Stopped to check for directions in EuroCarPark for 11mins 22 secs (recorded on ANPR) and fined £100

Dusty_C

Hi all, Just first to say thanks for all the amazing advice in here, it's somewhat overwhelming what has been gathered over the years, amazing effort, thanks.
Having now read the info here I think I have messed up and will have to pay the fine, hoping someone can help.

I'm self employed and so during the lockdown I've had no support so have been forced to seek other work and so am doing deliveries in order to survive. I pulled into small town centre car park for 11 minutes 22 seconds to check for directions (time as record on their cameras). It was a completely empty car park as every business was closed!  I've been sent a fine for £100 for this!

It seems completely unreasonable for 11 minutes considering I wasn't even parking there. I read a quote by Martin Lewis on the net (in the mirror) saying not to ignore these and to write and appeal. Considering the situation I did that and it has been rejected by ECP.  It says i could go to POPLA but their website says it is currently closed due to covid-19.

Having now read the info here I think I have messed up in writing to them. I also see the grace period is 10 (or 11) minutes and Im over that by seconds!) 
 Should I just pay the £60 early fine? (raises to £100 after 14 days)

Thank you for your advice

PS: Can supply all the info if needed but didn't want to take up your time and space if this one is obvious

Umkomaas

Should I just pay the £60 early fine? (raises to £100 after 14 days)

That's entirely up to you. We can't advise you on what you do with your money.  You can fight this, but it takes some effort, the NEWBIES FAQ sticky is the most comprehensive resource on fighting private parking charges and can be accessed 24/7. Unlike many PPCs ECP are not particularly litigious, but they do have 6 years to pursue this through the court, but it would cost them much in excess of the value of the PCN to go to a hearing to try to recover £100. That's not to say they won't, we can't give guarantees. 

It will help if we can see the appeal you submitted to ECP and the avenues that might be open to you to avoid paying this. Please post it here. 

There is never any need to enter a bear trap of a private car park, regardless of whether it's empty or not - use the highway, especially as most councils suspended enforcement of most of their parking penalties during lockdown. But lockdown apart, as long as they are not red lines or pavement blips are apparent, you can stop for a short time without a problem on double yellows. 

How long do you have before your POPLA appeal deadline ends?  You can send a 'holding' appeal, giving you breathing space before POPLA contacts you to explain your next steps. Plenty have used that facility, all (to my knowledge) are still in a state of 'holding'. Please read this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6126237/popla-update#latest

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.

A lot will depend on what you put in your appeal, especially whether you blabbed about the driver's identity.

Have a look at the template PoPLA appeal points available to you from the third post of the NEWBIES. These will normally include,
Not the Landowner,
No standing (no valid contract) to issue charges in their own name.
BPA CoP failures
PoFA failures (as long as the driver's identity has not been revealed)
Inadequate signage.

Get pics of the site and signage asap if possible, or look on google streetview as well.

D_P_Dance

It is not a fine, it is an invoice from an ex-clamper to compensate them for the alleged harm they suffered when you did what you did. We call it a scam. Pay them not a penny unless a judge so orders it.

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP., it can cause the scammer extra costs, and in some cases, cancellation. 

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 later this year,

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these companies, 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.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/of these Private Parking Companies.

Coupon-mad

You'll also know from the POPLA website that all you do this month is put in a holding appeal and ask for more time and they will write to everyone asking for your appeal when they are ready.

No-one here pays ECP.  It's not an option.

Dusty_C

Thank you for your help everyone, I wish I had found this website before I wrote back. Unfortunately I read Martin Lewis advice in this link...  ("Martin Lewis debunks private parking ticket myths on when you don't have to pay" Mirror website)   ... and wrote back to point out that since I'd only stopped for 11 mins to check for directions the fine was completely unfair and I'm sure it is just their automated system and they'd overturn it. Having now read lots here I realise how silly it is to think they'd have any heart or humanity!
Note that this isn't near to me since I was making a delivery and only stopped for 11 minutes to check for directions. It's only a flat piece of car park off the road, not a multi storey. I only pulled of the road so as not to inconvenience others. I realise in future not to pull in to car parks to do this, no matter how brief.

Life is really hard at the moment, no income due to Covid and no support means I'm having to constantly seek out work and do whatever odd jobs I can.  My worry is this takes up loads of time and if it fails will end up costing me even more. I don't have time or money on my side at the moment and am just trying to survive. This makes me think that paying £60 now is better for me than spending a long time going through it all and possibly losing more anyway. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks for taking the time to help me, greatly appreciated. 

Dusty_C

Mickey, thanks, they do it all the time where I live as the pavement is very large outside mine and if I see them I go out and help them. I don't charge them a penny. When I see people struggling in these hard times I go out of my way to help even more, its one of the reasons I have been looking for any work I can do that actually helps people. This is a car park in a town centre that is closed. Id be willing to pay  the £1 for an hour if they asked for that, plus the £2.50 admin fee, but £100 is not a reasonable amount. I guess you are fortunate enough to think that is is but we all have different struggles in life. Thanks for your input, if you dont like it that others think it is unreasonable then probably best you stay out of this forum!

MothballsWallet

Mickey666 said:

Parking on the pavement outside your house is nothing like parking on someone else’s private land is it?
If the car park is closed then they obviously didn’t want anyone parking there.  I’ve no idea why, but it’s their land so it’s their rules.  You seem to think it’s ok to ignore this and trespass on their private land and now you’ll have to pay the price for that decision, whether it’s the £100 charge or whether it’s all the hoops you are going to have to jump through to get out of it.  Either way, you’ve already lost.
Sorry if you don’t like hearing the truth.

Perhaps, but the £100 is disproportional to the actual "loss" suffered.

Besides, many of these PPCs (and POPLA and their trade associations) ignore statutes like the Equality Act, and have been formed by ex-clampers needing money after POFA 2012 passed.

Coupon-mad

Dusty_C please ignore the posts by the above poster.  Look where he has littered this forum with this sort of stuff and consider (as I suspect) that this might well be a parking firm spamming the forum. 

Certainly his views are NOT those of this board and this poster is not a regular, just so you know.

 My worry is this takes up loads of time and if it fails will end up costing me even more

It won't. 
PLEASE STOP THINKING PEOPLE HERE ACTUALLY END UP PAYING!

I've ignored ECP myself.  We don't tell people to do what we wouldn't do and no-one needs a solicitor and NO-ONE PAYS Euro Car Parks.

Dusty_C

Coupon-mad said:

Dusty_C please ignore the posts by the above poster.  Look where he has littered this forum with this sort of stuff and consider (as I suspect) that this might well be a parking firm spamming the forum. 

Certainly his views are NOT those of this board and this poster is not a regular, just so you know.

Cheers @Coupon-mad I realised he was a troll and disregarded his nonsense, silly of me to feed him in the first place!  Thanks for your advice, and to those other helpful people in here, you make these forums a worthwhile cause.