Morrisons v Greene King

beamerguy

Last month I posted that my Local Morrisons no longer had parking signs. A member here said "they will come back" ?

Today, popped into Morrisons and there were lots of Parking Eye signs with 3 hrs free parking.

The car park was half empty which is very unusual at this store and it reflected inside, hardly any people shopping, the instore cafe had about 6 people and normally it must hold 100 people and its always full up. This was lunch time.

I spoke to a manager saying where are all your customers, with hands in the air, he said he was worried, it's like this often now.

I mentioned the fact that maybe it was due to Parking Eye and their unscrupulous methods. He then opened up saying that since Parking Eye had started, he has had many many complaints and lost many customers. I said well why don't Morrisons kick out Parking Eye as you will continue to lose business and then he said, the car park is now out of our control, Morrisons sold the car park to Greene King which is a pub chain ???

So, pubs are getting in on the act using the scammers. Wonder how much Greene King make on the deal ?

To put another nail in the coffin of this Morrisons, Aldi are soon opening a big store right next door.
Aldi often use Parking Eye so this part of town will soon be a "no go area" as they use Parking Eye.

Greene King has stooped very low, going to bed with Parking Eye, still its yet another chain to be boycotted

If you do get a ticket in a Morrisons, it will be worth asking the manager if Morrisons is involved in any way or are Morrisons selling off to Greene King PLC

Just in case, here is the contact for you

Greene King Plc

Mr Rooney Anand Chief Executive

Email rooneyanand@greeneking.co.uk

I am sure Mr Anand will be delighted to hear from you

Half_way

It all sounds a bit dubious to me, a bit like the pass the buck type stories that shop staff tell customers
a Quick look on google shows that the only link between Morrisons and Greene king is that Mr Anand of Greene King has been appointed to the board at Morrisons.
Maybe the store manager has been fed some crap by higher up to fob off those pesky customers from complaining

beamerguy

Half_way wrote: »

It all sounds a bit dubious to me, a bit like the pass the buck type stories that shop staff tell customers
a Quick look on google shows that the only link between Morrisons and Greene king is that Mr Anand of Greene King has been appointed to the board at Morrisons.
Maybe the store manager has been fed some crap by higher up to fob off those pesky customers from complaining

Bit dodgy to pass the buck like that, Morrisons would not go that low, the backlash would be immense
It seems that a new pub is being built

Dave_TH

I never park in any of the PPC spaces, always prefer council car parks, our town centre is PE and PPC heaven and is slowly dying

polyplastic

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=102796&st=20&gopid=1147032&#entry1147032


You may find some useful tips here

Umkomaas

Hassle with ParkingEye at Morrisons? Don't forget that the Principal is responsible for the actions of its Agent. Seemingly a County Court claim against Morrisons resulted in a settlement out of court, with the motorist (claimant) receiving recompense for time wasted in dealing with this.

Chink in the armour, so a potential to be exploited (and further p/ss Morrisons off with their association with PE).

https://bmpa.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/206377599-ParkingEye-V-Mr-O-Double-Dip-at-Morrisons

ParkingEye V Mr O - Double Dip at Morrisons

Avatar BMPA Support Desk
December 10, 2015 15:55
Outline

A classic case of ParkingEye pursuing a "double dip" incident all the way to court, and discontinuing at the last minute. The defendant then pursued Morrisons for compensation, and they settled out of court.

Background

Mr O's was sent a claim by ParkingEye for apparently overstaying the maximum time allowed. What actually happened was he entered the car park at around 6:10am in October 2014 to make a withdrawal from the cash machine, only staying for a few minutes before driving to the railway station. He returned to the car park later in the evening, to purchase some groceries, a visit of no more than 20 minutes in total. At no time did he exceed any ‘max stay time’ advertised as ParkingEye claimed.

Ten weeks later in February 2015, ParkingEye sent their standard County Court claim for their parking charge plus the "legal" costs that never seem to be incurred but charge for them anyway. Mr O had ignored the ParkingEye letters and missed the opportunity to get the matter sorted at POPLA. But on the other hand, he knew he hadn't overstayed and was not frightened by the rather odd letters from companies like Debt Recovery Plus that ParkingEye arrange to be sent out.

With the help of BMPA members, Mr O completed all the key paperwork needed at the initial claim stage on time. They knew the Acknowledgement of Service had to be in within 14 days from the date on the claims, with an initial defence within 28 days - so in they both went. This was the opportunity for ParkingEye to read the facts presented and to check these with their own. However it is apparent that the company has no interest in admitting they or their systems fail, but will simply let the court process run on in the expectation of people folding through fear and the lack of familiarly with the court process. The courts are not some sort of ATM Cash Machine but ParkingEye think they are.

In June 2015, the Witness Statement served in preparation for the hearing was sent to the court to highlight the same issue - faulty ANPR system, failure to check facts, aggressive and vexatious use of the court system. ParkingEye not willing to risk paying a solicitor from LPC for a claim they knew to be baseless, sent Mr O a copy of a Notice of Discontinuance from ParkingEye, indicating that they were no longer proceeding with the claim. This was just over a week before the scheduled hearing, and 4 months after they had Mr O's defence.

Since there had been a lot of wasted time and effort dealing with the claim, Mr O wrote to Morrisons asking for compensation based on a liquidated damages, for the losses incurred in defending ParkingEye's claim. He saw it as only fair that given the work he had to do and he also knew Morrisons are well aware of the "double dip" issue but fail to act. A couple of weeks later when there was no reply or even acknowledgement, Mr O moved to the next stage of what is a fairly simple process and followed up with a Letter Before County Claim (LBCC) to Morrisons Company Secretary (CoSec). The CoSec is the most senior legal person in any organisation and claims should be sent there.

Morrisons recognising there had been an issue here and seeing that Mr O was serious offered and paid a reasonable amount towards Mr O's costs.

Key issues

1. At any stage you can get whoever hired them (principal) to cancel so it is important to identify them and get them to intervene.

2. ParkingEye appear to enjoy upsetting people by going to the wire with a court claim. You have to keep to the time scales, the first of which is to Acknowledge Service within 14 days.

3. At any stage you can get whoever hired them (principal) to cancel so it is important to identify them and get them to intervene.

4. Early action is preferable to leaving matters getting to court. The old advice to "ignore" is out of place in England and Wales, though it is still relevant to Scotland and Northern Ireland as their systems are different.

5. If you are out of pocket like Mr O, consider making an initial demand for recompense to whoever hired the parking contractor and if need be issue a formal letter before claim.

6. "Double Dip" is a well known flaw with ANPR that can lead to error rates of 10%.

Of course the principle is neither restricted to Morrisons, nor ParkingEye.