Euro Car Parks Hamilton Palace Parking Charge

ChrisMckay2501

Looking for advice please.

I received a parking charge due to an overstay of 38 mins past the 4 hour max time on Christmas Eve, whilst parked in the ECP in Hamilton, Scotland.

At the time, I had no idea there was a max stay in the car park, as the signage isn't very obvious.

Whilst I was in the car park, I spent £75 in the businesses it serves (Vue cinema, Asda and Nandos).

The signage and the fact that the £70 fine is not a genuine indication of loss to the landowner were the reasons I cited in my letter to ECP, in response to receiving the charge notice through the post (used the template from this website). I also included photos of where the signage could / should be situated to make it more obvious, as well as photos of the existing signage, located in places where you would need to be manoeuvring and hence wouldn't be drawn to read the sign (cited this as a possible safety issue - I'm a safety advisor so thought I'd drop this in).

I have just received a letter telling me they have rejected my appeal, which simply states it's a driver's responsibility to read the signage, and that the charge still stands. I am wondering if anyone can advise on what my next move should be, if anything?

I really feel unjustly done by, especially due to the fact that the car park serves a cinema complex. It sort of feels like a Catch 22.

Redx

if you have not admitted the drivers details then as this is Scotland there is no keeper liability (no POFA2012) so as the NEWBIES sticky thread clearly says , IGNORE

ps:- I hope you did not use the MSE template , because the correct templates to use (if used) are in the NEWBIES sticky thread , above this thread

ChrisMckay2501

The drivers details were provided - the car I drive is a company car so didn't want letters going through HQ. And it was the template from the main website I used also.

ChrisMckay2501

I've just checked the letter and I've identified the vehicle as my company vehicle but I've never implicitly stated that I was driving it on the day in question.

Coupon-mad

Great. Even if you had we'd confirm the usual advice, in Scotland you ignore private parking tickets.

DoaM

Just for info ... the ECP car park doesn't serve ASDA - they have their own car park.

(I know the area well, I live about 10 miles away from there).

ChrisMckay2501

Are you sure you can ignore it? The advice on the main site seems to suggest differently.

Coupon-mad

ChrisMckay2501 wrote: »

Are you sure you can ignore it? The advice on the main site seems to suggest differently.

The main site ''advice'' on private parking tickets is (sadly) awful.

Yes, ignore it, not least because it is Euro Car Parks whose boss admitted a few years ago they have no idea about county court. They don't sue people in England so would hardly be likely to make a foray into the Scottish courts out of the blue - and if they did it would not be a person with ONE PCN they would choose as a guinea pig victim for the first time, it would be someone with multi-PCNs of ever they tried.

ChrisMckay2501

Brilliant- thanks for your help on this.

Herzlos

DoaM wrote: »

Just for info ... the ECP car park doesn't serve ASDA - they have their own car park.

(I know the area well, I live about 10 miles away from there).

Yeah ECP cover the cinema side parking (4 hours, though there's a terminal hidden in the cinema behind the ticket check on the right where you can enter your reg number for an exception). Highview cover the Adsa side (3 hours, no exceptions).

My vehicle got 1 invoice (and maybe 5 follow ups) once, and then another vehicle was ignored a 2nd time, so I suspect Asda have told highview not to bother.

Anyway, on the ECP side, you've notified them so the paperwork will go to you, no court or debt collection action will occur so just ignore the junk mail.

I'd fire off a complain to the cinema and stores you visited anyway.

ChrisMckay2501

I have now received a debt recovery letter from a company acting on behalf of EPL demanding payment of £130. I replied to tell them that I contested the validity of the ticket with EPL and also did not identify the driver in any correspondence, but they have responded saying if I do not ID the driver I am liable for the debt.

They are saying if I do not pay or ID the driver they will hand this back to EPL to initiate court proceedings. What should I do?