Coop / Texaco Caro Parking fine, please advise

Zola.

Hi there

A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting at the bank. I was a little early and so parked at a petrol station I normally use. Its joint run by CoOp and Texaco.

Its always been a free car park for paying customers, which I was. I often do shopping there and fill my car up there when needed. On the day I still went in and bought some small items. Its now a "1 hour maximum free parking" policy, which is fine.

The bank meeting was delayed a little as they were busy and I over ran the 1 hour by 25 minutes. Today I came home to a horrible letter from 'Cival Enforcement Ltd' demanding £45 minimum if I pay up front or £90, if I delay payment. This is has been outsourcd to some company in Liverpool, despite this being an issue originating in Northern Ireland.

I feel absolutely disgusted, as I have been shopping here for over 10 years and have given them literally thousands. This felt like a real low blow.

Had I known that I would have been longer I would have paid 40p and parked in the nearest car park!!

What makes things so annoying is that to me at least, there was no CLEAR sign that says, "if you park here linger than an hour you will face a heavy fine".

There is an email where I can appeal, but what I'd really like is an email or two of someone high up in the CoOp who I can joint appeal to about this.

I feel like I have been kicked in the nuts by two companies I have done nothing but support of the years.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ryan_Bryan

Zola. If you have a good read of several threads here, you'll see that there is an ongoing battle between Civil Enforcement Ltd and Co-op customers. It boils down to the fact that Co-op seem to have dumped CEL and CEL are hitting their customers hard. Co-op were even known to be paying the 'fines' of people being taken to court by CEL. Now this is where searching this forum is very enlightening. CEL use the courts as another level of threat. There are a lot of cases where their victims receive court papers and when they don't cave in CEL fail to turn up in court or withdraw the case. Some of the experts here can give you more details but I believe that any CEL court wins would be because defendants fail to appear. So do a search for Co-op and then have a good read of the newbies thread.

Guys_Dad

Ryan_Bryan wrote: »

Zola. If you have a good read of several threads here, you'll see that there is an ongoing battle between Civil Enforcement Ltd and Co-op customers. It boils down to the fact that Co-op seem to have dumped CEL and CEL are hitting their customers hard. Co-op were even known to be paying the 'fines' of people being taken to court by CEL. Now this is where searching this forum is very enlightening. CEL use the courts as another level of threat. There are a lot of cases where their victims receive court papers and when they don't cave in CEL fail to turn up in court or withdraw the case. Some of the experts here can give you more details but I believe that any CEL court wins would be because defendants fail to appear. So do a search for Co-op and then have a good read of the newbies thread.

Slightly different in this case as Northern Ireland is mentioned. If case got to court, then if the English courts were involved, they have jurisdiction issues for residents from Northern Ireland.

Zola.

I sent them a lengthy email and copied in the complaints department of COOP and also some local politicians.

I got a reply where they state they will reply in writing within 28 days.

This means my fine would effectively go up to £90 as I won't have paid it within 14 days.

What to do ?

Redx

pofa 2012 does not apply in N.I.

so they cannot take you to the small claims court in england as you are in N.I.

you can wait for their reply but you cannot appeal to popla either as its not in E+W

did you read the newbies sticky thread at all ?

hope you did not reveal who was the driver though, as they could try to take the driver to court in N.I. (I doubt this would happen but it may do if you outed the driver)

hopefully the co-op will get it cancelled

Zola.

Sorry no I haven't read any newbies threads, I will take a look now.

One final question.

Should this get rejected and I 'have to pay'…..would this be a dent in my credit rating later in life?

I hope to apply for a mortgage in the next 2 years.

Redx

nobody "has to pay" unless a court orders it

I certainly cannot speak for N.I, as this is a parking forum, not a debt forum, but in E+W you have 28 days to pay a court order before it becomes a CCJ

I do not believe that any MCOL generated in E+W can be transferred to a court in N.I. though

Coupon-mad

Zola. wrote: »

I sent them a lengthy email and copied in the complaints department of COOP and also some local politicians.

I got a reply where they state they will reply in writing within 28 days.

This means my fine would effectively go up to £90 as I won't have paid it within 14 days.

What to do ?

No idea why:
- you are calling it a fine
- you are looking at the amount to pay
- you wasted so much energy on this scam
- you are even bothering to do anything much.

You are in NI and if you just search the forum for 'Northern Ireland' and read the 'NEWBIES read these FAQs first' sticky thread near the top of this forum, you would know this is nothing. You could appeal as registered keeper (as explained in the NEWBIES thread) and see if they are daft enough to send you a POPLA code - or just ignore it! I hope your lengthy email did NOT actually give away who was driving - that would have been daft, but not insurmountable.

Just let us know if you get court papers - CEL never turn up even for hearings they arrange in their area, let alone a hearing in NI! All you'd need to do would be to get our help to submit a defence and then turn up to any hearing (local to you) and collect your costs from the Judge.

Zola.

Coupon-mad wrote: »

No idea why:
- you are calling it a fine
- you are looking at the amount to pay
- you wasted so much energy on this scam
- you are even bothering to do anything much.

You are in NI and if you just search the forum for 'Northern Ireland' and read the 'NEWBIES read these FAQs first' sticky thread near the top of this forum, you would know this is nothing. You could appeal as registered keeper (as explained in the NEWBIES thread) and see if they are daft enough to send you a POPLA code - or just ignore it! I hope your lengthy email did NOT actually give away who was driving - that would have been daft, but not insurmountable.

Just let us know if you get court papers - CEL never turn up even for hearings they arrange in their area, let alone a hearing in NI! All you'd need to do would be to get our help to submit a defence and then turn up to any hearing (local to you) and collect your costs from the Judge.

I got a letter from them saying I still have to pay, despite my appeal to them, and if I dont pay I will have interest and additonal fees added and 'issue proceedings against me'

They did not make any mention of POPLA.

Should I just bite the bullet and pay it ?:(

ampersand

Zola. wrote: »

Should I just bite the bullet and pay it ?:(

#:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
Please spare c-m and others apoplexy and don't even think that ever ever ever again.
#
Please, just READ AND READ AGAIN all the advice you've been given.

This time, absorb it.
#
p.s. Take a leaf from your i.d.'s illustrious character - read Germinal etc. for a bit of backbone over this.

Zola.

I have looked briefly around but dont really see anything that helps me in my specific case.

I am looking to get a mortgage in a years time and I don't want any issues hanging over my head and if it goes to court etc it may cost me more in the end. They will just keep sending letters as well.

Its £45 I would rather hold onto but I dont think I have any real choice.