Lost POPLA appeal for Euro Car Parks PCN

minx1984

Hi all,

In January I made the mistake of parking in a pub car park to celebrate my graduation with my family not even considering I would need to pay for parking. Wrong! Turns out there were signs and a machine which none of us noticed. The first 90 minutes were free and we apparently stayed 2 hours 6 minutes, so when the fine turned up a week later it was a big surprise.

I was so surprised I actually made the trip back to the pub to check if it was right, sadly it was, several signs being displayed around the car park. I went in and spoke to the manager to see if there was anything he could do and he was fairly dismissive, 'Weatherspoons have nothing to do with the car park any more, it's run by a spearate business, there's nothing I can do'.

I was annoyed with this as the pub's own signage, clearly visible from the road, advertises Parking, along with Food and Global Beers, which to me, gives the impression that the car park was the property of the pub and was the main reason we'd gone there because we had the car. No ECP signs are visible until inside the car park.

So I appealed directly to Euro Car Parks and was rejected, then appealed to POPLA, also to be rejected. I feel like such an idiot for not coming online and finding more information from places such as MSE as I'm sure I would have been able to put together a far more convincing case.

However, I am now in the position where I have exhausted my appeals and because I just wanted it over, I went to pay my fine (£75 as the reduced fine of £45 had now elapsed) on the Euro Car Parks website, however this wouldn't let me pay, but forwarded me to the website of Debt Recovery Plus who are now trying to charge me £135!

This sent me on a frenzy of research this morning leading me to both you lovely people, and the Which? website, where it states 'If you lose your appeal, you will not have to pay any costs or compensation and the parking charge will not increase.'

I am really annoyed about the parking charge but fine, I didn't play by their rules (paying to use a pub car park - what is the world coming to!?) or come here to build a better and stronger appeal, so ok they won, I lost.

However, to my mind the additional £60 added on by DRP is an unfair fee which I am not prepared to pay, but it seems like it is no longer possible for me to pay the initial £75 fine as ECP have handed my case over to DRP.

Based on the recommendations made in this forum regarding DRP not having any ability to do anything other than make threats, it looks like I am being forced to ignore the fine, due to ECP bringing in a third party.

I just wondered if any of you had come across a case such as this, where someone lost their appeals, then tried to pay the original fine but couldn't without paying the extortionate (and I'm pretty sure not legally binding) additions by DRP.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer me with this matter, I just wish I'd come here sooner.

fisherjim

Such a pity you never came here first you have messed up.
The car park will not have been sold to Euro they only manage it, you were fobbed off.

If no one noticed the signage it can't have been very prominent can it?

It is not a "fine" scammers don't do offers and your situation is very common on here.

Luckily you are dealing with Euro who are very unlikely to go any further than letting their tame debt collector muppets send you letters with scary red fonts!

You are now in ignore mode unless you get real court papers which would be highly unlikely:

http://www.parkingappeals.info/companydata/Euro_Car_Parks.html

Ralph-y

to give you an idea as to the nature of this industry .....

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.



Ralph:cool:

beamerguy

DRP ARE A TIMEWASTING BUNCH OF LOW LIFE

Debt collectors in this area are simple timewasters. They cannot instigate legal action, nor can they cancel a ticket, nor can they affect your credit rating. Communicating with them apart from telling them to refer it back to the client, just wastes your time. What you have to bear in mind is that their only skill is misleading people and they do that to excess

minx1984

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'll just wait this one out. They shouldn't have got their greedy debt collectors involved otherwise I would never have ended up here!

Coupon-mad

So glad you didn't pay. I've ignored & laughed at ECP debt letters myself, before POPLA existed. It was the first fake PCN I ever had (not a fine) and we ignored it. Nothing happened.

Next time though, come here earlier and appeal properly and stop thinking it's a fine!