ECP ANPR PCN - Overstay - Esso meads Purfleet

[Hopgarden]

My husband received a parking charge notice through the post stating he had overstayed the Free period in the car park which appears to be within the grounds of esso meads service station at purfleet and it advised he has to pay £100 within 28 days, reduced to 60 if paid within 14 days.

 

Firstly he never even knew that you had to pay to park in a service station car park, he never saw any signs

after receiving this charge notice he went back there to see if he could see any signs

all he could see was 1 sign saying you needed to pay by phone.

 

He has been using this petrol station for years filling up his tank and has never noticed any signs, 

on this occasion he was there just over an hour. 

He often gets his car washed there.

 

We feel this is unfair as we feel there is insufficient signage telling people of this parking charge.

 

Do you think we should appeal this?

[ericsbrother]

in short, no.

Reason for saying this is that until you have acquainted yourselves with the ins and outs of private parking matters anything you say in a hurry now will come back to bite you later so hold off doing anything and start to read up on the subject.

 

There are several posts on this site here so do a word search and have a look at them specifically.

 

what was hubby doing there for an hour? this may be relevant.

he should also get some photographs of the signage there as well,

decent pictures of anything that is visible and

also some pictures to show context

 

so if a sign is hidden behind a pillar when you drive in

a picture of it from that perspecive to show that it couldnt be expected to be read by the average motorist as they entered the land so not applicable or enforceable.

 

the bad news is all parking co's only make money by inventing petty reasosn to "fine" you a large sum of money so they have an incentive to argue the toss about everything, howver reasonable your arguments.

 

Broken down?

well you knew that you should have fixed the car before you set off.

Stolen vehicle? y

our fault for not hiding it. etc etc.

[lookinforinfo]

When EB said not to appeal he did not mean that you should pay.

 

In fact I don't think that we have ever advised a motorist or the keeper to pay as these parking companies find it impossible to adhere to the Law so why should anyone them.

 

If you would kindly fill out the questionnaire below we can start to find out all the reasons why the ticket does not need to be paid.

 

[ericsbrother]

There are very few palces where the parking co have the right permissions and word their signs in an unambiguous and clear manner.

PE are more likely to get it right than most of the others but they are also usually too lazy to get the planning consent unless pushed by the thought of losing  money at court.

[Hopgarden]

Thank you, I had to drive to the service station to get the pics needed also I have answered the questions below, I hope this is right? I am having trouble uploading the pics but will eep trying

 

For PCN's received through the post [ANPR camera capture]

 

please answer the following questions.

 

1 Date of the infringement - 15/4/19

 

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] - 25/4/19

 

3 Date received - 30/4/19

 

4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? [Y/N?] - Y

 

5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? - 2 photos of the reg no. plate only... on entry and then again on exit

 

6 Have you appealed? [Y/N?] post up your appeal] - N

Have you had a response? [Y/N?] post it up

 

7 Who is the parking company? - Euro car parks

 

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] - MFG - Esso Meads - Purfleet - ESSEX

[Hopgarden]

I have attached 4 pics in all on 2 pdfs

consisting of 2 pictures of different angles of the view you have upon entering the service station, one is a close up of the 1st signage after entering which is located approx 50ft from the roadside on the right hand side and a picture of the main shop building showing 2 signs located on each end of the building but none by the door in the centre of the building which is where you enter. Esso meads pics1.pdfEsso Meads pics.pdf

[dx100uk]

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-8889411648654839:3134625398&q=Esso meads Purfleet&oq=Esso meads Purfleet&gs_l=partner-generic.12...1068331.1068331.0.1070076.1.1.0.0.0.0.163.163.0j1.1.0.gsnos%2Cn%3D13...0.0...2.34.partner-generic..1.0.0.IM3qsMK2YkQ

[ericsbrother]

so armed with some other information you can tell ECP where to go when they write to you again. We will help you with that whent eh time comes but for the moment let things be

[Hopgarden]

Hi all,

Great news, I complained to the operater of that site, which is not esso but another company called motor fuel group.

I spoke to a lady on the phone explaining the situation and she asked me to scan and email the pcn to her. I have just received a reply from her saying they have agreed to cancel on this occasion. But  in future and to tell the staff our reg no. so they can exempt us from getting a fine if we overstay the time limit.

So great new. Thank you all for your help. 

[dx100uk]

fine?

where does it say that?

so they are going to contact ECP then?

[Hopgarden]

Yes she actually said "I can confirm that Motor fuel group have an agreement in place with a parking contractor Euro Car Parks. This agreement is enforced in multiple sites within our network where a number of significant contributing factors have required additional steps to support us in maintaining a safe and accessible forecourt to all of our customers. On this occasion we have cancelled the PCN, however we do advise that when using facilities, please make staff aware so they are able to exempt you from receiving a fine. There are signs stating if you are using the facilities you should tell the cashier your reg. no. to avoid incurring a fine."

 

I have just made a small donation via paypal. Thanks

[dx100uk]

oh dear

even they don't understand what useless buggers they have employed

 

pers i'd be writing back stating they are wrong, and that there are not legal parking fines issued by the police/coucil etc..but merely a speculative invoice which can never be a legal fine.

 

I think EB could have fun here too.

[ericsbrother]

yes but it would be wasted on them. They dont care. Now if the OP sued them for allowing the parking co to collect their personal data when they had no cause to do so they might start to take notice. If 40 peopel sued them they would definitely have to consider the guff they spout forth to defend ther laziness.

 

Anyway, good news about the cancellation. Things like that do hurt the parking co, they have spent a fiver on this and cant get that back and they have also now made themselves more visible to their employers so if they do get enough complaints they may well be out of a contract there so keep complaining folks!

Edited May 23, 2019 by ericsbrother