Parking Eye court summons - advice appreciated

[motorwaymadness]

Ha, ok. It was Newport Pagnell services on the M1, owned by Welcome Break.

 

Can I just add while mentioning their name that they've been pretty nice so far? I got good customer service from them that night and when I've tried pleading for reason from them directly the duty managers I spoke to were very pleasant, even though it didn't ultimately get me anywhere.

 

It's such a shame they've trashed their in-house customer service efforts by using a grizzly company like ParkingEye.

[ericsbrother]

you demand sight of the PP for the signs from PE, they come under the advertising hoadrings regs 2007, part of the town and counrty planning act. As for the PP for time limits for parking you need to chase the local council. They should be able to tell you about any recent (5yrs) changes and allow you to inspect the archived papers by appointment.

The people at the service will be nice but they have no authority to do anything, that is forced upon them from above so letters to the head of the owners of welcome break (Granada? Grand Met?) asking them for the info and copy of their policy for resting drivers remaining on site would be helpful. Remind them that PE are acting on their behalf and that they are liable for theitr actions unless they can show otherwise.

[DragonFly1967]

It also wouldn't hurt to write a letter/email to the CEO of Welcome Break. Their HQ is, ironically, Newport Pagnell.

 

The CEO is Rod McKie ( [email protected] )

 

Postal Address 2 Vantage Court, Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, MK16 9EZ

 

01908 299700

 

You could hint at going to the media, the Daily Maul are quite 'busy' with the parking cowboys at the moment. With PE threatening to take you to court anyway, there's not really anything to lose at this point.

[DragonFly1967]

Doing a bit of research on the WB website, and there's a bit on there about car parking. It states on there that if you want to stay longer than the 2 hour free period, the charge for cars is £11 (for upto 24 hours).

 

So I'd say, no matter what, that's the maximum loss that anyone could have suffered.

 

In your email to the CEO you could offer to pay this £11 to WB in full & final settlement, or that they can allow PE to take you to court, where you will win, and then they (WB & PE) will suffer the adverse publicity that comes along with it.

 

As I said, with nowt to lose at this point, you might as well go for the jugular, just keep emotion out of the letter, stick to the facts, and point out that your prepared to take it all the way, including the publicity, if you're forced to.

[motorwaymadness]

Thanks DragonFly. This should be my 10th post so I'll try and PM you that letter.

[motorwaymadness]

I tried to PM but it says I need 30 posts not 10.

[ericsbrother]

Ok, if you want to stay for 24 hours how do you pay the £11? Are there facilities to take the payment in the car park or are you expected to go elsewhere or pay by phone? Who do you pay? Again, important when it comes to agreeing to a contract.

[motorwaymadness]

That's a good point ericsbrother. That certainly wasn't clear - obviously no machines - or I'd have paid when I realised I'd overstayed instead of scarpering in the hope I hadn't missed some sort of grace period. And in fact that £11 isn't given more prominence on the signs than than the details of the two-hour policy and its consequences - i.e. they don't want you to know you can pay £11, they wanted you to be agreeing by default to get hit with £60/£100/£175.

[DragonFly1967]

Ok, if you want to stay for 24 hours how do you pay the £11? Are there facilities to take the payment in the car park or are you expected to go elsewhere or pay by phone? Who do you pay? Again, important when it comes to agreeing to a contract.

 

The WB website says...

 

Payment for parking is taken at designated till points on each site, such as Eat In & WH Smith via a touchscreen terminal, where your vehicle registration details are required in order to make the purchase.

 

Though quite how you're supposed to know that, in the dark, when you're tired

[DragonFly1967]

Out of interest MM, was this Northbound or Southbound? I'm just looking at the site on Google Maps/Streetview, and while that couldn't be used as evidence, looking at the Northbound side, the signage is Shhhhhht

[motorwaymadness]

Well indeed. It didn't cross my mind to faff about hunting for the small print in the dark and overstay my welcome even longer. That information clearly displayed would have been a great help. Reckon this is a good bit to include DragonFly?

[motorwaymadness]

Yes it was northbound.

[motorwaymadness]

DragonFly it would appear I can receive but not send PMs until 30 posts.

[DragonFly1967]

Well indeed. It didn't cross my mind to faff about hunting for the small print in the dark and overstay my welcome even longer. That information clearly displayed would have been a great help. Reckon this is a good bit to include DragonFly?

 

I'd certainly include it in a letter/email to the CEO, you can get that done soonest, it'll give him (or his PA) something nice to think about on Tuesday morning

 

 

It would also be worth including in your defence statement for court, but it'd have to be worded properly for that.

 

I'm now pondering if these signs need to meet (or exceed) the requirements of the TRSGD 2002. But I'm leaning towards not, as they wouldn't be 'statutory' signs.

[DragonFly1967]

DragonFly it would appear I can receive but not send PMs until 30 posts.

 

Best get replying to posts then

[motorwaymadness]

Right, I'll make his letter a priority then.

[motorwaymadness]

Ha, at this rate you'll a PM fairly soon...

[DragonFly1967]

Ha, at this rate you'll a PM fairly soon...

 

I think the rule was originally 'designed' to stop newbies signing up and spamming members inboxes. Sometimes however, rather like all rules, they get in the way of a legitimate use. Que sera.

[motorwaymadness]

I bet that's how parking control measures started. It's a slippery slope...

[motorwaymadness]

Guys, I've seen a statistic somewhere on one of these forums that I can't find now about the percentage of appeals ParkingEye reject being ridiculously high, so high that there's virtually no point to that part of the process. Can anyone point me in the right direction for that figure?

[DragonFly1967]

Guys, I've seen a statistic somewhere on one of these forums that I can't find now about the percentage of appeals ParkingEye reject being ridiculously high, so high that there's virtually no point to that part of the process. Can anyone point me in the right direction for that figure?

 

I've no idea what the %age would be, but it'll be high. It's not in the interests of PE to accept appeals, they don't/can't get any money from appeals they allow

[motorwaymadness]

Exactly so I was thinking from this CEO's point of view they're letting him down on that score. Does he know they don't run a considered appeals process that could largely protect him from upset customers like me contacting him out of exasperation? Maybe he does but I thought it might be worth an inclusion.

[honeybee13]

Hi guys. Before we get too hung up on advice by PM, this might be a good time to remind ourselves of site rule 3.5.

 

d) Offering to advise members or asking members for advice by PM or email without good reason - If it is felt that a subject is "sensitive" and would be better discussed off-forum, we ask that members contact a member of the site team BEFORE asking for contact details. This rule is in place to protect our members from claims touts, and also to ensure that any advice given is open to debate, qualification, and where necessary, correction.

 

As I said before, we can normally deal with matters by posting anonymised versions ofr letters. If there is a specific reason why you feel this needs to be dealt with differently MM, please PM me.

 

HB

[motorwaymadness]

Thanks Honeybee. I am mindful that this forum should be open for all seeking similar advice to benefit from. Rule 3.5 duly noted.

[Billy's mate]

MM, while I / we appreciate your reasons for wanting to PM a contributor on here, it's better to try and keep your questions out in the open if you can, as the advice offered also helps those of us also fighting a similar PCN.