Help with Parking Eye in Aldi after double dipping

Ralph-y

"however I would urge you to check the store CCTV footage which will show that the visits were each well under 30 mins."

they can not/ will not do this ..... if .... if there is CCTV the PPC should not have access to it .... I think you are mixing up ANPR ...

do you have any proof that you where else where during this period ?

if so tell them you have proof of such ....

(and tell Aldi)


not that it will make much difference ... they will not grant the appeal ..... but it will all help at POPLA

good luck

Ralph:cool:

Fruitcake

Dave_Sk wrote: »

Thanks for the extra info, I've edited the BPA template to add the following:


I challenge this 'PCN' as keeper of the car and I will complain to the landowner about the matter if it is not cancelled.

Your 'PCN' claims that the vehicle was in Aldi car park from ....arrival time & date.... and remained there overnight until ....departure time & date....
However, the vehicle wasn't there for the entire time. There were 2 separate trips, neither of which lasted more then 30 mins, one on the Friday night and one on Saturday afternoon. It appears that your camera is not reliable, however I would urge you to check the store CCTV footage which will show that the visits were each well under 30 mins.

The reliability of the camera is further brought into question as the registration plate shown in the arrival time picture is not the registration of my vehicle. While very similar, the last digit reads G. My registration last digit is C. This suggests that the arrival photo is of an entirely different vehicle. The photo of the vehicle is too dark to identify the make and model and therefore provides no further evidence of my vehicle's arrival time.


... rest of letter continues as BPA template...


Does that sound OK?

Thanks
Dave

ANPR images, not CCTV. Don't use, it appears that your camera is not reliable. State that this is a well known error which is why the UK Government prohibits its use for car park monitoring.

If you have proof that your vehicle was elsewhere, then state that you have it and will use it as evidence if this goes to court.
Proof could be witness statements from neighbours that they saw the vehicle during the alleged period, or timed and dated shopping receipts. Anything at all that indicates you were elsewhere with a time and date will suffice.

Dave_Sk

Thanks! How's this sounding:

Your 'PCN' claims that the vehicle was in Aldi car park from ....arrival time & date.... and remained there overnight until ....departure time & date....
However, the vehicle wasn't there for the entire time. There were 2 separate trips, neither of which lasted more then 30 mins, one on the Friday night and one on Saturday afternoon. This is a well known issue with ANPR cameras which is why the UK Government prohibits its use for car park monitoring and therefore I would urge you to check the ANPR images again which will show that the visits were each well under 30 mins.

The reliability of the camera is further brought into question as the registration plate shown in the arrival time picture is not the registration of my vehicle. While very similar, the last digit reads G. My registration last digit is C. This suggests that the arrival photo is of an entirely different vehicle. The photo of the vehicle is too dark to identify the make and model and therefore provides no further evidence of my vehicle's arrival time.


Regarding evidence, with the exception of Aldi's CCTV, I don't think I have any evidence. Didn't keep the receipts and probably paid cash. I think I picked a mate up later that night on the Friday who could write a statement but would that be sufficient evidence as they are likely to be biased?

Dave_Sk

I've written a complaint letter to send to Aldi, if anyone could have a read over it and tell me if it sounds OK that would be great! Also, any comments to my question regarding evidence and the appeal letter my previous message would be good. Hoping to get these sent off today but a bit nervous of clicking the send button in case I make a mistake!




Dear

OFFICAL COMPLAINT ABOUT PARKING EYE. VRN - ..number plate..

I am a regular and loyal customer of my local Aldi in ..town.. and shop with you several times per week. However, I feel it necessary to lodge an official complaint after receiving an intimidating letter from Parking Eye claiming that my vehicle was parked at your store for just short of 17 hours between ..time.. and ..time.. Despite being nothing more than an invoice, the letter appears to mimic a Penalty Charge Notice and demands payment of £70. Additional pressure is brought to the recipient of the letter by offering a reduction of this payment if paid within 14 days. I wonder how many people receive this letter in error, as I have done, and simply pay up as they don't understand it fully or are simply scared that if they don't settle it quickly they will have to pay more.

I completely understand why you need to police your parking facilities and I agree that you should do so as I know how frustrating it is when I can't park at your store. However, Parking Eye are not managing this properly and, judging by the research I have done, they are doing it aggressively with no care for your customers.

The 17 hours stay I am accused of was, of course, nothing of the sort. If you have access to your CCTV footage I would urge you to check it for the dates specified. You will see that my car did indeed enter the car park on Friday night, however it then left probably 30 mins later (and certainly less than the 2 hour limit). My car did enter the car park again on the Saturday afternoon and left shortly after, this time probably less than 15 mins later. It appears that Parking Eye have ignored the car leaving on Friday night and ignored it entering again on Saturday. ie. they haven't counted it as 2 separate visits but have seen it as one long visit.

This issue is well documented with the ANPR cameras that Parking Eye use to record customers exiting and entering. In fact, I believe the UK Government prohibits their use for parking monitoring for local councils due to their unreliability. A quick internet search reveals that there are numerous other reports of people finding themselves in similar situations because of the unreliable cameras. One last year at Aldi made the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/oct/11/aldi-parking-fine-parking-eye-supermarket

I live just a five minute walk from your Aldi store in ..town... I have 2 spaces in a residents car park and plenty of on-road parking so there is no benefit in my car being parked in your car park overnight. Your CCTV will show that it was not there overnight and I have a witness who will provide a written statement to confirm that my car was elsewhere and on the Fri night in question after the arrival time at Aldi, should this be required.

