How the hell do parking companies get away with this?

Tony Williams

Tony Williams

Tony Williams

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Hell!! \m/
Honest to God, I really don't understand how companies like this are allowed to legally operate. So I used this car park "Liverpool Beetham Plaza" I paid for 2 hours stuck the parking ticket on my dashboard and took the misses for a meal as she dislikes KFC so we went with Authentic Singapore noodles instead and went to a bar for a drink and headed back.

When we got back to the car park, it was closed! Google says it's open 24/7 and it has a big banner above it saying "parking tariffs apply 24hr 7 days a week" there were no opening times or signs from the outside saying that it shut at 7pm. There were no security, there was a number on the shutter but it was dead and I couldn't get through to a human calling Parking Eye themselves. After a lot of faffing, I thought I'd go back into the restaurant and the owner had a key fob and I got my car. He saved the night.

I got a parking fine / PCN, refused to pay and I contacted the company and highlighted the issues. The general advice that's given across a lot of forums is ignore cowboy parking companies as they cannot enforce anything but council fines they can.

Anyway here is where I screwed up, I got a Northampton County Court letter and was supposed to reply within 14 days but didn't. Mostly because I work very long / scattered hours and it's not a case of picking up the phone and ringing someone. Its been over a month now, being off work last week I wrote up a cover letter, printed reviews, the lot only to be rejected for being too late.

To explain this car park more, the shutters lock at 7pm and people have actually been locked inside. One claimed the fire doors were locked and they had to call the police, there is apparently a sign saying it shuts at 7pm but it's inside somewhere and not visible at night.
 
[FnG]magnolia said:
Not the experience I expected.
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I dunno what's worse, the fact companies with 1* Ratings still exist and what's worse is refuse to turn it around or the fact I fell into the trap of using such company.

Since then I've stuck with Your Parking Space which I would recommend. However a couple of weeks ago I paid £6.50 for 8 hours but couldn't find the car park, the address was a house number? I left the car outside then wondered about, checking the emails there was a photo of some birds drive way, so I contacted them and believe it or not some people are now leasing out their driveways, cheap.
 
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Parking companies in general need some harsh regulation IMO - I'm not entirely sure on the legal side but there definitely is supposed to be a certain minimum level of signage for a publicly accessible car park which is locked at certain hours.

EDIT: Oh and:

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

'I got locked inside an underground car park - then slapped with £100 fine'

"I thought I faced a 12 and a half hour wait to get out"
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
 
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I don't like going out for dinner.

Maybe becuase I do a lot of cooking at home, I am no professional chef, but can knock up some quite good stuff. Also I think it doesn't help having a family of 4 with one older child basically an adult. But with the odd exception, there is very little that I enjoy about it. It's the cost more...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk

Should have stayed at home and cooked it yourself.
 
There is too much tolerance to normal people getting ripped off in this country. The OPs parking problem is one example.

Also look at what's happening with ULEZ around London. A mate of mine was driving near the Birmingham ULEZ zone recently and he wasn't sure if he had entered it. He called up to see if he had to pay the charge and they couldn't tell him if he had entered the zone. They advised him to pay 'just in case', no refund if it wasn't necessary.
 
danlightbulb said:
There is too much tolerance to normal people getting ripped off in this country. The OPs parking problem is one example.

Also look at what's happening with ULEZ around London. A mate of mine was driving near the Birmingham ULEZ zone recently and he wasn't sure if he had entered it. He called up to see if he had to pay the charge and they couldn't tell him if he had entered the zone. They advised him to pay 'just in case', no refund if it wasn't necessary.
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Yup, I agree.

We really need to start challenging this stuff and going to court. Unfortunately the OP missed the court letter but I'd be interested to see if it had gone to court what the outcome would be.
 
I had a similar thing in the car park opposite millennium point. The absolute c unit of a female locked the gate and refused to unlock, I offered her cash, a lift home etc. I just had to collect it the following day..nightmare.
 
Tony Williams said:
I got a parking fine / PCN, refused to pay and I contacted the company and highlighted the issues. The general advice that's given across a lot of forums is ignore cowboy parking companies as they cannot enforce anything but council fines they can.
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In all fairness you must have been selectively googling or using the waybackmachine as that guidance ended several years back.
 
BUDFORCE said:
Yup, I agree.

We really need to start challenging this stuff and going to court. Unfortunately the OP missed the court letter but I'd be interested to see if it had gone to court what the outcome would be.
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If i've understood OP correctly court would have sided with OP due to lack of information being provided and "24/7" being listed. The parking company are playing on people's fears, like they always do.
 
danlightbulb said:
There is too much tolerance to normal people getting ripped off in this country. The OPs parking problem is one example.

Also look at what's happening with ULEZ around London. A mate of mine was driving near the Birmingham ULEZ zone recently and he wasn't sure if he had entered it. He called up to see if he had to pay the charge and they couldn't tell him if he had entered the zone. They advised him to pay 'just in case', no refund if it wasn't necessary.
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Yeh, this sums up this country. People just pay and almost all of the time it’s way over priced for what it is.

We get the **** taken out of us all the time.
 
Reviews on parkopedia are all one star and seems like lots of people are caught out by the crappy signage failing to inform that its not a 24 hour car park at all. You've probably shot yourself in the foot by not disputing it in time :( Pepipoo might offer some usable advice but i suspect fighting it is going to cost more than the fine.

I hate driving in Liverpool at the best of times. Far easier for us to get the train in.

These companies are universally scum, but parking wars will degrade to the lowest common denominator regardless of who's in charge.
 
The_Arbiter said:
If i've understood OP correctly court would have sided with OP due to lack of information being provided and "24/7" being listed. The parking company are playing on people's fears, like they always do.
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Isn't the fine based in loss of earnings too? The fact the car park was shut means they've lost 0.
 
Tony Williams said:
I got a parking fine / PCN, refused to pay and I contacted the company and highlighted the issues. The general advice that's given across a lot of forums is ignore cowboy parking companies as they cannot enforce anything but council fines they can.
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Who told you that nonsense? My mates missus tried the whole laugh and rip up/ignore the letters... Guess who got a CCJ and was refused a mortgage cause of it... All over a £90 ticket for overstaying at a KFC :cry:
 
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