Parking Eye PCN at Welcome Break

TRYTOWIN

Thanks for your suggestions. I have gone through the complaints seciton and liked Coupoun-Mad's one of the compalint letter. Re-used it and prepared as below. gathered some email addresses for welcome break and ready to send including the local MSA. I have tried ringing them to speak to manager but no answer.

Dear xxxxxx,

COMPLAINT RE PARKING FIRM AT WELCOME BREAK SOUTHMIMMS : - PCN REF XXXXXXXXXX

I am writing as the registered keeper of a car issued with a PCN when the driver was taking rest at WELCOME BREAK SOUTHMIMMS services while returning from Christmas family re-union on XX/XX/XX.  I am horrified that genuine users are being hounded and threatened with court and you can't believe that a service station goes against Government advice to drivers to take breaks on long journeys because 'tiredness kills'.  Please can you contact your agents to cancel it.    

If you are not the person responsible for this service area, please pass this complaint to the appropriate Manager who can cancel this unfair ticket.

One could conclude that in the current lockdown scenario, people won’t be using private car parks very much, or if they do, won’t be staying very long. This means that there will be far fewer opportunities for private operators to issue PCNs, and consequently their revenues will be taking a big hit - probably by 50% or more - and they will aggressively pursue users / shoppers and staff even more than ever before when they get the chance.  They will not accept appeals and I understand that these despicable firms deliberately set retail park time limits as low as they can push the owners to agree to, in order to pick off as many victims as possible.

I am aware from my research, that no appeal is fully independent for any BPA or IPC member (belonging to such organisations means nothing at all and the BPA and IPC are not regulators, just trade bodies these firms pay a fee to join).  I have been told that this parking firm is likely to sue me, the registered keeper, regardless of whether I was driving.  I will not name the driver and inflict them with this misery and there is no requirement in law for me to do so, but apparently the firm will sue me anyway. 

The whole situation is absolutely shocking and it has been a wake-up call for me and my family, to boycott places in future who insist on allowing aggressive their party firms (many of whom are ex-clamper thugs who have morphed into rich fat cats thanks to their parasitical business model, ripping off real businesses' customers) to get my data.  How dare a third-party firm I had never heard of hound me, just because the occupants of my car enjoyed a few extra minutes using your facility?  This cannot be in the interests of the public or the shops and it provides no useful service to either.

I trust you are keen to retain customers and that families will return to these services and spend appropriate time here in future.  How do disabled and old people cope, or are they the intended victims; i.e. the low hanging fruit who pay?  Have you asked your parking agent for facts and figures about who pays the ludicrously extortionate fines, or are they anonymous shoppers who never return and you've never realised because they are silent victims?  Please reconsider this awful contract when it comes up for renewal and try the simple step of putting up polite notices of your own and/or a barrier at night, and let people shop in peace and spend more money during the day.  The cash being siphoned off by the parking firm could and should be going to the stores in revenue.
   

This message will be all the more important given what the country is going through and as businesses and consumers emerge from the lockdown. No wonder online shopping is booming if this is what this retail park's agent is allowed to do to people.

I am confident that Welcome Break must have taken the step of ensuring the contract with the parking firm allows you to cancel PCNs for genuine users.  Kindly consider cancelling mine to restore my faith and allow my family to return with some level of confidence to this retail park. 
I attach copy (Screenshot) of bank transaction at Welcome Break South mimms at that time, as proof of genuinue use of the services.

Yours Faithfully,

Coupon-mad

Plenty of WB managers cancel these all the time.  Their contact details appear on the webpage - each WB site has one.  That's who you email.

Fruitcake

I think it's a bit long, but other opinions are available.

I suggest you also mention that a motorway service station is supposed to be a refuge, a place of safety, but employing an unregulated private parking company to penalise drivers is the opposite of safe as it will encourage them to leave whilst still tired.

TRYTOWIN

I have now sent the complaint letter to the email address in their website "Mimms.enquiry@welcomebreak.co.uk" and got an instant postmaster failure message. Sent to SouthMimms.enquiry@welcomebreak.co.uk which seem to be working.
I found "corley.siteoperationsmanager@welcomebreak.co.uk" in the forum and sent to "mimms.siteoperationsmanager@welcomebreak.co.uk" which seem to be working too.
Hope to hear from some one there.

Ralph-y

and the CEO is

john.diviney@welcomebreak.co.uk

Ralph

TRYTOWIN

I have now recieved the first reply from site operaitons email sent to them. Seem to be the standard template reply.
Is this a sign to start draft of POPLA appeal?

Redx

Template fob off reply

Popla is still the last resort , try the CEO

Coupon-mad

Reply back and say quit the template, please reply to me as a human being.

Umkomaas

Template undoubtedly written by PE for them - too many words and phrases in it that wouldn't be in a landowner's natural vocabulary. 

From PE:
Dear landowner, should you receive a complaint from any punter, griping about the parking charge we've issued, just bung this back to them, that should get them off your back. 😏

TRYTOWIN

Yes, looks like a parking eye reply than the Welcome break reply.
Still waiting for CEO reply. Emailed back to Southmims to consider as a human rather than a Bot template reply.
I found another email Nick.Jackson@WelcomeBreak.co.uk and emailed to this person too. He seem to be the head of commercial income as per Linkedin.