Private Eye parking ticket

chichick66

Hi all,


I parked on a private eye car park. I paid my parking fee for the time I parked there but unfortunately I incorrectly put the last digit of my car registration incorrectly and I received a letter saying that I owed them £100. I appealed and received an email stating -


Thank you for your correspondence in relation to the Parking Charge incurred on 26
January 2019 at 18:22, at Britannia Bloom Street, Manchester,M1 3LA car park.
The signage located at the above car park advises all motorists to enter their full, correct
vehicle registration into the payment machine/terminal on site. It has come to our attention
that the incorrect vehicle registration was inputted on the date of the parking event which
has therefore resulted in a Parking Charge being issued.
As a gesture of goodwill we would like to offer you the opportunity to make a discounted
payment of £20.00.
This will be on a without prejudice basis, however we must warn you that if this balance is
not paid within 14 days from the date of this correspondence, the Parking Charge will
increase to the original value.
Please note, if no payment is received, the appeal may well be rejected and a POPLA
code provided
Upon receipt of this payment the matter will be closed and you will receive no further
correspondence from us.


I would like to know if they can charge me £20 as a gesture of good will as I did pay the correct parking fee and I incorrectly entered the wrong last digit of my registration.


Please help - thank you

Le_Kirk

Maybe you didn't enter the last digit incorrectly, maybe you input it quite correctly but the stupid machine keypad was sticky or it was a misread! The technical point is De Minimis Non Curat Lex (or thereabouts) and means that the law does not concern itself with trifles. More and more small claims court judges have been throwing out these cases (in favour of the defendant, i.e. YOU). You have a choice to pay £20 (never recommended to pay on here) or take it to appeal (POPLA) and small claims court.

waamo

When did a satirical paper start giving out parking tickets?

Coupon-mad

Private Eye parking ticket

ParkingEye...nothing to do with Ian Hislop!

P/Eye do what they like, no-one stops their modus operandi, unfortunately:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/12/parkingeye-employee-reveals-their-rape.html

If it was only a single digit error then I think the BPA's recent guidance mentioned on page 7 here should help:

https://popla.co.uk/docs/default-source/default-document-library/popla-annual-report-2018.pdf?sfvrsn=0

It's a 'simple keying error' and that should be your first POPLA appeal point, albeit you must write it yourself as we have no template for that point.

Use the POPLA Annual Report and repeat its word back at them.

Then add the usual other template points.

Unless you decide to pay the £20, given you risk ParkingEye suing you for the whole PCN if you lose at POPLA. The appeal is not guaranteed to work.

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.

BTW, Private Eye is a satirical magazine, you were ticketed by Parking Eye.