SUCCESS - PCN for “failure to claim free parking session” cancelled by Bank Park

Purrp73

Coupon-mad said:

It certainly is!

But the NTK page that you didn't show us at first, is the one that confirms that Bank Park can hold you liable as keeper under the POFA.

Not that you'll ever pay.

That contract/sign and lack of any loss or legitimate interest would not stand up in court.

Ah you're right, I missed that, my bad. Thank you for pointing it out.

Purrp73

Update:

They haven't replied yet, nor do they have an auto-response thing to confirm they've received my emails. Though it has only been a week since my first email.

(Obviously I'm not expecting a prompt response, it's more for my paranoia that likes to convince me every 10 seconds that I definitely messed up when typing the email address or something haha).

As per the newbie thread I’m also trying the complaint route. But of course it’s never simple; apparently it’s a bit of a ‘no man’s land’ situation..? If that’s even possible lol.

So I’ve been scouring these forums for anything and everything related to this car park and bank park management. And fortunately, (or unfortunately), I found quite a few.

Page 10 of this person’s thread says that according to the council and other retailers, Tesco seems to own the land, but when they did a HM Land registry for the car park, details for it didn’t show up.

Link: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6437557/set-aside-hearing-tomorrow-need-help/p10 

Based on this, I called Tesco customer service today, and the guy straight up denied ownership/control, despite him having no prior knowledge of the area or even the PPC in question. Then he said they do own the land but conveniently just not that car park: all the surrounding shops and restaurants pay to lease their land from Tesco, but that car park has nothing to do with them. Sure… He also said Tesco doesn’t own *any* car park, and all their store parking is owned by Horizon PPC, not them. And above all, he just kept repeating that there is absolutely nothing they can do and they have no influence over the management of that particular bit of land… So I ended that call as I was getting no where. 

Decided to try their WhatsApp customer service option instead, (easier for recording evidence anyway). They said they cannot/will not do anything until my appeal has been rejected. 

Screenshots of the conversation:

At this point I guess I could take their word for it, and wait and see what Bank Park responds with to my appeal request. However I don’t know if I fully trust it, seeing as my prior phone call was a lot less helpful. Plus the newbie thread says by complaining you can sometimes get these things dropped before the appeal stages.

So I’ll probably keep going while I wait, and send emails to Tesco’s customer service, (and the ceo?), and also possibly do a few complaints on social media/leave bad reviews etc.

___

Sorry if you actually read all that, I am awful with rambling, the update was just supposed to be about the annoying land ownership / no mans land thing!

Purrp73

fisherjim said:

So their wonderful technology has confirmed that you had 30 minutes free which you complied with according to their ANPR system.

The sign says 30 Mins Free then underneath (with a ticket from Machine) 30mins to 1hr £2

I could take that that 30 mins is free but after that you need a ticket from the machine!

But in any case the signage on the entrance is non existent and does not conform to any rules or COP , you could even think there are no terms and conditions or restrictions in force.

It is typical of a total honeytrap:

 

Yeah I feel like every single thing about this car park and Bank Park’s business conduct point to unlawful and unjust. And I want to believe that any reasonable person who reviewed this case for even 2 seconds would immediately agree and easily dismiss the charge. 

But Murphy’s law and all, if something can be unnecessarily difficult and drawn out, (not to mention expensive 🥹), my track record doesn’t look good. 

Coupon-mad

It's not expensive. You'll never pay this.

Purrp73

Success!!

I received an email yesterday saying they’ve reviewed my appeal and are prepared to cancel the PCN.



Even though I feel like this is the only reasonable outcome, I’m still so surprised - I swear every bank park case I’ve come across on these forums has gone all the way to court. I’m so relieved and grateful I didn’t just pay it. 

Thanks everyone for all your help and support. If only I had known about MSE sooner! Now I really regret the previous times I’ve paid for these scam PCNs, but never again haha. 

Purrp73

Also extra grateful about this because my car broke down yesterday and I found out it needs a new clutch, (this is my aforementioned shoddy and expensive bad luck coming into fruition), so every penny counts right now! 🥹

Coupon-mad

Nicely done! What exactly did you put in your appeal?

Purrp73

Coupon-mad said:

Nicely done! What exactly did you put in your appeal?

It was the three emails I had sent that I’ve mentioned on this thread; the first one was the I sent before I found this forum, the second one was based on the template after I’d read the newbie thread, and the third one was based on the other template, (about NTK not being liable), that I’d sent after someone commented on my post suggesting it. (But then you later commented saying the third one wasn’t necessary anyway based on the wording of their letter).

1st email: 

2nd email:

3rd email:

Maybe the three consecutive emails are what put them off haha, especially as I accidentally sent two of them twice. They were probably thinking “this person is already annoying us, let’s just cancel this”.

But probably the real credit goes to the very helpful and excellently worded newbie template, aka the second email.

Coupon-mad

Well done. It worked!

Purrp73

Thanks again for all your help! I was definitely feeling nervous about it, so I appreciate the confidence everyone else projected and the amount of information available was really reassuring. In hindsight, making my own post definitely wasn’t necessary haha, but I guess those first time jitters got to me.