they not be accurate? Should they not fall to be calibrated by Trading Standards, just as are petrol pumps and airline baggage scales.

If I was OP, I would be inclined to raise this with his TSO.

I have never mentioned being legally trained

clearly this has been debated on here many times and so its included with many appeals, I am also sure parking prankster has a view on this, all I am doing is merely pointing it out and noting that nobody appears to have been taken to court over it (as a criminal offence)

The OP raised the issues of criminality , not me

I have no objection if you wish to do something similar to prankster or the OP and try to validate your theories by actually "double dipping" yourself and trying to get it to court (like he has done)

I believe that the OP seems to believe that these parking issues have a criminal element, but unless there is a basis in fact or somebody wishes to test it out in court then maybe we will never know

its certainly a good theory that needs testing in law, thats for sure

The_Deep

My experience of Trading Standards is that they are understaffed and underfunded, and rarely do court. However, if a complaint is made to them that charges are being made for parking time where the machines used to record that time are clearly malfunctioning they will act.

Personally, I think that TSOs should be involved every time a camera/time recorder malfunctions and the public are overcharged as a result.

I used a P&D meter the other day operated by NCP for Reading Borough Council which was 3 minutes fast. I have reported it to NCP and it the clock has not been corrected when I use the car park again later this week I shall raise the matter with TSD.

Redx

I agree that there should be a lot more checks and hoops to jump through on these private parking matters and that trading standards and other bodies should get more involved , despite the cutbacks

I am also sure some of them are close to criminality too, but until we see evidence of criminal activity and that the authorities are involved, I will say that its all a civil matter (but would like to see more regulation and the threat of criminal laws being brought to bear)

I just think the OP is mixed up (like most people are) on the subject of criminality, and civil issues like private parking

pvt

I'm with The Deep on this.

I see absolutely no difference between a PPC using flawed timekeeping to justify a contractual charge, and a butcher using hobbled scales to overcharge a punter for his finest filet.

Given that the technology seems to be reliably able to clock a vehicle in on the first visit and out on the final visit, it seems inconceivable that it would miss BOTH the first exit and the second entry. Either of those two events would clearly flaw the evidence they are presenting to justify their contractual charge.

I think it most definitly is a TSO matter.

Richard_T_

I went to the shop in question, and spoke to the manager who told me that tis nothing to do with them as they only rent the car park, and that i should talk to the council.
He then said that it ( the parking company ) was a separate company and nothing to do with them.
After a short while he took my letter ( that the parking management co. sent me) and said he could fax it somehwere.
This was then follwed by more guff along the lines of:
separate company nothing to do with us, never seen one of these before, not our car park we only rent the building, have you tried contacting the council? and so on.
So for now its a case of wait and see what transpires from the fax that he aparently sent.

Redx

chances are he is correct, in which case you need to know the landowner details, which I dont think is the council

Guys_Dad

Seems to me you have had a Notice to Keeper. When did it arrive?

You need to appeal to the PPC to get the opportunity to go to POPLA, as long as you are in time, but we need to know date of incident, date of NtK, amount demanded and full amount payable after their bargain discount offer.