£100 charge for breaking 15 minute limit at petrol station

Khaggis

Hi guys, I'm back again, as you've all been incredibly helpful before, I was wondering if I could squeeze some more knowledge from you.

My partner received a PCN the other day for £100 for overstaying at a petrol station while collecting a parcel from there. The kicker? It has a max limit of 15 minutes. She was clocked at 29 so will be outside of the "recommended" 10 minutes "grace" period. Unfortunately you can see the sign if you look on street view, but it's not something I've ever known enforced at petrol stations before, plus its a busy road, so it would be distracting to read.

I'm going to do the standard protocol of wait 28 days, don't admit to who the driver is, argue that its inadequate signing etc, but my question is, is a 15 minute time limit reasonable? I was going to pop in and speak to the manager on her behalf, but looking at the reviews of the petrol station on Google, apparently a lot of people have got stung with this from just waiting to fill up, buying snacks in the store or using the car wash. They've spoken to the manager that said they would cancel it but never bothered in the end and they had to pay it. The consensus seems to be that the manager/owner isn't cancelling them as he receives a cut of the fine, though I don't know how true that is.

I just think 15 minutes is a completely unreasonable amount of time (and yes she was nearly double over that) but she was waiting for ages for this parcel, and I believe she filled her car as well. I'm just trying to figure out all the points I can throw in to the appeal for her to try and get her out of it.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the rant.

Castle

Khaggis said:

Hi guys, I'm back again, as you've all been incredibly helpful before, I was wondering if I could squeeze some more knowledge from you.

My partner received a PCN the other day for £100 for overstaying at a petrol station while collecting a parcel from there. The kicker? It has a max limit of 15 minutes. She was clocked at 29 so will be outside of the "recommended" 10 minutes "grace" period. Unfortunately you can see the sign if you look on street view, but it's not something I've ever known enforced at petrol stations before, plus its a busy road, so it would be distracting to read.

I'm going to do the standard protocol of wait 28 days, don't admit to who the driver is, argue that its inadequate signing etc, but my question is, is a 15 minute time limit reasonable? I was going to pop in and speak to the manager on her behalf, but looking at the reviews of the petrol station on Google, apparently a lot of people have got stung with this from just waiting to fill up, buying snacks in the store or using the car wash. They've spoken to the manager that said they would cancel it but never bothered in the end and they had to pay it. The consensus seems to be that the manager/owner isn't cancelling them as he receives a cut of the fine, though I don't know how true that is.

I just think 15 minutes is a completely unreasonable amount of time (and yes she was nearly double over that) but she was waiting for ages for this parcel, and I believe she filled her car as well. I'm just trying to figure out all the points I can throw in to the appeal for her to try and get her out of it.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the rant.

Maybe he's holding onto the parcels so that drivers are forced to wait; also, filling up for petrol is not parking so the time spent doing that, including waiting for a pump to become available and then paying the cashier has to be excluded.

Khaggis

Castle said:

Khaggis said:

Hi guys, I'm back again, as you've all been incredibly helpful before, I was wondering if I could squeeze some more knowledge from you.

My partner received a PCN the other day for £100 for overstaying at a petrol station while collecting a parcel from there. The kicker? It has a max limit of 15 minutes. She was clocked at 29 so will be outside of the "recommended" 10 minutes "grace" period. Unfortunately you can see the sign if you look on street view, but it's not something I've ever known enforced at petrol stations before, plus its a busy road, so it would be distracting to read.

I'm going to do the standard protocol of wait 28 days, don't admit to who the driver is, argue that its inadequate signing etc, but my question is, is a 15 minute time limit reasonable? I was going to pop in and speak to the manager on her behalf, but looking at the reviews of the petrol station on Google, apparently a lot of people have got stung with this from just waiting to fill up, buying snacks in the store or using the car wash. They've spoken to the manager that said they would cancel it but never bothered in the end and they had to pay it. The consensus seems to be that the manager/owner isn't cancelling them as he receives a cut of the fine, though I don't know how true that is.

I just think 15 minutes is a completely unreasonable amount of time (and yes she was nearly double over that) but she was waiting for ages for this parcel, and I believe she filled her car as well. I'm just trying to figure out all the points I can throw in to the appeal for her to try and get her out of it.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the rant.

Maybe he's holding onto the parcels so that drivers are forced to wait; also, filling up for petrol is not parking so the time spent doing that, including waiting for a pump to become available and then paying the cashier has to be excluded.

From what I've seen, its not excluded, and lots of people have been saying they've been hit with fines while waiting to fill. It's smelling pretty fishy to me to be honest.

Gr1pr

Which parking company   ?

Khaggis

Gr1pr said:

Which parking company   ?

Euro car parks

Gr1pr

Is it an MFG station   ?

If yes, see the recent threads about MFG,  where they dont want to penalise legitimate customers

Khaggis

Gr1pr said:

Is it an MFG station   ?

If yes, see the recent threads about MFG,  where they dont want to penalise legitimate customers

Hi there, yes it is. I'm probably being really blind but I can't see the thread you're referring to. Also from reading the reviews of the actual place the manager says they'll contact ECP but then never does. Happy to send the link over if that helps?

Khaggis

This is the Esso in question, if you see the reviews it's a lot of people saying the manager would cancel it as they were legit customers, but then never bothered to, forcing them to pay the fine...

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tef-gb-rvc2&sca_esv=00d2b9dd415bfb1f&source=android-browser&sxsrf=AE3TifPDeKb4bQP30BcTD_qQXUbleq0FhA:1756204981648&q=esso+birmingham+reviews&si=AMgyJEtREmoPL4P1I5IDCfuA8gybfVI2d5Uj7QMwYCZHKDZ-E9Uvymyd6Ze9LKsnwK3HAaogncfHoAbMTjpVvSyo5iw5IaMXw0X_zbxbwAry_D3mDwq3_IyxwSaTDFj8M9rz1d9k8YW6&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJzNWwpaiPAxWVRPEDHQPPBFcQ9qsLegQIHhAJ&biw=412&bih=845&dpr=2.63#ebo=1

Gr1pr

Its not a fine and nobody is forced into paying without a court order

Coupon-mad

Khaggis said:

Gr1pr said:

Is it an MFG station   ?

If yes, see the recent threads about MFG,  where they dont want to penalise legitimate customers

Hi there, yes it is. I'm probably being really blind but I can't see the thread you're referring to. Also from reading the reviews of the actual place the manager says they'll contact ECP but then never does. Happy to send the link over if that helps?

The MFG success are in thread called Successful Complaints About PPCs.

James_Poisson

They probably get £10 for every successful PCN paid and saying he will get it cancelled avoids confrontation at the time.