Parking Charge - ESPE Ltd - Spinningfields - No Stopping Zone

m19lka

This is the email I propose to send to Spinning Field Estate in the hope it ends the matter. Any comments are welcome:

Hi XXXXXXX,

Thank you for looking in to the matter for me. I have read the minimal response that ES Parking Enforcement Limited ("ESP") have provided to you and I make the following submissions in my request to you ("Spinning Fields Estate") to have the ticket cancelled.

1. I accept that ESP declined the appeal. However, I bring to your attention the fact that ESP failed to provide any reason for why they declined the appeal and simply provided a "bare refusal". They failed to address any of the points in the lengthy appeal. A copy of the appeal and their response can be provided to you upon request. I submit this is unreasonable behavior to expect from a professional company employed to manner your traffic control and I suspect you would look in to this further. 

2. As I have previously explained to you, and also explained in my appeal to ESP, I had no reason to believe that ESP had any authority to issue tickets in that area at the time of receipt of the Parking Charge. I requested several times for ESP to provide me with some form of authorisation from the landowner in question. Due to their lack of response, I was forced to conduct my own inquiries contacting Manchester Council, Land Registry, Property Records just to get the information that the land in question i.e. New College Road, is privately owned by Spinning Fields Estate. There are so many rogue parking operators in and around Manchester that I believe I was acting reasonably by not paying for the Parking Charge up front without any due diligence. ESP's behavior in avoiding providing me with the information that I requested was very poor and left me to assume that they had no particular authority to issue the ticket in question.

3. ESP have stated that the driver was "parked on the pavement". I disagree that the vehicle was "parked" since the brake lights were clearly visible. It is evident from the images taken by ESP's ANPR camera that brake lights are lit up. This confirms that the driver was still in the vehicle. It is therefore wholly disputed that the Parking Charge was validly issued for "Parking in a No-Stopping Zone."

4. ESP have further stated that the driver had "no concern to people having to pass her car".  The reality is that the road on New College Street is wide enough for other vehicles to pass the vehicle, whilst at the same time the pavement was wide enough to allow for people to pass. I also submit stopping on the pavement shows the vehicle does have concern for large delivery vehicles and, crucially, Emergency service vehicles being able to pass the vehicle without slowing down. ESP's arguments are flawed in principle and I request that Spinning Field Estate recognises this by cancelling the Parking Ticket. 

5. Furthermore, it is submitted that the vehicle was only stopped for a couple of minutes. This is disproportionate to warrant a parking charge, since no grievance occurred. 

6. I disagree with the signage put up by ESP as sufficient warning of a forthcoming parking ticket. The signage is so small that one would need to stop next to the lamppost where it is tied in order to safely read it. That is precisely where the vehicle was stopped in order to read the signage when the ticket was issued. I would argue this is inciting a parking ticket and Spinning Fields Estate should certainly not condone this. ESP should have much clearer signage on New College Street. 

7. It is also submitted that there is no indication of where the allegedly controlled area on New College Street begins and ends. It is therefore ambiguous for a driver to know they are committing a chargeable parking offence. This in itself is very misleading and a valid argument to allow for the parking charge on this instance to be cancelled by Spinning Fields Estate. 

8. ESP have suggested that there is an option to appeal to IAS. Unfortunately,  due to their well proven and documented record of perverse decisions that are overwhelmingly biased towards the parking operators, I will not engage with an organsiation known to be corrupt. 

8. I am also highly concerned that ESP was able to provide you with such a swift response, but seemingly wasted my time and ignored my correspondence and queries for several months. Again, this is highly unprofessional and hinders innocent patrons of the Spinning Fields Estate from future association. I would not wish for Spinning Fields Estate to acquire a bad reputation as a result of a simple parking operator failing in its duties of basic respect and decency.  

9. Finally, whilst this is perhaps not in your remit to consider but for a court of law, I am confident that should the matter proceed to the small claims court I have a strong defence and I am confident in the prospect of success at court. Particularly given the abuse of process by ESP unlawfully inflating the charge to £125. 

I would not like to be a victim of a vicious parking operator trying to charge me extortionate amounts for using road space on the Spinning Fields Estate and I am sure you agree that you would not condone this sort of accusation on your estate. I am a regular user of the Spinning Fields Estate, along with hundreds of thousands of individuals annually. I kindly request that on this occasion you invoke your right as part of your License Agreement with ESP to cancel the Parking Charge Notice. I happy to pay the administration charge to you directly, which is usually a nominal sum of £10.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind Regards

XXXXXX

John464

manage (not manner) your traffic control (para 1) and you seem to have 2 paragraph 8's ?
otherwise looks good to me
There are other valid reasons for stopping in a no stopping zone
Warning light flashing or unexplained noise that might indicate a safety issue with the vehicle, for example,  No responsible driver would ignore that and carry on.
But you couldn't read those notices safely without stopping so thats a good enough reason.
If I was a cynic I would even go so far as to say it looks like the parking company have set a trap.
So I believe you have a very strong case in court

1505grandad

para 1  -  "behavior"    and another para        English version is "behaviour"                         

para 2  -  "New College Road"   -  is it Road or Street?

