Parking eye refuse to speak with me! HELP

kezza83

I got a parking charge which has bow been passed on to equita.
After sending the below email to them, they have told me they are no longer dealing with it - so I sent equita an email.
Please see below and I would appreciate any help/advice anyone could offer!

Dear Parking Eye:
On 15.03.2018, I received a letter from a company called Equita, informing me that Parking Eye had recently written to me regarding an unpaid parking fine with a reference of ‘Keeper/Hirer/Driver’ of the relevant vehicle at the time of the parking event. (Equita REF:20955112)
To say I was absolutely shocked to receive this is an understatement. I have never received any letters from Parking Eye informing me of a fine- despite the reference as above.

The fact that this parking fine has not only been incorrectly issued to me, but to find that without informing me of the alleged offence, Parking Eye have then passed the fine to a debt collection agency is a complete farce.
It is my belief that Parking Eye has in fact used a sister company of debt collectors to inflate costs and act as a ‘cash genie’.

Having investigated the matter myself, I can only conclude that this ‘event’ occurred when I visited the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Freemans Common with my son and family.

To clarify - I am in no way disputing that my vehicle was in this carpark on the 28.03.2018 - I am disputing the fact that I fully complied with the parking regulations and entered my vehicle registration details into the computerized system (located in the foyer of the Odeon Cinema) when I visited with my son and family members on the date in question.
I have proof of my sister purchasing the tickets through an employee reward scheme on the evening of 28/12/2018 I also have proof of food/beverage purchase as I paid by debit card during the visit.
I am positive that Odeon Cinema have CCTV installed in the foyer area which can also clarify that the registration was entered onto the system correctly.


Disturbingly, Equita feels it necessary to ‘draw my intention’ to reference of previous cases that appeals have not been upheld and they have successfully taken payment from people. If not threatening enough…Equita also state that in the event I was not driving the vehicle myself – that I should still pay on the other driver’s behalf! I wonder if both Equita are aware of the impact this could have on vulnerable people? It is shocking that companies that attempt to use fear as a weapon to demand payment with first fully insuring that an actual offence occurred is ludicrous and frightening.


As a current serving member of the British Armed Force for over 20 years, I can assure you that I have worked tirelessly to maintain an excellent credit score with no debt defaults whatsoever - so the fact that I have been threatened with being issued with a CCJ is a complete outrage.


I wish to dispute this charge in full, along with any charges that Equita have stated. I wish for Parking Eye to fully investigate as to both how and why this error has occurred. The result of be it a possible technical error by Parking Eye indeed could have had the potential to ruin my credit rating. This is completely and utterly unacceptable and if for any reason I am pursued for this false fine – I will seek legal advice/ action accordingly.

I wish to receive a response as soon as possible on this matter.
_______________________________________________

Dear Sir / Madam, We refer to the Parking Charge incurred on 28 December 2017 at 22:01, at Freemans Park, Leicester car park. Please be advised your correspondence has been forwarded to Equita and all further queries concerning the above Parking Charge should be directed to them.
Yours faithfully,

ParkingEye Team

____________________________________________________________________

Sent to Equita at 8.31am 06/04/2018 via website email contact
I have been issued a parking fine from Parking eye which I have disputed. Rathere than Parking Eye looking into my dispute they have simply informed me that the matter has been passed to Equita. I wish to clarify that I am disputing the claim, and wish for this to be passed back to Parking Eye for further investigation. I do not however wish to incur any further potential costs through no correspondence hence why I am contacting Equita also. I would appreciate if you could get back to me at your earliest convenience.

Thanks for your enquiry
We aim to respond as quickly as possible, and thank you for your patience.

ParkingEye Team

Browntoa

Have you read through the "newbies " thread at all ?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

Quentin

Stop writing/contacting pe or equita!

You will see from the newbies FAQ the " damage" done already by writing to them and admitting who was driving!

Umkomaas

I am positive that Odeon Cinema have CCTV installed in the foyer area which can also clarify that the registration was entered onto the system correctly.

That would be some CCTV system to confirm you entering the correct VRM.

Stop digging on this. If PE have passed the case to Equita it's likely to die a death within a few months. Credit rating risk is not an issue, it can't happen unless PE (not Equita) issue court proceedings, you lose at court, you fail/refuse to pay any costs awarded against you by the Judge. As they've passed this to Equita, it's a fair assumption to make that PE will not issue proceedings.

Read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #4 for advice on how to deal with debt collectors.

Maybe the reason you received no correspondence from PE is that your vehicle's V5C is registered under a former address - check it out. Equita will have determined your current address via a trace service, but PE wouldn't use that, they rely on info from the DVLA.

As a current serving member of the British Armed Force for over 20 years, I can assure you that I have worked tirelessly to maintain an excellent credit score with no debt defaults whatsoever - so the fact that I have been threatened with being issued with a CCJ is a complete outrage.

Not sure what relevance your employment status has in the context of the PCN?

KeithP

Umkomaas wrote: »

Stop digging on this. If PE have passed the case to Equita it's likely to die a death within a few months.

That would've been the case if the OP hadn't written to Equita confirming who was driving.

pogofish

Why on earth would you want to speak to either of them..? They don't care.

Coupon-mad

Wow you took this far too seriously! Calm down, what a waste of time that exchange was!

Please read the NEWBIES thread post #4 about ignoring debt collectors.

None of your dates make sense, you say '28.03.2018' (this cannot have gone to Equita that quickly) and ''I have proof of my sister purchasing the tickets through an employee reward scheme on the evening of 28/12/2018'' (in the future).

What happened when you complained to the landowners or business/retailer at Freemans Park, Leicester? They can cancel this in one minute flat, and it's their fault for contracting with this nasty firm.

Umkomaas

KeithP wrote: »

That would've been the case if the OP hadn't written to Equita confirming who was driving.

It would still need a court hearing to determine whether the OP owed PE anything, and the use of Equita suggests that's not likely to happen (based on past experience). .

KeithP

Umkomaas wrote: »

It would still need a court hearing to determine whether the OP owed PE anything, and the use of Equita suggests that's not likely to happen (based on past experience). .

Yes, but now that Equita know who the driver was, surely* this information would be fed back to PE and PE would then re-assess the 'courtworthiness'.


*assuming there is some intelligence in Equita.

Umkomaas

KeithP wrote: »

Yes, but now that Equita know who the driver was, surely* this information would be fed back to PE and PE would then re-assess the 'courtworthiness'.


*assuming there is some intelligence in Equita.

Yes, there's the possibility that it was a non PoFA NtK issued by PE, where the hill would be higher for them to climb, so they wouldn't waste the energy with trying to pin it on a non disclosed driver at court. However, with the cat out of the bag, it does open things up a lot more.

I must admit I was narrowly working in the basis that the landowner hadn't given permission to PE to pursue to court.

And newbies frequently question/doubt our advice about remaining in keeper mode and not revealing the identity of the driver.

Possibly not the last we've heard on this.