Parking stories in the News/media

Coupon-mad

A heads up that Rip off Britain (ON TV NOW) currently has Gary Rycroft (solicitor) advising someone who has residential parking charges.

Jenni_D

Missed it - was his advice practical? Or would it lead someone down the wrong path?

Coupon-mad

Jenni_D said:

Missed it - was his advice practical? Or would it lead someone down the wrong path?

No it was OK - and only brief.

Annoyingly, they would not name the scammer but the presenter was naive in saying 'good news, even though it's past 28 days the company has said you can appeal'.

Gary Rycroft interjected and said 'it's not really an 'appeal' because the PCNs shouldn't have been issued' (because the guy had a permit).  He also corrected the victim 'these are not fines, they are invoices' and told the guy to dispute them all the way. 

Nellymoser

More incorrect long parking overstays recorded by ANPR camera. This time it's a Lidl car park in Northern Ireland managed by Your Parking Space.
https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2024-01-09/supermarket-apology-over-car-parking-fines-technical-error

Lidl apologised saying pcns issued incorrectly will of course be cancelled and churned out the frequently used "technical error" excuse.

If ensuring that every one of our customers has a positive shopping experience is of the utmost importance to Lidl then they've clearly selected the wrong car park management measure. 

Leviathan747

Hi everyone.

Piece about Excel in Calender news this evening. Starts about 9mins in!  

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/catch-up-on-itv-calendar-north-from-friday-12th-january/mnf9bwl?fbclid=IwAR02tAPN4_cvTBmTLvKyNT_1Go7Vmc3WrzWyIqgilBRbQ6veGAweuBVHOSA

Coupon-mad

Leviathan747 said:

Hi everyone.

Piece about Excel in Calender news this evening. Starts about 9mins in!  

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/catch-up-on-itv-calendar-north-from-friday-12th-january/mnf9bwl?fbclid=IwAR02tAPN4_cvTBmTLvKyNT_1Go7Vmc3WrzWyIqgilBRbQ6veGAweuBVHOSA

Thanks.  Interesting to watch, and their chat with Sir Greg Knight.

One silly woman ignored a court claim instead of defending it and winning like the other lady did. What a shame people don't come here.

Leviathan747

Coupon-mad said:

Leviathan747 said:

Hi everyone.

Piece about Excel in Calender news this evening. Starts about 9mins in!  

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/catch-up-on-itv-calendar-north-from-friday-12th-january/mnf9bwl?fbclid=IwAR02tAPN4_cvTBmTLvKyNT_1Go7Vmc3WrzWyIqgilBRbQ6veGAweuBVHOSA

Thanks.  Interesting to watch, and their chat with Sir Greg Knight.

One silly woman ignored a court claim instead of defending it and winning like the other lady did. What a shame people don't come here.

Yes, definitely. MSE forum was mentioned!! But unfortunately that was in the other twenty minutes of footage they didn't use.

I guess that other lady had a lot going on with husband's death and house sale and defending the court case was too much for her.

Out of interest, is there anything she can do to salvage her situation, after her court case was missed?

Coupon-mad

No, it's clear she ignored a court claim.

Coupon-mad

Not sure what planet this journalist is on, reporting that one McDonalds PCN issued to the actor who played Mickey Pearce (in OF&H back in the day) has turned into £2800:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12959209/Only-Fools-Horses-Mickey-Pearce-hit-2-800-bill-parking-outside-McDonalds-cancer-battling-star-reveals.html

The comments are laughable, as usual.

Here's a non-DM version if you prefer:

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/only-fools-horses-star-handed-28441491?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

"The initial ticket was less than £100. Now I am getting countless letters from a company demanding I pay £2,800 in or face having my personal goods removed.

"There was no court order to say I owed this debt. Suddenly getting a demand for £3,000 could be devastating for many people.

Who knows some may have been driven to suicide with worry.”

Apparently they have, according to one BMPA member who has heard of a suicide after a PPC & DRA hounded a motorist.

Coupon-mad

Here we go again, dodgy signs taking drivers for a ride, ParkingEye:

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/24039834.pitsea-pensioner-win-fight-get-parking-fine-overturned/

Christina Sutton, 77, from Pitsea, parked her car in the car park at The Range, on Northlands Pavement, in a blue badge holders only space next to a sign “clearly displaying a four-hour max stay”.

However, she was handed a £100 fine and told parking rules in the car park have changed so shoppers can only park for three hours for free.

Christina acknowledged that some of the signs in the car parks had changed to say “three-hour max stay”. However, the sign where she parked by the blue badge spaces still say “four hours”.  

Christina repeatedly appealed the fine but her bid was rejected.  Christina was initially hit with the fine in August, and has spent the last four months attempting to get the fine overturned.

Craig Rimmer, Basildon Conservative councillor, joined Christina in her parking fine fight.  He said: “I was absolutely appalled that Christina could be fined in this way."

After Parking Eye were contacted by the Echo, with the photographic evidence, they have overturned her fine and stated that the sign has been “vandalised”.

  

Does this look like a vandalised sign?

No it doesn't.

No signs of a sticker removed.

No apology that the sign certainly says 4 hours.

No apology for unfairly refusing her appeals.

No apology for the Equality Act breach of holding disabled people to the same time limit as able bodied motorists:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8488737.stm#:~:text=The%20UK's%20big%20supermarkets%20are,face%20penalty%20charges%20for%20overstaying.

Nope.

Just blame 'vandals' at the blue badge bays and only cancel once a newspaper makes some noise.

The BPA must be so proud.