Parking fine at Everyone Active in Hemel

annienc

Hi, I take my 2 year old daughter to gymnastics classes in Everyone Active (used to be Sport Space) in Hemel Hempstead every Tuesday. The protocol for parking is that you have to enter your registration on a screen once you enter the facility to get your 3 hours free parking. I do know that this is the case and normally do it straight away. However my daughter gets so excited once we get in to the sports centre that she usually runs straight to the gym. I must have forgotten to put my registration in the screen one week and I have been sent a £60 fine. Her class is from 10:30 - 11:!5 and the fine states that I was parked from 10:24 - 11:18. I appealed the fine, attaching my invoice for the gymnastics classes which states the days and time that the classes are on. I honestly thought they would withdraw the fine as I was clearly using the facility during that time, and i had just forgotten to enter my registration. My appeal was not successful and says that I have to appeal through POPLA, and if my appeal is rejected the fine will be £100 instead of £60.
Do I have a case to appeal or is it simply tough luck that I forgot to enter my reg?

Many thanks.

KeithP

Get the gym to cancel it.
Point out that if they cannot help with this you'll have to go elsewhere as their services are far too expensive when parking costs are taken into consideration.
Let them know that you have warned all your friends and family too.

Coupon-mad

No-one here will tell you to pay, nor that this is 'tough luck' or your fault.

This is an 'outrageous scam' (Hansard 2.2.18) so get the Gym Manager to cancel it.

This is not a fine.

Which PPC and did you somehow manage to blab about who the driver was?! Did you not come here first and read the NEWBIES FAQS and appeal properly as keeper?

And:

Do not reply if a poster with less than 1000 posts sends you a private message. People lurk and pop up and post on this forum with a dark agenda.

The_Deep

Write bad stuff on their Facebook page.

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 they will be out of business by Christmas.

annienc

Unfortunately I didn't know the thread existed. I wish I had. I think I did say that I took my daughter so I don't suppose I can use the format that I have just read on the page you suggested.
Can I ask what you mean by PPC? Would that be Civil Enforcement Ltd?
Is there anything I can do from here?

Thanks.

KeithP

PPC = Private Parking Company.

That, and many other acronyms used here, is explained in post #5 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.


Read again post #2. The suggestion was that you ask the gym to cancel it.

annienc

Is there anywhere that gives advice on getting the gym to cancel it?
I have read through the threads but I'm still confused. Do i not take the POPLA route then?
thanks.

KeithP

Yes, do not miss your opportunity to submit a PoPLA appeal.
What is the date on your initial appeal rejection letter?
You have thirty days to submit a PoPLA appeal.

Meanwhile complain to the gym along the lines I suggested earlier.
Remember, it is the gym that employed the PPC so the gym have control over their agents.

Sorry, there is no complaint template.
Just write a letter from the heart.
But here is a letter that someone recently wrote to Lidl. Parhaps you can use some of that:

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=74438010#post74438010

annienc

rejection letter is dated 25/06/18.
And sorry if this is a stupid question, in order to ask the gym to cancel, do i just email them using a contact on the website?

Umkomaas

in order to ask the gym to cancel, do i just email them using a contact on the website?

How would we know? You're much closer to the gym, you must surely have a better idea than strangers operating from all parts of the UK and other countries? Whether they will cancel remains to be seen, we do not have a one-size-fits-all answer to every eventuality.

Sorry, not being harsh, but you're best going with what your gut tells you might work best.

NeilCr

Umkomaas wrote: »

How would we know? You're much closer to the gym, you must surely have a better idea than strangers operating from all parts of the UK and other countries? Whether they will cancel remains to be seen, we do not have a one-size-fits-all answer to every eventuality.

Sorry, not being harsh, but you're best going with what your gut tells you might work best.

Quite.

Our gym is pretty informal - the manager's door is usually open and I'd first go in and ask (not complain) him to cancel the ticket. I'd move up a step if that didn't work

Just had a look at the OP's gym's website. If you don't want to do a face to face (which I prefer myself) then the contact us page is pretty clear. Enquiries looks the best starting place.