ParkingEye denied my appeal - should I accept their £20 offer?

gpcola

Hi,

I followed the advice on the board appealing a ParkingEye ticket I received but they have now  replied, indicating that my appeal has been rejected:

<span>Thank you for your appeal in relation to the Parking Charge incurred on 15 August 2023 at 14:24, at xxxxxx.<p></p>We have reviewed the details outlined in your appeal, but we are not in receipt of sufficient evidence to confirm that the terms and conditions were not breached. The signage located at the above car park instructs motorists to enter their full, correct vehicle registration into the payment machine or terminal on site. After reviewing our records, we are unable to locate any vehicle details that match your vehicle registration. We believe this is due to either a major keying error taking place, or no vehicle registration details being entered at all.<p></p>We are writing to advise you that your recent appeal has been unsuccessful and that you have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure.<p></p>If you wish to have your case independently assessed, please be advised, there is an independent appeals service (POPLA) which is available to motorists who have had an appeal rejected by a British Parking Association Approved Operator. Contact information and further information can be found enclosed. See also </span><span>www.popla.co.uk<p></p></span>By law we are also required to inform you that Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsmanservices.org/<span>) provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal. However, we have not chosen to participate in their alternative dispute resolution service. As such should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as explained above.<p></p>Please note, if the Parking Charge was issued in Scotland/Northern Ireland, only the driver can appeal to POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals).<p></p>Section 17 of the British Parking Association’s code of Practice recognises that with the increased use of technology in place at car parks, that this requires motorists to correctly enter their vehicle registration. The code further states that where these terms haven’t been followed, by issuing a PCN the operator will incur fees and processing costs.<p></p>In light of this and as a gesture of goodwill, </span>we would like to offer you the opportunity to make a discounted payment of £20.00. This will be on a without prejudice basis, however if this balance is not paid within 14 days, the Parking Charge will increase to the original value.<p></p><span>Parkingeye Limited, 40 Eaton Avenue, Buckshaw Village, Chorley, PR7 7NA, Registered in England, Registration No. 5134454<p></p></span><span>If you appeal to POPLA and your appeal is unsuccessful you will not be able to pay the discounted amount in settlement of the Parking Charge, and the full value of the charge will be outstanding.<p></p>A payment can be made by telephoning </span>0330 555 4444, by visiting www.parkingeye.co.uk/payments <span>or alternatively by posting a cheque/postal order to Parkingeye Ltd, PO Box 117, Blyth, NE24 9EJ. Please ensure you write your reference number on the reverse of any cheque/postal order so the payment can be allocated.<p></p>If you have received this correspondence via email, please allow 24 hours for our systems to reflect the discounted value before making a payment via our automated payment line or website.<p></p>Yours faithfully,<p></p>Parkingeye Team</span> <br>

The £20 offer, when compared to the £60 original, and the threat of increase to £100, seems reasonable, but I still feel like I'm being robbed given that I was unable to enter the office where I was supposed to enter my car registration number BECAUSE IT WAS LOCKED!

Do I admit defeat now and pay the  £20 or continue to fight and appeal to POPLA?

Thank you so much for any and all advice pertaining to this issue.

Yours,

GP

patient_dream

WELL if PE thought they had a case, they would not offer a silly £20 just a feeble attempt to buy the staff a few Costa coffee's

Your choice, maybe cheaper to pay their money collecting scam / charity to avoid the PE INVASION of rubbish

Coupon-mad

It has to be your choice.

What I encourage you to do (whichever way you go, and yes this is very defendable in court) is show your evidence to the DLUHC this month in response to the Call for Evidence. See the 2 threads I started in recent weeks.  ONE EMAIL TO CHANGE THE LAW.

There is only just over a fortnight left to respond to the DLUHC.

I think your case is ideal to point the following out to them. The intended Code of Practice includes 'contravention codes' (higher or lower PCN levels depending on the seriousness) and a few 'private land specific' ones were added at the behest of the rogue industry.

And guess what? Those were ALL added at higher tier with NO-ONE being asked for an opinion:

Additional private contraventions
Misuse of Specialist Bays (Doctors’ Bay, Emergency Vehicles, Parent and Child, Staff-Only bay in a mixed use car park etc.)	Higher
Parked in a customer only space if not a customer	Higher
Transferring a parking ticket	Higher
Failure to register vehicle if required	Higher
Parking on controlled land where parking is not permitted	Higher**
Overstaying the permitted period at a Motorway Service Area (MSA)

TWO of them above I have put in bold.

Now:

WHY THE HELL ARE THOSE TWO DOWN AS A "HIGHER LEVEL CONTRAVENTION"?

That last one (overstay at a MSA) goes against the recommendations of a DFT advisor back about 10 years ago, who said drivers should not be punished for resting and should be offered the chance to pay the MSA long-stay tariff as the leave or within 48 hours, which is £11-£15.

The only reason that fair idea got chucked out was because the BPA responded to and dictated a consultation that we didn't see until it was too late.

Anyhoo:

Look at the other one I bolded... the middle one ... I am sure you have something to say about that remaining at £100 higher level?!

See the threads and just do the email needed.