Minster Baywatch parking fine £155 what to do next

Jemimapuddle

Hi all greatfully looking for help re parking fine from Minster Baywatch.

We parked in the evening 3/11/2018 for a bonfire across the road from a carpark they manage. Lots of people were parking there and a look at the parking signs made it look like it was ok to park without paying outside of business hours.

Needless to say we were shocked to receive a PCN for £60 through the post 2 weeks later stating we had breached the car parks terms and conditions. Having researched later we found the car parks poor signage expects you to input your car reg into the leisure complex attached outside of normal business hours! Had we seen this we would've parked elsewhere.

I appealed via their website and awaited a response but didn't hear anything by post until we receivd a letter dated 7/1/2019 this week to state the debt was handed to the collections department and we now owe £155!!!

We checked our emails to find they'd responded to the appeal by email and not by post on 3/12/18 and as we have only just realised this we have missed the 28 days popla appeal and also the chance to pay the original ticket for £60 or the increased amount of £100 if you don't pay within 14 days.

I realise we've been naive in thinking they'd send a letter in response to our appeal and now faces with £155 instead of the original amount requested of £60.
We have tried phoning Minster Baywatch and the phone number provided is all outimated and there's no way to speak with anyone regarding this. The most recent letter states if we don't pay £155 by 21/1/2019 they will either pass to a recovery agent or litigation team to recover monies owed.

Any advice on what to do now would be greatly received as you can imagine after buying charity shop Christmas presents for our kids in true MSE style we don't really want to hand our hard earned cash over to these robbing baskets.

Umkomaas

All you can do now is ride out the debt collector stage (see newbies FAQ sticky, post #4) then hope MB don't issue court proceedings. They have 6 years in which to do so. Some help is available here if it gets to a court stage, MB have been trying out a few court cases towards the end of last year.

You could try, right now, to engage with the landowners/leisure complex and ask if they will help get this cancelled for you. That will kill it.

However this progresses, your case is a salutary reminder that the days of parking your car wherever there's an empty car park, without risking serious consequences are rapidly ending. Wherever there is a parking company sign in a car park, there is a notice of intention to penalise you at the slightest opportunity. Fail to read those signs and dump the car is now at your peril.

PPCs are infesting almost all private car parks, there are very few hiding places left.

Jemimapuddle

Thanks I appreciate your response. Do you think I could say I sent a cheque in for £60 following the rejected appeal and I'm shocked to find this has not been cashed and you have send me a further letter for £155? Blah it must've got lost in the post/their internal mail and here's payment for £60? Wonder if that would work?
Had I read the email originally that's what we would've done but naively expected to receive a letter in response so missed all timescales to do this.

You're right it's scary they can do this so easily and I have been in touch with the leisure complex who have advised if I can prove I was a customer they can help. Sadly I can't do this as we were at a bonfire across the road. The signage is made so it looks ok to park outside of office hours but very small print on the sign states for leisure complex users only outside of these hours.

My only hope is trying somehow to blah it down to the original £60 or pay the £155 as I don't want to go to court over it incase it goes up even more and we loose.

Jemimapuddle

Blag* not blah apologies for typos.

The_Deep

Did you send a cheque? if not, and they take you to court, you will have a problem.

You have several other courses to those you have mentioned, the best one is make an appeal to PoPLA , you have said the signage was poor . The alleged debt is not £100, it is £100, the excess is scam charges. It is clear that you have not read the sickies/FAQS, I suggest you do so.

I realise we've been naive in thinking they'd send a letter in response to our appeal

If it was in time they are required by law to send you a PoPLA code, complain to the BPA.

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business. Hopefully that will take place in the near future. The Bill has passed through the HOC without hitch, and goes to the Lords soon. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will become Law next year.

All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

Umkomaas

Do you think I could say I sent a cheque in for £60 following the rejected appeal and I'm shocked to find this has not been cashed and you have send me a further letter for £155? Blah it must've got lost in the post/their internal mail and here's payment for £60?

