Contractual Parking Charge Notice from G24 Freeport Braintree

[treeswinter]

I was not the driver but the driver and their family went to Freeport outlet village Braintree on 2 April and parked in their car park which was believed to be a free car park. Travelled 45 miles approx to go there.

 

Today I received in the post what's headed a Contractual Parking Charge Notice with issue date 9.4.15, and showing images of the car entering at 13.05 and leaving at 19.45, by which time the car park was of course fairly empty.

 

The notice is addressed to me as registered keeper. I was not in fact the driver.

 

The charge is £100 for "over staying" by 20 mins !! It states permitted free parking 360 mins and actual parking period 400 mins.

 

the letter states the vehicle was parked on private property at Freeport Outlet Village, Charter Way, CM77 8YH:

 

"By entering and parking the vehicle on our client's private property the driver agreed with G24 Ltd (the creditor) to be bound by the terms & conditions of parking shown below. The terms and conditions were clearly displayed at the entrance to and in prominent places within the car park. In accordance with the agreement, by leaving your vehicle in the car park in breach of the terms and conditions of parking the driver is hereby required to pay a parking charge the sum of £100. within 28 days of the date of this contractual parking charge notice.

 

Term breached : exceeding the maximum duration of stay permitted at the Freeport Outllet Village....CM77 8YH.

 

Term applicable : that a sum ( the parking charge) of £100. is payable.

 

To date the contractually agreed parking charge has not been paid in full and we do not know both the name of the driver and a current address for service for the driver. If the parking charge is paid within 14 days of the date of this contractuial parking charge notice it wil be reduced to £60. If no payment is recieved within 28 days G24 Ltd wil forward the outstanding debt to a debt recovery agency and the dirver may incur additional costs for late payment.

 

You are now invited to :

pay the unpaid parking charge or

if you were not the driver of the vehicel to notify us of the name of the driver and a current address for service for the dirver and pass this notice to the driver.

 

Please be warned that if after a period of 28 days beginning with the day afetr that on which the notice is given i) the amount of the unpaid charge specified has not been paid in full and ii) we do not know both the name of driver and a current address for service of driver, we will have the right to recover from you so much of that parking charge as remains unpaid.

 

Please see the reverse of this notice for further information on how to pay........

 

 

TO AVOID ADDIITONAL COSTS, PAYMENT MUST BE MADE PROMPTLY.

 

Any ideas on how to respond to this?

 

What if, for argumentss sake, the driver is now residing abroad? That is not the case but I'm just curious to understand how this would be dealt with in that situation.

 

Is it worth doing a land registry search to find out who is the owner of the land and writing direct to them to object to payment? Just not clear on what basis I would argue it's not payable. Although no money was paid so on what basis was there a contract?

 

Would be grateful for input.

Thank you.

ps where's the spell checker?

Edited April 13, 2015 by treeswinter

[Bazooka Boo]

So it is a free car park, and they send you a speculative invoice for overstaying in a FREE car park??

 

Appeal this invoice to G24 direct, say whatever you want, they will refuse but have to send you a POPLA code, which costs them.

 

Then appeal to POPLA using GPEOL argument, because there is no loss to anyone.

 

And make a very loud formal complaint to Freeport management for continuing to use such a toothless outfit in their car parks.

http://www.freeport-braintree.com/contact

[DBC]

G24 are not with the BPA , so POPLA does not apply . They are with the IPC, so their (very flawed) appeals service will have to be used.

[BankFodder]

... so their (very flawed) appeals service will have to be used.

… Except that none of it has to be used.

[Bazooka Boo]

Oh yes, the BPA chucked them didn't they?

 

Or was that PE??

[DBC]

PE are still in the BPA.

[Bazooka Boo]

Then it must be these clowns who have been kicked by the BPA then.

 

It would be interesting to know if they have changed their signs at freeport to suit?

I'm guessing they still have the BPA logo on them, which will only go in your favour when you appeal to ISIS, sorry I mean IAS...

 

Also, the actual loss can ONLY be £3.60, and not the extortionate amount the car park cowboys claim.

Parking Charges - Parking is FREE for up to 6 hours.

Freeport Braintree shoppers who use the car park for more than 6 hours will need to extend their unlimited, free parking by visiting the Tourist Information Centre opposite Next Clearance to validate their ticket and avoid a penalty charge. Alternatively, you can pay to park for the day with the rates as listed below.

Payment for LONG STAY parking can be made by phone or online. Non-shoppers can register by phone by calling 0203 046 0010, quote the location code 5199 and use your credit or debit card to pay.

To register & pay online: visit www.myRingGo.co.uk

Long Stay Car Parking Charges:

1 Day All Week £3.60

2 Days All Week £7.20

3 Days All Week £10.80

4 Days All Week £14.40

7 Days All Week £18.00

Month £58.00

 

http://www.freeport-braintree.com/

[DragonFly1967]

It's ANPR Lts that have just been given the elbow by the BPA

 

 

Spot the massive c*ck up in the information that BB has posted there...

 

Validate your parking ticket to avoid a PENALTY charge. That's not going to win them too many friends

[Bazooka Boo]

Spot the massive c*ck up in the information that BB has posted there...

 

I blame it on autocorrect....

[DragonFly1967]

I'm sure they'll try and find someone else to blame..... But I'd bet (if they're stupid enough to go there) the County Court judge wouldn't see the funny side when it's pointed out to them.

 

 

 

 

Might be worth the OP grabbing a screen shot of this page.... http://www.freeport-braintree.com/how-to-find-us Just in case someone get's wise and changes it

[ericsbrother]

then your appeal should be that you are willing to pay the £3.60 contractual charge but not a penalty charge as quoted.

Then they can decide whether to accept or not and offer an appeal to the IAS. Once you have been there you have mitigated everything you can and they would be mad to refuse your generous offer and try their luck at court as it is there in black and white.

[treeswinter]

Update - G24 are going to cancel the charge!

 

The driver visited Braintree again yesterday and complained to one of the stores where he had been shopping that he'd got a ticket. They said to raise it with the tourist office on site as the car park belongs to the centre. The tourist office (little cabin opposite Next) wanted to see receipt/s as proof of shopping and said they wil take it up with G24 and were certain they would (probably) agree to wipe out the charge. Luckily, we had saved 3 receipts which proved we had been there throughout the afternoon. Got a message today from the tourist office saying G24 have agreed to wipe off the charge and a letter will follow from them.

 

The people we communicated with were :

Customer Services– Freeport Braintree. Managed by REALM Ltd.

T: 01376 348 168 | F: 01376 323 722

 

 

I was about to draft a letter to G24 complaining :

1. No ticket was issued, so how could we be expected to extend it after 6 hours?

2. we would have been willing to pay £3.60 which they advertise as the daily car park charge/ further we weren't causing any inconvenience to the landlowner.

3. There was no notice in the car park warning that £100 would be charged if anyone overstays 6 hours.

The key to resolving this seems to be keep hold of receipts and take up with the shopping centre management who don't want to lose customers, and who - in this case - are extremely pleasant and nice to deal with.

 

THANK YOU for all suggestions posted and replies, much appreciateds.

[ericsbrother]

a satisfactory conclusion I think. you can write and complain to G24 but they will just bin your letter as they are there to make money by pettifogging and inventing stupid rules to catch people out rather than help control parking.

A complaint to Patrick Troy at the BPA will be better, make sure that you tell him in uncertain terms that G24's signage states that it is a penalty charge and thus unlawful so why are they asking people to pay it?

[Bazooka Boo]

Well done!