Successful appeal - thank you for all your help

altygent

I received a Parking Charge Notice from Parking Eye in Tower Road car park in Newquay Cornwall while we were on holiday in August 2014. PE sent a Notice to Keeper 4 days after the event (my car is leased and the lease company sent my details to PE without checking with me) and then I received a Parking Charge Notice a couple of weeks later. I read the Stickies and various threads on this forum and then I sent a letter with the text below. Within 2 weeks they withdrew the charge and cleared my account. Many thanks MSE!

I write in reference to the “Parking Charge Notice” letter sent to me that I received on xx August 2014 as a result of [lease company] passing on my driver details to you.

I confirm that I was the driver of the vehicle on the date in question. Please direct any further correspondence on this matter to myself and not to [lease company].

I appeal the Notice and request that you withdraw it. If you reject this challenge, then please ensure that you enclose all the required information (including the necessary ‘POPLA code’) so that I may immediately refer the matter for their decision.

You have issued me with a Parking Charge Notice relating to xx August 2014 at the Tower Road car park in Newquay. I believe it is unfair. The circumstances were that I was meeting friends who were parking there for onward travel.

No Notice to Driver was affixed to my vehicle on the day. I know this as I was with the vehicle for the whole 20 minutes.

The charge is disproportionate and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss. The amount you have charged is not based upon any genuine pre-estimate of loss to your company or the landowner.

According to the Unfair Consumer Contract Regulations, parking charges on private land must not exceed the cost to the landowner during the period the motorist is parked there. In my case, the £100 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner of no more than £2 (my estimate), as I would need to visit there 50 times to justify the charge.

The legal basis of your charge is not clear (i.e. breach, trespass or contractual fee):

(i) if you are alleging breach of contract, please supply a breakdown of your alleged “loss” and state the intention of your enforcement. Is it deterrent or revenue?
(ii) if you are alleging trespass, enclose evidence of the perpetrator, proof of the liquidated damages alleged and the calculation of this sum by the landholder.
(iii) if you are alleging “contractual fee” I request a VAT invoice by return and your explanation of how you can allow drivers to park “in breach” for a fee when your client originally contracted you in order to disallow and deter - not allow and profit from - unauthorised parking.

There is no reference on the “Parking Charge Notice” to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 or any sections therein, either relating to this notice or to any that may have been issued in order to gain my details.

Umkomaas

Well done altygent, a great example of someone putting the time in, using the comprehensive NEWBIES FAQ sticky and winning this singlehandedly.

One post only, to confirm the win. Compare that to some threads where we can easily get into very high double-figure posts before the OP even makes the initial appeal.

I tip my hat to you altygent. :T