Bluewater parking charge

brunchbar12345

Hi there,

I parked outside of a bay today in Bluewater (free parking) (yes I shouldn't have but have bruised my foot and was being lazy, but no I wasn't causing any obstruction to anyone/pedestrians) and got a ticket from PCM (£57 rising to over £100 in 14 days). I've read all the very helpful notes and advice but I'd like to know, if you choose to ignore the notice and subsequent letters, can they not prove that you were the driver from Bluewater's cctv? (and not just the keeper), which seems to be the basis for not being able to take things further with you.

Not sure how to proceed, I would like to approach Bluewater in the first instance, as a regular visitor I don't recall seeing signage about parking fines and control? As I look at it now, the space I parked in is probably quite a little money maker for them.

Thanks very much for any advice, I noticed after searching google that there hasn't been any threads about Bluewater since last year hence wanting to check the current situation.

Thanks very much,

Redx

as its private parking on private land and controlled by PCM, you wont see any signs about fines as they are restricted by law from imposing a fine of any kind, no fine , no penalty either (only a judge or a court of law can fine you)

so you have received an invoice dressed up as a parking charge notice

read the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of this forum for information on fighting this

I doubt they will use cctv to identify the driver, but the RK will be the one appealing this anyway

under POFA 2012 they can hold the RK responsible so will chase the RK anyway

brunchbar12345

thanks a lot... sorry, what does RK mean?

brunchbar12345

Also, I have read the sticky but just want to make sure I'm following this right..... I should appeal this PCN from Parking Control Management people with the template letter before the 21 days is up? It says the charge will increase after 14 days... or ignore until an NTK may turn up? not sure if PCM are people that would send that?

Lots of friends have advised me to just ignore everything they send but I just don't feel that is the right thing to do

Umkomaas

brunchbar12345 wrote: »

Also, I have read the sticky but just want to make sure I'm following this right..... I should appeal this PCN from Parking Control Management people with the template letter before the 21 days is up? It says the charge will increase after 14 days... or ignore until an NTK may turn up? not sure if PCM are people that would send that?

Lots of friends have advised me to just ignore everything they send but I just don't feel that is the right thing to do

Ask each of your friends (who clearly think they know so much about these things) that should you follow their advice (rather than that of this forum, which has helped thousands of people in the same situation as you) if they will underwrite any charges you end up with as a result of their 'helpfulness'. I suspect you will see their heels!

RK = Registered Keeper.

Iceweasel

Your friends are giving you out of date advice - the law changed 18 months or so ago allowing these parasites to pursue the RK.

Back then we would all have said to completely ignore - not now though.

brunchbar12345

I thought so, thanks guys, but just to check, what I've written above re the letter before 21 days appealing is the right way to go? or wait for the NTK notice...

could I appeal to Bluewater too? but how do you go about that without admitting you were the driver? i.e. really disappointed to have received a pcn despite there being absolutely no notices anywhere, having just spent £300 in your shops etc...

Umkomaas

Advice for the majority of PPCs is to await the NtK - this is the relevant advice for your case. This gives you more options as the RK rather than the driver.

It's highly unlikely that Bluewater would get involved in the minutiae of driver versus RK stuff with PCM. But you could quite easily reference 'our family' purchased £300 worth of goods from the retail park - which took more than the arbitrary (and insufficient) 2-hours parking limit, so no need to make any reference as to who the actual driver was. Send redacted copies of either receipts or cc/bank statements as proof.

You can raise your complaint with Bluewater immediately - no need to wait for the NtK to arrive - ask them to cancel the charge.

brunchbar12345

Hi guys,

I received the NTK and have sent the template letter back via their website.

I'm drafting a message to Bluewater to see if they'll cancel, I realise it's unlikely.... Does this give anything away which they could use?

*****
Myself and my family have been visiting and supporting Bluewater ever since it opened, spending thousands of pounds over the years. Upon a recent visit on xxxxxx we were totally stunned to discover a parking charge notice had been placed on the windscreen, we had absolutely no idea you operated a parking charge system after all these years. The car was parked in a spot which was causing no obstruction to anyone whatsoever, not blocking any pedestrian walkways etc, and certainly not in a blue badge space. The car was also parked where it was as we were visiting Bluewater to look at purchasing a new imac for my business and we did not want to have to potentially carry it for more distance than was necessary. After having spent lots of money as usual (can prove expenditure) we were slightly gobsmacked to discover the ticket on leaving. We're now further stressed at receiving a notice to keeper to notice today.

Sadly I now feel in the position of purchasing my new imac elsewhere, as well as the new glasses from David Clulow I was about to order (I'm a very high and regular prescription customer with glasses regularly totalling over £600).

Had a notice been placed on my car asking us to park elsewhere in future we would have the utmost respect for that rather than what appears to be a business model. Having inspected the 'photographic' evidence on the pcm website it is quite clear that the car is causing no obstruction to anyone, with cars in the background clearly parked at the same angles along the pedestrian walkway.
*****


Thanks a lot

Coupon-mad

Yes, that looks OK as it says 'we' so does not out the driver which is good.

Send the complaint by email to the address shown in post #3 of the sticky thread 'Successful complaints about PPCs' among all the forum stickies collated here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4896178

Any chance of showing us the nearest sign to that parking place? PCM aren't in the BPA any more so you are up against a harder appeal service in the IAS who have turned down some of the usual arguments recently. If there were oldish signs up it will help you so go back just to get pics if at all possible, this week.

Also can you show us the NTK (both sides, just cover your name, address, PCN number and car reg). Leave all dates visible.

You will need to host your pics on tinypic or similar and will have to remove the http or change it to hxxp to allow you to show us the 'link'.

YOU CAN'T POST 'WORKING' LINKS YET.

Umkomaas

Had a notice been placed on my car asking us to park elsewhere in future we would have the utmost respect for that rather than what appears to be a business model, geared towards income generation for themselves rather than any attempt to manage your car park. Having inspected the 'photographic' evidence on the pcm website it is quite clear that the car is causing no obstruction to anyone, with cars in the background clearly parked at the same angles along the pedestrian walkway.

Just a suggestion for adding.