ECP Parking Fine (NTK) at Morrisons - paid via RingGo - ECP appeal rejected - Advice please

Hainz1818

This is a weird one so advice would be appreciated.

I used the RingGo app to pay for '1 Day' parking in a Morrisons car park, the app clearly shows that I parked in the right zone and was labelled correctly, I definitely parked in the correct spot indicated by the app.

I get a NTK through from Euro Car Parks (to my husbands name), I checked my RingGo app and noticed I had mistakenly entered my reg plate wrong by one letter so I appealed against it with this information and I sent them my receipt for evidence that I had paid for the parking via the app and explained about the reg mistake - (I didn't name myself as the driver, but their letter clearly states the 'Paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 of POFA 2012')

Appeal gets rejected by ECP:

"Having carefully considered the evidence provided by you we have decided to reject your appeal for the following reasons:

-  The car park is operated by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) – cameras capture an image of vehicles entering and leaving the car park and calculate their length of stay.

-  Parking at the above site is limited to 120 minutes.

-  On entry to private land it is the responsibility of the driver to check for signage and ensure

that your vehicle has been correctly parked.

-  Your vehicle was parked longer than 120 minutes, therefore the notice was issued correctly

and remains payable."

Along with a picture of the sign in the car park clearly showing it says maximum 2 hours.

Not sure what to do next, should I appeal through POPLA (under what grounds, !!!!!! do I say)? Should I try to contact RingGo / Morrisons, is it too late for that?

Umkomaas

Simply go to the Morrisons store, see the manager, take the parking charge notice, your receipt for the day (or cc/bank statement confirming purchasing), any previous proof of regular patronage, and if you have a Morrisons 'More' loyalty card, take that too. 

Ms are the best supermarket in the country for protecting their customers from the ravages of private parking firms (it amazes me why Ms need to have ECP involved, when all they seem to do is upset their customers). Ms will cancel. 

Come back to tell us that this advice continues to work.

Coupon-mad

What advertising made you choose that car park and what made you believe 'one day parking' was available? Something must have made you go there for all day parking because normally retail parks don't offer that.

That offer/advertising is what you will have to show as evidence to Morrisons and the retail park landowner (to demand they investigate and cancel it) and to POPLA if those two complaints fail.

Also, what does the PCN say was the reason for issue?  Overstaying?  

fisherjim

"I used the RingGo app to pay for '1 Day' parking in a Morrisons car park"

Isn't much help, how can we do any research for you without knowing the exact site you are talking about?

Stand alone Morrisons are highly unlikely to provide an all day car park even for payment, a supermarket needs throughput of customers spending money not dead cars taking up shopping places.

IMHO it appears you have confused the parking conditions, site address, etc. or there are two car parks abutting each other, who knows without more information. Ringo works on differing criteria for the same site i.e a search facility, a geo location or the better of the options a site code, it just seems like you got it wrong, PPC's are slippery and underhand but this one does not add up.

"Not sure what to do next, should I appeal through POPLA (under what grounds, !!!!!! do I say)? Should I try to contact RingGo / Morrisons, is it too late for that?

It's not too late to complain to Morrisons but you do need a little background of what to say and a real insight into the facts are needed for POPLA who won't be interested in mitigation only process, signage, law etc. Ringo won't be interested they are contracted to the landowner hence a landowner cancellation is always the first step, and unless this is a new site where something is amiss I doubt it is their error or there would be many complaints.

Hainz1818

Coupon-mad said:

What advertising made you choose that car park and what made you believe 'one day parking' was available? Something must have made you go there for all day parking because normally retail parks don't offer that.

That offer/advertising is what you will have to show as evidence to Morrisons and the retail park landowner (to demand they investigate and cancel it) and to POPLA if those two complaints fail.

Also, what does the PCN say was the reason for issue?  Overstaying?  

See screenshots of the app, the app also outlines the area and states 365 spaces which is about wha tI would guess is the number in the whole car park.

I don’t live locally and not sure who to contact at Morrisons

They rejected my appeal on the grounds of overstaying yes, claiming the maximum time is two hours.

Screenshots of app:

Coupon-mad

Wow.

Great evidence for your POPLA appeal!  That plus your confirmation of paying.

Include a point that ECP appear to have changed their reason for PCN issue to a false 'overstay' allegation, rather than cancel the PCN which they are required to do for a 'minor keying error' (which the appellant identified during their appeal - one digit VRM error should have resulted in ECP cancelling the PCN in accordance with the mandatory BPA Code).

Hainz1818

Coupon-mad said:

Wow.

Great evidence for your POPLA appeal!  That plus your confirmation of paying.

Include a point that ECP appear to have changed their reason for PCN issue to a false 'overstay' allegation, rather than cancel the PCN which they are required to do for a 'minor keying error' (which the appellant identified during their appeal - one digit VRM error should have resulted in ECP cancelling the PCN in accordance with the mandatory BPA Code).

Should I bother trying to contact Morrisons at all then or just straight to POPLA on the grounds 'I was still within the time I paid for' with my evidence and what you've stated above r.e. BPA code?

Coupon-mad

Never ever try POPLA before landowner complaint.

Trying POPLA too early prevents landowner cancellation and makes a PPC dig their heels in (because POPLA costs them a fee).

Hainz1818

Coupon-mad said:

Never ever try POPLA before landowner complaint.

Trying POPLA too early prevents landowner cancellation and makes a PPC dig their heels in (because POPLA costs them a fee).

Okay thanks, I think the manager is Paul Saville from a quick google search. Any advice on how best to contact him? I can only find 'fresh@morrisons.com'  as a customer service contact email?

KeithP

Hainz1818 said:

Coupon-mad said:

Never ever try POPLA before landowner complaint.

Trying POPLA too early prevents landowner cancellation and makes a PPC dig their heels in (because POPLA costs them a fee).

Okay thanks, I think the manager is Paul Saville from a quick google search. Any advice on how best to contact him? I can only find 'fresh@morrisons.com'  as a customer service contact email?

Please read again the first reply you received on this thread --- from @Umkomaas.

Hainz1818

KeithP said:

Hainz1818 said:

Coupon-mad said:

Never ever try POPLA before landowner complaint.

Trying POPLA too early prevents landowner cancellation and makes a PPC dig their heels in (because POPLA costs them a fee).

Okay thanks, I think the manager is Paul Saville from a quick google search. Any advice on how best to contact him? I can only find 'fresh@morrisons.com'  as a customer service contact email?

Please read again the first reply you received on this thread --- from @Umkomaas.

Thanks - I did read this, however, I did say that I don't live locally to the location on a previous post.