Euro Car Parks parking fine (staying after store had closed)

cyberScammed

Shocked to say my initial appeal was rejected by ECP. See screenshots below:

• Front page
• Back page

I have attempted to draft up my POPLA appeal using information found on this forum and would really appreciate any feedback/suggestions before I submit.

Also, once good to go, am I OK to submit immediately, or worth waiting towards the end of the 28 day period?

 

Draft appeal to POPLA below (I have attached as a PDF as was to large to fit in a single message):

• Draft Appeal 2

-----------------------------

Thanks :-)

1505grandad

Check that copy and paste paras have been amended accordingly  -  for instance Para 5:-

"As its whole charge rests upon two timed photo images, I put Met Parking Services Ltd to strict proof to the contrary."

Half_way

ECP do not own the car park, The supermarket has lied to you in order to fob you off.
my suggestion would be to complain again, and this time say the right things.
it would also help us to help you if there was a postcode/google maps link for this site.

cyberScammed

1505grandad said:

Check that copy and paste paras have been amended accordingly  -  for instance Para 5:-

"As its whole charge rests upon two timed photo images, I put Met Parking Services Ltd to strict proof to the contrary."

Good spot, thanks! I have updated that particular instance and done a search throughout the document for any others references to it, this time using CTRL + F (should have done to begin with)

cyberScammed

Half_way said:

ECP do not own the car park, The supermarket has lied to you in order to fob you off.
my suggestion would be to complain again, and this time say the right things.
it would also help us to help you if there was a postcode/google maps link for this site.

I was shocked how unhelpful the supermarket have been with regards to this! Especially after proving I had shopped in store and had stayed less than the max 2 hours, but I wouldn't be surprised if they make money from these parking tickets.

Address details:
287a High St, Sutton SM1 1LD

I have attached some pictures of the car park entrance from Google:

Photos

Coupon-mad

As we keep saying on very thread, you must exhaust the retailer complaint.  Email Sainsbury’s CEO by name before even thinking about POPLA.

cyberScammed

Coupon-mad said:

As we keep saying on very thread, you must exhaust the retailer complaint.  Email Sainsbury’s CEO by name before even thinking about POPLA.

OK, will get something drafted later today

Half_way

post it here first for analysis

cyberScammed

Coupon-mad said:

As we keep saying on very thread, you must exhaust the retailer complaint.  Email Sainsbury’s CEO by name before even thinking about POPLA.

Right, I have had a go drafting a letter to send to the CEO, let me know what you think?
>

Dear Mr Roberts

I am writing to you with regards to a parking charge notice I received in the post following a visit to your Sutton High Street (SM1 1LD) store on the 10th May 2021.

On this particular visit I spent £22.73 in store, arriving at 22:00:33pm according to the penalty charge notice. I left the car park at 23:53:33pm, meaning I was parked for exactly 1hour and 53 minutes which is below the maximum 2 hour stay allowed.

I received the parking charge notice through the post on the 26th June 2021 which to my shock was requesting payment of £70 (£40 if paid within a short period) and as such, I phoned your Customer Services department. I was advised to visit the store in person and speak to the duty manager, who can help resolve the issue.

Following this advice, I travelled into Sutton (a 25 minute journey each way) to visit the store, but when I arrived at the Customer Service desk, the employee at the desk (Jane B ) asked me why I was requesting to speak to the duty manager. After explaining the situation and showing her my parking charge notice as requested, she proceeded to tell me “there was nothing Sainsbury’s could do as we do not own the car park and I would have to speak with Euro car parks directly”. I proceeded to show her evidence of my spend while explaining that customer services had suggested I travel to the store but she was not interested at all. I asked her again if I could speak to the duty manager as advised and at that point she reluctantly called out a message over the tannoy. After around 10 minutes had passed and they had not shown, she then made a phone call.

I am then informed that “the manager is not going to come to speak to me as they would only repeat what had already been explained and that I need to contact euro car parks”. Explaining that as “Sainsbury’s had closed at 11pm on the day, I would have had to have been out of the car park by 11:10pm and I was in breach of the parking conditions”.

Having phoned back the customer services team to explain what just occurred when I visited the site as they had advised, a call was logged with the executive office to look into the matter further. (Reference: Ecm 202106-XXXX). I was then contacted by email asking for evidence of my spend which I provided. A few days later I received a follow-up email repeating that they had spoken with the store who advised although they do offer 2 hours free parking, this is only when the store is open and it is my responsibility to comply with this.

I understand the need for parking controls in order to maximise the car parks usage for potential customers during operational hours and have never had any issues in the past, being extremely careful to leave within the 2 hour maximum stay allowance but am frankly baffled by the fact you use a predatory company to manage your car park, which include farcical parking rules that apply outside of trading hours that have no impact on your trading capability, that I believe are purposely made difficult to catch people out (including genuine customers like myself). I wonder how many customers, like myself have been caught out by such rules, despite always being careful to remaining within the maximum period allowed and if there is a financial incentive for Sainsbury’s when parking charge notices are given out and what impact this has on your core business.

I would also hope others who have found themselves in a similar situation, have not had the same poor experience when dealing with the store directly which is what the customer services line suggests. The customer services desk showed no interest and just fobbed me off.

I would appreciate if you would look into the following areas:

·        Arrange for the parking charge notice to be cancelled

·        Provide training to the customer services team to ensure they deliver accurate information and show at least some compassion towards your customers

·        Evaluate the measures deployed by your parking management company to ensure they are fair and reasonable e.g. a maximum 2 hour stay is clear and simple to understand, as opposed to having different rules for each day based on the store opening hours.

Yours sincerely,

>

Really appreciate the help

KeithP

On this particular visit I spent £22.73 in store, arriving at 22:00:33pm according to the penalty charge notice. I left the car park at 23:53:33pm, meaning I was parked for exactly 1hour and 53 minutes which is below the maximum 2 hour stay allowed.

I've just lifted that one paragraph from your letter.

You go on to say you have a receipt for instore purchases.

What is the time printed on that receipt?

And change penalty charge notice to parking charge notice in that paragraph.