Gemini Parking - lost transaction/Evidence ignored by IAS

LeafyGreen03

Newbie here. Have had a look through the threads and can't find anything similar to my situation so hope it's ok to start a new thread.

Background - I parked at a leisure centre carpark run by Gemini parking. I paid £3 at the ticket machine on Apple Pay. I heard a beep when I touched my phone to the transaction pad but then the machine screen just went blank and no ticket was issued. Unsure if the payment had gone through I checked my banking app and saw the £3 charge on my statement as a pending payment. Satisfied, I went on my way.

A couple of weeks later I receive a parking fine from Gemini stating that I had failed to pay for parking. I checked my bank statement to find the £3 charge but was confused when I was unable to find it. I knew I had seen it as a pending charge on the day so I contacted my bank to get some more information. They informed me that they could see the transaction but that it had been cancelled after 4 days because Gemini failed to collect the funds from them. Therefore I could no longer see the charge on my statement. I asked how I could get proof of this and they told me to visit my local branch and get a screen print of the transaction, which I did. I gave all this information to Gemini when I appealed the fine, including the screen print from the bank, but they ignored it and said the fine stood as they could find no record of the transaction on their system.

I went ahead and appealed their decision with IAS, providing the evidence from my bank. Gemini's argument was that although I may have tried to make a payment, the transaction was unsuccessful. My argument was how could it have been unsuccessful if my bank had evidence of it and had authorised the payment. If there was an issue with their machine that meant the transaction was not recorded how could that be my fault. In any case the IAS have now rejected my appeal saying 'for some reason there was an issue and the payment was not properly transacted. I am satisfied that the fact no payment was made is more likely to be attributable to the Appellant rather than the Operator and this satisfies me that the Operator has established that the Parking Charge was properly issued'. Again completely ignoring the evidence provided by my bank.

I've had a quick Google to see if there's any avenue left for me to explore and have seen a suggestion that I could:

1. Try appealing to Gemini again - this seems very unlikely to be worth trying
2. Wait for a Letter Before Claim from a solicitor and then dispute the debt and provide my evidence again. However, if I understood correctly they may just skip this step and send the file straight to a debt collector.

Alternatively, I just take it to court. Obviously I feel that I am 100% in the right here but don't know where I stand legally.

Any advice would be appreciated from anyone who may have been in a similar position.

Thanks for reading.

Gr1pr

1 waste of time

2 correct, except the debt collector part

The powerless debt collectors stage is next, before the Letter of Claim, before a possible Money Claim in the future

Fight them all the way, with our help, simple

Coupon-mad

"I contacted my bank to get some more information. They informed me that they could see the transaction but that it had been cancelled after 4 days because Gemini failed to collect the funds from them. Therefore I could no longer see the charge on my statement. I asked how I could get proof of this and they told me to visit my local branch and get a screen print of the transaction, which I did. "

Please post the IAS decision in my thread called IAS Decisions. I need it please!

Sounds ridiculous.

I would do two things:

• read the CMA's Open Letter to the parking industry last month: (google it);
• email a complaint to Gemini saying that their appeal response was clearly unfair and in breach of the DMCC Act 2024 and you will report Gemini to the Competition and Markets Authority if Gemini fail to do the right thing, revisit the facts and evidence and cancel the PCN.

LoneStarState

What a beneficial outcome for Gemini. Install inadequately robust machines/payment processing infrastructure and reap the benefits of automated PCN generation. Why investigate/fix the issue.

I think dodgy payment machines/payment processing backend is something that should be specifically investigated by the CMA.

Does the bank transaction data evidence you have specifically state it was a failing of the vendor to formally collect the funds?

If the evidence is unequivocal on their failure then it might be worth the complaints process…..Long winded but will generate more evidence particularly if they don't bother to respond. Can then provide a nice paper trail of failure that can then be the basis for the CMA. Up to you of course and not worrying about it again if/when a letter before claim arrives.

Car1980

I am satisfied that the fact no payment was made is more likely to be attributable to the Appellant rather than the Operator and this satisfies me

On what basis did the idiot come to that conclusion? You can't make a judgment without evidence and the only evidence supplied was by the appellant.

You CANNOT stop a pending payment coming out of your bank account. Report a fraudulent payment shown as pending and your bank will literally tell you that nothing can be done until it clears.

So to be "satisfied" is to ignore or disbelieve the only evidence submitted. You just can't do that. It's fraud.

LeafyGreen03

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099519#Comment_82099519

No unfortunately the evidence I have from the bank only shows that the transaction existed and was authorised. It doesn't state the reason that it was ultimately cancelled. I have asked the bank if they could put what they told me in writing and so far the response has been 'that's not something we normally do' but I'm going to push it further.

James_Poisson

You did all you could just follow Coupon's advice and wait until the greedy halfwits try a court claim.

LeafyGreen03

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099452#Comment_82099452

I've just posted the full IAS decision in your thread as requested.