APCOA, 3D parking, Royal Stoke University hospital and MClub

ric3vic

Royal Stoke hospital parking is managed (?) by APCOA. Some time ago they struck a deal with a local health club, to allow hospital staff to park in the club car park. This is doubtless very lucrative for the healthclub. The healthclub management have now brought in 3D parking (IPC regulated, which says it all) who have merrily started sending out charge notices to hospital staff because they allegedly exceeded the time limit. Club members are limited to 3 hours. Hospital staff have paid APCOA for all day parking.

THe charge notice rabbits on about drivers being contractually bound by signs in the car park, when they have a different contract with APCOA. The signs are addressed to healthclub members, and the hospital staff are not members. The signs clearly displayed are clearly nothing to do with the staff who have received the notices.

The notices talk about breaching the parking terms on the signs yet then asks for a fee in accordance with the terms of the signs.

This will be fun. The healthclub management have breached their contract with APCOA. APCOA's contract with staff has been unilaterally set aside. 3D is sending out notices to people who have handsomely paid for parking.
The notices are not POFA compliant so, provided the staff members don't reveal who was driving, 3D parking can go 360 degrees.

I'll be watching this one to see where it goes. If 3D, APCOA and MClub have any sense they'll be issuing grovelling apologies and offering free healthclub membership as a goodwill gesture. But I don't think there's much sense in this one.

The_Deep

Have they complied with these?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

ric3vic

THanks TD
It was hospital staff parking, but the hospital distanced itself by employing APCOA who contracted a healthclub who brought in 3D. Some staff may well have paid up in panic. How many lessons will fail to be learned from this royal stoke mess up?

ric3vic

An update. I'm told that 3D parking are now sending out cancellation notices. My info comes from someone who appealed, I hope they cancel for everyone and reimburse anyone who was panicked into paying.
The cancellation letter is barely literate and totally ignores the substantive appeal point. 3D try to pass the buck to APCOA for not telling them who was allowed to park. Parking company blames a parking company for not handing over info. Brilliant!
3D parking finish their cancellation message by talking about 'extenuating circumstance'. There were no extenuating circumstances: 3D simply got it spectacularly wrong. But it is good to know that 3D are prepared to go in writing to say that they consider extenuating circumstances.
And 3D went through KADOE without good reason. Complaint made.
One final detail: the envelopes with the charge notices were franked by Total Parking Solutions, which is supposedly a separate BPA registered company. I do hope that person data was not passed between the companies, otherwise the information commissioners office might be interested.
But the landowner, which bought these sharks onto the site has said nothing, no apologies, no offer of compensation.
This is not the way to treat healthcare professionals who might, one day, be treating a director of 3D parking for burns when the liar's pants catch fire.

Redx

if it is TPS then I dont think Tito has passed his basic english test then

yet another sc@m from a known sc@mmer


its worth emailing a SAR to TPS to see if they hold any data that they should not hold on you and your vehicle