Grace Period.

hoohoo

Lincs_Owl wrote: »

Apparently PE don't turn up most of the time, anyway. Too expensive for them to do so. :T

Not sure who told you this. PE turn up EVERY time, except where they make a !!!! up. They pay their solicitors £150-£250, which they cannot reclaim from you, so they lose money every time, even if they win.

Watch out - if you did not have all this in your original defence they will complain like mad and try to have this all thrown out.

This will then depend on the judge. Its ok to add to and explain previous lines of defence, but not add completely new ones.

Lincs_Owl

Thanks to you both. Will bear all this in mind.

Lincs_Owl

Guys Dad
I didn't take a photo of the signs at the time cos I didn't expect a ticket. Took photo from Google streetview though and printed it out, although it wasn't too clear. Unfortunately the sign states 'Max two hour stay' rather than 'Max 2 hour parking'. A reasonable person would interpret that as 2 hours parking surely? Or not?

Hoohoo
Would they really turn up if they knew they were going to lose money? It's a business they are running after all.

Coupon-mad

Their solicitors turn up every time. PE do this because they almost always win and these are trophy wins pour encourager les autres.

hoohoo

Exactly - its trophy wins they are after - not a cash positive win on the day.

To give you some idea how this works, the Sunday Times Question of Money column today has an article on this, but, bless them, got the facts wrong. In 2014, PE filed 30,309 claims. Of these 29,960 people were frightened into just paying up, or ignored the claim and got a default judgment. So pour encourager les autres works well for ParkingEye.

The_Deep

My own view is that, unless you encounter the most stony hearted judge in the land, you will win this on mitigation. And for that reason it is likely that PE will cancel at the last minute.

Supposing your wife had been unable to drive, and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance, would PE have lodged a claim then, I doubt it. All councils in these circumstances will cancel a PCN.

http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/streets-transport-and-parking/parking/penalty-charge-notice-pcn/policies-and-procedures

see second paragraph discretional grounds.

Personaly I would argue just that, not bother with grace periods, contract, signs, GPEOL, etc. Others on here, those who support their breeches with a belt, braces, and a piece of string may well disagree.

This is the kind of story the Daily Mail love.

Lincs_Owl

Thanks, especially The Deep for words of encouragement. I had assumed the parking signs stated 'Two hours free parking', as the council ones in my home town do. But a streetview check reveals 'Maximum 2 hour stay'. Suppose Parking Eye will say that the period of grace does not apply.
Will concentrate more on my wife's asthma attack which delayed our exit from the car park. We overstayed by 10 minutes 16 seconds. She is 66 and has allergy asthma.
That Equality Act 2010 Code of Practice makes heavy reading. Will sift through that to see if I can use it.
Also thinking of emailing Joe Morris, operations director at T.J.Morris who seem to own Home Bargains. Thanks for suggestion, folks.
Parking Eye want £85 plus £75 legal costs. Total £160. If it goes to court and they win, I believe I can ask the judge not to award them the £75 legal costs as they have refused to try and settle out of court.
That BMPA site looks useful (Brit Motorists Protection Assn). Not heard of it before. They offer to assist in court, for nominal expenses. Anyone used them?

Thanks everyone for your help, again. :-)

Redx

Lincs_Owl wrote: »

That BMPA site looks useful (Brit Motorists Protection Assn). Not heard of it before. They offer to assist in court, for nominal expenses. Anyone used them?

Thanks everyone for your help, again. :-)

several members of this forum help out in such matters, like MiL Collections and many others , including the Beavis case I believe

one such story is on pranksters site, but there will be many more as I know I have read several

here is one recent case in Manchester

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2015_12_01_archive.html

hoohoo

http://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS_Code_of_Practice_October_2015_update_V6..pdf

CoP is here.
You want section 13.4
The minimum grace period is 10 minutes, but with her asthma a reasonable adjustment under the equalities act 2010 would be 11 minutes.

Alternatively, google frustration of contract

Lincs_Owl

Thanks Hoohoo.

Actually I'm with you on that. But a google streetview check on the sign shows it states 'Max stay 2 hours'. Not 2 hours free parking as I originally thought.

Wondering how that affects the grace period. The grace period as mentioned in the British Parking Assn Code of Practice gives the motorist extra time before and after the parking period.

Would Parking Eye claim the 'max 2 hour stay' already incorporates this?

Playing with words here, but it's important.

I've already written to PE stating 'frustration of contract'. Wife could not legally drive. Neither could I.

Of course, I made a mistake ignoring their letters so didn't get chance to appeal to POPLA. I've pointed out that I'm willing to go to Alternative Dispute Resolution or whatever it's called but they don't reply.