I fluffed my appeal and now I'm at LBCCC stage (ParkingEye)

danny95

Evening all!


So you've probably heard this a fair bit and i've braced myself for the scolding, so please feel free!


In short, I was given a ANPR "fine" for spending 14 minutes at a Hotel car park when trying to get directions, I went into the car park, checked my phone for a route but the postcode was wrong, so spoke to the reception staff for advice. I asked them about parking and they said "not to worry"... how naive that was.


I received the NTK in the post and quickly researched what to do - one post saying to ignore, which I now know was a very very stupid thing to do. With that and a change in living circumstances & a new job, I completely forgot about the charge from that point on.



When I received the LBCCC on friday (01/11) I decided to check on what to do next and realised I had fluffed it.


I have since emailed the hotel and have managed to lodge an appeal on the parking eye website using the template detailed on the NEWBIES thread. When parking eye reject my appeal I will appeal via POPLA, which I imagine will be denied as well, but I might as well try.


My questions are twofold:
1. At this stage, is there any point in me trying to fight the charge or should I just pay it?


2. If there is still a chance, is there anything else i need to do differently, not highlighted in the relevant guides?


I know i've been an ejjit but hopefully I can make it right with this forums help, any and all advice is appreciated.

Coupon-mad

You can't appeal in the usual way, when P/Eye send you a LBC, because your appeal goes in a very slow pile to the appeals team, and is NOT seen at all (or in time!) by the legal team.

You need to email the legal team and put the PCN no in the subject line and words like: 'Hotel cancellation imminent':

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

Tell them that the driver was only getting directions that day and asked the Hotel reception about the few minutes taken for parking and the driver was assured 'not to worry'. Thus, a contractual agreement was made that the minutes briefly taken were authorised by the Hotel and that alternative contract negates any penalty. So, you have complained to the Hotel Managers and they now require that this PCN is cancelled and they will be in touch to ensure that happens, so the case must be put 'on hold' with no court claim issued, in view of landowner intervention and the new information that the Hotel will supply.

You can finish by saying you have also put in a standard appeal on their appeals page but you have been reliably advised to email their legal team as well, to stop the claim, given the lack of 'legitimate interest' in this case.



P.S. If your change in living circumstances has also meant your address has changed and P/Eye traced you there, your email MUST also confirm 'MY ADDRESS FOR SERVICE IS {new address} AND YOU MUST NOW ERASE {old address} from your database.'

danny95

Hi Cupon-mad,


Thank you so much for your reply!


An update, I emailed the hotel on Monday and they replied that there was nothing they could do, only appeal.


My first reaction was to leave it and focus on the court case/parking eye, but decided to try one more plea to the hotel, asking them "is there no one you can pop a quick email to, to ask that the fine be cancelled?".


The saint behind the reception that day did exactly that and fwd my email over to them (at first i was worried that PE might use this against me if it came to court). This morning I received an email from the hotel saying that PE had cancelled the "Fine".


Thank you so much again for your advice Cupon, I was actually planning on doing this tonight and was kind of dreading coming home after work because of it!


Goes to show you, just because the hotel say no at first doesn't mean they cannot help you. keep pushing them (nicely, with a bit of a sob story and perhaps the emoji), they can help if the person behind the desk feels like doing their good deed for the day.


Once more, thank you MSE forums, anyone that stumbles across this in the future - EMAIL THE LANDOWNER AT LEAST 3 TIMIES.
After the third i'd say leave it at that and focus on your case - you dont want the landowner complaining to PE that you harrassed them as this will not look good in court (even if PE harass us...)

Umkomaas

Great news. That's one very nasty monkey off your back.

But you do need to have written confirmation from PE to be certain this has all gone through. They are efficient in sending these - in around 7 to 10 days.

You could check the PE payment portal, going through the motions (apart from the final one!) of paying and that should give you the current status of your PCN at time of checking.

Coupon-mad

anyone that stumbles across this in the future - EMAIL THE LANDOWNER AT LEAST 3 TIMIES.
After the third i'd say leave it at that and focus on your case

I agree! We tell people to really persist with the compliant as it is the only guaranteed route that can (pretty much always can) get a PCN cancelled, even if the first person says they can't.

Why not just forward this email to enforcement@ and ask for confirmation?

This morning I received an email from the hotel saying that PE had cancelled the "Fine".