MET Parking Services- Charge is now overdue

gijoejoe

Hi all,

I like many others have received a parking charge from MET parking services from over staying at a McDonald's car park after not noticing the signs, I paid with cash and didn't get a receipt and after eating sat in the corner of the restaurant on my laptop and got on with work before heading to my next appointment.
The first 28 days have passed now and so it says I can no longer appeal via POPLA this was for many reasons; I was distracted with wedding planning, work, honeymoon, buying a house and more work- all reasons MET are unlikely to care about.
I have now received the original letter for £50, reminder upping the charge to £100 and then another reminder saying the charge is now overdue and threatening to pass on to solicitors etc if payment is not received in 7 days.

My question:

Do I still have grounds for appeal or am I going to have to just suck it up and pay the fine as I didn't appeal on time?

Thanks in advance.

Joe.

Redx

or the one option you missed ?

do I ignore them unless they send an LBC or court papers (an mcol) for 6 years ?

read the NEWBIES sticky thread, especially post #4

complain to the landowner and insist the charge is cancelled

misterbarlow

Suck up nothing, and pay the same!!

Guys_Dad

You go down to your local McDonalds and speak to the manager.

First - look here http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/whatmakesmcdonalds/questions/running-the-business/parking/why-does-mcdonalds-have-parking-restrictions-in-some-restaurants.html

Print the screen and refer him to the bit that says
" We appreciate that some visits such as birthday parties or large group visits might take longer and the parking restrictions are not intended to inhibit this.
If customers anticipate their stay will exceed the stated maximum parking time, we would encourage them to speak to the restaurant manager in advance ."

Then ask the manager just where this information is displayed in his restaurant and that if you had known that this was McDonald's policy in advance, you would have spoken to him or his staff.

In the light of the fact that McDonalds managers clearly have a way of whitelisting a particular car with their PPC, then you would ask that they do this retrospectively in your case as they didn't have the relevant information printed on display for you to have notified them.

Make sure you take the printed policy.

gijoejoe

Hi guys,

Sorry for the delayed response but I've been meaning to update this thread for a while.
I took your advice and appealed to MET using a template letter from the forum.

Around the same time I contacted the McDonalds branch and explained the situation to the manager. She kindly said she would contact MET directly and ask them to drop the fine.

Over the next couple of days I phoned the manager daily for an update just to ensure she didn't forget me and after the 4th or 5th call she informed me it had been cancelled and I'd receive a confirmation email.

The email hasn't shown up but when I logged into the MET site with my info the 'amount due' has been changed to £0. I've print screened it and filed it away. So problem solved. Thanks all for your responses and advice- and to think I was so close to coughing up the cash!!

Thanks again.

Ralph-y

well done .... :j

your mission in life now is to pass onto family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances your new for knowledge on such matters .......



don't let the scammers win!

Ralph:cool: