'Overstay' in gym car park

KMBayes

After 6 months of threats, a letter before action finally dropped yesterday.

The claim arises from an overstay in the gym car park. Members are allowed a four hour stay which is policed by cameras on entry and exit. We got pinged by post approx. a month after the overstay offence. The £100 claim + £70 admin fee seems a touch outrageous for overstaying in an otherwise free car park.  

There is no problem with signage etc but I was wondering if one of the experts here could briefly advise on my defense. The overstay arose since myself and wife had both used the gym on this day. She had arrived by car and I’d walked and arrived several hours after her, taken the car keys and used the gym then driven home. Our collective visit resulted in the car staying over 4 hours. However, the signs in the car park and visible in the gym itself clearly state that members may stay for four hours – the limit appears to apply to the member rather than the vehicle. Would this form the basis of a credible defense? I’m at the stage of receiving threatening letters for a similar incident at the same car park that occurred several months later. At this stage is it likely the gym manager could still get this cancelled?

Half_way

Did the vehicle make two separate visits?

Have you contacted the gym? If its their car park then as principal they are responsible and liable for the actions of their agents (parking company)

KMBayes

No, the vehicle stayed throughout - it's just that it was driven in by one gym member and driven out later by a second gym member. 

I'm planning on getting hold of the gym manager now - virgin active don't make it easy though.

Half_way

Before you shoot yourself in the foot, post what you intend to say to the gym here first. plus the terms for parking/using the site and if possible any signage

Not_A_Hope

You should complain in the strongest terms to the manager at Virgin Active and state that unless they get these tickets cancelled both you and your wife will be cancelling your memberships as you cannot afford to use their gym if visits include a £100 / £170 penalty.

You should advise them that their PPC is continuing to add a fake £70 to their PCN despite it being banned by the government earlier this year in their new Code of Practice.

Coupon-mad

Whether it's a Gladstones LBC or not:

Same advice as in the thread right next to yours by a user called the_hundreds and the one by @95816

KMBayes

Half_way said:

Before you shoot yourself in the foot, post what you intend to say to the gym here first. plus the terms for parking/using the site and if possible any signage

Had a word with front of house today. Was very nice about it and told me they recognise the problem but they had no influence over MET parking. 

In terms of signage, since our ‘offence’ there is more of it about, 11 notices in all, but all placed in positions where they are least likely to be noticed in the car park and elevated about 10 feet off the ground. It’s impossible to read the full terms of the ‘contract’ by naked eye. Aware of the problem, Virgin have taken to adding their own more prominent notices to alert members. I think there’s clear ambiguity members/vehicles but perhaps a defence on illegible signage is a better route.

Coupon-mad

Ok.  You aren't at defence stage yet and will have seen from the other two threads I signposted you to, how to robustly respond to a LBC from a roboclaim 'law' firm.

Is it a real LBC giving you 30 days and the 'reply forms'? (don't use them, but hopefully, you already know that from the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread).

Or is it the usual dross debt crawler rubbish, dressed up like a LBC to gaslight you (e.g. see the CST Law group thread and laugh).

I suspect the latter, as MET almost never sue.

KMBayes

Thanks. I’ll  be taking a good look at the newbies thread. I think it’s CST law, will take a good look at the form they sent but at first glance it looked like an LBC although they called it a letter before action. 

Coupon-mad

The CST letters group thread was replied on only yesterday, and is right here for you to read right now on page 2.

I'm not linking it because newbies use the forum best when they get used to hopping around for themselves (if unfamiliar with forums) and looking at thread titles to find recent relevant stuff.

Le_Kirk

KMBayes said:

Thanks. I’ll  be taking a good look at the newbies thread. I think it’s CST law, will take a good look at the form they sent but at first glance it looked like an LBC although they called it a letter before action. 

LBC/LBCC/LOC/LBA all mean the same thing - provided they give you 30 days and include the financial forms, which as @Coupon-mad states, you do not use.