Euro Parking Services letter before court action

[shazk1234]

Hi everyone,

 

I have been away from home for quite some time and I had checked my letters to see that I have received 3 letters from Euro Parking Services about not being parked correctly in a parking bay. The letters had started from £60, £100 and now £160.

 

The driver states the signs (of both the parking signs and the parking bays) were not clear at the time of when they were there or else they would not have parked there at all.

 

The driver was there for a maximum of 5 minutes as the passenger had went into the tesco express.

 

The visibility of day was poor as it was raining and within the picture you can see the lights of the car are on at 1pm in the afternoon, driver says he would never have his lights on midday unless there was poor visibility (as it was the winter)

 

The current letter states it is a "Letter before court action" and they are asking me to pay £160 otherwise they will tell Gladstone Solicitors to commence proceedings against me.

 

It also says "We refer you to the Practice Direction for pre-action conduct under the civil procedure rules and in particular paragraph 13-16 of the same, which deals with court's powers to impose sanctions for any failure to comply."

 

Could anyone please advise me how to respond to this letter?

I feel that the extra £60 is totally unjustified and that given the unclear signs (which they have now updated) and poor visibility due to it raining is also not fair at all. Also, shouldn't a compliant LBC give 30 days notice? Not 14 days?

 

Sorry for making my post long, panicking quite a bit but can anyone help me out please?

Edited August 26, 2018 by dx100uk
Spacing

[dx100uk]

There is a min of 10 mins grace period on all private parking sites

Write back stating this

[shazk1234]

Thank you very much for your reply, does the 10 minutes grace period apply to free car parks that state "max 1 hour parking" too? As I thought it only applied to council ones such as Street parking or when it is paid for and you go over the time by a few minutes...

Edited August 26, 2018 by shazk1234

[dx100uk]

everywhere

but if you go look at the original planning application on the councils website

I bet as with 99% of all sites

they granted it but with min 3hrs free

no powerless speculative invoice issuer can change that...

[shazk1234]

Thank you for your reply.

I don't know how to see the original planning permission on the councils website.

 

I'm not sure on what to do then, Euro Parking Services are asking for £160 and if I do not pay or reply they will ask Gladstones to commence proceedings against me.

 

I don't really want it to go to the next stage so how would I go about in constructing my reply?

Edited August 27, 2018 by dx100uk
quote

[dx100uk]

go look on the relevant councils website - probably the planning permission section.

 

read the letter properly does say WILL anything.

 

complete this too

so others can have the correct info to help you:

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?462118-Have-you-received-a-Parking-Ticket

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome from me.

 

 

Can you please fill this out but give the exact location. This gives us a chance to view the area on google

 

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?462118-Have-you-received-a-Parking-Ticket&p=4883055&viewfull=1#post4883055

 

 

You should be allowed a MINIMUM of 10 minutes to read, understand and choose to remain or leave the site. You say the driver was there for five minutes so I fail to see why court action should have been considered.

 

 

can you also post up the letters you received but cover up personal info,car reg bar codes and any reference numbers but leave the times Uploading in a pdf will help us loads.

[shazk1234]

Hi, this is the letters I have received from the company. You can see the time of issue is 12:53 and the time of pictures which is not clear it says 12:50.

 

I have not yet appealed to the Euro Parking services.

The location is Chamberlain Buildings in Birmingham which can be seen on the link I provided and the letters.

 

They are not part of the BPA, they are part of the IPC I believe.

Should I reply saying that because the driver did not enter any contract with your company as he could not see the signs on the rainy day that had poor visibility. The driver could not find a parking space and had simply left.

jpg2pdf.pdf

Edited August 27, 2018 by shazk1234

[dx100uk]

would it be possible please to fill that questionnaire link out we both sent you and answer all the questions the with dates

these are important.

 

copy and paste the questions to a new post box here and add your answers at the end of each question

 

thank you

[silverfox1961]

I have looked at the Chamberlain building and it looks like you were parked in the small car park at the front of the building. Unfortunately I cannot see the signs in detail so it requires a visit to take some nice piccies of every sign then upload so we can see them clearly.

 

 

 

It annoys me to see the letters they send because they are demanding the full amount and not a discounted payment if paid within 14 days (you weren't going to pay anyway) and the fact that they don't allow appeals. Part of being an accredited entity, they should be allowing appeals as part of PoFA but members of the IPC tend not to do that and demand the full amount.

 

 

As they are not relying on PoFA they can only chase the driver and as such they are taking a gamble on you being the driver at the time. Remember, anyone can drive your car so long as they have their own insurance and with your permission. ECP are hoping that you won't know the law. ONLY by following the guidance in the Act can they then chase the keeper.

[ericsbrother]

this is one of those cases where the grace period doesnt apply but they then have the problem of proving that you accepted their terms of parking which would have included parking within a bay or whatever. Now, as you wernt there long enough to proberly consider all of their terms and accept them (you can show this because you drove off) then none of the terms apply as you clealy didnt want to be bound by them by remaining.

 

 

What we really need to see is the pictures of your vehicle parked and the timestamps so we can put together a short letter to tell them where to go.

As for threatening you with Gladstiones. that is a two edged sword as they are famous for losing their clients money on hopeless cases so mentioning that in your letter may help them in their deliberations as to what to do next