Please Help - What do I do next?

nickyp2017

I am so stressed, confused and overwhelmed by all the information that I am considering just paying the fine. I am at my wits end with parking eye to a point where it is starting to affect me and I really don't know what to do or where to turn. Apologies for the long thread ..

To cut a long story short, last december, I had to take an elderly person to A+E at Bath Hospital on the advice of her GP. I dropped her and her husband off outside A+E while I went to find a car park. Not familiar with Bath Hospital at all as I live in Wales, I entered a car park just up a bit from A+E, (which had barriers that weren't working, with black bags over them) I genuinely did not see any signs upon entry to the car park and there were no pay machines around. At this point I was concerned for the couple I dropped off at A+E so made my way there.
After a few hours we came out of the hospital and I noticed a pay machine by the doors of A+E ..it asked for my registration number, and the time I entered the car park but it did not display a price, however I still put in some money (a few quid, I can't remember the exact amount) I wasn't issued a ticket.

A few weeks later I was sent a notice from parking eye asking for £80 or £40 if I paid immediately. I ignored this as this is what people say is the best thing to do with these private companies.
Next I get a letter from Northampton County Court asking me to send my defense via MCOL which I did, I mentioned that I had not seen any signs, that I tried to pay but no amount was given, there was no one around to ask, and that I have no issues paying for parking but I do have a problem paying an over inflated fine for the sake of a few quid.

I explained the situation of rushing an elderly person to hospital etc etc. There was also a security camera on the door of A+E where, if they needed could actually get footage of me paying an amount into their machine.
This week I have received a photocopy of an N180 directions questionnaire filled out on behalf of Parking Eye. There is no other correspondence in the letter or instruction on what I should do next. Parking Eye don't want mediation ( which I would prefer, rather than go to court and pay stupid amounts of money) They've also ticked that the small claims is the appropriate track for this case.

Please can you advise me what to do next..I have tried reading through everything on here for advice but I am overwhelmed by it all and can't understand some of it. I am so worried that I have gone about this the wrong way.
Thanks in advance

Quentin

Too late to worry about spilt milk


You now need to set about preparing for a court case and submitting your completed questionnaire - assuming there's time. Forget mediation.

Redx

you have definitely gone about this the wrong way

you are now in the middle of the MCOL small claims court saga

post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky thread has the info you need and especially the BARGEPOLE posts linked in there

so you are defending yourself in a court case where legal arguments prevail on both sides

ideally we would need to see EXACTLY what was written in that defence you submitted earlier , because you will be relying on it in court

also, you should have complained to PALS at the hospital and insisted on a cancellation , back when the postal NTK arrived

IGNORING a pcn , especially from Parking Eye , has not been correct since october 2012 , so not for 4.5 years !!

nickyp2017

Oh No! Thank you for responding, although I have no idea what you mean by my completed questionnaire, as nothing has been sent to me..I am literally completely out of my depth here.

Quentin

nickyp2017 wrote: »

... Thank you for responding, although I have no idea what you mean by my completed questionnaire, as nothing has been sent to me...

You should have received correspondence from the court after submitting your initial defence.


If not and this was some time ago get onto the court and ask what's going on as you have heard nothing but know from the claimant that the case is proceeding.

nickyp2017

This is the defense I sent off, luckily I copied it as I now cannot access my MCOL account and they can't help me access it either, I have tried to phone the court to find out what is going on as I haven't received a thing but it is constantly engaged. Am I doomed?....Does anyone know how much this will cost me in the end?

How much of the claim do you dispute?
I dispute the full amount claimed as shown on the claim form.

Do you dispute this claim because you have already paid it?
No, for other reasons.

Defence
I had to take my fiance's 70 year old mother to A+E at Bath
hospital on December 23rd 2016 with suspected pleuracy on the
advice of her doctor. As I wasn't able to park outside A+E I
dropped her off whilst I went to look for a car park as she was
too poorly to walk any distance. I am not from the Bath area and
I am not familiar with Bath Hospital so I parked in the first car
park that I came upon.
I noticed the car park had a barrier system which was not in
operation and the machine that produced tickets was covered in
black polythene. There were no signs upon entry to the car park
advising me of how or what to pay. I also noticed other people
wandering about the car park looking for ticket machines.
Concerned for my fiance's mum I parked the car and rushed back to
A+E.
After spending a few hours in the hospital whilst she underwent
assessment, we left via A+E and just outside the doors and in full
view of CCTV was a ticket machine. The machine asked me to input
the time that I entered the car park, which I did, and I think it
asked for my registration number ( although not 100% on this)
after doing so, no parking fee came up on the machine and I had no
idea how much I was supposed to pay. However, rather than leave
without paying anything at all, I paid in £3+ into the machine, an
amount I felt sufficient for the time spent in the hospital. The
machine did not give me a ticket to prove that I had paid
anything.
Upon returning to the car park with my fiance's poorly mum, I
looked to see if there was a parking attendant from Parking Eye
who could have advised me on how much to pay but there wasn't
anyone around.
The court claim correspondence is the first correspondence I have
received regarding this issue and had I had any correspondence
previous to this I would have tried to resolve this matter before
it got this far.
I have no issue with paying parking fees, I am a student nurse and
I am fully aware of the parking systems in hospitals, however I
feel the money Parking Eye want me to pay them is not in line with
what they say their hourly parking fees are.
I have no problem paying parking eye the hourly rate they say that
I owe them, minus the money I have already paid, but to ask for
£80 plus legal costs plus court fees amounting in £155 is beyond
what I can afford as a student nurse. I could have left the car
park without paying anything at all as there were no parking eye
staff around for me to seek help or advice, no working barrier
system and no signs.
I was at A+E that day helping a very poorly older person to the
emergency department who would have otherwise needed an ambulance
service to take her there.
I would like to re-iterate that the CCTV outside A+E will clearly
show me inserting money into the parking meter should validation
be needed on this.

Thank you for taking the time to read my defence.
Kind regards

nickyp2017

I managed to get through to them county court business centre in Northampton to find out what is going on and they advised me that the case is stayed and as yet have not received a response from parking eye. They said as soon as they do they will send me out my questionnaire. Fingers crossed this is good news and they have decided to let the case drop.

Coupon-mad

nickyp2017 wrote: »

I managed to get through to them county court business centre in Northampton to find out what is going on and they advised me that the case is stayed and as yet have not received a response from parking eye. They said as soon as they do they will send me out my questionnaire. Fingers crossed this is good news and they have decided to let the case drop.

Good!

Your case shows why NHS Trusts should be deeply ashamed of letting ParkingEye in.

:mad: