Parking Eye - Snowden Mountain Railway

LJJ

On a proposed visit to Snowden Mountain Railway last month thanks to our sat nav we ended up in the wrong car park but did not find out until we had paid for parking for the day. We requested a refund but were told by a staff member that the ticket would be valid if we went into another car park closer to the SMR "on the right" which we did. The ticket allowed us to stay until 20:00 but we left at 4:15pm, so we did not go over time.
I have today (within the 15 day deadline) received a PCN from Parking Eye for £100 (£60 if we pay within 14 days) - the PCN shows photos of our arrival and exit. (Im wondering how they know we didn't buy a ticket in that car park as the machine does not request the Reg no??) I did purchase a ticket in good faith and was told it would be valid in this car park, so I was not trying to get away with paying.
I have read the newbie information on here about not paying the fine but nothing relates to my circumstances.
Could someone give me advice on how to word an "appeal"? I realise I should not reveal that I was the driver but not sure how to do that? Any advice would be welcomed thanks

Redx

your circumstances are not relevant

use the template letter only for the appeal, appealing on their website

LJJ

Ive just had my rejection letter from Parking Eye (no surprise there) they did not even mention any of the issues I raised ! just states that their "records confirm that no parking was purchased on the date of the parking event"


I am about to go down the POPLA route but am a bit concerned with the recent changes that have been going on. Ive been looking at MSE, parking prankster information for hours and not feeling very confident I really don't want to pay them anything, but will lose the chance to pay the reduced amount if my POPLA appeal is rejected.


My "appeal" will only state the usual -
1 No genuine pre-estimate of loss
2. No standing or authority to pursue charges or form contracts with drivers ( I believe SMR do identify PE as their partners, but does this make it legal for them to demand the parking charge)?


Do I need to include any of the other information above about the ticket from the other car park, and should I send popla the copy of the ticket/ (or is this regarded as mitigating circumstances??


Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

The_Deep

Have you read this?

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/injured-snowdon-hiker-wins-fight-8265483

Guys_Dad

"...........we ended up in the wrong car park but did not find out until we had paid for parking for the day. We requested a refund but were told by a staff member that the ticket would be valid if we went into another car park closer to the SMR "on the right" which we did. The ticket allowed us to stay until 20:00 but we left at 4:15pm, so we did not go over time"

This is your problem. Did you go to the correct alternative car park? Was the attendant correct even?

What it amounts to is that you probably have used a car park and inadvertently not paid.

So you retrace your steps and contact the original car park you booked with and ascertain if the one you actually used was covered by the ticket you bought and, if so, get them to get PE to cancel ticket.

Redx

just draft a popla appeal similar to any 2015 ones already approved and amend to your circumstances etc , bearing in mind any changes currently known as regards the Ombudsman Service, like prankster blogged about

it is what it is , deal with it, especially as they havent reached any known decisions yet

use legal arguments like

no contract
poor signage
ntk flaws
not a gpeol
the Beavis decision (imminent but not out yet)
camera accuracy (if they used cameras of any kind)

the ticket issue is not relevant unless PE control both car parks, even then popla may say its between yourself and PE, as may a judge if it went that far

as for tickets, you cannot complain if you bought a man city etihad stadium ticket and were found to have no ticket at old trafford

LJJ

Thanks The Deep, I was aware of the situation but did not know it had gone to court, will look into it further - could be worth quoting the fact that the judge deemed the £100 as too excessive, a bit concerned that it was Dec last year?

Guys_Dad

LJJ wrote: »

Thanks The Deep, I was aware of the situation but did not know it had gone to court, will look into it further - could be worth quoting the fact that the judge deemed the £100 as too excessive, a bit concerned that it was Dec last year?

Not so. Current state of play is that the Appeal Court says £100 not too excessive, although Supreme Court are still considering it.

By all means appeal, but remember that everything you wrote to PE will be in their POPLA appeal, so anything about Notices not being clear will be contrary to what you may have written and that at the heart of it is you were relying on a 3rd party telling you that you did not need to pay at that car park and you have admitted the circumstances to PE and admit not paying at that car park.

You will need to take that into account when you submit your POPLA appeal and not include evidence that is clearly irrelevant.

Do follow my suggestion in my previous post.

LJJ

This is your problem. Did you go to the correct alternative car park? Was the attendant correct even?

What it amounts to is that you probably have used a car park and inadvertently not paid.




I appreciate what you are saying here, Guys Dad, I know you cant tell me what to do but if this was the case should I just pay the charge (painful though it would be)?

Guys_Dad

LJJ wrote: »

This is your problem. Did you go to the correct alternative car park? Was the attendant correct even?

What it amounts to is that you probably have used a car park and inadvertently not paid.




I appreciate what you are saying here, Guys Dad, I know you cant tell me what to do but if this was the case should I just pay the charge (painful though it would be)?

No No No!. First of all, check with the car park that you did pay if you can or do a bit of googling to see if the 2 car parks are under the same ownership.

You can contact the 2nd car park owners and offer them the fee if they are different company and tell them what happened.

On your appeal, you should still go for the Genuine loss point, but move it down. You can say that the signs did not make it clear who the actual landowners were (Do you still have the ticket that you bought to compare??).

You can challenge on PE's contract - you want to see a copy of it.

But try Google Earth to see if that can help as well. It's just that with most cases, the motorist is on stronger ground as they may have overstayed or mis-parked and we can go in strong on the notices and contract, but in your case, you didn't pay the charge at the 2nd car park and you knew that it was chargeable, albeit that you were led to believe that your ticket was valid.

LJJ

Thanks for your help so far by the way
I have checked the ticket I bought, the car park is run by Maritime and Country Parks, which I think is local council so not the same people
The SMR is run by Heritage GB Plc who are based in Liverpool - I have just emailed them to ask if they can help dismiss the charges - worth a try

I will let you know if I get a response