Coupon-mad

Not ''Hi'' and ''kind regards''.

This is a formal letter/email!  So you need this salutation:

Dear xxxxxxx (if you know their name)
and end:
Yours sincerely,

And remove this, because you DON'T accept it:

I accept that ESP declined the appeal. However, 

Change this:

I submit this is unreasonable behavior to expect from a professional company employed to manner your traffic control and I suspect you would look in to this further. 

To:

Clearly this is wholly unacceptable and the entire operation is unprofessional.  Were you aware that your site is notorious for this and has been for a number of years?  Spinningfields has been described in more than one online blog as a 'scam site' which I am sure cannot be your intention but it is certainly the perception, caused by ESP's predatory conduct.

Also you have 'behavior' twice!  Please spellcheck (NON-USA version) and spell behaviour the English way (grammar pedant mode...)!

John464

Coupon-mad said:

And remove this, because you DON'T accept it:

I accept that ESP declined the appeal. However, 

Are you saying ESP did not decline the appeal
If they hadn't declined the appeal what would be the point of any of this?

John464

Coupon-mad said:

Also you have 'behavior' twice!  Please spellcheck (NON-USA version) and spell behaviour the English way (grammar pedant mode...)!

Why have you ignored the post above yours from 1505grandad

m19lka

I have taken on board the edits suggested in your comments and sent an email to Spinningfields Estate. I will update the thread once I receive a response. I am indeed shocked at the overwhelming complaints against Spinngingfields Estate and I thank you for bringing this to my attention which I have incorporated in my email Coupon-mad said:

Clearly this is wholly unacceptable and the entire operation is unprofessional.  Were you aware that your site is notorious for this and has been for a number of years?  Spinningfields has been described in more than one online blog as a 'scam site' which I am sure cannot be your intention but it is certainly the perception, caused by ESP's predatory conduct.

I have also gone so far as suggesting ESP appears to be setting a trap, thanks John464 said:

If I was a cynic I would even go so far as to say it looks like the parking company have set a trap.

m19lka

This is their neglectful response:

Good afternoon XXXX

Thank you for your email.

The helpdesk is for reactive and Planned maintenance jobs to be carried out across the whole Spinningfields areas alongside being an information centre for the public realm.

I understand your frustration, however you would need to direct your complaint through ESP direct.

For information, I have passed your email over to the Estate Manager of Spinningfields.

Thanks

XXXXXX

This was actually from the same person who emailed me saying they have been in contact with ESP to look in to the matter. Maybe I scared her off. 

John464

m19lka said:

This is their neglectful response:

Good afternoon XXXX

Thank you for your email.

The helpdesk is for reactive and Planned maintenance jobs to be carried out across the whole Spinningfields areas alongside being an information centre for the public realm.

I understand your frustration, however you would need to direct your complaint through ESP direct.

For information, I have passed your email over to the Estate Manager of Spinningfields.

Thanks

XXXXXX

This was actually from the same person who emailed me saying they have been in contact with ESP to look in to the matter. Maybe I scared her off. 

Well 'Spinningfields Estates' (whoever heard of them) are not like a supermarket brand who depend on having a good reputation with their customers.
They are more like a PPC who don't need a good reputation to make money.
So it was always a bit of a long shot they would do the right thing and cancel the charge voluntarily.
But I'm sure you still have a very strong case in court.

beamerguy

m19lka said:

This is their neglectful response:

Good afternoon XXXX

Thank you for your email.

The helpdesk is for reactive and Planned maintenance jobs to be carried out across the whole Spinningfields areas alongside being an information centre for the public realm.

I understand your frustration, however you would need to direct your complaint through ESP direct.

For information, I have passed your email over to the Estate Manager of Spinningfields.

Thanks

XXXXXX

This was actually from the same person who emailed me saying they have been in contact with ESP to look in to the matter. Maybe I scared her off. 

It's called "passing the buck" ........ they could cancel with a click of a finger.
If it does get to court action, then you have every right to inform the Estate Manager you will cal him as a witness   to explain to a judge their actions
CALLING A WITNESS TO SUPPORT YOUR CASE ..
Posted by Brown Trout
Witness Summons in the County Court
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6099468/witness-summons-in-the-county-court