Euro Car Parks - 'Administration Fee' / 'Major keying Error'

weaswan

I received a £70 PCN from Euro Car Parks after parking in the Riverside Evesham car park.

They provided ANPR images showing my vehicle (well the numberplate) entering and existing.
I knew I had paid by purchasing a ticket from a machine.
I no longer had the parking ticket but I appealed to Euro Car Parks using my credit card statement as proof of purchase.

They have concluded that the parking charge was correctly issued.
The ticket machine is one where you need to enter your registration.
They claim that I only entered the first four digits of my reg - and hence there was a 'major keying error' so the charge is valid.

The letter they have sent is quite confusing saying the PCN was valid but now only demanding a 'British Parking Association Code of Practice an administration charge of £20.00 fee' within 14 days, after which it will revert to the full PCN of £70.

I am considering appealing to POPLA but equally the reduction to £20 changes the risk balance and effort involved.  Anybody have any experience of appealing such administration charges or any advice? 

Fruitcake

Plan A is always to complain to the landowner and your MP. 

It is up to you whether you pay £20 to make this go away or whether you want to fight it at PoPLA. You will need to raise valid points at PoPLA if you choose the latter. Have a look at the third post of the sticky Announcement for NEWBIES that has links to a number of appeal points you can use.

Umkomaas

£20 is the norm for a 'major keying error'. If you appeal it, the charge goes to £100. You can potentially win at POPLA, but there's work to do and you won't have any result from that for at least a couple of months. 

Even if you were to lose at POPLA you are not bound to pay, but you are then potentially open to a court claim. ECP are not particularly litigious, but they do have 6 years to issue proceedings and who knows what will do between now and 2028. 

Coupon-mad

You will lose at POPLA and the £20 will be no longer offered.

The ONLY WAY to remove that entirely and wipe the PCN is landowner complaint.

Jenni_D

... or pay the £20.

We never like paying them anything, but sometimes one needs to be pragmatic - how much do you value your free time? Is it worth £20 just to make it go away?

weaswan

Jenni_D said:

... or pay the £20.

We never like paying them anything, but sometimes one needs to be pragmatic - how much do you value your free time? Is it worth £20 just to make it go away?

Sound advice Jenny and that's what I'm going to do.  Still frustrating though that you end up having to spend time and effort on this stuff when you've paid the car park and end up being screwed.  I'm sure it was a pay machine issue the more I think about it.

Thanks to others for comments also.  

Coupon-mad

But what about the easy Plan A cancellation?  Surely there is time (cancelled same day, usually).

You haven't mentioned trying the one thing - one email or one or two chats with the Store Managers - that gets it cancelled.

You tried Plan B before Plan A.