ECP PCN Success

thingamaBob

On 19th December I received a PCN dated 16th December from Euro Car Parks alleging a 38 minute overstay in the car park at Bretton Centre, Peterborough on 11th December. The PCN was for an amount of £90 discounted to £50 if paid within 14 days.

I came on here to see what the current advice was and spent some time looking for other ECP cases and on 23rd December I sent off an on-line appeal using the template from the "newbies" thread, only amending the last sentence as it was sent on-line rather than snail mail.

I saw on one thread Coupon-mad asked for someone to post up their ECP PCN. Not sure they did so I'll post mine in the next post.

I then spent some time Googling to track down the owners/agents of the site. Not too easy as they don't seem to publicise themselves much. I found an email address for an agents and sent off an email on 28th December saying:-

"I am writing to you as I understand that you represent the Agents managing the Bretton Shopping Park in Peterborough.

I am in receipt of a Parking Charge Notice from Euro Car Parks. This PCN, number xxxxxxxxxxx is dated 16/12/14 and relates to car parking on 11/12/14.

We were shocked and appalled at receiving this notice. We have been using the Bretton Centre for over 30 years without there ever being a question of limited parking time or charges for overstaying and had no idea that this had changed. Having checked back we find that there are now notices erected but these were not noticed at the time and, certainly, when entering the parking area from the Cresset side, any driver must be too intent on watching for outcoming traffic at the sharp, narrow, blind corner with a diagonal pedestrian crossing, to notice any signs that may be there.

Our only reason for visiting the site was to give custom to the shops at the centre and it is hard to see why shoppers are now being deterred from shopping there and penalised if they do so. On the day in question, the driver visited the Card Factory and spent some time browsing for a number of cards for Christmas, then went on to the Post Office, (always slow and busy) before going over to Sainsbury's. Unfortunately the Card Factory and Post Office receipts were not kept but I am attaching a copy of the Sainsbury's receipt which shows that an amount of £52.59 was spent there on that day.
Visiting these three shops would, at any time of year, take a significant amount of time but in the middle weeks of December would take substantially longer with Christmas shopping just getting into full swing and 3 hours is hardly enough time for the average shopper to get round the various shops in the centre let alone pensioners such as us. It can hardly be described as a pleasant shopping experience if you constantly have to keep an eye on the time so that you don't incur ridiculously excessive charges for staying a few minutes too long. No chance for anyone to go into Costa's for a coffee and cake after doing their shopping, so they must be happy.

I would point out that this action breaches the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 which requires that additional time to shop is allowed for "elderly persons" such as us and both the Parking Company and yourselves, as Principals,could be held liable.

We have spoken to the manager at Sainsbury's who says that there are are many many people complaining at this policy and the charges. I would hope that Sainsbury's would be concerned that their loyal customers will start going elsewhere, where it is more comfortable to take time over their shopping without the worry of outstaying their welcome. We, our family and most of our friends, will certainly not be shopping at this centre again while this parking policy is in force.

I have sent off an appeal to Euro Car Parks but I hope that you, as the Managing Agents, will be able to instruct them to cancel this Parking Charge Notice and to write to me formally confirming the cancellation.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible."
(I did also copy in Mike Coupe the CEO of Sainsburys but has not bothered to respond at all)

I got an immediate "out of office" reply saying they were away until 5th Jan.

On 5th Jan I had a reply saying that they were only Letting Agents and they had forwarded my email to MWhitely@savills.com who was the representative of the managing agents. I soon received an email from Mr Whitely saying that their policy was "designed to deter fly parking and certainly not to penalise genuine customers". He said he had not received the receipt copy that was attached to the original email. After sending a further copy of the receipt I received a reply almost immediately saying that they would have the ticket rescinded.

If anyone with a PCN from this site is taking similar action, they may wish to also read the thread HERE where someone received a somewhat different response from the agents

I have, on 4th February, received a letter dated 30 January from Euro Car Parks advising me that my appeal has been successful and the notice has been cancelled.

thingamaBob

PCN FRONT PAGE


PCN BACK PAGE

bod1467

How refreshing to see someone taking the initiative, using the info collated here and seeing off these scummers. Makes a blessed change from all the "Help! I can't think for myself! Hold me hand to make it go away now!" type of posts.

Fruitcake

As above, well done on getting this cancelled and providing such a splendid letter to boot.