Overcharge at Liverpool Adelphi. No time to appeal.

MrStephen_2

Hi, can anyone suggest what I should do with this please? Fine processed on the 25th. Arrived with me on the 29th. Emailed the Adelphi on the 29th. Followed up by phone call this morning and resent email today. Below is the thread.


Me:
Driver and family recently attended at the Adelphi on 21st August. Driver parked up in the car park at the rear of the hotel and, because family consists of a young baby and a toddler as well as driver and partner, took around ten minutes to exit the vehicle and pay for ticket. This was done via debit card over the 'phone as didn't have change to use the machine. Paid for a six hour stay.
Family met with a friend at the Adelphi to have a drink, went off to see some sights in Liverpool and returned to the car on time but again took around ten minutes to get everyone in, settled, and also the baby woke up and so required breast-feeding before driver and family could depart. Driver presumed that, because we were in the car and about to depart, further time was not required.
Unfortunately vehicle owner has since received a letter from ParkingEye, the firm that run the car park, charging me £100 for a 23 minute over-stay.
Judging from the photographs provided, they appear to charge from the moment of entry to the moment of departure. I've never seen this scheme used anywhere before and it fails to take into account the time it takes to park and also deal with the needs of a small family.
I don't think the £100 fine is really fair as, as well as working out at around £4.35 a minute (which is somewhat excessive) it also doesn't - I feel - allow for an adequate amount of time if one is required to breastfeed a hungry baby, or more generally to pack and unpack a car if toddlers and babies are involved.
Are you able to look into this for me at all? The driver would have been more than happy to pay for an extra hour had I known that the car park rules were so strict, but to overcharge by £100 for 23 minutes isn't proportionate to the amount of time overstayed by.


Them:
With reference to your enquiry, unfortunately you will need to take this up with Parking Eye, they operate the Car Park from our land, they issue Parking Charge Notices direct.
The PCN usually starts at £60.00 and then if not paid within 14 days, will increase to £100.00.


Me:
Thanks for the swift reply. I am aware, however, that the land-owners do have the ability to persuade ParkingEye to reconsider their charges.
Unfortunately, due to ParkingEye processing the fine on the 25th and it not arriving with me until the 29th, that does not give me the time to appeal to them. They only accept appeals by post, and will reply by post. If I do not pay by the 8th September, the charge increases to the full £100. It is not possible for my letter to arrive with them and to be replied to before that date.
So, in addition to the £4.35 a minute charge, they also make it nigh on impossible to actually appeal against their fine within a feasible timescale. Hence one has to pay, rather than appealing.
As land owners, you do have the ability to engage with them about such behaviour.


===


Hell. Where next? I'm really unsure about what to do....

Help!


Edited to remove details of who was driving, etc. Do I need to edit further?

System

Make an appeal based on the Equality Act if your baby is under 6 months old. Is it?

MrStephen_2

Baby is not, no. Just a very boob hungry creature!

pappa_golf

lie about the babies age then!

MrStephen_2

Is that wise? I wanted to try and be as honest as possible to avoid getting stuck in a succession of fibs!

MrStephen_2

PS does the breastfeeding/equality act thing *always* work? Provided the baby is under 6m of course?

Fruitcake

Please read the Sticky thread for NEWBIES before you do anything else. You should then appeal as keeper to parking lie using the BPA template in blue you will find ion the NEWBIES.

Never, ever 'phone a parking company. Do not pay, do not ignore ,do not reveal who was driving, do not miss the appeal deadline. You have plenty of time to do this. Forget the discount period for mugs. You want the 100% MSE discount, so follow the tried and tested advice here.

Meanwhile leave negative feedback on every social media site you can find including the Adelphi's own website.

System

PS does the breastfeeding/equality act thing *always* work? Provided the baby is under 6m of course?

See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85008/business-quickstart.pdf

Page 4. Print page 4 out and highlight the issue. Send it with your appeal.

PS I can't understand why anyone would stay at the Adelphi. It was always terrible. Britannia made it unbearable. ParkingEye just makes it ....well.

MrStephen_2

Thanks Fruitcake. I've read through the Newbies thread but haven't been able to find what's relevant to my case. We weren't shopping there, so have no receipts. It says to contact the retailer, but as can be seen the retailer just isn't interested!


Is the text you're talking about the one that begins "I am not ignoring your charge for a purported parking infraction. As this is purely a charge, issued under an alleged contract and the driver has not been identified, I require the following information so that I can make an informed decision:" and has eight points underneath it? I'm not disputing that there probably were full details of the signs, but was hoping to appeal more on the breastfeeding issue to hopefully shut this down quicker.


Or if it's the text in blue you're referring to, it mentions the 'Beavis' case which I've seen other forum users say doesn't always work...?


I wasn't intending on phone the company, but I believe (from on here) that one can contact them via their website. Wise?

MrStephen_2

Thanks. And I'm sending this to PE as opposed to the Adelphi?

Redx

no , you are appealing on the PE website using the blue text appeal template , which you have 28 days to do from the date of the letter

so appeal , ONLINE , as keeper , using the blue text appeal letter

you are not "sending" anything

and do not use the black text IPC appeal , only the BLUE TEXT appeal