Coop Southend

ermiad

I received a Parking Charge Notice from Civil Enforcement Ltd on 6th November 2013 for excess parking at the Coop food store. I sat staring at the notice in disbelief as it stated I had been parking for 3 hours. This was not the case as my visit to the store was to collect a package deposited by Amazon in their locker sited inside the store. On returning home I put the package down and had to go out again. I returned about an hour later and then decided to inspect the contents. On doing this I noticed the item was broken so I contacted Amazon and asked for a replacement. Amazon duly sent me an email instructing me what to do in returning the package back in the locker. This meant I had to return to the Coop again and park in their car park. This is where the craftiness came in by Civil Enforcement Ltd, they used the FIRST entry time and the SECOND departure time to charge me for excess parking. I contested this by telling them to withdraw the notice I had not overstayed my time. They replied with photographic evidence showing the 2 stated times of entry and departure. This was just wonderful for me as I had all the evidence regarding times of the said emails from Amazon. I did write to the Coop food group in Manchester and needless to say they would not help but condoned what Civil Enforcement Ltd were doing. I then filled in the form for POPLA online and also uploaded my evidence. Low and behold I received a letter from POPLA to say the parking charge has been cancelled.
This is another of their dirty tricks to get money which is tantamount to fraudulent deception. I hasten to add I am not making this an accusation as only the police can make that charge.

To all who read these threads, please be aware of this trick and always make sure you keep copies of receipts or in the case of using the Amazon lockers, keep all emails until you are certain no charge will come through the post. :T:T

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Well done for winning

Could you post up the decision please?

esmerobbo

Well done on your win, the old 1, 2 double dip hey, or should that be 1, 4.

4consumerrights

Well done on your win - sadly this "double-dipping" occurs frequently. Did the signage mention a no return period?

As KIFL says we would appreciate a redacted POPLA decision posted up with the Assessors name thanks.

The_Slithy_Tove

Now send an invoice to the CEO of the Co-op for your time and expense in pursuing the unjustified charge. Point out to him that the supposed ethical supermarket is employing out-and-out scammers like CEL, and that they must therefore pick up the tab for their bullying and incompetence.

ermiad

For FBFL and all who are interested here is the copy of the POPLA decision.

PARKING ON PRIVATE LAND APPEALS
PO Box 70748 London EC1P 1SN

[email]

Parking on Private Land Appeals is administered by the Transport and Environment Committee of London Councils
Calls to Parking on Private Land Appeals may be recorded
18 December 2013
Reference: 1413293505
always quote in any communication with POPLA
Dear Sir or Madam
Mr * ****** ermiad (Appellant)
-v-
Civil Enforcement Limited also t/as Starpark & Creative Car Park & Parksolve & Versatile Parking (Operator)
The Operator has informed us that they have cancelled parking charge notice number 6944872274, issued in respect of a vehicle with the registration mark *******.
Your appeal has therefore been allowed by order of the Lead Adjudicator.
You are not liable for the parking charge and, where appropriate, any amounts already paid in respect of this parking charge notice will be refunded by the Operator.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Reeve
Service Manager

This reply was sent to me via email as this is how I made my objection. I hasten to add that I did not know about the MSE forums regarding these charges. It was a friend who sent me the link via Facebook.

I did email POPLA and asked why the charge had been cancelled and their reply was for me to go direct to CIL.[/email]

The_Slithy_Tove

CEL have a habit of bailing out when they know they will lose. They probably saw your appeal and decided to quit. Likewise they never ever show up to court when they actually go as far as making a claim.

Stroma

What wording did you use for the appeal? Can you post it up for us. Did you get help with this or did you do it all alone? By the way congrats on the win

ermiad

Hi Stroma
To answer your question about the wording, I just stated the facts of my 2 visits and backed them up by uploading the emails I had from Amazon. These emails clearly showed the times and date which was proof enough that I could not have been parking for 3 hours. I also pointed out that I had to be at home to print the emails with the codes to open the Amazon lockers as there was no printer in the car park, (A little dig).

I did this on my own without any help. That is why I stated in my post that all visitors to the Coop stores keep their receipts and/or emails from Amazon.

Coupon-mad

ermiad wrote: »

Hi Stroma
To answer your question about the wording, I just stated the facts of my 2 visits and backed them up by uploading the emails I had from Amazon. These emails clearly showed the times and date which was proof enough that I could not have been parking for 3 hours. I also pointed out that I had to be at home to print the emails with the codes to open the Amazon lockers as there was no printer in the car park, (A little dig).

I did this on my own without any help. That is why I stated in my post that all visitors to the Coop stores keep their receipts and/or emails from Amazon.

I think people in your shoes should complain by email to the BPA and ask how it is that a person has to prove where they were and go to POPLA, after getting a rejection letter, when clearly this was a double visit that should never have generated any PCN and should have been spotted with a manual check of data too. Calls into question ANPR reliability so you would like them to investigate CEL's compliance at this site and why they rejected it at first. It is a paragraph 21 BPA CoP breach not to keep ANPR in good order and PPCs are required to do a manual check before even issuing a PCN by ANPR:

[EMAIL="Steve.c@britishparking.co.uk"]Steve.c@britishparking.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Well done again but imagine how many people pay or send a bad POPLA appeal and lose?

You could also send a complaint summary to the nearest local Trading Standards Officer - send it snail mail if you can't get an email address from the Council. Certainly sharp practice and these cases should always be reported. Local press too?!