Met Parking Services

Kittenribbons · 13 November 2019 at 9:07PM

Hi there,

I am new here and really need some help. Situation is:

- Keeper received a Parking Charge Notice from Met Parking Services for parking in elec bay at Asda. Keeper was not the driver but did not notify the driver. (Long story: Keeper had moved out three weeks prior and driver was ex partner.)
- Keeper has now received follow up notice that debt passed to a recovery agency 'Debt Recovery Plus' who have doubled the charge. They say they will recommend Met Parking take court action if unpaid.

Keeper and Driver on good terms but neither wish to pay if avoidable. Driver parked for 20 minutes whilst using baby changing facilities as car par packed, and rows of empty electric bays. both are regular store customers.

Really want to avoid this going to court or further fees!

Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad · 14 November 2019 at 2:09AM

Complain to the retail park owner/management, by Googling the name of the place.

MET do not do court, and if they start trying, we win 99% of defended cases here with no CCJ risk for anyone, so there is nothing to fear.

If the keeper wants to name the driver because the driver is the more robust person and on this forum(?) then do that now, so the person who won't fold and pay the scam, is the one getting the letters. If that is the keeper than don't name the driver!

'Debt Recovery Plus'

Please now read post #4 of the NEWBIES thread and ignore DRP & Zenith letters.

Kittenribbons · 14 November 2019 at 7:42AM

Thank you so much for the reply. This is really worrying me alot so I do appreciate the reassurance.

The driver is on this forum. The driver has better credit than the keeper which is the only consideration - both are robust but if it came to a court situation, the driver would attned. I don't know if this means this should be made clearer now.

The thing is, neither the driver nor the keeper have responded to any correspondence or made any appeals so far. Does this put them in a difficult position at all? At this stage both have ignored everything and there are concerns that if it does go to court, their position will be weakened because of it. Should they really just ignore everything hereon?

In the complaint to the retail park manager, should it be made explicit who was the keeper/ driver. Can they help with having the fee waived?

Again, thank you so much for all your advice so far.

The_Deep · 14 November 2019 at 10:12AM

In the unlikely event thst this does go to court, whom would be the better person to defend, you or the driver? If the latter , then give the PPC his/her name.

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP after the election, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.[/FONT]

Ralph-y · 14 November 2019 at 11:21AM

" Keeper received a Parking Charge Notice from Met Parking Services for parking in elec bay at Asda."

can you please confirm this as Asda don't use Met a lot

if it is Asda then complaints to the store manager ... not customer services. and the CEO

Ralph:cool:

Kittenribbons · 14 November 2019 at 1:32PM

Thank you very much for these responses. confirming this was Met Parking, via Asda car park.

So my steps are:

1. Write to Asda Manager and CEO. Question: should they be asked to ask Met to stop the action? (sorry, just not sure what they can do)

2. Write to MP as per above.

3. Write to Met and give them the name of the driver. What else to say?

Other questions:

Should driver/keeper write to Met and ask them to revoke the ticket, or just go via Asda? Are there any templates for letters such as these. concerns are that as no correspondence has been sent by driver/ keeper so far, there is no record of any 'defence' and if this goes to court there will be no recoerd (or does this make it harder?!) The defence is that there were no other parking spaces and it was urgent, and the costs have escalated and are wholly disproportionate. Should driver/keeper write to Met and make this defence now or leave it?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL WHO HAVE RESPONDED!

Sorry. so many questions!

Thank you

KeithP · 14 November 2019 at 1:37PM

Kittenribbons wrote: »

Should they really just ignore everything hereon?

No, and that was not the advice given.

The guidance was to ignore debt collectors letters - as described in post #4 of the NEWBIES thread.

Do not ignore a Letter of Claim or official court correspondence.

Kittenribbons wrote: »

In the complaint to the retail park manager, should it be made explicit who was the keeper/ driver. Can they help with having the fee waived?

Yes they can. Why not go to the Asda store and ask to speak to the manager? Tell him that 'we' - use the word 'we' - visited the store. Tell him that 'we' shop here regularly, show him receipts or bank statements, but will have to reconsider our options now that we have found out about the £100 surcharge. Remind him that other supermarkets are available.

Coupon-mad · 14 November 2019 at 1:43PM

In the complaint to the retail park manager, should it be made explicit who was the keeper/ driver. Can they help with having the fee waived?

How can any newbie ask that, given the VERY CLEAR and massively long and regularly updated thread linked in the NEWBIES thread, called:

SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINTS ABOUT PPCS

...which is choc-full of posts happily reporting that retailers have cancelled scam PCNs.

Not sure why I bother to post it if people don't read it and use it.

Kittenribbons · 14 November 2019 at 8:52PM

Keith - thank you very much for that helpful advice. They will speak to the manager and see how that goes.

They were confused about the Debt Collector part as there is conflicting advice on the Newbies thread on this (whether to ignore vs respond robustly).

Kittenribbons · 14 November 2019 at 8:59PM

Hi Coupon, I'm afraid it is so long that it took some time to find the part that fit this query.

This is their plan:

1. speak to Asda manager. Write to Asda manager.

2. Write to Met and challenge (its out of date, but worth a shot)

3. Ignore debt collector.

4. Attempt out of date POPLA appeal.

They have to admit to being worried enough to consider just paying it at this point!

Question: Are judges any more likely to grant in favour of Met due to the nature of the alleged contravention, ie parking in elec bay? ie if governments incentivise this, are they more likely to uphold complaints which contravene this?

<<<Never wanted to be a parking expert.

Coupon-mad · 15 November 2019 at 12:04AM

I'm afraid it is so long that it took some time to find the part that fit this query.

You know you can search a thread? How about 'dear sirs' as your search term.

Met Parking Services

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