Ticket on the way? UPDATE - SURPRISE RESULT?

Manxman_in_exile

Hi


Went shopping in Sainsbury's this morning. In January they introduced a new parking system whereby if you spend £10 you get free parking for 2 hrs 30 mins. There are no barriers now, but there is ANPR. If you spend £10 you get a coded voucher which you scan on leaving the store and this validates your parking for two and a half hours.


Upon getting home and unloading our shopping we realised that we'd left the store WITHOUT scanning the voucher (we'd spent over £10) and without getting our parking validated - our fault, I know!


Not particularly wanting the RK to end up receiving a ticket, which we would have to challenge with the store, we rang the store to see if there was anything they could do before we received a ticket. After being bounced around different people one of the staff consulted his manager and we were advised that the ticket would already be in the "system" and we would have to wait until we received notification of the fine and then get customer services to get it cancelled. (We have the receipt and unscanned voucher).


Does this sound right or is there anything else we can or ought to do? We're ok to get the ticket cancelled but would prefer not to have the fine issued in the first place if it can be avoided.


Thanks for any advice.


The car park is managed by euro car parks.

Coupon-mad

Does the parking voucher not give the chance to validate parking online at home, if you forget? Highview do this at a Tesco I know. You can do it at home within 24 hours.

You could always email Horizon TODAY with a scan of the validation and receipt and explain an ask them to update the system as if it had been scanned on site, and ask why they don't offer this like Highview do at Tesco stores. Give your VRN of course.

You can surely easily fond a Horizon Parking email by Googling or just by looking at the contact in their data privacy page.

Manxman_in_exile

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Does the parking voucher not give the chance to validate parking online at home, if you forget? Highview do this at a Tesco I know. You can do it at home within 24 hours.

You could always email Horizon TODAY with a scan of the validation and receipt and explain an ask them to update the system as if it had been scanned on site, and ask why they don't offer this like Highview do at Tesco stores. Give your VRN of course.

You can surely easily fond a Horizon Parking email by Googling or just by looking at the contact in their data privacy page.

Thanks. Nothing on the voucher to indicate it can be validated at home. Sorry - who are Horizon?

Manxman_in_exile

Ah - just found Horizon. Do they manage payments for ecp? Should I just ring their contact number 01245 392289?

Coupon-mad

Oh, not Horizon then! Horizon normally ruin Sainsburys car parks (the ''i'' is deliberate). I missed your final line in your first post, assumed it was Horizon.

ECP then, email them, you can easily find an email for them if the ticket does NOT give you the option to simply register to validate parking within 24 hours at home.

Manxman_in_exile

Thanks. Contacted ecp and they've said same as Sainsbury's (*). Whether it's true or not I don't know.


I'm happy to get Sainsbury's to cancel it when it arrives (we spend a LOT of money there) but ecp also said to appeal it as well... Anything I should be particularly wary of here?


(*) EDIT: ie that the ticket is generated in "real time" and we will have to wait for it to arrive

Coupon-mad

ecp also said to appeal it as well... Anything I should be particularly wary of here?

Yep, the fact that ECP often win at POPLA stage, and that people ignore them if they lose at POPLA, because ECP do nothing. A weak firm, at the time of writing.

Take a photocopy of the offending PCN straight in to see the store manager when it arrives and don't leave until he/she has cancelled it on the spot (and DO NOT give them the original!).

INSIST you want it cancelled and that you have researched this scam (call it a scam) and that you DO NOT need the hassle of appealing, then losing at POPLA, then having to worry for six years that you are about to be sued if ECP change their habits one day.

Just refuse to leave until it's cancelled and take proof of how many ££££ you and your family spend at Sainsburys each year...

The point of emailing ECP wasn't really to get them to cancel it BTW, it was to give you evidence to prove you tried to validate the parking BEFORE a PCN was generated, on the same day, and that their system is pathetic.

Manxman_in_exile

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Yep, the fact that ECP often win at POPLA stage, and that people ignore them if they lose at POPLA, because ECP do nothing. A weak firm, at the time of writing.

Take a photocopy of the offending PCN straight in to see the store manager when it arrives and don't leave until he/she has cancelled it on the spot (and DO NOT give them the original!).

INSIST you want it cancelled and that you have researched this scam (call it a scam) and that you DO NOT need the hassle of appealing, then losing at POPLA, then having to worry for six years that you are about to be sued if ECP change their habits one day.

Just refuse to leave until it's cancelled and take proof of how many ££££ you and your family spend at Sainsburys each year...

The point of emailing ECP wasn't really to get them to cancel it BTW, it was to give you evidence to prove you tried to validate the parking BEFORE a PCN was generated, on the same day, and that their system is pathetic.

Thanks again. I shall follow your advice when the ticket arrives. I didn't email but my 'phone records will show several calls to Sainsbury's (had terrible difficulty getting them to pick up) and one to ecp. I would have no reason to call either except to try to head off a ticket (which I told both of them). And, of course, the evidence of this thread!

Manxman_in_exile

Hello again


Further to earlier posts have received attached letter from ecp. Bit surprised as it says "NO PAYMENT/RESPONSE REQUIRED".


Is this unusual?


(PS - Stupid question - I assume we don't have to do anything?)


EDIT: Sorry - scanner playing up. Basically letter says no payment or action required, but if we do it again they "might" charge us £70

Coupon-mad

UPDATE - SURPRISE RESULT?

Basically letter says no payment or action required, but if we do it again they "might" charge us £70

Very unusual and I think your phone call did the trick.

Quite right, as you made every effort to validate the parking the same day!