Hermiston Gait Retail Park scam, Edinburgh

GingerBarbie

Actually, I've got a day off tomorrow, might as well try calling McMullen Real Estate to see if they're backing the scam invoices ukpc are putting on cars... Or not. Will update with any information for future readers.

GingerBarbie

Soo.. spoke to a guy named Chris Linnell as indicated as the right contact on the McMullen website, he says he's not the right person to talk to. Pushed me to a colleague called Nalin (Tel 0207 629 9663) but the number just rings out any time I've tried it this week.

So the b&q and Tesco etc response of "nowt to do with us, speak to the Hermiston Park management" is pretty much a dead end so far. Good luck to any future readers who have more success getting their scam invoices actually cancelled that way...

Egbert_Nobacon

Seems this may be the top man to complain to:-

Stephen McMullen
020 3058 0202
07967 697 911
smcmullen@mcmullenre.com

johnstacksanders

I've been using the stores in this shopping centre for years - today for the first time I received of £100.00 for not parking within the designated white lines of the parking space - difficult to do with a 23 foot camper van. It is my only vehicle and I've never had a ticket before - does anyone know when these crooks took over the parking admin?

adamapple

Hi @GingerBarbie @johnstacksanders did you pay or just ignore the "fine".
I've just received a parking fine letter from Hermiston Gait today for parking after 10pm. I'd visited Tesco and hadn't realised it was shut, as i was leaving I got a call from a friend and had a chat with him for around 20 mins and left the car park.
Tried calling Tesco and they don't give a hoot, unsure if I should just ignore it.

Umkomaas

Ginger hasn't been back to the forum for almost 12 months, John was a one-day wonder, his first and last visit was on the day he posted - last March. 

Don't expect any responses. 

Have you read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, first post, as that will tell you exactly how to deal with a private parking ticket issued in Scotland?

Coupon-mad

Not sure why are are unsure - have you read the NEWBIES thread?

Anyone in Scotland who pays a private parking charge is an idiot.  Simple.

Even worse, is the utter naivety - or acting on misadvised information - by the Scottish Govt agreeing to incorporate the anti-consumer POFA Schedule 4 into their new Transport Act (not yet enacted), positively inviting the race to court that happened here after 2012.  Madness, this was as a DIRECT RESULT of giving this scam industry the power of 'keeper liability':

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/private-parking-firms-issue-15-new-tickets-every-minute-research-reveals/

Look at that chart and weep for the people of Scotland, in the future.

Do Scotland realise that they will now see an exponential rise in predatory and chancer private PCNs and court cases rising to over 100,000 within years, against innocent, law abiding, ordinary drivers for daring to stop for 10 minutes, or take too long shopping?

Needs reversing as a decision.  Are you listening, Scotland?

MothballsWallet

Coupon-mad said:

Not sure why are are unsure - have you read the NEWBIES thread?

Anyone in Scotland who pays a private parking charge is an idiot.  Simple.

Even worse, is the utter stupidity of Scottish Govt agreeing to incorporate the anti-consumer POFA Schedule 4 into their new Transport Act (not yet enacted), positively inviting the race to court that happened here after 2012.

Madness, this was as a DIRECT RESULT of giving this scam industry the power of 'keeper liability':

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/private-parking-firms-issue-15-new-tickets-every-minute-research-reveals/

Look at that chart and weep for the people of Scotland, in the future.

Do Scotland realise that they will now see an exponential rise in predatory and chancer private PCNs and court cases rising to over 100,000 within years, against innocent, law abiding, ordinary drivers for daring to stop for 10 minutes, or take too long shopping?

Needs reversing as a decision.  Are you listening, Scotland?

Of course the Scottish Govt are stupid - look who their First Minister is.

luiceur

Unfortunately, I am another victim of UKPC at Hermiston Gait. In this case, it was my fault and I did not realise I had parked in between 2 parking bays since I did not have better angle to park. I also challenged the penalty 2 days after giving no information of the driver. They came back to me today:

"Our appeals process is now concluded, you may now choose one of the following options:

1) Pay the parking charge detailed above at the reduced rate of £60.00 to UK Parking Control Ltd. PLEASE

REFER OVERLEAF FOR PAYMENT OPTIONS AND ADDRESS DETAILS.

2) If you choose to do nothing the parking charge will automatically increase after thirty-five days from the date of this letter to £100.00 and the matter will be passed to our debt recovery agent, at which point you will be liable to pay an additional charge of £70, in accordance with the terms and conditions of parking, and further charges will be claimed if court action is taken against you. Any unpaid court judgement may adversely affect your credit rating."

I have read the newbie thread, and I know it says Scotland is different. However, at this point I do not know what to do since my appeal failed and Decathlon said they can't do anything. Should I pay £70 and put my head down or ignore next warning and threatening letters? What is the worst they can do? I would not like to seat in court for a penalty ticket of a private parking company but I would hate to pay £70 for the 10min we spent in Decathlon!!
Any help and advice please ?

Coupon-mad

Ignore it.  UKPC have not started claims in Scotland and it will go nowhere.

They will be champing at the bit for new cases in 2022 after Scotland stupidly introduces keeper liability but it won't be retrospective.