Parking Eye ticket even though paid

pippacorn

Hi all,

I paid for parking at local hospital I work at and kept the receipt and staff discount ticket for the machine. I later got a parking fine from Parking Eye. As the car is a lease car, the lease company have said if they get a second ticket, they will pay it and charge me more for their trouble as they are the legal owners of the car and therefore responsible.

I appealed and sent the receipt but was unsuccessful on the grounds of "not providing enough evidence". The letter also said they choose not to deal with Ombudsman it must go to POPLA and if I appeal to POPLA, I lose the right to pay the reduced fee. If I pay the reduced rate and then appeal, I will be charged the extra £35.

I have paid the parking fee reduced rate fine so the lease car company don't get involved. How can I get my £5 back for the parking? I was going to complain to the ombudsman for the threatening tone of the letter (when I actually paid the parking) but it seems a company must opt in to be regulated by them.

Coupon-mad

Does your parking receipt/ticket have your correct numberplate in full on it?

MistyZ

I guess you could complain to the BPA. Second thoughts, definitely complain to the BPA! And the hospital too.

Not quite understanding why you paid at all. If the lease company gave P.E. the hirer's details and P.E. then sent a Notice to Hirer to you, presumably without the requisite hire agreement which they almost never send, then the lease company were no longer involved and you'd have had a very good chance indeed of winning at POPLA.

It's the 'second ticket' bit that's foxing me .... presumably you're not planning to get one? And in any case, you can tell them you'd deal with it. Sorry if I've missed something here, it's just that getting £5 back when P.E. have extorted rather more than that for no reason whatsoever seems comparatively small fry.

pippacorn

Yes it has the full number plate on it.

I paid the fine as the lease company said in their letter it is their policy to pay on the second reminder. And then they would charge me more. The letter that rejected the appeal said if I appeal the £35 again they will charge me the full amount - even if I paid. It's bullying tactics but I can't complain to the ombudsman, and I can't understand how the appeal failed when I had the original receipt.

Coupon-mad

I paid the fine

There was no fine. If you paid the charge it's all over, apart from complaining to your MP and union to write to PE. Maybe they can force a refund.

The lease firm would not have got any letters once PE had your name & address.

The_Deep

The whole industry is a scam, relying on threats of court, and the public's ignorance of the Law, A bill is currently before parliament which will regulate the scammers, many of whom are ex-clampers.

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 Second Reading in the Lords this month, and, with a fair wind, will l become Law later this year..

All five readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 7-8 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.

MistyZ

I now understand what you mean by 'second ticket.'

The lease company have given you very misleading information. As Coupon_mad says:

'The lease firm would not have got any letters once PE had your name & address.'

So they effectively conspired with P.E. against you by telling you that if they got a PCN 'reminder' they would pay the charge & get it back from you ..... but they should have known full well that they would not get further correspondence from P.E. once they'd handed over the hirer's details. What the heck?

I haven't written the above very well. If this happened to me I'd put a lot of thought into how exactly to express this insanity / sheer nastiness(?) to the lease company with my demand for reimbursement.

Hire cars don't come cheap do they? Have you used this lease firm more than once or for long periods? If so, then all this is even worse.

Incidentally, your initial appeal to P.E. was bound to fail because they almost always do, not matter how good a case is made. If you ever get a PCN again, come here straight away and read the Newbies' thread. You have acted in good faith but that's not enough, you need to understand the rules of engagement.