Parking at Aldi [Corporation Street, Preston] - Abused Patron Parking!

james2023

Hi,

Yesterday I received a PCN from Ocean parking whilst parking at the retail park in Corporation Street, Preston. The PCN was issued 15 minutes after I entered the car park and states that I abused patron parking.

The maximum stay in this car park is 2 hours, I have a purchasing receipt from ALDI to proof my presence on site and two witnesses saw me shopping there when the PCN was issued.

I just rang Ocean Parking to ask if I broke any parking rules which I wasn't aware of and I was informed that there is a "witness" who saw me leaving the car park !!
  
Has anyone ever had this and what did they do? I would very much appreciate any advise before I send my appeal to Ocean.

Thank you !

Grizebeck

These are so simple to win (ive never lost one of these)

Simple appeal to Ocean denying you left the car park and that you put them to proof. 

Dear Ocean

The driver never left site and there is no evidence of this,  You will lose this appeal at POPLA even if you decline the appeal now.  No matter how big your appeal rejection letter or how detailed your POPLA evidence pack you have no proof the driver left site and as such you will lose these at POPLA
With the help of MSE forum i will beat you

Then appeal to POPLA, again a simple appeal based on the fact you didn't leave site and for them to provide photographic evidence which matches pictures of you leaving (they don't have that).  Ocean will try but fail to beat you on this,  they never win when put to proof 
Please Please don't question the logic of this type of appeal.  Just get on and do as advised as you will win

fisherjim

Never ever phone a parking company or a debt collector they lie and they twist and they bully.

The person you spoke to hasn't a clue if there was a witness, and they certainly won't have evidence.

james2023

Thank you very much Grizebeck for sharing your thoughts! I will copy what you just proposed into my appeal email to Ocean Parking this afternoon.

Do you think I should attach a copy of the purchase receipt from Aldi into my email?

Regards

Grizebeck

james2023 said:

Thank you very much Grizebeck for sharing your thoughts! I will copy what you just proposed into my appeal email to Ocean Parking this afternoon.

Do you think I should attach a copy of the purchase receipt from Aldi into my email?

Regards

No irrelevant
just do as advised then come back when its declined
log the appeal here https://www.oceanparking.co.uk/pay/appeal/action/

B789

james2023 said:

Do you think I should attach a copy of the purchase receipt from Aldi into my email?

Just do as @Grizebeck has advised. Do not try to be clever and add anything. They are not saying you didn't shop at Aldi. They are claiming you left the site but they have no evidence to prove that.

Read, re-read and read again the Newbies thread near the top of this forum to understand the process you are now in and what steps are involved and do as advised by the experts.

fisherjim

james2023 said:

Thank you very much Grizebeck for sharing your thoughts! I will copy what you just proposed into my appeal email to Ocean Parking this afternoon.

Do you think I should attach a copy of the purchase receipt from Aldi into my email?

Regards

You need to stop thinking that PPC's are reasonable people follow Grizebeck's advice who is well up on these scams.

They only want money they are not interested in anything that you might say, the leaving site scam has been cottoned on to by a number of these idiots as an add on ruse to get people on the back foot.

Only one we know of has ever gone to court and that PPC ended up with egg on their face, no one has dared try it again.

Think about it how could watching someone leave site be managing that site for the good of the land owner, are the signs specific, is the boundary defined, what does the signage actually say, even if someone left site they won't have evidence, and I suspect the only photos show just an empty car!

james2023

Hello again, I sent Ocean the appeal letter which  Grizebeck suggested but as expected, Ocean Parking rejected my appeal and sent me the following letter this afternoon:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your appeal against the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued on 12 Mar 23 at Corporation Street, Preston for the alleged contravention of Abused Patron Parking has been considered by our appeals team, having reviewed the evidence and the details supplied by yourself your appeal has been rejected.

 

Your appeal has been rejected for the following reasons:

• On 12 Mar 23 at 13:56 this vehicle, Registration ****, was parked at Corporation Street and the driver was observed leaving the site.

• When parking at Corporation Street the driver of this vehicle agreed to pay a Parking Charge of £100 if they did not park in accordance with the terms printed on the contractual warning signs.

• The contractual warning signs in place state: Customer Only Car Park. You must remain on site at all times your vehicle remains in the car park. The driver of this vehicle parked in contravention of this term of the contractual warning signs.

• The operative on duty observed the vehicle being parked at this location and then witnessed the driver leaving the site.

 • This car park is only free to members of the public who are patrons of the stores on site for the duration they remain on site. At the time the vehicle was issued with a charge the driver was not present on site so therefore not a patron of the store.

