Homebase overstay by 12 minutes - £100 charge

Danay94

Hi All,
I thought I would just see if any of you guys out there have experienced or could offer any advice on my current situation.

On the 17th July i was sent this 'contractual parking charge notice' from G24 after overstaying on the homebase car park for 12 minutes. 
To me given the current situation and extra precautions being taken a charge of £100 is more than excessive! - currently there is a queue system to enter the store and the same to leave, even if someone is not making a purchase they must still wait.
 I do have receipts for homebase and the B&M store opposite on this occasion however for some reason the time of transaction is - 18:00 at homebase and 18:53 from B&M, the exit time stamped on the charge notice is 19:04

I will be heading back tot he car park to check out signage and speak to the manager of the store 

Also to me, these ANPR shots capture the vehicle entering and leaving the premises and not strictly a parking time.
i have attached the notice for info and am really stressing about this! 
any info or advice would be greatly appreciated 

Thanks in advance 

Umkomaas

It needs to be dealt with as per the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, first post, which includes a template initial appeal to use. As G24 are IPC AOS operators, you will read, and get used to the fact that no appeal to them works, that a further appeal to the IAS is pretty much futile, you will need to deal thereafter with harmless debt collector letters (see the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, fourth post) and wait for 6 years to see if they issue a court claim, which can be defended with help from the forum. Other than getting a retailer/landowner cancellation (Homebase are regular users of G24), there is no silver bullet. This doesn't mean you supinely pay a speculative invoice!

beamerguy

Understand that these parking companies are now desperate for money, G24 will be the same.

Go to both retailers with your receipt and see what they say. It might be that you have to contact the landowner to get this cancelled.  Because of the covid social distancing and the queue to enter the store which you must comply with, it makes the code of practice the PPC's operate which gives a grace period rather outdated and the retailers and landowner should wise up and advise the PPC

Recently, a similar problem happened in a M&S car park and quick letter to the CEO got it cancelled.  This the way to go..   As G24 are members of the scam IPC, there is little point in an appeal.  A court, if it got that far, would no doubt dismiss the claim as timewasting

Redx

Item number one is to stop stressing , it's no Biggie

Do what you said and complain to the retailers and insist on a cancellation , do not be fobbed off , make copies of the PCN and take pictures , do not hand the original over , hand a copy over , Keep your original

If they say it's not their car park , ask who is the managing agent , plus find out who owns the land

If necessary , email the CEO of the retailers and landowner and get it cancelled that way , the squeaky wheel gets the oil

Complain to your local MP and ask them to write to the retailers on your behalf , use the word WE , not I

No blabbing about who was driving , we came to the store , we shopped etc , the royal WE works in these cases

So never use the words "My , Me , Myself & I"

Danay94

thank you guys, this morning i have managed to speak with the duty manager at the homebase store who has said he will get back to me today, however unsure of what they may be able to do as the store is imminently closing? this sounds like a cop out to me 
I think i will have to head up to B&M myself as i cant seem to get through to the store.

i was initially going to appeal, however reading into it like you guys say it seems that it will fall on deaf ears

D_P_Dance

Personally, I would press them to take this to court.   They might struggle to convince a judge that time spent queuing was fair and reasonable under CRE 2015.

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.

 

Redx

Appeal as keeper by day 19 , use the in between time to try for a cancellation , this isn't a sprint , calm down , slowly slowly catches Monkee

The keeper appeal uses the blue text template from the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum

As I said earlier , no blabbing about who was driving , it's about getting it cancelled using wise words , so no self incriminating words

I do not believe that either retailer owns the land of stores , find out who is the managing agents and the actual landowner , be a Poirot , not a Clouseau

beamerguy

Danay94 said:

thank you guys, this morning i have managed to speak with the duty manager at the homebase store who has said he will get back to me today, however unsure of what they may be able to do as the store is imminently closing? this sounds like a cop out to me 
I think i will have to head up to B&M myself as i cant seem to get through to the store.

i was initially going to appeal, however reading into it like you guys say it seems that it will fall on deaf ears

Do everything said above.  You could appeal to G24 explaining the covid problem.  They will no doubt reject it and that would be a perfect letter to show a judge

D_P_Dance

If the company do not co-operate write bad stuff on their feedback pages. 

Coupon-mad

If the store is imminently closing, then press the guy THIS WEEK to email G24 (or whoever manages the retail park who contracted with G24) to cancel it.  It's one email for him but £100 and a saved court case for you (not that you will be paying - hope you understand that from this forum already).

Ralph-y

"i was initially going to appeal, however reading into it like you guys say it seems that it will fall on deaf ears "

you will get to understand soon that all the info on the forum is from years of dealing with these scams ....

So please if we say appeal using the template then there will be a good reason to do so...

1 it shows the scamming PPC that you are getting help from here

2 it shows a civil judge that you tried to deal with such

3 on rear occasions the appeal can work .... very unlikely but why not

4 other reasons are available

Ralph