Parking Eye - PCN - HELP NEEDED!!

dan232

Hi all,

I'm completely new to this so would really appreciate the advice. My mum received a parking charge notice in the post from Park Eye last week. She went to Aldi's car park in Feltham and got a PCN for just being 11 minutes over the free hour stay period. Which is a total outrage.

The PCN is dated 6/11/14 and if she pays within 2 weeks it's only £40. After then it's £70. The letter also shows her car entering and leaving the exit with time and date etc.

She was shopping in Aldi's at the time. She can provide a bank statement proving this as well. Would that be a problem on the basis that the bank statement would effectively be revealing who was the driver?? I gather from other posts that revealing that info can hurt your case when appealing to the PPC.

Is it worth pursuing the charge? Or do you think Aldi be able to waive the charge etc?

It's all so confusing?!? Appreciate your help as it's kinda freaking her out and as she's elderly she's taking it way too seriously and worrying about future costs/court cases etc

Many thanks

Fruitcake

Is your Mum the registered keeper of the car?


Contact Aldi and DEMAND that they cancel this PCN or you, your friends, and family will shop elsewhere in future. Don't reveal who was driving, just say one of the people in the car was a genuine Aldi customer and show the bank statement if necessary.


Meanwhile read the Sticky thread for NEWBIES on how to appeal and win against parking lie.


Appeal to parking lie as keeper using the template in the NEWBIES thread and again say one of the people in the car was a customer.


Do both. Tell Aldi to cancel AND appeal to parking lie. If Aldi cancel make sure you get it in writing.


The first appeal to the PPC will be rejected but they must provide a PoPLA code that you then use to make a second appeal that will win. Parking lie fold as soon as they see a PoPLA appeal based on the How to Win at PoPLA section of the NEWBIES thread.


Get reading and make sure you don't miss the parking lie appeal deadline.


Tell your Mum not to worry. The regulars on this site will NOT let her lose, and this will never get anywhere near court as long as you follow the advice here.

pogofish

Read the Newbies Sticky carefully - That should sort your confusion and outline your various options to get shot of this.

dan232

many thanks. Yes, my mum is the registered keeper of the car. I will get onto the supermarket first thing.

Fruitcake

dan232 wrote: »

many thanks. Yes, my mum is the registered keeper of the car. I will get onto the supermarket first thing.

I'm guessing you will be doing this for your mum but everything you write should be as if it has come from her.


Don't use terms like I did this, I did that, but say I am the keeper and the driver did this or the driver did that. You get the picture?


Please confirm that you WILL appeal to parking lie as well. They are a nasty bunch who will take your mum to court if you don't appeal, so I say again, appeal to parking lie no matter what else you do and make sure you do not miss their deadline. If Aldi do cancel in writing then you can stop the appeals process but don't rely on it and miss deadlines.


Don't panic. You will beat this but you have to go on the attack and not hang about.


By the way, if Aldi say it's nowt to do with them and you must contact parking lie, tell them they are telling porky pies. Aldi are the principle and the PPC are their agents. Don't be fobbed off. Complain long and loud in store and make a nuisance of yourself if they won't cancel.


Aldi fakebook page is a good place for a whinge and to see how many others are in your Mum's situation as well, but don't expect to get any actual help. The website is run by a PR company, not Aldi, but it's still worthwhile venting your spleen so other members of the public can see how Aldi treat their customers.

dan232

Thanks Fruitcake. It's true that I'll be dealing with this for my mum. She kept it hidden for a week until she told me, so I need to get onto it quicksmart. I'm kinda worried that a week's already gone by and Aldi might drag their heels giving me written confirmation.
As for pursuing Parking Eye......is it best to go for a long, detailed letter or just a short one? Some posts say that they'll never even consider to waive the charge on the first appeal - regardless of how legally tight your letter is. So therefore, it's best to keep it brief and keep the more detailed letter of POPLA.
What do you suggest?? I have seen some great templates - both long and short on this website, but I don't think this is the type of company to back down after the first appeal.
Also is there a risk of giving too much away at this early stage and allowing them to know what you will be appealing against come the POPLA hearing? Therefore, allowing them to prepare and giving them the heads up etc? Or does that really matter at all?

Many thanks again

Umkomaas

PE will cancel a charge at an Aldi car park where there is proof of spend £30>. Provided you are working within their timescale, they are pretty consistent in cancelling - in fact they often say in cases that have got to court stage, that had the motorist submitted such an appeal to them at the early point in the process, the charge would have been cancelled.

So I'd send off a polite letter, as if written by your mother, confirming she was shopping at Aldi, and enclose a redacted copy of her bank statement to confirm this. Do not phrase the letter to identify your Mum as the driver, by saying 'I parked' or similar, do it with the mindset that someone had driven your Mum there, using her car.

In parallel, open a dialogue with Aldi - not the local store, you'll get fobbed off, phone their HQ parking department (haven't got the number to hand, but look on their FaceBook page, or Google).

But be ready, if you haven't received a cancellation response from PE by (say) a week before their deadline for appeal on the NtK, fire off the initial appeal from the NEWBIES FAQ sticky. Don't miss that deadline, if it comes to that.

HTH

Coupon-mad

As for pursuing Parking Eye......is it best to go for a long, detailed letter or just a short one?

Letter? No need. Send a challenge IN THE NAME OF MUM, AS KEEPER ONLY, online to PE as the PCN tells you that you can. See the Newbies thread for a long version but you could cut that down as it won't fir the PE online window and Mum doesn't need it all. The important thing is NOT to write the first thing that comes into your head which invariably causes people to give away who parked the car. Put yourself in your Mum's mindset as keeper who has received a letter. Do the appeal in her name but and tell PE that 'the driver' (Not I) is elderly and took time merely shopping and queuing in Aldi, here is the proof of spending (attached) and it's obvious the charge is not a pre-estimate of loss so they should cancel it.

fazersteve

Hi,i hope this helps anyone who has had a Parking Charge Notice from Parking Eye,my partner Julia parked in Aldi Sheldon car park on the 10/11/2014,as she has used the Sheldon Aldi branch since it opened she was unaware that you should now enter your car registration number as you leave that store but this was not done,the Parking Eye parking charge notice letter arrived on the 18/11/2014 saying amount due is £70 but reduced to £40 if it is paid with in 14 days etc,i emailed Aldi customer services asking if they wanted me to start shopping at Tesco!s,they replied saying that if we had the receipt or copy of bank statement they would be able to help us with the Parking Notice,we did not keep the receipt but I was able to print a copy of Julias bank statement showing the £65 that was spent at aldi & within 48hrs of sending the bank statement off to Aldi we had a email from Aldi saying parking notice had been cancelled,if you paid in cash & not kept your receipt ask anyway as they may cancel any charge rather than loose your custom

Umkomaas

Hold on to that communication from Aldi. This is PE's parking charge and it is they you need the confirmation from. I'm not suggesting they will 'fly in the face' of what Aldi are telling you, and normally they will confirm cancellation.

But sometimes their admin can go awry, and as they are now approaching their feeding frenzy period of persecuting Christmas shoppers who inevitably will face delays in getting their cars off gridlocked car parks, there's the possibility your file might be put in the wrong tray.

Don't sleepwalk your way into more hassle from PE by taking your eye off the ball.