Parking Eye ANPR PCN - A&E patient & visitors car park Pilgrim Hospital, Boston

[Waka]

Hi, I went to A&E around 10pm one evening to remove a large splinter under my thumb nail that I couldn't remove. I saw the parking charges sign, but it was really dark and difficult to read.

 

I intended to pay the £2 for my parking when I exited at around 11pm, but I couldn't find anywhere to pay or even a gated exit! I ended up driving out the way I came in, after circling the car park for a few minutes.

 

I've now received a parking fine with cameras showing my car entering and exiting the carpark.

 

They want £70 or they will reduce to £42 (out of the goodness of their hearts) if I pay before the 31st of August.

 

The carpark is operated by PrivateEye. What are your opinions, is there any point appealing the decision?

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by dx100uk
format

[honeybee13]

Hello, welcome to CAG.

 

From what you say, I don't see any reason to complain to the private parking company. Other people here know more than I do, they may think it's worth writing to the hospital.

 

Please could you let us have the information requested in the forum sticky so we can advise you further? It's not a fine by the way, we call them speculative invoices.

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

it not private eye.... its Parking Eye

and its not a fine, its a speculative invoice.

 

get the link done.

do not appeal, sit on your hands till will advise further once we have the details from our link above.

 

[Waka]

Hi all, thanks for the responses so far.

 

1 Date of the infringement 09/08/2021

 

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] 17/08/2021

 

3 Date received 21/08/21
 

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

5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Just the ANPR photos. I might go back to the hospital to take a couple of pictures.
 

6 Have you appealed? [Y/N?] post up your appeal] Not yet.
 

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

7 Who is the parking company? ParkingEye

 

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] Pilgrim Hospital, Boston.
 

For either option, does it say which appeals body they operate under. Independent Appeals Service (POPLA)

 

I went back to the hospital and the sign was just as I suspected. I've included photos of the sign from the road and then zoomed in.

 

- No clear mention of penalties for forgetting to pay.

- Overgrowth occluding some of the sign.

- Tiny additional info, that was impossible to read from the road.

- No path to actually read the sign in person, so expected to be read from the road.

- The sign was unlit, so only could be seen clearly when headlights pointing at it, aka. too far away to read.

 

Parking charge 09-08-21 resized (1).pdf Parking charges sign.pdf

Edited August 23, 2021 by dx100uk
uploads removed unreacted - post tidy only

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

I've altered your thread title to show more information.

 

HB

[dx100uk]

upload the corrected pdf's NTK had ref numbers showing too 

 then i'll move them

 

 

[dx100uk]

nothing for you to do bar wait and see if they eventually issue a letter of claim.

 

they are not penalties either.

 

private parking firms are prevented by laws from using the words fine & penalties. as they used to scam people years ago and got caught out.

any bogroll a private parking company issues is called a speculative invoice because the driver supposedly entered into a contract by entering private land PE might or might not have a valid and current enforceable contract with the land owner to issue them.

[lookinforinfo]

If the signs are at the entrance to the car park they would be capable of forming a contract were it not for the fact that the font size is way too small to be able to read and understand while driving past at say 20 MPH. 

I assume there are other signs inside the car park and at the ticket machine if there is one.  Often other signs have different T&Cs than the entrance one. You only need to accept the sign that suits you under the Consumer rights act. So if one sign does not include for instance that you must park within the lines you are ok. That isn't the only way that you can lawfully avoid paying them, but  it could be one.

[Waka]

Thank you. This sign was at the entrance to the carpark, and the only one I saw upon parking. I didn't see any signs that were directly lit. I didn't even know how to pay and I couldn't get close enough to the sign to read it. I was expecting somewhere to pay for the parking, but found nowhere. Like I say, it was almost midnight, extremely dark and a poorly lit carpark. I assumed there must be somewhere to pay on the way out, but when I couldn't find an exit and had to go out the way I came, I was on a one-way system that took me directly onto the main road. The only way to try and search further would be to re-enter the carpark near the front again, which I believed would have added additional parking charges.

 

I had been directed to the hospital by the 111 service, I had no choice but to use the carpark for medical reasons, the main road has double yellow lines the entire road (for many miles), with private residential driveways only. I believe that this amounts to undue influence by attempting to form a contract with me, with the only alternative being forgoing medical treatment. So, even if the sign had in 3 foot lettering: "£70 charge to park here", I believe any supposed contract should be void. 

 

When I left the carpark, I was in pain from a painful medical procedure, it was very late, and due to Parking Eye's poorly designed carparking system and with no clear way to pay, I felt it was unjustified for me to continue circling around a hospital carpark at night, potentially putting other carpark users at risk. At the point when I left the carpark, I had no idea who Parking Eye were, let alone that they administer the hospital's carpark. I have been to many carparks (including hospitals) that only required payment in prime hours when local retail districts were in use, and not after 6pm, for example. So, I believed that, this must be the case at this hospital too, as there was no indication of where or how to pay, and that I must have just driven through an open ticketing gate somewhere that I couldn't see in the dark. If this wasn't the case, the hospital would be able to request my payment at a later date, in which case I would send them the £2 promptly, with an apology, and advise them to improve their carpark layout.

[Homer67]

Parking Lie do not set up the car park, that's done by the NHS Trust or more likely, the PFI Company that owns the land and buildings.

 

In all likelihood Parking Lie have been contracted by the PFI Co and not the NHS however you should write to the NHS Trust PALs department and without revealing you were the driver (write in the third person such as 'the driver parked' etc) and tell them the charge is unfair and you want them to cancel it.

 

If they don't then sit and wait to see if Parking Lie send you a Letter Before Claim, be prepared for lots of scary letters from them claiming ever increasing amounts and then from their pet Debt Collector (the next desk along) who have less power than a squashed fox by the side of the road. All those letters are bog paper at best but keep them in case you need to refer to them. The only letter you need to respond to is entitled Letter Before Claim - if you get one come back here for advice.

 

It's also good to contact your local paper and tell them about the scam that is going on in their local hospital car park.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Homer67
typo again