Needing a little advice - Euro Car Parks appeal rejected...

Dean3101

Hello MSE! Long time lurker, first time creator and poster just really needing some advice as it's really worrying the o/h.

So, we tend to shop at the same retail park quite regularly (The Peel Centre, Bracknell) and we've been doing this for the last few years, without any issues whatsoever. We also have two children (2yo, 4yo) with the eldest being just diagnosed with Autism.

On one particular occasion a couple of months back, o/h had gone to The Peel Centre alone with the boys to do some quick shopping, unfortunately for her due to my eldest having a period of being unable to adjust to his surroundings and therefore having an "episode", it took her a lot longer to get around the shops than she had intended.

It wasn't until almost a month later, we received a letter in the post, issuing a fine for around £100 I believe (reduced to £60 if made within 14 days or so) for being parked too long, I think it was 29 minutes over the time or something, now we didn't even know the Car Park had a time limit! It's not something we've ever had to check and the signage in this particular Car Park is extremely poor.

We wrote an appeal to ECP, explaining how the signage is poor and that we've found that we definitely aren't the only people to have complained about that and it has never been rectified. I also tried to appeal to their human side and explained exactly what had happened with my son etc and said if they checked their cameras for anything other than entrance/exit of the vehicle theyd see a woman struggling with two children on her own shopping, as I also understood they use these fines as deterrents against people working in the area or wanting to get a train...

We got an email back this morning, three and a half weeks later. Rejected.

Their reasoning? Well they completely ignored my explanation regarding my son and my o/h at all, it wasn't even mentioned in the PDF. They repeat themselves about three times regarding the retail park being on private land, the signage "being clearly displayed" (it isn't and as stated we've parked there many times over 3-4yrs so wouldn't randomly start looking for signs?) And it being the driver's responsibility, that's it.

Oh they do mention that they've acknowledged receipt of our explanation that my o/h was shopping / a customer but due to not providing evidence of this, they can't cancel the the notice... Were we supposed to have hindsight and keep any shopping receipts from that day? I did mention if they'd checked the cameras for her rather than the vehicle 5-10 mins either side of the car arriving/leaving they'd see her with shopping items but no dice...

So... What do we do here? Is there anything whatsoever? Or do we just suck it up and pay the £60? We don't really want to make a POPLA appeal, as o/h is worried we'll lose that and have to pay the full fine...

Any and all advice and assistance, would be greatly appreciated!

Coupon-mad

It wasn't until almost a month later, we received a letter in the post, issuing a fine for around £100.

Hope you DIDN'T tick 'driver'?

PLEASE tell us you had come here and read a bit first, and knew to appeal only as registered keeper?

We don't really want to make a POPLA appeal, as o/h is worried we'll lose that and have to pay the full fine.

...but it isn't a fine.

And Euro Car Parks don't do anything.

And no-one pays after losing at POPLA!

What happened when you tried PLAN A - complaint to the retail park store manager or the property managing agents named on the site entrance plinth - as anyone would, whether they'd read the NEWBIES thread or not?

B789

The bribe discount is to scare gullible victims like your o/h into funding their scam. their whole modus operandi is to escalate the charge, eventually trying to bully the gullible victim onto pooping their pants and capitulating and thus marking them as "mugs" for future targeting. If you follow the advice you receive here, you can end up not paying a penny.

If you are a long-time lurker, why didn't you just use the blue template appeal in the Newbies/FAQ thread? Anyway, it is ECP who are benign. You can try POPLA but forget anything about mitigation or your son's condition as they will only assess based on points of law. Tell your o/h that even if you lose at POPLA, it has no bearing on anything even if it eventually goes to court.

There are plenty of recent POPLA appeals where they have won because the ECP signage is not up to the BPA CoP standard. Just use the search function for one of those.

If you are not successful at POPLA, just ignore the wave of worthless debt collector letters. They are designed to make gullible victims pay up. If you've read the Newbies/FAQ thread you will know that they are powerless to do anything and you may as well use the paper to line the bottom of a birdcage use as kindling.

ECP won't issue court claim for a single PCN.

Did you try Plan A?

fisherjim

That appeal was never going to succeed they do not have a human side, neither do they have CCTV cameras, if they did they would not trawl through hours looking for someone they don't even know or could recognise, and their ANPR cameras only home in on VRN's.

Stating you have parked there for 3-4 years and never looked for signs is another daft (I'm sorry) admission please wise up about private parking scams.

CM's and B789's posts have summed it all up nicely for you take that on board.