2 fines for same car park - advice appreciated

katie_may

Hi all,
I have read the sticky, but I'd really like some advice as to whether you think it's worth my while appealing. I've unfortunately already unwittingly broken one of your major rules and written to ParkingEye who issued the fines stating that I was driving.

I parked my car at a car park near my work on two dates a week apart, the usual charge is £2 per day, but the machine was out of order. I read the signs briefly and text my reg number to the required phone number, assuming I would be charged to my phone bill. I had missed calls but didn't realise they were from the parking company seeking credit card details. I have screen shots of the text messages - but I now see that this is unlikely to be a valid defence. I have been referred to POPLA to appeal or to pay the discounted rate of £60 per fine now.

I'm wondering if I should just pay up as I made this error twice?

Thanks,

K

Fruitcake

They are not fines.

Nobody here will advise you to pay a bunch of scammers whom our venerable MPs called "bloodsuckers" in open Parliament.

Appeal using all the relevant points available to you from post 3 of the NEWBIES and post your draft here for checking before you submit it.

Get pics of the entrance and signage to use in the loooooong signage template point.

What happened when you complained to the landowner?

Please also complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

These are some of the comments made by the MPs in Parliament concerning the unregulated parking industry (Feb 2018):

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-02-02/debates/CC84AF5E-AC6E-4E14-81B1-066E6A892807/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill

''Rip-offs from car park Cowboys must stop''; unfair treatment; signage deliberately confusing to ensure a PCN is issued; ''years of abuse by rogue parking companies''; bloodsuckers; ''the current system of regulation is hopeless, like putting Dracula in charge of the blood-bank''; extortionate fines; rogue operators; ''sense of injustice''; unfair charges and notices; wilfully misleading; signage is a deliberate act to deceive or mislead; ''confusing signs are often deliberate, to trap innocent drivers''; unreasonable; a curse; harassing; operating in a disgusting way; appeals service is no guarantee of a fair hearing; loathed; outrageous scam; dodgy practice; outrageous abuse; unscrupulous practices; ''the British Parking Association is as much use as a multi-storey car park in the Gobi desert''; and finally, by way of unanimous conclusion: ''we need to crack down on these rogue companies. They are an absolute disgrace to this country. Ordinary motorists and ordinary residents should not have to put up with this''.

These are the exact words used, so you should quote them to your MP in a complaint and ask him/her to contact Sir Greg Knight MP if he wants further information about this scam.

The_Deep

These are not fines, they are invoices for perceived damages for injuries allegedly caused to them by you breaching their contract. A judge may well feel that they are attempteing to deceive you. Pay them nothing unless a judge orders you to, they are scammers.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind most of these companies may well be put out of business by Christmas.

Guys_Dad

If they rang you for your credit card details and didn't leave either a voicemail or send a text message, after you had contacted them in the first place, then that might be a reasonable point for your defence.

Working on the basis that you were trying to make a payment contract, made an offer to pay but they didn't follow through with their acceptance.

Also, what instruction is there in the car park for motorists to follow in the event of the machine being out of action? Is there a specific instruction telling you to leave the premises in that event?

katie_may

Hi, I did have a voicemail, but it was from a machine rather than a person asking if I was driving a car or a van - I worried I might be overcharged, but it didn't occur to me that I had not been charged at all.
The second time, I answered the phone, realised they wanted a credit card payment, but couldn't get it to process.
I think I need to visit the car park again (I've avoided it since) and take a load of pictures to back up my claim.
I appreciate all advice, as I'm unsure on what basis to make my claim.

Coupon-mad

You are not making a 'claim'. You are at POPLA stage:

I have been referred to POPLA to appeal

...and luckily, the NEWBIES thread post #3 has POPLA appeal point templates to use.