Tips before attending a mediation service

rdwids

It was in May 22 that we went out for a family dinner in the town centre. We parked in SIP parking limited for an hour starting at 21:31 hours. The parking signage wasn't legible and I never realised that the car park would close at 22:30 hours. As the food was delayed, I arrived at the car park at 22:33 hrs to find the main gate of the car park locked. After realizing that there was no parking staff around or local contact number available, I made some frantic calls to the car parking head office but there was no answer. I wasn'teven given even a 5min grace period on this occasion. The reality is if I was given this grace period, I could have easily taken my car out of the car park to prevent my vehicle kept locked overnight without being held liable for the overnight charges which was never my intention. It was a great hassle for all of us as we were stuck around the area without our car. In the end, we had no option but to take a taxi all the way to our address. A family dinner turned out to be a nightmare.

We normally expect the opening and closing timings to be apparent from a distance in a legible font with clear signage as is the case with most council-run car parks rather than mentioned in a small print. Although the car park has got a signage, it was certainly not clearly visible at the time of our entry in the evening.

As proof of my situation, I have screenshots of the frantic calls I made to the car park head office at the time which was within the 10-minute window of the car park closing. I have also captured photos of the car park entrance taken at a similar time to my parking where there is
no mention of the closing time of the car park as well as a copy of the restaurant bill where we dined on the day.

I responded to SIP parking limited but they held me to the charges. As I refused to pay £160, they have taken me to County court where I am now having a mediation hearing on 6th September. This is the first time I will be attending this mediation service and would appreciate any advice or guidance on this. Does anyone know if the total claim charges are £160+£35 court fee, will this increase following the mediation? Are there any other charges that can be levied? Any other advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Grizebeck

offer zero and thats it , that is the long and short of it

Coupon-mad

Why have you agreed to mediation? What was the date of issue of the claim form please?

la531983

Looks like this is a council issued form and not private.

Grizebeck

la531983 said:

Looks like this is a council issued form and not private.

No it's SIP

Gr1pr

la531983 said:

Looks like this is a council issued form and not private.

Definitely not council 

SIP have a lot of private parking contracts in the city centre 

Offer £zero , this will be rejected, tell them that mediation won't solve the matter so you want to go to court, say goodbye and hang up the call, job done, less than 5 minutes start to finish 

Johnersh

They need to come to the mediation with evidence of when the gates were locked. If they haven't got that they can't prove their case.

If the carpark was, in essence, closed early and/or with no grace period per the code of practice, then they have prevented the o/p from leaving and created the over-stay for which they now seek a PCN.