g24 ticket from b&m Falkirk,Scotland... Help!

TARTANDAISYS

greatly in need of advice!
I'm in scotland and have a g24 ticket. I waited a few weeks and then used the appeal message option on their website. However I foolishly gave away that I was driving. they have responded with what seems to be generic response email and stated upon proof of being a customer they may review my ticket.
went into the b&m in Falkirk and the manager said it would be almost impossible to pull my receipts based on the info I could remember (very helpful) and as I was not in the shop the whole time, g24 would just ignore my receipt anyway. The issue I have with b&ms response is I was a customer in the shop twice in the 3hrs 50min stay (I thought it was 4 hours customer parking, not 2)... as far as I can see online and from working in retail myself, the store has the ability to cancel the ticket by contacting the parking company?...
I just can't see how a £90 charge is accurate of loss to them in a free car park that was barely half full on arrival and almost empty when leaving. as it is a free carpark, surely loss of income is £0 and as there is no validation process- non customers can use it as long as they leave in 2hours. I was a customer twice in my stay and a frequent customer in general...

I am at a loss as what to do next as the response the sent me was worded as they were awaiting a response and by ignoring or replying, am I making things worse? I am very worried that the ensuing letters will then go to dca's (not 100% if this effects my credit history/rating) and if then goes to court I am left with a fine I can't afford to pay anyway.
any advice would be greatly received and this situation is making me very anxious and upset.
thanks

ps. I can post a copy of the email they sent me, mentioning the pofa legislation that I know not to apply in Scotland

DoaM

Unfortunately you contacted them ... if you'd ignored them completely there'd be nothing they could do. As you've apparently outed yourself as the driver then you have 3 choices:

1. Pay it (not advised, as you didn't cause any loss to them or the business they were "enforcing" for)

2. Ignore everything from them except a real Letter Before Court (or whatever the Scottish equivalent is) or Sheriff's Court papers. (The likelihood of receiving court papers is minuscule; G24 won't use a £90 PCN as their first court case in Scotland).

3. Complain to the business (G24 are agents for them) to get the PCN cancelled.

My recommendation is doing both 2 and 3.

Umkomaas

ps. I can post a copy of the email they sent me, mentioning the pofa legislation that I know not to apply in Scotland

That would be interesting to see. If they are claiming PoFA applies then a complaint to the DVLA could see your case dropped and G24 sanctioned.

You will need to photo/scan it then host it on a free hosting site like TinyPic, Photobucket or Google Dropbox. Copy the URL and post it here, but as you don't have linking privileges as a newbie, just change the http to read hxxp and a regular will reconvert to a live link.

Please redact any personal data in the email before hosting.

TARTANDAISYS

I have spoke to the manager in b&m again and she is trying to pull the receipts for me, as its cash- it may not be possible to find them. As the amounts I spent were under £20, she said they are unable to get g24 to cancel the ticket on their side.
Points I wish to be raised with g24 is how poor the signage is, how I can be billed for loss of income in free carpark and the fact it was a genuine error, I thought the carpark was the standard 4 hour stay of most store carparks with no pay and display. My two visits in store were spread out within the time frame, so like over 2 hours apart. I offered to pay a justifiable fee for parking, ie the cost it would be if it was a paying carpark, ie £2-£4- but the email response seemed generic, I do not think they actually read what I had put in the appeal note, especially as the response was sent back to me at 3am. Also the body they state that you can raise a complaint/appeal with outwith their own one is owned by them (g24/gladstone brooks)- how on earth can that be unbiased!!?
I'll try to work out how to post copies of the correspondence- I'm not the most tech savy!
I'm just so furious with myself for contacting them back. As a fairly new driver and honest person I thought I was doing the right thing by not ignoring and just challenging the fee but still holding my hands up to my error. I'm now in a position of stress and upset for my honesty- wish I had ignored and found the newbie thread sooner, rather than just searching and reading comments on threads here/there

TARTANDAISYS

oh and the manager also said that g24 own that land, they just have an agreement with g24...
anyone whose been there knows that there are about 3 businesses surrounding the carpark and the signs on top of being small and unclear, do not state which business, which begs the question- is it a 2 hour stay in each business?

pogofish

Is that your real name in the above link..?

If so, I suggest you edit it and post something more discrete!

TARTANDAISYS

pogofish wrote: »

Is that your real name in the above link..?

If so, I suggest you edit it and post something more discrete!

dropbox put that there from my email, just noticed that! thanks- deleted it

fisherjim

Sorry you are being fobbed off, why would G24 buy a piece of land, tarmac it etc etc and provide free parking for a retail park?

The manager is either lying or just making it up to appease you, I suspect the landowner if not B&M and there are other stores on site has contracted them, the signage usually states who they are working on behalf of.

Many of these contracts have a clause where a store can cancel a pcn, but they get charged £10-£20 for doing it obviously they don't want to lose that from their profits.

G24 are greedy muppets they won't cancel they are just stringing yuo along, don't pay them a bean!

TARTANDAISYS

the manager said g24 would not cancel it if I had spent less than £20 in store and they would want the receipts proving so faxed

DoaM

So that's a hidden clause in the contract between B&M and G24 then ... something that will not have been advised on the signage anywhere. (Aldi have a similar term in their contract with Parking Eye ... genuine customers spending £30 or more will get their PCNs cancelled upon proof of purchase).

And the lady in B&M is misinformed (to be polite) ... G24 do not own any car parks whatsoever - they provide car park management services. B&M likely own the car park as part of their lease from whomsoever owns the land. Therefore B&M are the defacto land owners.

TARTANDAISYS

I thought the manager had it wrong. I asked her where online that information was available to the customer and she said it wasnt- it was the agreement with them and g24

I'm still trying to get a way of uploading a copy of the email from g24 on this thread