PCN from parking legitimately in Homebase

Stripe1131

Hi,
I am not the keeper of the car but a named driver. Last summer I parked in our local Homebase to use the store. I had no idea that you could only stay in that car park for only one hour. I was a member of the gym on the same site for which you were allowed to be there for 2 hours so I assumed it would be the same for Homebase (Homebase and Easygym share the same car park). Signs were not clear. Upon entering the store, I had an item to return for which I have a receipt for. Then I spent a long time choosing everything I needed for doing up the garden. I also have a receipt for the purchases I made. So in all I was in the store for 14 minutes over an hour. A few weeks later I received a PCN saying I owed £60 for parking too long! I was advised to ignore this and now we are receiving letters from a debt recovery company demanding we pay £200 before the courts get involved. Firstly, I didn't see any signs for this camera that got my reg plate. So is the time the minute you arrive and leave the car park? What about actual shopping time and packing stuff into your car time? Secondly, I have proof that I did indeed spend all that time in the store due to my refund receipt on entry and purchase receipt when I left! I feel punished for shopping in Homebase. Also as a final note, the registered keeper is my partner who was at work at the time. Can this help in our case? Do we carry on ignoring it? We have another baby due in 3 weeks so this we could really do without!

Half_way

what happened when you complained to homebase/the landowner and told them to cancel this ridiculous charge?

Ralph-y

as above ....; the best / most likely option to have this quashed is the retailer ...


how ever you should acquaint your self with the newbies thread in case the manager is an idiot .......

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4816822

read up to see who the PPC is tied to ... BPA ... IPC ....

what template you will use ... what time frame you should follow ......

(all the acronyms are in the newbie thread )

this will be useful information even if the manager cancels the invoice .........

good luck

Ralph:cool:

hoohoo

Which car parking company? As the keeper is not the driver, with some companies there is no keeper liability as they don't correctly do the paperwork.

beamerguy

The advice given to ignore was wrong, that however does not mean you have to pay.

However, as said above, it is vital you tell us who the PPC and debt collector are as they will no doubt have history on here and it helps to give you the best advice

At the moment, it is best to contact Homebase with your receipts.
Complain to the manager and if that fails, the CEO.

You want to know why, when spending money with Homebase you have now been scammed by the cowboys they or the landowner employ.

As you are having a baby soon, it's not ideal to stress yourself on this so maybe your other half or someone important in your life, maybe your father has a word in the "shell like ears" of Homebase about the stress their scammers will cause you.

Stripe1131

Hi,
I'm yet to hear back from Homebase.
Thank you Ralph-y..I've just had a good read of that. My worry is that because we were given the advice to ignore it, I have since thrown the original letter away. It wasn't letter headed or anything so didn't even look legit.
Original letter came a few weeks after said incident 12/06/15 then we didn't hear anything until 7/3/16 from Civil Enforcement Ltd, Legal Dept, Horton, House, Exchange Flags, Liverpool,L2 3PF - this letter is demanding £140 and a summary of the supreme court judgment between ParkingEye ltd v Beavis, which we intend to rely upon to support our claim. Final letter received this week from a dept collecting agency ZZPS demanding £200.

Fruitcake

There is nothing stopping you appealing late. Quote this if you do,

"It is the will of Parliament, as a result of the EU Consumer Rights Directive, that ADRs must imminently be made available for not less than a year."

Alternatively wait to see if you get real court papers. Unfortunately CEL have been dragging up old cases and sending out court papers for events as far back as 2012. When challenged properly though they haven't turned up at court, but it is a lot easier to get this killed off early, hence the advice not to ignore that has been around on this site since the law changed in 2012.

Ignore debt collectors, they have no powers. It's bog-paper, nothing more, nothing less.

The best way of getting this cancelled though is through Homebase. Complain to the store manager (not customer services) and/or the CEO. If you have receipts, guarantees, bank statements for the day in question then show/send these to Homebase. If you have other paperwork showing you are a regular shopper there, use those as well.

beamerguy

Stripe1131 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm yet to hear back from Homebase.
Thank you Ralph-y..I've just had a good read of that. My worry is that because we were given the advice to ignore it, I have since thrown the original letter away. It wasn't letter headed or anything so didn't even look legit.
Original letter came a few weeks after said incident 12/06/15 then we didn't hear anything until 7/3/16 from Civil Enforcement Ltd, Legal Dept, Horton, House, Exchange Flags, Liverpool,L2 3PF - this letter is demanding £140 and a summary of the supreme court judgment between ParkingEye ltd v Beavis, which we intend to rely upon to support our claim. Final letter received this week from a dept collecting agency ZZPS demanding £200.

Civil Enforcement Ltd are known scammers with a terrible history of scamming people, do a search on here to see past history
ZZPS are only stupid debt collectors who also are well known here but, despite their stupid threats they are powerless and can only pass the case back to CEL for further action.

A lady called coupon-mad on here will be along shortly to give the best advice.

In the meantime, you must impress on Homebase that CEL are well known scammers and they must contact CEL to CANCEL the charge and stop this rubbish and in particular the idiots that run ZZPS

Remember that you, your friends and family are all potential customers of Homebase and failure to get the charge cancelled will mean loss of business for them. Maybe, Homebase would like to read an article about the scammers they employ as front page news in your local paper ???? ... that will stop people shopping at that Homebase

salmosalaris

I take it the correspondence has gone to the RK and not you hence they write back

Dear Civil Enforcement
Re PCN xxxxx
Date xxxx

As the registered keeper of vehicle xxxx I have received letters from both your company and a debt collection company requesting payment of an alleged debt .
I was not the driver of the vehicle on the day in question and consequently am not liable for this alleged debt , please refer the matter to the driver whose identity I am under no obligation to provide . Please also instruct your debt collection agent to desist from contacting me further with their spurious demands for arbitrary sums of money .

Yours

Guys_Dad

If the original NtK was over 14 days after the alleged contravention, then it is out of time.

You need a copy of the original letter to kill this stone dead. Ask for it.

Stripe1131

This is the reply from Homebase
hank you for your e-mail regarding the parking charge notice.

I have tried to contact Civil enforcement Ltd today but there was no option to speak with anyone. I have checked their website and it states that all
appeals need to be made within 28 days of receiving the parking charge. Please call the parking firm on 0115 822 5020 and they will be able to
advise you if they will accept your appeal after so long.

Please accept my apologies for any disappointment caused.

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at order.enquiries@homebase.co.uk or call us on 0345 600 2420.

Regards,

Clare O'Connor
Homebase E-Commerce Customer Service Team