• There are 22 contractual warning signs stating the terms and conditions for parking at this location, these are displayed at regular intervals around the car park.

• As you can see from the photographic evidence linked below your vehicle is parked in close proximity to a contractual warning sign outlining the parking restrictions in place at this location.

 • Therefore, if you have failed to read or chosen to ignore the signage in place, Ocean Parking cannot be held responsible for this, nor is this due to the signage not being clear or visible.

• Ocean Parking’s Operative has witnessed the driver of the vehicle park on site, exit their

 

vehicle and walk towards the Town Centre, therefore the vehicle was parked on site and the driver was not present.

• When you parked the vehicle on site, you have accepted the Terms and Conditions as stated on the contractual warning signage in place, therefore by you not remaining on site with your vehicle, you parked in contravention of those Terms and Conditions.

 • From where your vehicle was parked, the operative would clearly see if you had gone towards the on-site stores or off site, as they observed.

• You have failed to provide any evidence to support your appeal, nor have you provided any evidence you were a patron of the on-site stores.

• Customers of the on-site stores are allowed to use the car park for up to 2 hours, however as you left site, you were not a customer at that time, therefore your vehicle should not have been parked in the ‘Customer Only’ car park.

• The details stated within your appeal do not negate you from the parking restrictions in place, nor do they mitigate the issuing pf our PCN.

• There is a Pay and Display car park on the opposite side of the road for patrons of the Town Centre, the free Customer Only car park should not be used as an alternative from this.

• Ocean Parking have a contract with the landowner to enforce the parking terms and conditions in place, and you parked in contravention of those terms. Our signage clearly states the parking requirements and the costs of non-compliance.

 • You have failed to provide any evidence to support the claims throughout your appeal.

• Ocean Parking would therefore conclude that the driver of this vehicle failed to comply with the contractual warning signage in place and that this PCN was correctly issued.

 Photographic evidence supporting the issue of this PCN can be viewed by following the link and entering the vehicle registration and PCN reference number; https /   oceanparking.  ec6pay  . com/ . Copies of these photographs are also available upon request.

As you appealed within the 14-day discounted period the parking charge amount has remained at the reduced payment amount of £60, the amount due will remain at the discounted rate for a further 14 days from the date of this letter. After the 14 days the full amount will be due and payable.

 This decision is final, and no further correspondence will be accepted by Ocean Parking regarding this appeal, therefore you are requested to now submit your payment of the monies owing. You now have several options from which to choose:

1. Pay the parking charge

 2. Make an appeal to POPLA - The Independent Appeals Service by making your appeal online at www . popla .co. uk 

 a. Your POPLA verification code is: ********.

Please be advised that if you opt for independent arbitration of your case, the ability to pay the parking charge at the reduced rate of £60 will immediately end.

 If you opt to pay the parking charge you will be unable to appeal to POPLA.

 If you wish to appeal to POPLA this must be done within 28 days of the date of this notification. b. By law we are also required to inform you the Ombudsman Services (www. ombudsman-services .org/) provides an alternate dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal.

However, we have not chosen toparticipate in their alternate dispute resolution service. As such should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as explained above.

 3. If you choose to do nothing, we will seek to recover the monies owed to us via our debt recovery procedures and may proceed with Court action against you. This letter and all other correspondence received in relation to this PCN may be used to form part of our case for court action if necessary.

Yours sincerely

******* They also attached these photos of the vehicle

B789

Sorry, I had to calm down after laughing at that response to the appeal.

Ocean Parking’s Operative has witnessed the driver of the vehicle park on site, exit their vehicle and walk towards the Town Centre, therefore the vehicle was parked on site and the driver was not present.

Your defence to this is going to be exactly the same as all defences to these silly "leaving site" scams... The PPC is put to strict proof blah blah. Just tell POPLA, if you bother with them that you require strict proof that the driver left the site. We all know they haven't got any and that photo of your car proves what?

Do you honestly think that this joke of a PPC is going to actually put this in front of a judge? Get on with your life and don't worry about it.

Brie

So they've only provided proof that your car was parked but not that you left the property?  And even assuming you did leave the property do they have proof that your passenger spent the time shopping in Aldi?

Go with what the others have said.  

Jenni_D

The other obvious counter is ... the local operative has a duty to minimise impact on a consumer - if they're witnessing the driver leaving the site then surely they have a duty to inform the driver that they are about to breach the contractual rules?  

PS - wasn't this site previously Parking Eye?