Advice Please! (Equita and PE)

Fakes123

Hi everybody,

I'm new here but have taken the time to read the Newbies pinned message at the top of the forum. Unfortunately at this point I found it too convoluted with far too many conflicting opinions. I would just like to get some advice and what is generally seen as the best action in my situation.

I've received a number of letters from Parking Eye and Equita requesting that I pay them ever-increasing amounts for an unpaid ticket that has been claimed for a just-over-an-hour long stay at a Best Western hotel (in order to use the gym facilities). At this particular Best Western there is a machine to key in your registration in order to be granted 2 hours of free parking. It may be in this one instance that I may have forgotten to sign in - or that the machine didn't pick it up. Even at the time of receiving the first letter I couldn't remember.

Unfortunately the threatening tone of the letters is making me nervous and I do not have the experience or know-how of this process to understand whether I am in hot water or not. Perhaps one of you would be able to better guide me.

Here are the uploads of my letters:
(Please put http:// before the links below into the address bar to see them. I cannot post direct links as a newbie)
s16.postimg.io/a646fovd1/Edit_1.jpg
s16.postimg.org/psvft2951/Edit_2.jpg
s16.postimg.org/majfwo891/Edit_3.jpg
s16.postimg.org/xo5z7virp/Edit_4.jpg
s16.postimg.org/9kk9gp6md/Edit_5.jpg
s16.postimg.org/ohsqhpjut/Edit_6.jpg

The last letter is the most concerning and I don't feel like I have the bottle to continue fighting the good fight. So far I have made no contact with either PE or Equita. Please advise!

Thanks in advance

Redx

it appears that you have ignored PE and not complained to the Hotel facility to cancel the charge by PE (THIS IS YOUR BEST BET AND MAY BE YOUR ONLY HOPE)

PE are very , very litigious and will take you to small claims court, they have 6 years to do so but it wont get to 6 years , nowhere enar

due to ignoring the initial NTK you can not appeal as the 28 days to appeal is long gone , so they wont give you a popla code either

in a nutshell, by ignoring it thus far you have dug a very , very deep hole for yourself

you need to complain STRONGLY to the hotel chain and get it cancelled , ASAP , PDQ

if you do nothing , PE will issue an MCOL, a court case , this will be harder to win than it would at popla had you appealed

so its landholder cancellation asap, or pay (which we dont normally advise) , or man up for a court case (which is extremely likely at the moment)

you might win a court case as its different than BEAVIS, but he lost to PE 3 times (3 courts , 11 judges) , so you would need a very well presented case at court

a classic case of a small error and inaction causing armageddon

your images are too small and unreadable

Fakes123

Hi Redx,

I've updated the image links to show the full size images now. The last image shows the latest letter.

It does sound like I've dug myself a hole and probably shouldn't have ignored the letters for so long. By the sounds of it, my two options are to either contact the Best Western and implore them to request the ticket be cancelled with Parking Eye or to simply cut my losses and pay the money (as much as I think it's unreasonable). I don't consider court an option as I don't feel I have a tough enough mentality for it.

Thank you for your quick response

pappa_golf

why are PE using equita in this case? normally its straight to county court


perhaps the US owned company have denied permission to start court action , just like Aldi

Coupon-mad

PCN (May) then second letter from PE:

http://s16.postimg.io/a646fovd1/Edit_1.jpg

https://s16.postimg.io/psvft2951/Edit_2.jpg


LBCCC end of June:

https://s16.postimg.io/majfwo891/Edit_3.jpg


Equita Letters:

https://s16.postimg.io/xo5z7virp/Edit_4.jpg

https://s16.postimg.io/9kk9gp6md/Edit_5.jpg

https://s16.postimg.io/ohsqhpjut/Edit_6.jpg


Like pappa golf, I do wonder why they sent debt collector letters and did not go stright for a court claim after the LBCCC was ignored back in June. I would suggest one reason might be that their contract with the Hotel doesn't allow them to sue? As pappa golf says, we know that Aldi (owned by Walmart in the US) seem to have a contract that prevents PE from suing because we've never seen an Aldi case go that far, so it is perfectly possible PE can't enforce this one either.

So, as Redx says, complain to the Hotel and if they are useless, escalate the complaint in writing to the Head Office of the Hotel chain, telling them you are being threatened with court for visiting their gym!

Then complain AGAIN and AGAIN, reply and insist that the Hotel cancel the charge because we know that the principal can certainly tell their agent PE, to cancel.

I would say you do not have just two choices. It seems for some reason PE avoided a small claim in your case and so, I doubt they will try this. If they do, if you do not feel strong enough to face them at a hearing you could settle at any point before the hearing you know.

To pay now (if your complaints fall on deaf ears) would be the worst plan IMHO, because it is not just a choice of 'pay or court' and settlement could be offered even after court papers and could be as low as £60 at that point anyway. Paying a 3 figure sum would be wrong.

Having said that, do not reply if any poster here contacts you by private message offering to 'help'. Do not trust a poster with less than 1000 posts who uses private message as a contact method; they could even be the parking firm and will not have your best interests as their agenda.

Fakes123

I have called the hotel and informed them of the situation. Unfortunately they wouldn't pass me through to a senior member of staff, so I was left with going through the supposed proper channels. The lady on the other end of the call asked for my details (a concern) and then passed them on to PE.

She informed me that she has requested PE drop the charge via e-mail, as is their procedure. She said that PE does not respond to their e-mails and will continue to send letters to me for the foreseeable as it may take them up to 4 weeks to respond to the request. In the mean time she told me to ignore the automated letters. I'm still moderately concerned because of the supposed 7 days I have to respond to Equita. As of this moment, do you think my best course of action is to continue to ignore Equita and wait for further details?

I got the lady's name jotted down for future reference if there continues to be a problem. I can imagine them, that is PE, saying they got no such request to cancel the charge.

It's interesting to hear that they don't normally go through 'Equita' and if they are taking that approach, it sounds like it adds credence to the idea that they won't take this much further.

Thank you for putting my images into direct links.

Coupon-mad

I would email:

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

(not Equita, who can't litigate anyway) and tell them that the driver of the car was a member of the gym and was using it, so after enduring the harassment of these threatening letters you have made a formal complaint to the Hotel. They have confirmed they will require ParkingEye to cancel the PCN in the circumstances and have emailed to request it. As such, you require confirmation from PE that this has been done.

Finish by saying that as the matter is clearly in dispute and the Hotel wants the unfair PCN cancelled, the matter must be placed 'on hold' - certainly no legal action can commence or this would be vexatious and unreasonable - and you expect the fact the case is at least 'on hold' to be confirmed by return email by PE this coming week (followed by confirmation of cancellation).

Fakes123

Thanks again, Coupon-mad. You've been very helpful! I've not yet emailed as I've wanted to weigh up my options...perhaps wait for another letter from PE. (I'm dithering over the best way to proceed)

I cannot decide whether or not emailing PE would give them the impression that I've been rattled - or if I may inadvertently give them some information that could be used against me. Perhaps it is also naive to trust in the word of this receptionist at the Best Western also though. I'll try and make a decision by tomorrow.

If anybody else has any more thoughts I am always glad of second opinions.