I have researched Parking Eye in detail today. It's cost me more in time and stress than the £40 reduced charge is worth. I considered paying it to make it all this go away, however it's the principle of the matter that has swayed me from doing this. I will continue to escalate this with Parking Eye and I will not pay anything to them unless instructed to do so by a court. There are other issues which I will pursue with them but the simple fact that I am being accused of something I didn't do is the core problem here.

That said, I would really like to avoid this going to anywhere near a court, and it's also in Aldi's benefit that it stays away from court too. A headline in the ...local rag... along the lines of "Aldi take customer to court for shopping with them too often" along with a picture of my miserable face isn't going to do much for your public relations!

I would also strongly suggest that you reconsider Parking Eye as one of your business partners when it's time to re-sign your contract with them. They are making decent companies like yourself look very bad and discouraging customers. I am now very wary of visiting your store on consecutive days in case this happens again. You spend the money building your brand and building stores and then you allow Parking Eye to set up shop in your car park and cause distress and worry to your customers. Your customers are losing out and you are losing out, while Parking Eye presumably make a tidy profit with relatively low initial spend and relatively low running costs. Today I have heard it referred to as "farming" supermarket car parks, and that is exactly how it feels.

I would be interested to hear your comments on the matter and with the above points in mind I would request that you instruct Parking Eye to cancel the "PCN" invoice that they have sent and inform me in writing that you have done so. It would also be appreciated if you would be willing to arrange for some kind of compensation for the time and stress that this has caused me.

Yours,

Fruitcake

Dave_Sk wrote: »

Thanks! How's this sounding:

Your 'PCN' claims that the vehicle was in Aldi car park from ....arrival time & date.... and remained there overnight until ....departure time & date....
However, the vehicle wasn't there for the entire time. There were 2 separate trips, neither of which lasted more then 30 mins, one on the Friday night and one on Saturday afternoon. This is a well known issue with ANPR cameras which is why the UK Government prohibits its use for car park monitoring and therefore I would urge you to check the ANPR images again which will show that the visits were each well under 30 mins.

The reliability of the camera is further brought into question as the registration plate shown in the arrival time picture is not the registration of my vehicle. While very similar, the last digit reads G. My registration last digit is C. This suggests that the arrival photo is of an entirely different vehicle. The photo of the vehicle is too dark to identify the make and model and therefore provides no further evidence of my vehicle's arrival time.


Regarding evidence, with the exception of Aldi's CCTV, I don't think I have any evidence. Didn't keep the receipts and probably paid cash. I think I picked a mate up later that night on the Friday who could write a statement but would that be sufficient evidence as they are likely to be biased?

I wouldn't bother with asking anyone to revue the ANPR data. The most likely scenario is parking lie will say they can find no evidence that your car left and re-entered later, therefore they believe the PCN was issued correctly.
I think you just need state that your car left, and came back later, therefore their system is defective.

I don't think CCTV can be used to monitor parking and nobody is going to look at it without a court order. However, a judge is likely to believe you should this go to court when you show how often ANPR gets things wrong.

You are only at the initial appeal stage so just add the bit about this being a double dip to the BPA template in blue. In parallel, complain to the CEO about this and ask for your ticket to be cancelled or you will become an ex customer.

Mr.Generous

excellent letter I think, I was a retail manager for many years and at some sites we had parking controls. I would be asking contractor to cancel that one straight away. BTW I got one myself once at Crewe store. I got it cancelled.

Umkomaas

I don't think CCTV can be used to monitor parking and nobody is going to look at it without a court order.

I agree FC.

@OP, have you ever tried to trace an 'event' via CCTV? I have. It's the most ball-aching job you could imagine. You almost have to go through everything in real time, scrolling back and to and if you're looking at distant images, almost too grainy to see any detail.

And for those who say 'Please check that I entered the store .....', how the f*** do they know what you look like?

Unless it's a murder/terrorist event, seeking CCTV analysis is as likely as the tooth fairy putting sixpence under your pillow every night you pop your teeth into the jar on your bedside table.

Dave_Sk

Thanks guys. Regarding the CCTV, I don't really expect anyone to trawl through hours of footage, more a case of putting the ball in their court and showing that I'm confident of what they would find should they wish to.

But I'll remove it from the appeal, might as well leave it in the Aldi letter. In the highly unlikely event that Aldi wish to review it, then it being a ball ache for them is good news in my book!

I'm gonna fire off the appeal and letter today and also go into the store to speak to the manager. Also, I'll send the BMP letter to my local MP/T. May

Having said that, and purely from an academic point of view.... I haven't ever tried to trace an event on CCTV. But presumably it's kept on a hard drive these days with a time stamp? Surely someone with anything but an ancient tape system could just start 5 minutes before the arrival time and watch me come in and leave a 20 mins later? But yeah, I know that nobody in Aldi complaints is going to review the footage, even if it still exists.

steve1500

Fruitcake wrote: »

I don't think CCTV can be used to monitor parking and nobody is going to look at it without a court order. However, a judge is likely to believe you should this go to court when you show how often ANPR gets things wrong.

CCTV is not excluded from Subject Access Requests under the Data Protection Act. Fixed price £10

You are fully within your rights to ask, you have to give them a rough idea of the times - they will then have to trawl through the CCTV & find you.


Obviously you have to provide the store with a picture of yourself

To make it even better - in theory they are then supposed to pixelate out or something similar anybody else in the video