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Parking eye PCN - please help?

I received a parkingeye pcn for £100 in November 2020 for entering their car park then leaving 6 minutes later without buying a ticket - I decided not to park as it felt unsafe. I read & followed MSE advice on ‘How to challenge private parking tickets’. Both parkingeye & popla appeals were unsuccessful. Due to COVID delays, I didn’t receive the popla decision until May 2021. I contacted the landowner who tried to cancel the parking eye charge but was told that due to the time lapsed it had gone to review. Parkingeye wouldn’t allow the landowner to cancel the charge but they wrote to me offering (as a gesture of goodwill) to reduce the parking charge to £60. 
My question is - do I pay the £60? Will they take me to court if I don’t pay? I think it’s unfair that they are charging £60 for 6 minutes when the grace period for parking should be at least 5 minutes. 
I am in the process of writing to my MP. 

Unfortunately I didn’t follow ‘It’s worth reporting unfair tickets to the landowner’ as I didn’t realise it should be the first thing you do until I found this forum! I am repeatedly kicking myself! 🤦🏼‍♀️ 

Comments

  • Hayes73
    Hayes73 Posts: 5 Forumite
    First Post
    Sorry....parking charge notice not pcn! 
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 144,283 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    If you press the landowner complaint more, ParkingEye will cancel I expect. It’s all about making a pain of yourself until the landowner insists on cancellation and stops being so blinking deferential to their parking firm agent - letting the tail wag the dog, aren’t they?

    But you should NOT have tried POPLA first. Big mistake not trying PLAN A first, which is what the NEWBIES thread tells you to do in every case.

    Astonishing that, as soon as the BPA let their members issue PCNs after a mere 6 minutes in 2020 after a dreadful change to their CoP, that AOS members suddenly issued a shedload where people were purportedly there for...wow...six minutes. 

    What are the chances, given the in and out cameras have been shown in some cases to be 2 minutes out...?  
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • D_P_Dance
    D_P_Dance Posts: 11,582 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You entered, you read their wordy contract, 

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading/p1

    rejected it and left. 


    You did not park, there was no contract, read this and complain to your MP.

    http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2014/03/waiting-for-space-is-not-parking.html

    They may have abused you data privacy, they may have harassed you, they would certainly have wasted court time, they would be insane if they took this to court IMO.
    You never know how far you can go until you go too far.
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 144,283 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 16 June 2021 at 11:58PM
    And please don’t disappear, stick around and make a real difference shortly.  
    Please please do this; we need you:

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78406376/#Comment_78406376

    ...we need everyone we help to come back and be heard in this Summer’s final Public Consultation by the Government, to set the policy fairly.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • Umkomaas
    Umkomaas Posts: 42,563 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Will they take me to court if I don’t pay?
    Hard to tell. PE don't do court unless they are pretty watertight in their case. They have become much more selective these days, compared with the rodeo they led, issuing over 100,000 court claims in a 12-month period, a few years ago. 

    With a POPLA decision in their favour, they are more likely, but much will depend on their contract with the landowners, whether they agree to allow PE to sue, many do, some don't. 

    Another factor might rest on whether their NtK was PoFA-compliant and whether the driver was identified in earlier correspondence - initial appeal and/or POPLA appeal. Did the original Notice to Keeper have a paragraph headed up 'Protection of Freedoms Act 2012' on the reverse side, and have you identified the driver?
    Please note, we are not a legal advice forum. I personally don't get involved in critiquing court case Defences/Witness Statements, so unable to help on that front. Please don't ask. .

    I provide only my personal opinion, it is not a legal opinion, it is simply a personal one. I am not a lawyer.

    Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

    Private Parking Firms - Killing the High Street
  • Hayes73
    Hayes73 Posts: 5 Forumite
    First Post

    Thank you for everyone’s advice.

    I have emailed the Landowner again & I’ve also emailed my MP. 

    The landowners reply is as follows :

    ‘I would say that although the charge seems unfair they have been known to issue a CCJ and in that case it is easier to pay the £60 than have a credit rating effected for years’

    I will email them again to ask where they stand on allowing PE to sue etc. 
    I will check NtK re PoFA 2012. I don’t think the driver has been identified but I will also check this too. 
    I really don’t want to pay the fine but I’m finding it all quite stressful. PE haven’t breached the code of practice so that’s against me too! 


  • Hayes73
    Hayes73 Posts: 5 Forumite
    First Post
    And please don’t disappear, stick around and make a real difference shortly.  
    Please please do this; we need you:

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78406376/#Comment_78406376

    ...we need everyone we help to come back and be heard in this Summer’s final Public Consultation by the Government, to set the policy fairly.
    Yes, I will definitely give all the support I can to help others! 😊👍🏼
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 144,283 Forumite
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    edited 17 June 2021 at 5:51PM
    Very good, you can help make sure no-one gets £100 PCNs for this from next year as the policy will be the law. 

    Reply to the landowner and say you know that ParkingEye sue people which is why you are reaching out to them to step in.  
    This is a route you are asking them to push with an email to ParkingEye, please, especially as they agree it is unfair and you know that ParkingEye clients all have a ‘ParkingEye User Manual’ that gives the principal landowner/retailer a right to cancel PCNs for genuine patrons or at least get them reduced back to the original £60.  This has been shown time and again online and ParkingEye expect to cancel over half of PCNs complained or appealed, especially when the principal tells them as agent, that they believe the ticket is unfair.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • Hayes73
    Hayes73 Posts: 5 Forumite
    First Post
    I thought I’d come back to give an update on my case. The fine was reduced to £60 so I eventually paid it as time was running out. I continued to correspond with my MP, even if I wasn’t successful in my case then hopefully I could spread the word. I received an email from my MP today to say that ParkingEye had agreed to issue a full refund. He has also shown how passionate he is regarding fairer parking. I’ve attached some of his correspondence. Thank you all for your help & advice. 





  • Umkomaas
    Umkomaas Posts: 42,563 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    @Hayes73, thank you for updating us on this and well done to your MP in persuading ParkingEye to return your payment - shows two things to me - 1. PE couldn't have been that sure of their grounds to charge you in the first place and 2. (In conjunction with his letter to the LA) your MP seems very switched in to the scandals that permeate the parking scene - both private and public.  

    Please don't forget the MHCLG consultation if you haven't already replied to it - closes 27 August 2021. 
    Please note, we are not a legal advice forum. I personally don't get involved in critiquing court case Defences/Witness Statements, so unable to help on that front. Please don't ask. .

    I provide only my personal opinion, it is not a legal opinion, it is simply a personal one. I am not a lawyer.

    Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

    Private Parking Firms - Killing the High Street
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