Parking Eye Ticket for ALDI Margate - what next?

purplesparkles

Hi there

I've read all of the advice and quite frankly I'm confused. I have received an NTK. The driver wasn't a customer at ALDI. Obviously however the £70 the driver is now being asked to pay (having been too confused by the advice to get my act together in time for the smaller fine) feels out of proportion to the amount of time spent in the car park. As its a private parking charge I feel the driver shouldn't pay, but realise Parking Eye do take folk to court. I read somewhere that approaching them with the template letter gets their backs up and they continue to pursue. I don't feel the driver has a leg to stand on by approaching ALDI as there is no receipt, and I'm not certain who to approach. As advice is updated there seem to be lots of different folk to approach and I don't know where the driver stands.

Thoughts and advice please.

Thanks

NotBothered

Contact Parking Eye or Aldi and request the clock be reset back to the £40. They will do it. But without a receipt they wont cancel. It is a customer car park not a free one.

Quentin

purplesparkles wrote: »

Hi there

I've read all of the advice and quite frankly I'm confused. I did park in the carpark and wasn't a customer. I am sort of banged to rights here. Obviously however the £70 I am now being asked to pay (having been too confused by the advice to get my act together in time for the smaller fine) feels out of proportion to the amount of time I was in the car park. As its a private parking charge I feel I shouldn't pay, but I realise Parking Eye do take folk to court. I read somewhere that approaching them with the template letter gets their backs up and they continue to pursue. I don't feel I have a leg to stand on by approaching ALDI as I have no receipt, and I'm not certain who to approach. As advice is updated there seem to be lots of different folk to approach and I don't know what my defence should be. I realise I shouldn't lie.

Thoughts and advice please.

Thanks

Ignore the advice to contact PE/Aldi and ask for a reduction in #2!


The object here is not to pay!


Now go to the newbies faq thread and familiarise yourself with the issue.


It also shows you how and when to appeal with the object of getting a POPLA code.


When you do come back to get advice on a POPLA appeal

NotBothered

She did the wrong thing. She parked without being a customer and then overstayed! Pay! If people parked where they were supposed to they wouldnt get charged and then Parking Eye would go out of business - Simple!

Why did she choose the Aldi CarPark and not the nearest Pay and Display I wonder!!!!

Umkomaas

While PE have pursued tens of thousands of people through the courts over the past couple of years, we have yet to see any relating to an Aldi parking charge.

But you do need to get this quashed at POPLA to give you peace of mind that in the next six years (the time limit for PE to pursue you through the courts) don't change their Aldi-related court strategy.

It will mean that you need to go through the newbies FAQ sticky which will guide you through the process.

And a tip for the future - avoid any car park 'managed' by PE especially, whether you are a customer or not. This forum doesn't condone fly parking - one of the main reasons this country is infested with more and more private parking companies jumping on the gravy train and fleecing the unwary British public.

Quentin

NotBothered wrote: »

She did the wrong thing. She parked without being a customer and then overstayed! Pay! If people parked where they were supposed to they wouldnt get charged and then Parking Eye would go out of business - Simple!

Why did she choose the Aldi CarPark and not the nearest Pay and Display I wonder!!!!

All irrelevant.


This forum isn't for pulpit bashing like this.


OP ignore negative posts #2 and #4 and concentrate on the positive advice you are getting.


(Especially don't contact PE to ask for a reduction!)


Nowhere will you be advised to lie - but you are advised not to ever admit who was the driver,

Coupon-mad

NotBothered wrote: »

She did the wrong thing. She parked without being a customer and then overstayed! Pay! If people parked where they were supposed to they wouldn't get charged and then Parking Eye would go out of business - Simple!

Why did she choose the Aldi CarPark and not the nearest Pay and Display I wonder!!!!

Please just clear up and confirm that you know for a fact that this one is a car park for Aldi customers only?

Clue - the fact it is an Aldi car park doesn't make it so. Aldi have been fined by Councils before, for putting up signs lying about that!

Many Aldis have to comply with certain Local Planning permission, which specifically ONLY LETS ALDI BUILD if they allow drivers to be able to visit other local businesses and shops as well as Aldi. Can you confirm that you checked the Planning Consent for Margate Aldi before you threw your toys out of the pram? You appear to be assuming they misused a car park but you haven't shown any evidence of that.

And...how do you know this person overstayed? He/she didn't say so and feels that the 'penalty' is out of all proportion to the time spent in the car park. Quite possibly this is a site with a keypad hidden in the corner of a dusty and dark Aldi store, to put a VRN in, and the allegation is merely that this OP failed to do that? How do you/we know there was an overstay above the usual 1.5 hours?

Also, have you ever done a POPLA appeal re Aldi store PCNs? I have, and to my knowledge, I've have never lost one. ALWAYS winnable on 'no landowner authority' or 'terrible signage' with hardly any mention of the £70 let alone a visible keypad or instructions about same.

This is MSE and you have jumped to a huge conclusion that this person did anything wrong and even if they did, they do NOT have to fund Crapita by £70 or £40! Come back later and watch them win at POPLA because Aldi car park signs are so woefully inadequate.

purplesparkles

Thanks for the largely helpful posts. I am wading back through the sticky threads again. I must admit I'm still confused about the point of the POPLA code, and what happens if the POPLA appeal isn't successful. I've seen the bit where is says you still don't have to pay but can't find any advice on what you should do instead/next. I'm sure I can't see for looking!

In terms of the signage I don't live anywhere near the carpark and no plans to visit the area for some time so no idea what the deal is. The driver did see that there was a time limit, but doesn't remember seeing anything about the carpark being reserved only for ALDI customers. I'll do some online digging and see what I can find,

Umkomaas

If you can give the store location (town) there may be a forum regular nearby who can get some photos for you. We have done this on a number of occasions in the past.

Don't at this stage look beyond POPLA - concentrate efforts on getting it quashed by POPLA (then there's definitely no further stage).

But for what it's worth, if you lost at POPLA, the decision is not binding on you. You can decide not to pay and ignore all follow up letters from PE and (probably) from their debt collectors for up to six years - sorry, but that's the amount of time the PPC has by statute to chase a claim through the county court. But bear in mind what I said in post #5 about PE/Aldi/court.

HTH

purplesparkles

Its the Margate, Zion Road branch.

Coupon-mad

For now just send the appeal (shown in blue writing in the NEWBIES thread), online to PE. Choose 'registered keeper' on their drop down menu.