Ibis Car Park, Stayed, paid for parking, registered yet still fined

centgas

I stayed at Ibis Coventry for 2 nights. I paid for parking at check in, and entered my registration number. Ibis informed me I could come and go from the car park during the paid period.

10 days later I receive a £60 fine (to increase to £100 if not paid, or appealed to POPLA), for parking without being registered. They haven't told me exactly how I wasn't registered (whether it be entering my number plate wrong or selecting 1 day instead of 2), but have rejected my appeal, where I showed them proof of paying for the parking.

This seems very unfair. I paid for parking, was it would of been an honest mistake.

I went on JustAnswer and the legal advice is POPLA will likely rule against me as they would technically be right that I did not park legally if I wasn't registered second day.

What do I do now? Pay it? Ignore it? What would the court charges likely be? I am tempted to say take me to court and have them decide, and this does not seem fair or reasonable.

I am sending this to the parking company;

Having taken legal advice, Please provide written evidence that I did not enter the details correctly. Ibis have me on CCTV entering my registration upon check in.

Furthermore, as communicated to Ibis, this fails the test of whether  'most reasonable people would think a ticket is unfair and within honest error'.

Please also acknowledge, as not done on the last letter, that I did pay for two nights parking and my registration was entered upon check in.

From my logged conversation with the receptionist at ibis, I was informed that I could enter and leave the car at will and was not told I have to enter my details again.

The amount you have charged is not based upon any commercially justifiable loss to your company or the landowner, given I stayed at the hotel and Ibis

King Regards

I would be hugely grateful for any advice or assistance. Thanks

Attached below is their rejection of my appeal;

KeithP

Surely the most obvious thing to do is complain to Ibis - either the Coventry hotel or head office.
It's their car park. Get them to call the dogs off.

centgas

I've already filled out a complaints form to Ibis. I will also try phoning the hotel again (although they aren't even keen to answer!).

Any advice on how successful this is likely to be in court/with popla/whether I should send Smart Parking what I wrote above, would be a massive help.

Grizebeck

Oh smart parking can be beaten at POPLA easily

All you need to put to beat them is use the following text and i mean this....

"The parking operator does not have a contract in their own name to issue PCNs at this site"

Nothing else nothing less It will win at POPLA end of.

And yes ive never lost to Smart Parking Ltd using the above text since 2012🤣🤣🤣

patient_dream

The problem with online complaint forms is that you are dealing with a "jobs worth" and not the organ grinder

Clearly, the hotel staff should have informed you how the parking scam works, you thought you paid for the duration of your stay

Go to Google and type in .... CEO EMAIL IBIS UK
Email the CEO as a money spending customer and request he cancels

Smart parking have damaged many companies and are part of the great BPA members scam and easily beaten
Infact, it is because of companies like Smart that government introduced a new code of practice

In future, even though you may book online, always phone the hotel to check if they employ a parking scammer, if yes... cancel the booking

Get the CEO to cancel .... if he still wants your business

Coupon-mad

Grizebeck said:

Oh smart parking can be beaten at POPLA easily

All you need to put to beat them is use the following text and i mean this....

"The parking operator does not have a contract in their own name to issue PCNs at this site"

Nothing else nothing less It will win at POPLA end of.

And yes ive never lost to Smart Parking Ltd using the above text since 2012🤣🤣🤣

The above is correct.

If you hadn't already told Smart who was driving (big mistake) you could also have won just by saying "non-POFA, innit?"!  That would have been 100% win.

But it sounds like you threw that chance away, by telling them you were the driver.

So do what @Grizebeck says as your POPLA appeal, if Ibis Head Office fail to cancel it this month.  Which they can easily do.  

JustAnswer are clueless about private parking! 

Le_Kirk

This seems very unfair. I paid for parking, was it would of been an honest mistake.

What does this actually mean?

centgas

Le_Kirk said:

This seems very unfair. I paid for parking, was it would of been an honest mistake.

What does this actually mean?

Apart from being a typo, it means I basically intended to do the right thing (by paying and registering) but selected the wrong option when registering (1 day not 2)

centgas

Coupon-mad said:

Grizebeck said:

Oh smart parking can be beaten at POPLA easily

All you need to put to beat them is use the following text and i mean this....

"The parking operator does not have a contract in their own name to issue PCNs at this site"

Nothing else nothing less It will win at POPLA end of.

And yes ive never lost to Smart Parking Ltd using the above text since 2012🤣🤣🤣

The above is correct.

If you hadn't already told Smart who was driving (big mistake) you could also have won just by saying "non-POFA, innit?"!  That would have been 100% win.

But it sounds like you threw that chance away, by telling them you were the driver.

So do what @Grizebeck says as your POPLA appeal, if Ibis Head Office fail to cancel it this month.  Which they can easily do.  

JustAnswer are clueless about private parking! 

If the one line about POPLA that Grizebeck works easily, why would I want to go through the named driver or ibis head office route anyway? Just checking I’m not missing something here, because if they were to reject it I’m lumbered with a £100 fine.

Thanks for the replies.

Coupon-mad

Because the POFA point (which is nothing to do with naming a driver, quite the opposite) is 100% slam-dunk and would have been the easiest argument for POPLA to understand.  Also easiest for most posters here.

Grizebeck's tactic is more of a loophole and specific to Smart Parking.  And POPLA might not understand it if Smart continue to contest.

Which they would not do against the "non-POFA, innit?" simple appeal for a keeper to win with. The "Non-POFA, cancel it" appeal you should have sent, is seen in the APCOA thread near yours right now.

But if you already said who was driving you can't use that now. I'm just helping you know what NOT to do next time!

Grizebeck

@Coupon-mad never had an issue even when they put an evidence pack together as they never supply a contract or witness form and just ignore the point

@centgas just go ahead and do the appeal ive shown you. You WILL win!!! Dont worry its sooo easy with this one as you wont be paying a penny