Parking Eye - Appeal Rejected - Court Threat

shoey79

:mad::mad:

Hi all,

A Family Member has received this and I thought I'd ask for an opinion on this...

So back in July my family member took 3 cars to a local car wash based on site of a Hotel Car park.

When the cars are taken over there the car wash company has to register the index plates however they forgot to add my family members to the system or typed it incorrectly, the other two were added without issue.

A week or so later they receives a parking INVOICE from Parking Eye which obviously they were confused by.
They go and speak with the Hotel and the car wash company, who admit they have made a mistake and that submitting an appeal to that affect will resolve the issue.

We send an appeal into PE stating what had happened and also including the receipt for their car wash.

The appeal is rejected...

We then write back stating that it was not our responsibility to submit the information onto their system but the Car wash company and that their omission was the cause of this. We explain further that if this needs resolution that they should speak with the car wash company or the hotel that hired them.

No response from this but on Friday we receive a threatening letter stating that if we don't pay they will take us to court, siting that they have won previously and that we will end up worse off.

The car wash company are refusing to pay the fine and the hotel state it's out of their hands.

There is no other reason to visit this hotel as they live right close it, so have the driveway to park on.

We are writing to them yet again, but I feel they are going to ignore this...can they expect to take this to court with a reasonable chance of winning?

From all the information provided I'd say this is just laughable as my family member was not the one required to submit the registration information but the car wash company, so should they not be pursuing them instead?

Thanks

Coupon-mad

Email the legal team (who are not the same as the appeals team) re-stating your case:

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

Do that urgently and re-contact the hotel with a complaint. YOU MUST act quickly before court action, or you will not get it cancelled unless someone shells out £60...

Do it now and it can be cancelled the same day, no trouble. Rattle those cages NOW.

The_Deep

.can they expect to take this to court with a reasonable chance of winning?

If this went to court, imo they would struggle to prove that you breached their contract. Or indeed that you contracted with them in the first place. Sure any contract which you may have agreed was with the car wash, who may or may not have committed a very trifling infraction. Read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis

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 House of Commons recently

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

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

shoey79

Thank you to both of you for your replies, we have taken the action stated - I aim to update this once we get a response!

shoey79

Just to update as I promised, Parking Eye have backed down and cancelled their 'invoice'...it appears they too knew this would be thrown out if it went to court!

Glad this is sorted now.

Letter:

Dear Sir / Madam;

We refer you to the Parking Charge incurred on XX Month 2018 at XX:XX at [LOCATION]

We understand that receiving a Parking Charge Notice may be inconvenient, however, issuing Parking Charges for breaches of parking terms and conditions at this car park is necessary to ensure a better overall parking experience for all users of the facilities.

We can confirm this Parking Charge has now been cancelled and there is no outstanding payment due.

To avoid potential future inconvenience, we would kindly request you follow the parking terms and conditions displayed on the signage throughout the car park.

Kind Regards

---

Whats funny is that his car park is away from any town or city and that the only cars likely to use this car park are users of the [location] - There is plenty of free parking in the surrounding areas.

Anyway, job done!

Coupon-mad

Nice one - that is a template cancellation, as you might have guessed!

Always, always complain loudly to the retailer/landowner/hospital about a PPC scam.

The_Deep

now write some bad stuff on Trip Adviser warning others about using this hotel. If there is no need for parking enforcement why do they employ a scammer?

The_Slithy_Tove

shoey79 wrote: »

Just to update as I promised, Parking Eye have backed down and cancelled their 'invoice'...it appears they too knew this would be thrown out if it went to court!

Keep that letter, just in case some administrative "error" resurrects this case.

The_Deep wrote: »

now write some bad stuff on Trip Adviser warning others about using this hotel. If there is no need for parking enforcement why do they employ a scammer?

What's the betting it's Holiday Inn. I tried that approach myself, but got my Tripadvisor post deleted, as it was too much of a rant. So word carefully what you write, and stick within the terms of how reviews should be written.

beamerguy

shoey79 wrote: »

J
Whats funny is that his car park is away from any town or city and that the only cars likely to use this car park are users of the [location] - There is plenty of free parking in the surrounding areas.

Anyway, job done!

Well done

Along goes the PPC salesman using (double glazing sales)
tactics and claims there are abusers lurking around
A pup sold to hotels, retailers etc.

No doubt there are some abusers around but even they
could be customers. The main abuser being the PPC

shoey79

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

Keep that letter, just in case some administrative "error" resurrects this case.

What's the betting it's Holiday Inn. I tried that approach myself, but got my Tripadvisor post deleted, as it was too much of a rant. So word carefully what you write, and stick within the terms of how reviews should be written.

They have already scanned the letter and filed it! Not being chucked!

And...I can neither confirm not deny that it IS a Holiday Inn...

The car park used to be free but now they charge for it, as I said...plenty of parking around the hotel that is free and their own parking isn't likely to be abused by non stayers as there is nothing else around the area...Their car park is quite big and I've never seen it full, so its not like genuine customers were being forced to park elsewhere.

System

Their car park is quite big and I've never seen it full, so its not like genuine customers were being forced to park elsewhere.

Totally irrelevant but the basis of many successful PE court. Lucky you didn't get there. A landowner/occupier can do anything they want (within PP). They could even keep it totally empty most of the time, like retail parks when the shops are closed.