parking eye 'mistake' - who to report it to?

susan47

Parking Eye at Sunderland Royal Hospital are out to get everyone they can, legitimate or not. I'd like some advice - on how to report them. To my MP? A consumer body? I just don't know. Now last year I was over by a few minutes in the car park (my husband was in for cancer treatment) and I had my mind on other things and didn't notice. Fair enough, only a few minutes, but I was over, fair and square. So we knew they were sharp. But last month we were parked there again, paying for 2 hours of parking, but only staying just over an hour. They sent us a fine for overstaying and pictures of arriving and leaving saying we hadn't paid enough. So how lucky am I that my husband is OCD about keeping things like parking tickets - we still had the ticket to prove that we were withing the time by a long way. But the thought struck us, yes we can complain and provide the proof (waste of time and annoyance for us though) and get off the fine - but what about other people who haven't kept their ticket for a month? I'm sure there must be many and it strikes us they could be making a fortune from false accusations and information. So we'd really like to report Parking Eye - but who to? And has anybody else had a similar situation? It's a lesson to everyone to hold on to all parking tickets for at least a month anyway.

Quentin

Don't get too complacent just because you have the ticket


Read the sticky at the top of the forum. Then take it from there

If you want to complain your mp or local paper is good as any.

Water off a ducks back to the parking firm

Redx

mmmm , where do we start ?

facts

1) its been in the papers like the express and mail early last month for about 2 weeks , so the papers for one

2) there was a televised debate in the house of commeons last month that had the details (transcript) listed via a link on here - so read that

3) then complain to your MP and to Daniel Poulter too

4) Jeremy Hunt issued NHS trust guidelines lat month, did you read them ?

5) press , television , papers , NHS trust , PALS , local councillors , how many do you need to complain to

and before you ask, yes I have complained to my local MP who was actually in that debate, on more than one occasion, about all of these companies and not just PE

plus there are hundreds of similar cases on here every week, so get involved and help people fight their parking invoices, until something is done

ps:- they definitely have not sent you a parking fine

they have sent you a speculative invoice impersonating a parking charge

the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of this forum explains how to fight back, win , and cost them money in the process

lastly, you need to learn to use paragraphs by hitting the return key every now and then, to space out your sentences, like I have done, otherwise its difficult to read such a long post and easy to miss parts out , especially if complaining to your MP

Northlakes

The first course of action is to complain to the NH Trust and get them to cancel it. Secondly a copy to your local MP and to the Daily Mail
Only photocopy the car park ticket receipt (do not send the original) and send that to the chief executive of the hospital.

Do not ignore the NTK from Parking Eye. I would expect this though to be cancelled.
Come back to this forum if the hospital doesn't cancel and then follow the procedures laid out in the NEWBIE threads.

The_Deep

The Trading Standards Department of your local council is the one to write to if you suspect that they are trying to defraud you.

susan47

Many thanks indeed to all those giving me advice, I shall be following it and will join those trying to do something about these awful practices.

We have now received confirmation of the cancelled parking charge. It hadn't even occurred to me that they wouldn't cancel it, but after realising how big the problem is, it's a relief. It would have been nice if they had apologised and accepted the error on their part when acknowledging that the charge was cancelled though.

To Redx, thank you for taking the time to set out all my options, I do appreciate it and no, I hadn't seen any of those or I wouldn't have asked if I had. Until it happened to me, I hadn't come across it. I don't actually read newspapers and get my news elsewhere.

It was a little unkind to tell me to 'learn about' paragraphs. I will of course write a clear complaint to my MP with bullet points. I hadn't realised my paragraph was hard to follow. I'm a proofreader by professions with a language degree from St Andrews going back to the 1970s so I've been writing for a long time.

It looks like I have a lot of letters to write.

Thanks to everyone.

ampersand

susan - you'll now realise that hundreds of people refer for help and advice here daily. A glance down the Thread index will show you how many hours are ploughed in by so many stalwarts, of whom Redx is one.

' I'm a proofreader by profession[STRIKE]s [/STRIKE]with a language degree from St Andrews going back to the 1970s so I've been writing for a long time' - similar here, but clarity and lay-out always help:-)
#
If you'd found us last year, you wouldn't have paid this scumpany anything. By implication, you fattened them by paying a speculative invoice then.

Next task? - edit the f - - -word from #1 and substitute ' fake invoice':D.

I hope your husband is now fully fit to join you on the Forum. It doesn't take long to realise how many people need this help.

Redx

I don't actually read newspapers and get my news elsewhere.

same here , I dont read the newspapers either, but as they are online too then the internet tends to fund my news appetite , plus this forum has many articles and links to them too

like https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5051429

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5039062

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5053620

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5045492

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5045368

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5039429

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5029936

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5031930

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5027501

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5028231

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5026730

plus it was on bbc news (radio , tv , website ) , bbc parliament tv channel on freeview too (I watched it)

it was also on the last series of BBC WATCHDOG a few months ago too
(its usually on EVERY series of watchdog)

so yes we agree its terrible and needs action, hence my letters to my MP

glad you have got yours cancelled, that is what we are here for , to guide others free of charge to fight back against these cowboys

just like parking pranksters blogs where you can read all about them and goes back some considerable time, not just about NHS hospitals either

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/

so glad you are now onboard and hope to see you do what the rest of the regulars do and help others fight back, plus anyone that uses one long diatribe paragraph will receive a complaint about it, no matter what job they do, because people with reading difficulties (including dyslexia) need to be able to read the post properly and pick out the salient points before replying

so thank you for spacing your reply out so its easy to read (I could do with a proof reader myself as due to a mild form of dyslexia I tend to spell certain words incorrectly a lot , plus it jumbles up at times without spacings , but I mean well)

Surg1

Hi I too received a parking charge notice last week from
Parking eye , demanding £60 ! I had actually paid the correct amount and kept the receipt as I have had issues with private parking companies before and don't trust them .
I am appalled that these companies get away with harassing and falsely accusing innocent people .
I too want to complain about their behaviour so thanks for the information .
I have sent a copy of the receipt by recorded post to parking eye .Today I received a letter saying it had been cancelled , but no word of explanation or apology.
These companies are obviously accusing people with no basis and hoping people don't keep their receipts , it's disgraceful .