G24 Contractual Parking Charge Notice - Maybird Centre, Stratford upon Avon

deejaycrox

We have been regular customers of the Maybird Centre in Stratford upon Avon for 11 years and have never ever been aware that there is a 4 hour limit on parking, nor that there is camera enforcement. Today we received a 'Contractual Parking Charge Notice' from G24 'inviting' us to pay a £70 parking charge (reduced to £42 if we settle within 14 days). The date of the offence was 21/11/15, the letter was issued 30/11/15 and arrived today 4/12/15.

Our visit included lunch and trips to most of the shops at the centre. We have receipts to show we were shopping at the centre for the duration of our stay and have emailed the centre management to complain. The website of the centre says if you have receipts to prove you were there, they will cancel the fine.

Should we wait for the centre to respond, or appeal via G24s appeal my parking website? I have read your sticky threads but am a little confused as to which firms are in what bodies and whether they will send in the heavies to collect the debts...

Any help would be much appreciated. I am thoroughly disgusted that the centre takes such a heavy handed approach to parking when they have been responsible for the demise of Stratfords lovely town centre, where I would happily pay for parking if there were any decent shops left.

catfunt

It's not an "offence", or "fine".

G24 are part of the IPC, so no POPLA appeal is available to you.
No-one can "send in the heavies" - you would have to be taken to court, lose, then not pay, then, and only then could you get a CCJ.

You have done the right thing in getting in touch with the centre management - if you don't hear from them within a few days, try visiting their offices on site.
You should appeal to G24, but they will reject. You could also complain to each of the shops/businesses where you spent money.

deejaycrox

Thank you, we will see what centre management say first of all. If we then have to appeal and G24 reject our appeal, what happens then?

catfunt

You then have the option to appeal to the IPC's "Independent" appeals "Service", however the IAS is a kangaroo court and will reject the vast majority of appeals on dubious interpretations of the law.
Some people say appeal, as the PPC would not want a real judge to see the IAS judgement, and it would not get to court. Others say it's not worth it - the pros and cons of an IAS appeal are discussed in the NEWBIES thread.

Your option then is to ignore everything except court papers.

A quick search on this forum for "G24 court claim" suggests that they don't take people to court.

ManxRed

You ignore them. They're not famous for court appearances, so I doubt they'll ever issue a claim.

Your appeal to them should be worded in such a way that you appeal on every legal point possible, from legal standing, to signage, and excessive amount charged.

If, and this is highly unlikely, it ever got as far as court, then your appeal, and their glib rejection could be used against them.

Waste of time appealing to the IAS/IPC though.

deejaycrox

Centre management have replied to our complaint, offering no apology and stating that the charge has been in place for overstaying since 2011. They say we can only appeal to G24. So presumably this is the next step.

catfunt

That's a total fob-off.

THEY are the principals, who employed the scammers, they have every right to tell them to cancel the ticket.

Umkomaas

@OP - you can go through the process of the initial appeal to G24 (one written for you in post #1 of the newbies sticky). Guaranteed to fail 99% of the time. Beyond that Is the IAS appeal stage - guaranteed to fail 80% of the time. Whether to appeal to IAS - the pros and cons can be read in post #3 of the sticky.

There is nothing beyond a landowner cancellation that is likely to kill this dead, but by the same token, on current performance, this won't go further than debt collector letters (see post #4 of the sticky).

The_Deep

What about v.a.t.? Was it mentioned anywhere in the paperwork? If not they may be evading it, ask them for a vat invoice, if they refuse it will look bad in court.

More reading here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5033796=

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5195437

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5087925=

If you suspect tax evasion report it to the fraud hot line here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5087925&highlight

deejaycrox

Well, I must be one of the lucky 1%, G24 have cancelled the charge without it going any further. Thank you all for your advice.

Umkomaas

deejaycrox wrote: »

Well, I must be one of the lucky 1%, G24 have cancelled the charge without it going any further. Thank you all for your advice.

Did you use the standard newbie sticky initial appeal, or one of your own? If the latter, would you mind posting it here? We try to build a knowledge base of what works, especially at PPC level, where cancellations really are as rare as hen's teeth.

Well done, and now have a great Christmas with this rubbish well and truly out of the window.