Parkingeye PCN help!

frankenstein1

Dear all, 

At the end of July 2023 I went into a private car park in Southall attempting to park for shopping. It was a rainy day. I parked in a corner spot, ran with my umbrella to the parking machine, attempted twice to pay unsuccessfully, decided to go to another covered car park, with lot of difficulty managed to reverse car out of corner spot and exit the car park. 

It was to my great surprise I received a parking charge notice from Parkingeye claiming I had breached their T&C by staying for 15 minutes without paying for parking. It came as a surprise as I didn’t think I had parked the car yet! I was trying to park the car by making a payment at the machines. I learned that there is a short grace period which I had exceeded. Of course I did not know this at the time. I doubt the average motorists would have done so. At this point there was discount charge of £60. 

I appealed to POPLA as per the option in the letter taking them to be independent. The appeal failed stating Parkingeye had enforced the BPA code of practice correctly. Even though I explained the rainy conditions, difficulty in exiting corner spot, no knowledge or signage of grace period it seems POPLA simply checks rules are applied not whether the rules are fair or applied fairly! At this point the charge was £100. 

Today I received a ‘Letter before county court claim’ stating debt remains outstanding and under BPA code of practice Parkingeye can add up to £70 to recover debt. They also state further costs will be incurred in court proceedings including but not limited £50 solicitor costs, £35 court claim issue fee. At this point charge is £120. 

In my response from POPLA they said there may be other options and gave contact number of Citizens Advice Bureau. I have multiple times tried to call but no one picks up the phone. The local office is temporarily closed. In the letter from Parkingeye they give a link to a reply form which does not work. 

I did a Google search on POPLA fail so came upon this forum. I just finding it shocking that I can get parking charge notice attempting to park! Having read other posts it seems this a very unethical business practice protected under BPA rules with an “independent” POPLA appeal process. I felt very harassed since receiving the PCN and have conveyed it to Parkingeye and POPLA but doubt they care to be honest. 

I’m hoping someone experienced can give me some advice on what is best way forward. Should I just accept we live in an unjust world and pay avoiding further stress and expenses of a possible county court claim? 

Many thanks in advance. 

Coupon-mad

Welcome!  You won't be paying.

You've been reading their LBC and the POPLA decision far too intently and actually, you just need to read this forum's NEWBIES thread, second post.

Tell us how Plan A goes.
I won't post here what Plan A is but it's the easy way to cancel any retail park PCN.

Do read the NEWBIES thread as it covers all this.

frankenstein1

Thank you Coupon-mad for reply. I assume plan A is to contact the landowner. I did consider this previously so visited the VHK, Southall car park recently but the signs don’t mention the owner. It’s near the high street so hard to figure out. I suppose I could write to Parkingeye although they conveniently don’t give contact number or email and the reply form link doesn’t work. I need to decide whether to pay within 30 days. Needless to say a letter will go to my local MP to raise this in parliament if possible. 

Le_Kirk

Some ideas on finding landowner can be found in this post: - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80218420/#Comment_80218420

Coupon-mad

frankenstein1 said:

Thank you Coupon-mad for reply. I assume plan A is to contact the landowner. I did consider this previously so visited the VHK, Southall car park recently but the signs don’t mention the owner. It’s near the high street so hard to figure out. I suppose I could write to Parkingeye although they conveniently don’t give contact number or email and the reply form link doesn’t work. I need to decide whether to pay within 30 days. Needless to say a letter will go to my local MP to raise this in parliament if possible. 

There's no dilemma. You don't pay these things all the time that the industry is unregulated.

I'm surprised to see you state there's no email address for ParkingEye. It's all over the forum including in the LBC advice in the NEWBIES thread unless I deleted it when editing.

You certainly don't RING them!

AND DO NOT RING CAB.  OMG NO!

frankenstein1

Thanks Le_Kirk I saw this post earlier while searching for VHK Southall as it’s the same land as my PCN. I will be phoning the local council on Monday. I read in another forum the landowner may not have planning permission for private car park so will pursue that further to see whether it’s true. 

Thanks Coupon-mad yes I need to go through the NEWBIES more throughly this weekend. I meant the email Parkingeye sent me has noreply in their email address and Google search came with nothing. 

I’m worried the courts will take into account POPLA decision in favour of Parkingeye. 

Coupon-mad

The courts ignore POPLA.

frankenstein1

There’s a lot of useful information on this forum which may have helped with the POPLA appeal and put an end to this. Shame I didn’t see it earlier. It’s been so stressful last four months and now I have to deal with LBCCC. Ridiculous. This industry needs proper regulation to safeguard public. No one should have to go through this in their busy lives. 

I found their email address on the forum ( enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk) so will ask Parkingeye for a physical copy of Reply Form (since online link broken) which they could have sent with letter. I will also ask to see their contract with the landowner. Anything else worth asking them at this stage? Appreciate all the help. 

KeithP

frankenstein1 said:

I found their email address on the forum ( enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk) so will ask Parkingeye for a physical copy of Reply Form (since online link broken) which they could have sent with letter.

Early on in the second post of the NEWBIES thread it states...

frankenstein1

Thanks KeithP now that you mention it I do vaguely recall seeing that while skimming through the NEWBIES. There is so much to digest. I’m just curious what’s on the form but won’t reply to it. Definitely not now. I’ve been ignoring Parkingeye since POPLA decision so I think I should at least engage passively with them in case it goes against me. It feels like they’re covering their legal grounds prior to court. It’s all very new territory. 

Coupon-mad

Engage passively? Have you seen the examples in the NEWBIES thread re how we recommend responding robustly?