Metrolink Whitefield PCN HELP PLEASE

putitinmytil

Hi

Please can someone help?

I have received a Parking Charge Notice for "Parking Outside of Tram Service Hours" at Metrolink Whitefield on 2/11/14 at 05:17. This was from Care Parking (where do they get these names from???!!!!).

I have used this car park many times to park overnight after using the Metrolink. It is a free car park and you don't need to display a ticket. Recently they have built a new car park and I have obviously not picked up on the change in parking rules.

I used the Metrolink park and ride and collected my car the morning after and had the lovely surprise of a charge of £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

I am completely disgusted in this massive charge for what is a free car park, and considering I had bought and paid for a Metrolink ticket using their park and ride.

I have been looking at the forums on here and looked at the **NEWBIES!! PRIVATE PARKING TICKET? OLD OR NEW? **READ THESE FAQS FIRST!**

I am a little confused though, should I wait to receive the Notice To Keeper in the post and then appeal with the PPC then get the likely rejection (and then appeal to POPLA). OR should I appeal now before receiving the Notice To Keeper?Any help really appreciated.

Thank you.

pogofish

You cannot be confused. The Newbies Sticky makes it quite clear you wait for the NTK. Why give them your personal details for free and lose an opportunity for them to maybe screw-up the process in your favour by getting the timescale wrong?

Coupon-mad

Yes - wait, if all you have at the moment is a windscreen ticket.

While you wait, search this forum (not the whole MSE forum!) for 'Metrolink' as a keyword. There are at least two other threads about it from the past 2 days, easy to find. I won't link them - I never do as that helps no-one & Newbies never know where the link could have been found. But I always tell people how to find what they need so they know how the forum works best.

So, use the Forum Jump to get back to page one and just above the sticky threads, on the right, is a heading along a line, next to forum tools, called 'search this forum'. Put in Metrolink and change the default search to 'show posts'.

Easy, you can even crib from the lovely POPLA appeal jj42 wrote yesterday, when it's your turn.

putitinmytil

Many many thanks for the help :-)

daddydodo

Hello OP, My friend is in the same situation with a 'PCN' from Whitefield Manchester Metrolink for parking outside of tram service hours (my friend left the car overnight). Feel free to PM me and we can compare notes. The signage is extremely misleading as you drive into the carpark, stating 'Free Parking for Metrolink passengers' and then 'this carpark is for the use of Metrolink passengers only', but then on other signs in MUCH smaller letters (unreadable from the car) has all the conditions and exceptions. And yes the driver has parked here overnight many times but not since the carpark was redeveloped.

I considered paying £16 to the car parking appeals service, but reading through info here has given me the confidence to take 'care' parking on myself!

ezerscrooge

These are easy to defeat by editing the standard templates.

Do put in a strongly worded complaint to TFGM

http://www.metrolink.co.uk/contactus/Pages/default.aspx

Also find out who the councillors are that sit on the TFGM panel and get a complaint in to them. And a letter to local papers, especially the Metro.

Their actions are not excatly encouraging people to 'park and tram' , are penalising those who missed the last tram or trams get cancelled (happens a fair bit), or those who are being responsible by leaving their car if they have had a beer or three in the city centre.

It is totally unreasonable to expect people to plan their lives around the times when the trams are operating.

daddydodo

Thanks ezerscrooge, I'm at an early stage with it all, no NTK yet. I will be writing to TfGM to show my disgust at their agent 'care' parking. There are alternative ways to manage the metrolink carparks without upsetting genuine customers and ruining what ought to be a fabulous transport scheme. If only everyone was clued up about these fake PCNs then the poor git driving round these car parks at 3am issuing fake charges would soon give up.