Unable to pay at car park

BigBaldJohn

Got a surprisingly rapid reply from them. As expected, none too helpful...

Dear John,

You have appealed to us about a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) which was issued by the Parking Management Company, ParkingEye Ltd.

We can't take responsibility for the actions of another company or interfere with their business. We may own the land, but are not the Car Park Operator. Neither our company nor staff played any part in the error chain which led to issue of the PCN. Our customers are not exempt from paying for parking, but do get considerable benefit from it, see https://bookings.wyevalleyvisitorcentre.co.uk/index.php?option=com_kunena&view=topic&catid=17&id=159&Itemid=346#291 How the money from parking is used.

The Operator cannot disclose their evidence of infringement to us, and we are not qualified to provide an impartial or lawful Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, so it would not be right for us to intervene.

However, ParkingEye is accredited under the BPA Approved Operator Scheme, so you can appeal free of charge:
The appeal process is strictly regulated for your protection with checks and balances, see the information printed on the Parking Charge Notice. If an appeal to the operator is unsuccessful they must give you the opportunity to appeal to the ADR Provider appointed by their trade body, the British Parking Association. The expertise, impartiality and independence of the ADR Provider is assured by Ombudsman Services. See the Operator's reply for details. If you have questions about the Parking Management Company go to https://www.parkingeye.co.uk/ ParkingEye.

If you need help go to Citizens Advice for help that you can trust. Please respect that Wye Valley Visitor Centre staff have no duty to give customer support on parking matters. Information about parking given by Centre staff is out of courtesy and in good faith in the manner of any tourist information and is not intended to form a contract or constitute legal advice.

I hope you have found this information helpful. If you feel unable to support our activities by paying for parking at the Wye Valley Visitor Centre, there is alternate Pay & Display parking at Symonds Yat Leisure Park next door.

Kind Regards 

Wye Valley Visitor Centre Team 


I find their last paragraph somewhat offensive. The whole thing reads as though Parkingeye wrote it.

So, given their refusal to help, I guess it's on with the POPLA appeal which will fail and pave the way to have the case heard in court. Is there anything else I can do at this point?

Cheers
John

Umkomaas

The appeal process is strictly regulated for your protection with checks and balances, see the information printed on the Parking Charge Notice. If an appeal to the operator is unsuccessful they must give you the opportunity to appeal to the ADR Provider appointed by their trade body, the British Parking Association. The expertise, impartiality and independence of the ADR Provider is assured by Ombudsman Services.

I wonder who sold them that line?  'Strictly regulated' my Jim Royle!

If you need help go to Citizens Advice for help that you can trust.

That's the worst bit of advice in the whole of their response. Trust us, the CAB advice cannot be trusted, they know next to nothing about this. 

I find their last paragraph somewhat offensive. The whole thing reads as though Parkingeye wrote it.

More than likely - template response for 'awkward' complainants. Nice review on TripAdvisor looms I suspect?

Coupon-mad

Reply and say that's a template response everyone seems to get, looks (from the language and rubbish about POPLA that no landowner would ever know or independently write) to have been written primarily by ParkingEye for landowners, in order to shut customers up.

It's just not good enough when 'the tail is wagging the dog' and no-one in management at the Butterfly Zoo even reads these complaints (I did not 'appeal' to you, it's a formal complaint).

You are losing no end of customers and goodwill due to ParkingEye. Kindly escalate this to your manager and please can a human read what I am saying?  Your contract User Manual lets you cancel with one email.  Given that option, what's the rationale behind not doing that for genuine customers and for fobbing off every complaint?  The error chain was caused by the ParkingEye system itself...

 (explain what happened)

BigBaldJohn

Done, we'll see what offensive emails they dream up next.

BigBaldJohn

OK, it's been a week and no reply, and no cancellation from ParkingEye.

I think it's safe to say the butterfly farm is not going to help. So it's on to the POPLA appeal, with alacrity - unless there's something else I can try?

As I understand it, even if (when) POPLA fails, it's a necessary step to getting the matter before a judge. So could I ask for a resident expert to cast their eye over the appeal I posted a while back?

Cheers

Half_way

The popla stage is important, however I would drag the buterfly centre into this.
You must tell them they are jointly liable for the actions of their agents, and that the British parting Association limited area not a regulatory authority.
 You have given the butterfly centre, as principal  the opportunity to cancel the parking charge notice and subsequent action from its agents, the unregualted parking company, parking eye.
 
also staye that you do not appreciate having your valuable time wasted over this and that you will consider charging the butterfly centre for your time plus expenses at £19 per hour or part thereof. Totalling £xxx..xx so far.
If they cancel the parking charge from their agents, as a gesture of goodwill you will be wiimg to consist waiving your charges

BigBaldJohn

Half_way said:

The popla stage is important, however I would drag the buterfly centre into this.
You must tell them they are jointly liable for the actions of their agents, and that the British parting Association limited area not a regulatory authority.
 You have given the butterfly centre, as principal  the opportunity to cancel the parking charge notice and subsequent action from its agents, the unregualted parking company, parking eye.
 
also staye that you do not appreciate having your valuable time wasted over this and that you will consider charging the butterfly centre for your time plus expenses at £19 per hour or part thereof. Totalling £xxx..xx so far.
If they cancel the parking charge from their agents, as a gesture of goodwill you will be wiimg to consist waiving your charges

Good point, thank you.

I had a thought regarding the signage. Although it has the £100 charge in fairly bold text, it does not contain any indication that there is a 'clock' running for the user to make payment, after which they will issue the charge regardless of circumstances. I believe this would come under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, section 6 (Misleading Omissions).

Half_way

Another key phrase is frustration of contract, you intended to pay, but due to matters beyond your control and a poor implementation of a payment system you were prevented from doing so, and as such left the car park after a short amount of time spending less than 10 minutes parked as  soon as you were aware the systemv wouldn't let you pay for your parking.

POPLA will rule if the parking company had followed rules set out by the British Parking Association limited.
 The BPA is there to support its members, the parking companies.
The BPA  writes the rules on behalf of its members for its members.
Popla is also funded by theBPA.
Conflict of interest ? Independant?

BigBaldJohn

As an aside, has the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 had any effect? There seems to me, as a layman, that there are some nice goodies in it, like establishing a truly independent appeals procedure.

Coupon-mad

Nope, the industry threw money at 2 Judicial Reviews and threw their toys out the pram as well:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6362100/code-of-practice/p1

So the new Code is currently suspended for a final (honestly this time really final) public consultation this Summer that I am certain you and your family will want to respond to.

It is specifically about the level of parking charges and the false added DRA fee extortion and the impact of those levels (and impact of allowing, capping or banning the latter).

The public consultation will help to inform the Impact Assessment and the decision.