Ripped Off By NPC Car Parks

mjm3346

Looking at a street view of a banner it's certainly debatable and could be made clearer - "arrive and depart between.." instead of just "park between.." should be enough to make people question what they would be charged if they were arriving before 5 pm instead of assuming they would switch to the night rate at 5 pm.


"Evening rate
Park for up to 10 hours £4
Park between 5 pm and 3 am"

mjm3346

This is probably the place to post for advice


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

chris_m

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

There is a notice on the way in saying night rate 5 onwards.
It doesnt say that you dont switch onto that rate at 5 though.
Its all a bit unclear for the customer.

Conversely, it doesn't say that you do switch to night rate at 17:00. As you say, rather unclear.

You could try a polite complaint to NCP pointing out that the lack of clarity caused you to be charged far more than you were expecting, suggesting that they consider clarifying their signs and asking if they might consider some reduction because you've been misled by and have pointed out the lack of clarity.
That tack might work better than a full-on complaint?

Dan83

It's dear to park in London, £26 for 4hrs +

mjm3346

Dan83 wrote: »

It's dear to park in London, £26 for 4hrs +

That's one in Brighton, you can pay £26 for 2 to 4 hours at London Park Road, £39 for 4 to 24 hours and there are others at £40 plus.

Superscrooge

As others have suggested. Post your query on the parking tickets/fines board. There are lots of knowledgeable contributors on that board who will give you good advice.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

You entered the car park before the start of the night rate and so I would imagine somewhere in the T&C's it will say that the daily rate applies to the whole of your parking period ie 4 - 24hrs £26 But I think it is a very unclear charging structure and if it had happened to me I too would think I had been ripped off.

But see what they say on the above link, It might be worth appealing the charge.

Best of luck!

eskbanker

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

Ripped Off

[...]

I arrived at 16:39 for a pre theatre meal and show. I was utterly gutted to be charged 26.00 when I arrived back.

[...]

disgusting

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

extortionate

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

totally unjust

Perhaps it'll help you regain a sense of perspective if you look at the total cost of the evening, I don't suppose theatre and a meal would have been particularly cheap? Not directly relevant I know, but you do seem to have taken this rather personally....

RandomUser923759

I stick by all of those words. 21 minutes arrival early should 100% not attract a £22.00 extra charge.

(and not that it matters but the show I went to was £8.00 and the meal was fish and chips at around £9.50)

takman

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

I stick by all of those words. 21 minutes arrival early should 100% not attract a £22.00 extra charge.

(and not that it matters but the show I went to was £8.00 and the meal was fish and chips at around £9.50)

But you shouldn't think of it as 21 minutes for £22.00. You paid the entire amount on the time you were there. You just weren't eligible for the discount.
There has to be a cut off point otherwise you could arrive at 4pm and argue but it was only an extra hour. Or arrive at 3pm and argue but it was only 2 hours until the night rate.

So obviously there has to be a cut off point. I think your only chance is to politely ask them to for a discount because the signs were easy to misinterpret.

grumbler

takman wrote: »

....
There has to be a cut off point otherwise you could arrive at 4 and argue but it was only an extra hour. Or arrive at 3 and argue but it was only 2 hours until the night rate.

So obviously there has to be a cut off point. ...

Even ignoring numerous missing and incorrect words in your post, I don't understand your moot point that is far from being "obvious".

What's wrong with being charged, say, for 2 hours at the 'day' rate and then £4 in total for several 'night' hours? If computers are capable of reading the number plates, can they not do this simple calculation?
It would be fair, transparent and wouldn't cause problems for people that are unlucky to arrive at 16:55 and have to either to waste 5 minutes on driving around or fall into the well set trap.

Does it really make any sense to encourage money saving drivers to leave the parking at 16:59 only to come back in 2 minutes?