Britannia Parking - aged parking charges

HurstDriver

Hi
I've received a letter from Britannia Parking in the last week relating to three parking charges which they claim occurred between April and July of this year. They claim they relate to parking at my local Waitrose store and want to charge me £70 for each instance. I shop there regularly, but have no recollection of these specific events which took place some months ago. This is the first notification I've received from Britannia and it is is a real surprise to me. Britannia have passed this over to their legal agents for collection. They are asking for a total of more than £300.
I'd appreciate some advice on how to contest these charges.
Thanks

Ralph-y

hi, and welcome to the forum ........

there will be plenty for you to read up on ...

go to the newbies thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou


so read up and send off the template ...


complain to the store manager ... not customer services. and email , let him/her know that you are about to email the CEO....



and



the CEO

let them know how much you send a year ... and how much will be spent else where if they are not squashed!


who wants to shop when you know you might get a £70 surcharge despite being a loyal customer.


other useful info



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Ralph:cool:

forestwn6

Our relatives had a problem with Britannia Hotels in Blackpool.
They paid for three nights parking for the duration of their stay. One way or another the details were not put into the Smart Parking Ltd system and the result was a £170 charge.
Britannia Hotels refused to discuss the matter, putting the telephone down three times on my wife, Smart Parking, and Debt Recovery Plus would not cancel the charge.
Our local MP got the charge canceled with Smart Parking and Debt Recovery Plus.
Britania Hotels will not respond to any approaches whatsoever even to the MP.
Best wishes in your fight.

forestwn6

Britannia Hotels and Britannia Parking may not be the same company.

KeithP

forestwn6 wrote: »

Britannia Hotels and Britannia Parking may not be the same company.

You are almost certainly right. If they were the same company, why would they employ Smart Parking?

waamo

forestwn6 wrote: »

Britannia Hotels and Britannia Parking may not be the same company.

They are two entirely unrelated companies.

Umkomaas

This is the first notification I've received from Britannia and it is is a real surprise to me.

Check your vehicle’s V5C (logbook) for the address showing on that. That’s the address the DVLA would have given Britannia in order to write to you.

If you’ve moved to a new address, their agents will have used a trace service to determine it, and that could be the reason you are only now getting their correspondence.

Please check your V5C.

Coupon-mad

I agree. You've moved house and not updated your car's registered address, just your driving licence, haven't you?

The_Deep

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra work.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, 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.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

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

HurstDriver

Umkomaas wrote: »

Check your vehicle’s V5C (logbook) for the address showing on that. That’s the address the DVLA would have given Britannia in order to write to you.

If you’ve moved to a new address, their agents will have used a trace service to determine it, and that could be the reason you are only now getting their correspondence.

Please check your V5C.

Thanks Umkomaas, I had changed the address on my drivers licence, but had not done so for my V5C. Do you know how this will affect things?

Half_way

The V5C address is what the DVLA should use to contact you for vehicle tax renewals and other matters.
It's also the address that they happily hand over to parking companies who then use that to contact you.
It's my understanding that it is a legal requirement to ensure that both your driving licence and your V5C address is up to date. ( neither of which is any business of a PPC)



As for your double dip
here is also an article in the Guardian newspaper, linked to
:
https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2019/nov/03/the-motorists-driven-to-desperation-by-private-parking-contractors?
Within that are some links to Facebook, twitter, and an email
It may be worth following those links ( particularly the email) adding in that your vehicle wasn't in the car park, ANPR systems are prohibited from use in council car parks (as they are inaccurate) Parking companies are using in accurate automated systems that appear to have no human checks ( ie foot patrols backing up the anpr systems to see if a vehicle is in the car park)