MET McDonalds PCN Letter Advice

NovaToInfinity

Hello,

I've recently received a £100 parking fine from MET on behalf of McDonalds for overstaying a 90 minute maximum stay by 24 minutes. After some research of this forum I believe that the procedure is as following:

• Apply to MET
• If they decline the appeal, then take the case to POPLA.

My letter to MET Is as following:

[Name and address omitted]

18/08/2019

Dear Sir or Madam,

Parking charge notice: [ID omitted]
Vehicle registration number: [Registration omitted]

You issued me with a parking ticket on 14/08/2019 but I believe it was unfairly issued. I will not be paying your demand for payment for the following reasons:

• There was insufficient signage
The car park in question has insufficient clear signage to explain what the relevant parking restrictions are. Although numerous signs are in place to describe the specific parking restrictions in place at this specific McDonalds, the first sign outside of the edges of the parking bays is located on a bend in the road, meaning that drivers paying appropriate concentration to their driving will not be able to notice the sign in question due to its orientation. This means that, arguably, no contract can be formed with the landowner and all tickets are issued illegally. Please see evidence gathered below in the form of pictures taken from Google Maps images:
[image is attached in the word document but unavailable for viewing here]

• Mitigating circumstances
There are mitigating circumstances to explain why the vehicle was parked where it was and the charge be waived for this reason. This is the fact that the driver was a paying customer at the McDonalds associated with the private parking area, proven by the following image:
[image is attached in the word document but unavailable for viewing here]

• The charge is disproportionate and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss
The amount you have charged is not based upon any genuine pre-estimate of loss to your company or the landowner.

In my case, the £100 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner of an overstay of 24 minutes, especially given the fact that the driver was a paying customer, and the car park was not nearly at full capacity at the time of the stay. I therefore feel the amount you are asking for is excessive, especially given the free nature of the car park (ie. There was no overstay upon a time that was paid for, such as overstaying 24 minutes on a car park ticket that had a duration of 3 hours).


If you choose to pursue me please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer to the specific points raised in my letter.

Yours faithfully,

[Name omitted]

I know that probably many, many threads such as this are made every day but after reading the FAQ many times I'm still a little confused.

Will this be sufficient with regards to submission to MET? If so, can I expect to get my case cancelled? Should I just pay before the 4 days? What are the realistic odds that I am taken to court?

Thank you for any help,
Harry

waamo

That appeal is out of date. That stupid "official" template should be pensioned off and never seen again. At the top of this board is a thread that tells Newbies to read it first.

That thread has an up to date template for you. It also tells you to try and get McDonald's to cancel the thing.

Egbert_Nobacon

First approach the McDonald’s MANAGER.

If no success email CEO Mr Paul Pomroy with a polite complaint explaining how disappointed you are that a genuine customer has a £100 surcharge on their meal.

paul.pomroy@uk.mcd.com

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so consider complaining 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.

fisherjim

Your research is flawed it's not a fine, that appeal is awful and out of date, and the information you need is contained in the newbies start here thread onpage one of this forum which includes your first appeal.

Coupon-mad

MSE should be ashamed of that 'appeal' being published as their official template. Dreadful rubbish that has cost people money, I am sure.

No idea why people don't just read the sticky thread here at the top of the parking forum and use the proper one that doesn't write drivel about mitigating circumstance and blab like a numpty as to who was driving!

NovaToInfinity

Hello,

Thanks for all of the replies. I did give the FAQ a good read but somehow I missed the template. I have since created a new letter draft for submission to MET which goes as follows:

Re PCN number: [number omitted]


To whom it may concern,

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a formal complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner and to my MP.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can therefore be drawn. Since your PCN is a vague template, I require ALL photos taken and an explanation of the allegation and your evidence, i.e.:

- If the allegation involves an alleged overstay of minutes, your evidence must include the actual grace period agreed by the landowner. If you fail to evidence the actual grace period that applies at this site or suggest that only one period applies, this will be disregarded as an attempt to mislead. In the absence of evidence, it will be reasonably taken to be a minimum of twenty minutes in accordance with the official BPA article by Kelvin Reynolds about 'observation periods' on arrival being additional and separate to a 'grace period' at the end.

- in all cases, you must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date.

Formal note:
Should you later pursue this charge by way of litigation, note that service of any legal documents by email is expressly disallowed and you are not entitled to assume that the data in this dispute/appeal remains the current address for service in the future.

Yours faithfully,
[Name omitted]

The issue is, the template states that the grace period is 20 minutes, however my visit was an overstay of 24 minutes... but I cannot change the time frame given as it's a quote from Kelvin Reynolds?

Could I have some feedback on this letter if possible?

Additionally, I will write a letter to Paul Pomroy to see if that yields any success.

Thank you,
Harry

NovaToInfinity

I also forgot to mention I did go into the particular store in question on the day in which I received the PCN and the manager told me they were unable to make any changes, and that I had to call the number on the letter.

Coupon-mad

The issue is, the template states that the grace period is 20 minutes, however my visit was an overstay of 24 minutes... but I cannot change the time frame given as it's a quote from Kelvin Reynolds?

If you were 24 mins over that is a lot of time not to pay for, if parked most of it.

Why did it take that long, was time taken to register for a payment app for the first time or was the car park at gridlock?

Don't take no for an answer from retailers. Escalate the complaint.

NovaToInfinity

The reason we stayed so long was genuinely because we didn't notice any of the signs. There was a group of us there and we just had our food and stayed for a bit to chat. To clarify the parking is free for 90 minutes, but I overstayed their free 90 minute period by 24 minutes. I should have said that earlier - this car park was not a paid one (ie. pay and display). The car park was not nearly at full capacity.

waamo

Use the email address Egbert has kindly provided. You can, if you want, remove that bit from the template. It won't hurt to leave it in though.

Don't alter the template in any other way