Airport Parking at Stanstead - Interesting Post

jrc123

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone has had this issue before and found a way round it.

I booked airport parking via Holiday Extras and On the Beach Holidays for the long stay carpark at Stanstead Airport.
I arrived at around 3am in the morning and everything was extremely dark and signs were not lit up as it was in the dark of the night.

I drove up to the barrier and pressed for the ticket, sometimes it doesnt work when the barriers should automatically open. I took the ticket and drove it and parked.
I have not used the carpark previously.

What i had not realised this was the incorrect car park and was infact the Novetel Hotel Car Park which uses the same postcode as the long stay car park. A total error from my side.

I spoke to Holiday extras and they said any problems when arriving back to press the speak for help button and quote my booking reference. i suspected this wouldnt work as i was in a different car park.

When i arrived back from holiday i tried this and had to go to the hotel to verify my ticket and was told i had to pay £200 to leave, i said i cant afford that and the manager dropped it to £100 - thought that ridculous to drop 50% that quick , i suspected this must happen all the time as the postcode is the same as the long stay car park and there are very bad signage.

I refused to pay and drove behind another car to exit the car park. There is no signage accepting a contract or any sort with the carpark.

What can happen and what should i do?

thanks for the help

NBLondon

Novotel could send you an invoice?

Umkomaas

What can happen and what should i do?

If there is a private parking company (PPC) operating in the car park, you should be receiving a letter in the post in the next few days/weeks. However, I suspect that if the hotel was attempting to take money directly from you, they may not have a PPC involved. Notwithstanding what @NBLondon says above, you might fall lucky. 

jrc123

thanks for the help on this one.
I looked around the carpark and there were signs about CCTV about safety etc but no mentions of contracts or PPC names, which leads me to think they operate this themselves.

The interesting part was they were happy to drop this to £10 a day rather than £20 quite early into the chat.

They would have to pay DVLA to get my details to send me an invoice to start with.

And if i ignore the invoice? surely they wouldnt be in the business to take to a small claims?

Any thoughts on how to approach if i recieve anything in the post?

Fruitcake

If there is no PPC at the site, then the landowner/hotel chain could make a paper application to obtain the keeper's details and send them an invoice for parking.
It would depend entirely on what the Ts and Cs of using the car park were at the material time, and whether they clearly state you will be invoiced if you don't pay for parking.

Wait and see if anything arrives in the post, then come back to this thread if that does happen.

The PoFA doesn't just cover private parking. Other sections and schedules ban clamping, towing, and impounding vehicles and refusing to release them without payment.
It might be worth having a look at the relevant parts of the PoFA with regards to that, but it does not preclude the landowner from issuing an invoice for parking. It just means they may have been breaching the PoFA by refusing to release your car without payment.

Technically you have bilked the hotel of their parking fee. £10 a day is actually not bad, but I do understand that this was a genuine mistake on your part.
If parking was included in your package holiday, then paying the hotel would mean you would end up paying twice. If you would have had to pay to park in the long stay car park anyway, then I don't see why paying the hotel instead is not unreasonable.

jrc123

thanks for the help!

I will come back if i receive anything.
The manager of the hotel was appalling didn't care in the slightest! But i guess he is only doing his job.

If anyone has had something similar happen do add a comment :-)

comeandgo

Why do you think you should be able to stay in a hotel car park for free?

Fruitcake

I've added a few more thoughts to my pervious post.

jrc123

Hi Fruitcake thanks for your comments.

The long stay carpark was prepaid and not refundable - i am in dispute with Holiday Extras about this after having a call saying 'Im pretty sure i am in the wrong carpark' and them saying it will be ok.

Considering they were willing to drop the price to £10 a day lead me to believe this is an amateur operation with just barriers and ticket popping out the machine.

I told them i would pay the following day after i tried getting a refund from my existing parking, the manager said if he let me go he thought i would not pay the following day , which lead me to think they may not chase this kind of thing up.

There are no signs with any form of contract, even the signage with no lighting in the dark has just prices and no contract or t&c's.

Comeandgo - read the full brief above this was a mistake and anytime i have had this happen or similar, but i felt i was being held to ransom without accepting any t&c's was not good by the manager

Coupon-mad

Ignore it. I am not condoning how you left the site, but nothing will happen.

The Hotel can only claim for damages for trespass if there are no contractual signs up. They won't.

comeandgo

I did read it thanks, you made the mistake, you seem to be blaming the hotel for having the same post code as where you should have been.  What’s to stop you doing the same next year?  Sorry, I do think you were in the wrong.