Alliance Parking, Cornwall

Hannahmach

Has anybody had any dealings with the above company? We received a PCN from them this week, after parking at a beach car park in Cornwall. I paid for our parking by credit card, the parking ticket was printed and we displayed it in the windscreen. We returned to the car park well within the time I’d paid for.
The PCN states that the vehicle was ‘present without payment having been made for the duration of the vehicles stay’. 

I’ve contacted my bank to see if there was a failed transaction, but there was nothing to show. Clearly, the machine was not connected, but still somehow made it look as if a transaction had occurred. 

On searching online, there are hundreds of negative reviews about this company. I’m so furious, because there is no fault on our part, but no way of proving anything - the ticket went in the bin, of course! 

Is there any point in me taking this any further, or should I just pay the 60 quid and never go back there?

Le_Kirk

Well, I would certainly never go back there but I would be telling the landowner why, as well as complaining bitterly to them about the tactics of the parking company they have engaged.  Search the forum for Alliance Parking and see what other posters have said.  Read the NEWBIE sticky so that you are fully informed.  No one on this forum will recommend paying!

Coupon-mad

Is it this firm that is run by the chancer who jumped ship from the BPA and is now on the IPC board and says that registered keepers can't appeal?  Despite that being a pre-requisite of keeper liability in 2012...

Horrible company.

Did it take you a while to pay due to downloading an app?

Or was there a typo in the VRM on the ticket, a keying error?

Hannahmach

No, it took my payment straight away. The car park was empty - now I know why.

Coupon-mad

VRM typo then.

Hannahmach

Here’s a thing - I’ve just received an email telling me my appeal has been successful, and apologising for any inconvenience. I wonder why? 

Hannahmach

And my £6.60 payment for the car park has popped up on my credit card statement. Bizarre. But I’m happy! 

D_P_Dance

Have you considered a complaint to Trading Standars and your MP?

Coupon-mad

Ask your bank what happened!

Sounds like they had a system failure that affected others and have had to retrieve payments, including yours. 

Horrible firm.  Avoid privately run car parks. Use the street wherever possible, honestly, a side road with a short walk is better than any private car park at the moment.

Later this year the Government is regulating the whole rogue industry and their worst conduct will be curbed, and a real appeals service will be run independently,

Hannahmach

I take your point about never using private car parks, but in this case there is no alternative. It’s a tiny village with nowhere else to park. Most car parks in Cornwall are absolutely great, and we try to use them rather than annoying local people by making their lanes narrower than they are already. 

I had already contacted trading standards, as well as the people I believe are the landowners. My MP was going to be next! 

Thank you for the good advice on this forum, it’s very much appreciated, and it’s great to hear that these cowboys will soon be properly regulated.

Billopp

Hannahmach

I
I think they are crooks as my wife paid for two hours car parking on 5 November 2022 and received a receipt which we put in the window.

Received a parking charge notice on 5 December 2022 showing that we arrived at 10.55 and left at
12.15 which was correct.

The only trouble is I no longer have the ticket to prove we had paid.

My wife has checked her statements and can't find it going through so I think they may deliberately not collect the payment so that they can issue a fine.

I think that I will write to driver and licensing Agency (DVLA) data office to try and get them banned from having access to the DVLA data.

If everyone caught out by these unjust fines writes to the DVLA. AP Alliance parking might get banned from access to DVLA Data.