Advice requested: is it worth fighting this PCN further?

Rob18

I contacted the hotel manager first.  When he showed no sympathy I contacted the hotel chain's customer services but that got passed down to a [different] local manager who was no more helpful.  I have left honest and frank reviews concerning the hotel management's attitude on the social media sites I can.  Getting to the hotel chain's CEO (they are French, Louvre Hotels) is not a bad idea, let me see if I can find out how...

Rob18

Excellent, wait and see I can deal with.  In the meantime I will go track down the CEO of Louvre hotels...

Coupon-mad

I am glad you are contesting this one.

No idea who posted it, but I recall we had a case v ParkingEye a couple of years ago where they issued a court claim against someone who was charging their electric car and didn't 'park' in the generally accepted sense.  ParkingEye discontinued before the hearing after he kept telling them they had no legitimate interest or cause of action.

I reckon they'd do the same here.  No risk, worse case scenario you lose and pay £175 all told, including the small claim fee...it's not a huge gamble and quite fun!

If you didn't know that you had to registered to exempt your numberplate by using that charging place, then that is the fault of the signage at that part of the site.  Why on earth would someone charging their car think they have to register it as well? 

Signs must be clear and prominent and there must be a legitimate interest (Beavis case).  In your case, this is not true.  Had you thought of involving the Daily Fail?  They'd love this and you can pose next to your Tesla with a sad face, clutching the rejection letter.  The Daily Fail will of course want to know where you live and how much your house is worth(!) and there will be a load of idiots commenting under the article without having read it...but these sorts of articles are bad publicity for the scum parking industry and often see a cancellation.

POPLA are mad to consider that a person charging their car is meant to register it just because a sign eight feet up eslewhre in the site says something about it in the small print.  Even worse that the Hotel refused to cancel it.

D_P_Dance

 Even worse that the Hotel refused to cancel it.

I do not see any reason why you should not write this up on Trivago, TripAdvisor, the hotel 's web page,  booking.com, hotels.com,  et al.   Failure to enter a VRN in a distant terminal is hardly a damaging BOC imo.  

Redx

I was thinking about that other case mentioned above when I read this thread and replied , so I agree with the comments being made. I think a judge will see it as a trivial matter that Parking Eye should have dropped when it was made clear to them , similar to a blue badge issue in disabled spaces

I do not think the previous case was a Tesla , possibly a Leaf or similar ?

A Google search may turn it up , it's maybe 2 or more years ago now , I don't think it was a hotel either , but a petrol station

One thread about parking eye here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5830338/parking-fine-for-charging-an-electric-car

See page 2 for links to other threads about it , because I posted the links

See posts by 

Coupon mad
Satchef1
CTS casemod
Guys dad

Etc

velvetyfrog

What do Tesla have to say about this, have you tried to contact them, Rob18? The way I see it, if it is a Tesla charging station, you were a customer of Tesla's (when using the car park). They might not have a contract directly with PE but they will do with the hotel (if they are using their grounds to install charging stations), so should be able to put pressure on the hotel to cancel the PCN. Just a thought, in case you have not explored it already.

Rob18

Thanks guys, you have reinvigorated my sense of fun in this, which is kinda what I was hoping for when I posted.

I have now located the name/address of the CEO of the hotel chain and have just posted a letter to him asking him to be my saviour.  I did post on some social media sites about the hotel's attitude but on many of them you have to have stayed at the hotel to comment, which in this case I didn't; I don't want to post dishonestly, simply point out the problem and lack of willingness on the part of the hotel to resolve it.

I was going to e-mail Tesla with a suggestion that they agree with the hotel (and hence Parking Eye) the very simple procedure that, should this occur, sending a copy of the invoice for the charging session to Parking Eye should be sufficient to resolve the issue.  However Tesla are notoriously slow to deal with "non core" matters and the "feedback" e-mail address I had for them didn't work.  I will try again though.

As to the Daily Fail, they are not generally my cup of tea but, if it comes to it, I just might.

D_P_Dance

 but on many of them you have to have stayed at the hotel to comment, which in this case I didn't; 

Just say you did. 

Le_Kirk

D_P_Dance said:

 but on many of them you have to have stayed at the hotel to comment, which in this case I didn't; 
Just say you did. 

Wow, I can't believe I read that DPD!  Alternatively you could say you were considering staying there but following the recent treatment of you, you have decided against it.

D_P_Dance

Wow, I can't believe I read that DPD

A diplomat is a good man sent abroad to lie for his country.