Car Park Fine - Help

[panthro]

I know this has been covered before but there's too many threads and too much conflicting info, so I'm going to add to it and also not be specific with names etc.

The driver of the vehicle in question was looking for a location their sat nav directed them to; it directed him to a car park, he went into a car park at 13:05 to turn around, however his 2 year old daughter threw up over the whole back seat of the car, therefore the owner had to pull over and clean his daughter, change her clothes and also clean the sick out of the back of the car. He left the car park at 13:24 and subsequently received an £85 PCN from Euro Car Parks. There was no clear signage when entering the car park about the parking charges.

According to the web, ECP will nearly always reject any appeal but is it correct to assume that an appeal is logged with ECP first (along with some wording to include that consent is not given to pass personal data on) and then onto their governing body. The correct process would be preferred rather than just ignoring the PCN completely. Any advice would be appreciated. I've also looked this up on MSE and Peppipoo but thought I'd check here as well.

Another option being considered is contacting the landlord (Harvester restaurant) and asking them to speak to ECP telling them to waive the PCN.

 

[IAmATeaf]

What was the PCN for exactly, not paying and displaying or ?

 

[Haze]

Unless you find some sort of cctv, your events of what happened wont mean much

 

[panthro]

What was the PCN for exactly, not paying and displaying or ?

"Your vehicle was not authorised to park".

 

[Semple]

Unless you find some sort of cctv, your events of what happened wont mean much

This really. If all they have is an ANPR camera at the front and exit, all they'll see is you/"your friend" entering the car park, and then leaving it 20 mins later without having paid for a ticket.

You could have a look on Google maps, or go back to the car park to see if you can find adequate signage regarding parking costs etc.

Otherwise you could appeal based on the grounds you said, got lost and turned around in the car park and your daughter got sick. Some have a heart and will cancel it.

 

[Nasher]

Or just ignore it and see how far they are willing to take it, before opening any communication with them from your end.

 

[Havana_UK]

Do not ignore it. Depending upon exactly what letter the RK has received, follow the procedures outlined on MoneySavingExpert.com: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4816822

There's also a load of information on the FightBackForums at Pepipoo.

But don't ignore it.

 

[Uther]

Well your friend did actually park so...

 

[RedMogg]

I've received several Euro "speculative invoices" in the last 18 months (for "parking in a Disabled bay without displaying a valid Blue Badge" - I have a Blue Badge, but I won't validate their shenanigans by putting it out in a private car park).

I've ignored all of them - aside from the standard letter chain of increasing threats, no actual court action has happened.

I'd ignore it, but keep an eye out for stamped court papers, in case they do try it on.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I've received several Euro "speculative invoices" in the last 18 months (for "parking in a Disabled bay without displaying a valid Blue Badge" - I have a Blue Badge, but I won't validate their shenanigans by putting it out in a private car park).

I've ignored all of them - aside from the standard letter chain of increasing threats, no actual court action has happened.

I'd ignore it, but keep an eye out for stamped court papers, in case they do try it on.

Why put yourself at risk or at the mercy for at least some hassle by not putting out your blue badge?

It comes across as if you are purposely looking for a fight or something.

 

[TS7]

I’d recommend caution on taking the approach of completely ignoring any correspondence, while most private parking companies will not take it so far, you don’t want to end up with a CCJ because you didn’t bother opening the letters...

 

[Haggisman]

This really. If all they have is an ANPR camera at the front and exit, all they'll see is you/"your friend" entering the car park, and then leaving it 20 mins later without having paid for a ticket.

Of course if all they have is cctv of the car entering and leaving the car park, they also have no evidence that he actually parked...

 

[AhhBisto]

Sadly this is the state of parking in the UK atm ECP are defiantly disgustingly overpriced and everywhere populated.

One thing he may be able to do is negotiate the fact that the local council would not charge that much as long as it's paid within time, and offer to pay what the local council charges as an acceptable amount to pay.

He needs to make it clear in every correspondence that he had no choice but to enter, as I've learnt never admit anything because they will use it against you.

 

[Semple]

Of course if all they have is cctv of the car entering and leaving the car park, they also have no evidence that he actually parked...

19 mins seems a fairly long time to be doing laps around the car park.

If it was 10 mins, you could probably argue that you'd spent time finding a space to park, and then a walk to the pay and display, at which point you'd read the terms of parking and decided you'd disagreed, a walk back to your car before exiting the car park.

 

[jpaul]

He might have parked under the cctv anyway, so looking for a space plee, could be self-incriminating.

their sat nav directed them to; it directed him to a car park,

he had no idea where he was going, or what the destination should look like ? he would need to present a credible explanation, to them, in any appeal ... scheduled appointment ... misleading target address


[

I've ignored all of them

award putty medal
]

 

[Nasher]

I’d recommend caution on taking the approach of completely ignoring any correspondence, while most private parking companies will not take it so far, you don’t want to end up with a CCJ because you didn’t bother opening the letters...

Open the letters, just don't respond unless they actually get serious. It's just one ticket out of 100s for them. You'd have to be really unlucky that they can be bothered chasing it as it isn't worth trying to deal with someone who is going to intentionally waste their time vs people who just pay up.

 

[tom_e]

I've received several Euro "speculative invoices" in the last 18 months (for "parking in a Disabled bay without displaying a valid Blue Badge" - I have a Blue Badge, but I won't validate their shenanigans by putting it out in a private car park).

I've ignored all of them - aside from the standard letter chain of increasing threats, no actual court action has happened.

I'd ignore it, but keep an eye out for stamped court papers, in case they do try it on.

You sound like one of those dashcam warriors that puts themselves in stupid situations so they can rage while pointing at their camera and post the nicely edited clip on YouTube later for others to froth over.

 

[NickXX]

I've received several Euro "speculative invoices" in the last 18 months (for "parking in a Disabled bay without displaying a valid Blue Badge" - I have a Blue Badge, but I won't validate their shenanigans by putting it out in a private car park).

I've ignored all of them - aside from the standard letter chain of increasing threats, no actual court action has happened.

I'd ignore it, but keep an eye out for stamped court papers, in case they do try it on.

Surely by playing games like this, the parking attendants will stop trying to enforce the disabled bays, and they will just become a free for all...

Do you not realise they’re doing you a favour by policing the use of the bays?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Surely by playing games like this, the parking attendants will stop trying to enforce the disabled bays, and they will just become a free for all...

Do you not realise they’re doing you a favour by policing the use of the bays?

If he doesn’t want to use his blue badge he should just hand it back.

 

[MartinPrince]

The car park outside my gym was council run and only charged up till 6pm. It then was run by a private firm which started to charge 24/7. The day after the change I went to the gym in the night and did not notice the unlit sign which was below car door window height. There was no notice in the gym notifying of new parking charges in the evening (There is a massive 7 foot sign now).

Later I received a charge for £60. The address was wrong on it and it went to a neighbour who brought it around a little while after. I tried to appeal the notice but because it was outside the 14 day period the company would not give me the code I needed to appeal. I informed them that because the address was incorrect they should issue another charge notice to the right address which would then allow me to appeal.

They did not do this but bumped the price up to £160 and started sending demand notices. I was waiting for the court papers to arrive to plead my case in court but they never came. What did happen is that 'fake' bailiffs came to my door in pairs to try and get me to pay but I knew because it had not gone to court then they had no powers to do anything but just try and intimidate me into paying.

I did not pay them and after a while I heard nothing else from the parking company.
I would not ignore them. Also record any conversations you have with them.