ParkingEye PCN whilst charging EV at Gissons Hotel, Exeter

reliag17

Hi everyone

I am after some advice relating to a PCN I received whilst charging my company car (not owned by myself), at an InstaVolt charging station situated in the car park of the Gissons Hotel, Exeter. I was on-site for 34 minutes.

I received a letter from ParkingEye, (not sure how they got my address and contact details), and I appealed to them stating that I was not parking in the car park, I was charging at InstaVolt and sent my charging receipt to prove this. 

ParkingEye rejected my appeal and so I appealed via POPLA.

After about 4 weeks, POPLA also rejected my appeal.

I really do not believe I should pay this £100 PCN - can anyone advise me what I can do or should I just pay the fine?

Thanks in advance

nopcns

What did the signs at the charge point and in the car park say? It's a pity you didn't come here first before appealing and wasting your POPLA appeal, if the car is not in your name.

Does the company own or lease the car? Someone, either the lease company or your company have received the original NtK as registered keeper and given your details to PE as the driver. However, they cannot have known you were the driver, only that you were the day to day keeper. All a bit academic now.

You are now in limbo. However, if PE think that they have a weak case, they will assign DCB Legal to try and scare you into paying what will become £170. This is good because you will want them to issue a court claim. They will eventually discontinue as long as you follow the advice here and in the Newbies/FAQ thread.

Even if they don't give it to DCB Legal and handle it themselves, they will still add a fake £25 to the £100 PCN which is another reason to have the claim thrown out. You just have to weather the storm of useless debt collector letters which you ignore.

Coupon-mad

You wasted your time trying POPLA, which is not independent and not recommended here as Plan A.

What happened when you complained to the Hotel, as anyone would?  They can cancel it.

reliag17

Coupon-mad said:

You wasted your time trying POPLA, which is not independent and not recommended here as Plan A.

What happened when you complained to the Hotel, as anyone would?  They can cancel it.

Hi, thanks for your time. I complained to the hotel a couple of weeks back and they are yet to reply.

reliag17

nopcns said:

What did the signs at the charge point and in the car park say? It's a pity you didn't come here first before appealing and wasting your POPLA appeal, if the car is not in your name.

Does the company own or lease the car? Someone, either the lease company or your company have received the original NtK as registered keeper and given your details to PE as the driver. However, they cannot have known you were the driver, only that you were the day to day keeper. All a bit academic now.

You are now in limbo. However, if PE think that they have a weak case, they will assign DCB Legal to try and scare you into paying what will become £170. This is good because you will want them to issue a court claim. They will eventually discontinue as long as you follow the advice here and in the Newbies/FAQ thread.

Even if they don't give it to DCB Legal and handle it themselves, they will still add a fake £25 to the £100 PCN which is another reason to have the claim thrown out. You just have to weather the storm of useless debt collector letters which you ignore.

Hi nopcns

My company leases the car.

Thank you for your advice, I haven't heard anything from PE since they requested payment on 9th April, following the POPLA appeal outcome.

I will let you know if they contact me again.

Much appreciated.

Gr1pr

The signs probably mentioned that the driver had to register the VRM at reception in order to gain the permission to use the EV bay and to exempt the vehicle from the parking restrictions on site. It may have also limited the visit to a period of time that may have been exceeded, but without seeing the signs or the notice to hirer then we don't actually know what the allegation was or what the terms and conditions on the signs were 

The hotel could cancel it so it remains your best option here for a quick resolution 

reliag17

Hi

So I have received a Final Notice letter from Parkingeye, as attached.

I assume the advice would be to ignore the letter and hold-out?

When I asked the hotel to cancel the PCN, they replied: 

"Let me see what we can do,

Please understand that the parking and InstaVolt are not part of the Hotel therefore there I'm not sure how much weight I can pull on them. I'll keep you updates"

All advice welcome. Thanks

Gr1pr

There are some Instavolt chargers at sites near me, like a McDonald's, so as yours is a charger point possibly on a hotel car park then ideally you get that hotel to cancel the PCN, which they may have tried but if its still outstanding then keep on trying to get it cancelled 

Your other choices are pay or be sued in court by an MCOL claim, unless parking Eye drop it 

So yes you could hold out, but understand that after the debt collectors stage that Parking Eye litigation team or a third party lawyer firm may sue you by using MCOL within the next 6 years following the incident date 

So understand the full picture, including what your use of ignore means 

reliag17

Thanks Gr1pr - I have also contacted the Hotel to see whether they have an update.

ParkingMad

I emailed InstaVolt recently to ask them about using their chargers at service stations which are closed at night. This was their reply:

Once the chargers are given their power supply, it is not possible to remotely turn them off so they will remain on throughout the night. However, the existing parking restrictions for these sites are displayed on signage throughout the site as well as on our InstaVolt app and website to ensure customers are aware that they cannot use them without potentially incurring a fine from the car park operators.

We hope this helps, if you do have any questions please let me know.

Kind Regards,
Customer Service Team

InstaVolt

www.instavolt.com

6 Cedarwood, 
Crockford Lane, 
Chineham Business Park, 
Basingstoke, 
Hampshire, 
RG24 8WD.


Surely if you are charging an EV you are an InstaVolt customer? 

FrankCannon

This seems to be a recurring issue from reading the Google Maps reviews ;

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Instavolt+Charging+Station/@50.6610907,-3.5378339,17z/data=!4m19!1m10!3m9!1s0x486da706dfa0099d:0x1de5cc9eee38ba22!2sThe+Gissons+Hotel!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d50.6607378!4d-3.5378588!16s/g/1vwlnkkt!3m7!1s0x486da706e83ddca5:0xf0b51dbcad9f802!8m2!3d50.6608087!4d-3.5366136!9m1!1b1!16s/g/11vc1f5j7q?authuser=0&entry=ttu

No info about parking charges on the Instavolt website either ;

https://instavolt.co.uk/location-hub/electric-vehicle-charging-station-exeter-000532/