And what do you think they would say? And more importantly, what do you think a Judge would say?

Lies, require more lies to cover the previous ones.

My only hope is trying somehow to blah it down to the original £60 or pay the £155 as I don't want to go to court over it incase it goes up even more and we loose.

You won't get it lower than £155 at this stage, they don't work like that. You might be able to negotiate a lower sum if it ever got to a court stage as they would likely have to pay out more to see you in court than they could hope to recover from you.

If you lost in court, the total cost to you would be roughly £175 - £200 (everything included).

beamerguy

Jemimapuddle

Don't get sucked in with this scam. MB are well known for their
aggressive scam tactics

£100 is the max on this, anything else added on will be fake scam money ...... the courts know this

If you are convinced that the signs are misleading, make sure you take your own pictures. Judges are only looking for facts and they already know that many signs in a car park are not clear.

Do you know who owns the lands, find out. With so many people at the site that night, you will not be alone.

MB will be doing a big money clear up

Talk to your local media, that normally opens the doors for others to come forward.

You do not owe £155 and if you get debt collector letters you ignore them as shown here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74439905#Comment_74439905

Take good note of the law and what is said to you as these
debt collectors send out threats that are illegal

Jemimapuddle

Really appreciate the responses thank you.

Well in the email we missed following our appeal which was sent 3/12/18 it stated we could pay £60 within 14 days if the email - if I say I did send a cheque via post and maintain this for the requested sum of £60 would they not even honour this?
They give you option to send them a cheque via post and nowhere on their correspondence does it advise to send by recorded delivery/obtain proof of postage so I could easily just say I sent a cheque for this amount within the timeframe and happy to pay this and no more.
Do you think they may accept this?
I do believe the signage is unclear but I don't know if I want to chance my arm that these crooks may loose at court stage as that's the only point in my favour.

What I do disagree with is the company emailed in response to my appeal in the hope that I'd miss it so they could add further so called charges and then start sending their threatening letters to try get me to pay up the original amount plus the £95 added on for not paying within their timescales. They send letters for everything else but why not in response to the appeal? Why does this have to be by email. I'm sure I won't be the first or last person to be caught out by missing their email.

I'd happily pay the £60 knowing they rejected the appeal to save this going on any longer however I was unaware of our chance to pay this amount following the crooks sending an email rather than a letter.

Surely I won't be the first or the last person for this to happen to and now it's increased to £155 I am loathed to pay it but unable to speak with the company to sort this out. It stated on the letter please call ....to discuss payment options ha ha ha it's just an automated payment system and unable to offer any less than the payment amount requested of £155.

I'll have a look through and see what I can do thank you so much everyone.

beamerguy

You are dealing with known scammers here and they will not listen to anything you say now.

Just bear with the moron debt collectors AND IGNORE THEM

In the meantime get all your evidence together and if it goes to court, make sure you can butt plug them and then claim your costs

As said, the courts are fully aware of the scammers operation, your job is to prove the court is right to dismiss the scammers

Umkomaas

Well in the email we missed following our appeal which was sent 3/12/18 it stated we could pay £60 within 14 days if the email - if I say I did send a cheque via post and maintain this for the requested sum of £60 would they not even honour this?
They give you option to send them a cheque via post and nowhere on their correspondence does it advise to send by recorded delivery/obtain proof of postage so I could easily just say I sent a cheque for this amount within the timeframe and happy to pay this and no more.
Do you think they may accept this?

You seem to want to progress down this route, so just get on with it. Prove us right!

Jemimapuddle

Ps if the max cost to us would £200 altogether and definitely no more I'd take the chance and take it to court for the sake of an extra £45.
I can see why people pay these things though as it's very intimidating and worrying how a company can just keep adding unregulated fees on what is already a ridiculous amount for parking a vehicle for only a few hours.