Court Papers from Parking Eye

gw23

Would be very grateful for some advice here - and apologies in advance for the length of this post!

I parked at The Royal Free hospital and went to pay. We remarked whilst standing at the machine that we had no idea how long we would be - but (fortunately, we thought at the time) there was a uniformed attendant by the machine (and I think he was from the hospital, not the car park) and he advised us (and a couple of other drivers) that we should pay for one hour and then on our return, we key in the reg again and it would calculate how much we owed for the remainder of the time.

When we did eventually return, we did exactly as we were told and the machine told us we had to pay £1.50 - now at this stage there wasn't much we could do. You can't manually override the machine - what you get is what you get.

So, I got a parking fine notice from PE and did a POPLA appeal, which was rejected. POPLA said I should have phoned the number on the parking sign.

Just to clarify the circumstances - we were at the hospital with our learning disabled son for a lumbar puncture to confirm a potential MS diagnosis. This was obviously quite distressing for all of us. When we returned to the payment machine it was almost 4.30pm. We had been there since about 11.30am. My son was in considerable discomfort and distress and we had been advised that he should lay down as soon as possible for as long as possible. We had to get our son to his own supported living home and then we had a journey of approximately 100 miles to get home ourselves through central London in the rush hour. Quite honestly, the parking charges were the least of our worries at that time and it didn't even occur to us to start making expensive phone calls to PE just because we were possibly given the wrong advice and that the machine asked us to pay an amount which we did, even though it may have been incorrect.

Now I've received the court papers and I'm not sure whether all this is a credible defence. Obviously I think it is, but not sure whether a court will.

As well as trying to support my son, I am also the sole carer for my 95 year old Father and I'm being pulled in too many directions as it is, without all this damn aggravation. So whilst I would usually fight to the very end, I just wanted to pass this by you folks to get some thoughts on whether it's worth going through the process of submitting a defence.

Thanks for reading.

wiogs

Are they real court papers? Have you read all the relevant info in the NEWBIES sticky?

And you haven't received a fine from anyone, just an invoice.

gw23

Yes they are real - well they came in a brown envelope with the Northampton PO Box No. printed on the flap, with a claim number and all the enclosures such as acknowledgment of service etc.

I've read the sticky but I can't find anything that is similar to my own circumstances.

Enterprise_1701C

Are the papers actually stamped by the court?

Umkomaas

These will be 'real' court papers if ParkingEye are involved; they don't beggar about sending fakes like ANPR/Expedion.

Here's some advice I gave earlier this morning to another PE court papers case.

First, you must acknowledge service of the court papers, this will give you a further 14 days in which to file your defence.

There's information on how to deal with all this in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky sticky - post #5 there.

You also need to purchase The Parking Prankster's Guide to facing PE at court. Written specifically for PE cases. It's only the price of a cup of Costa coffee, with proceeds coming back into the system to fund the purchase of completed court case transcripts.

Also have a read through PP's transcripts page, plenty of useful court case examples there to learn from.

http://www.parking-prankster.com/case-law.html

But, you must also make a major complaint to the hospital trust. They have the power to get this diverted away from court. But do this in parallel with dealing with the court papers (they are your immediate priority) not instead.

gw23

Right, the papers have a stamp on them - the crown within the circle, with "The County Court" around the bottom section of the circle.

gw23

Thanks Unkomaas - I am going to acknowledge service today and write to the hospital Trust Board - I must admit I did think of taking it up with the hospital but for some reason rejected that idea.

The cost of a Costa coffee is a small price to pay to beat these barstewards.

MothballsWallet

gw23, didn't want to read and run: I hope your family get good news about whether your son has MS or not as 2 members of my family have it, and it's not pleasant.

I wonder if your son's learning disability(ies) would qualify as protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010 (EA2010): perhaps Coupon-Mad would know better as she's really up to speed on EA2010 issues?

If so, could the relevant parts of the EA2010 be included in a court defence as it's a law of the land (statutory instrument)?

Umkomaas

You must go in 'hard' on the hospital, no 'please can you help me', 'would you mind' type of requests! They are wholly responsible for bringing in predatory operators whose only way of earning money is to extort from and harass the elderly, infirm, worried, vulnerable and the dying - the vast majority of users of a hospital car park.

If you want any inspiration have a read of this lengthy, and ongoing thread by Fergie76, who I'm sure will be along soon to offer you his moral support in this.

ParkingEye should not be let loose in any hospital car park.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5049715

MothballsWallet

Umkomaas wrote: »

You must go in 'hard' on the hospital, no 'please can you help me', 'would you mind' type of requests! They are wholly responsible for bringing in predatory operators whose only way of earning money is to extort from and harass the elderly, infirm, worried, vulnerable and the dying - the vast majority of users of a hospital car park.

If you want any inspiration have a read of this lengthy, and ongoing thread by Fergie76, who I'm sure will be along soon to offer you his moral support in this.

ParkingEye should not be let loose in any [STRIKE]hospital[/STRIKE] private car park.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5049715

Corrected that for you, sorry, I couldn't resist

Fergie76

You want to complain to the hospital and at the same time FOI them for an unredacted copy of their contract with PE, plus any amendments. Also ask them for a copy of their GPEOL (not PE's).

Also remind the hospital that in accordance with guidance from the department of health, they are responsible for the actions of their contractors. The guidance is not mandatory, however the DoH expects all trusts to follow, unless there is a good reason not to.

Some other specific questions you might want to ask them (although it should be detailed in the contract):

[FONT=&quot]1. How much do you pay [FONT=&quot]PE[/FONT] to manage your car parks?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. How much do you receive from [FONT=&quot]PE[/FONT] in parking penalties[FONT=&quot]?[/FONT][/FONT] Do you receive any other payments from PE?
[FONT=&quot]3. Who keeps the money from Pay and Display machines, the Trust, [FONT=&quot]PE[/FONT] or if split, how is it split?[/FONT]

More questions you might want to ask (obviously change APCOA for PE)

5. Given that your car parks are run by APCOA for a profit, can you please confirm if Business Rates are applicable in your car parks and if so, who’s responsibility it is to pay these? If it is the Trust can you please confirm how much you have paid for 2013/14?

6. Is the Trust paying APCOA (and therefore being invoiced) the VAT due on charges that are being levied by APCOA?

7. Other than slapping tickets on peoples cars, what other services are APCOA contracted to do in regards to parking management? How do you monitor they are achieving this?

8. How many parking tickets were issued by APCOA in 2013/14 and 1 Apr 14 at Northwick Parks Hospital and how many of them were related to disabled people/blue badge holders?

9. How many complaints has the Trust received about APCOA in 2013/14 and 1 Apr 14 to today?