PE ANPR PCN PAPLOC - overstay - Riverside Retail Park Chelmsford

[technician483]

Good morning,

On 16th July my car was parked in the Riverside retail Park for 2 hours 16 minutes (according to ANPR evidence).  I believe the driver was shopping and then eating at the McDonalds on the retail park with an 18 month old child.    I haven't had time to check yet but there may well be a bank statement proving the meal at Mcdonalds.  If I can find this evidence I imagine I should be writing to McDonalds (head office or this branch??)  and asking them to get the ticket cancelled.

The first I knew about this parking charge was the attached pdf letter that arrived with me on 30th August but from reading the letter it appears they have written previously or at least they claim to have.

If there is evidence of eating at Mcdonalds should I just write to Mcdonalds or should I appeal the parking charge notice as well?

I understand the parking is limited to 2 hours.

 

1 Date of the infringement:   16th July 2023

 

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date]:  They claim to have sent me an NTK but the first notification I've actually received was dated 23rd August.
 

[scan up BOTH SIDES as ONE PDF- follow the upload guide] please LEAVE IN LOCATION AND ALL DATES/TIMES/£'s

 

3 Date received:  30th August
 

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? Yes I've been on their website and there are pictures of the car entering the car park and leaving 2 hours 16 minutes later.
 

6 Have you appealed? [Y/N?] post up your appeal] : No
 

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

7 Who is the parking company? Parkingeye

 

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] Riverside retail park Chelmsford
 

For either option, does it say which appeals body they operate under.
 

There are two official bodies, the BPA and the IAS. If you are unsure,

BPA

 

If you have received any other correspondence, please mention it here

 

 

……....

 

parkingeye complete.pdf

[honeybee13]

Hi.

We have a couple of other threads about parking in the same car park in Chelmsford, it's worth doing a search for them [top of this page in the white box on the right hand side.

Please don't ever appeal to the PPC, it's likely to cause more trouble than it's worth. Acceptance by them of an appeal is vanishingly rare.

It's worth writing to Mcdonalds and maybe the people on the other threads have done this, I don't have time to look at the moment.

HB

[Nicky Boy]

Hi Technician,

As HB says, NO APPEAL. As well as a 99% chance of refusal, you could inadvertantly give up useful legal protection. (The POFA referred to in their letter).

The usual advice is to ignore all the "scary" letters that they and their paid bully boys send, UNLESS you get a "letter of claim", then come back here for advice.

Yes, try writing to Maccy's, but experience has shown that they aren't particularly helpful, but always worth a go...

If you go down the path of fighting this, you'll need to be in it for the long haul. They will harass you for months!

So, if you want it to go away now, you can just pay up. However, we like a fighter and would support you all the way. We've an 85% success rate helping those unlucky victims unfortunate enough to end up in court. (Many fleecers, just fade away or give up when shown a good rebuttal at the right time.)

In your own case, with the very limited info we have, I'll point out that the fleecers own trade association code of practice have a total of 15 minutes "consideration" and "grace" periods to allow you to read the signs and leave the car park. Your "overstay" was 16 minutes... laughable. Especially when you consider that a parking period does NOT start and finish when you drive past their silly cameras.

There will probably be many more errors on their part as well.

So, your choice, pay up or fight.

I see you've not been involved with these parking charlatans before on CAG, so it might be an idea to read a few other threads to acquaint yourself with their questionable "business models".

Take up Honey Bee's suggestion above and do a search for your car park.

And for a bit of inspiration, take a stroll through our "successes" forum...

 

[FTMDave]

Writing to Parking Eye will get you nowhere - indeed people who appeal invariably throw away their protection under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

Writing to McDonald's will get you nowhere, (a) because they have a policy of not cancelling these invoices and (b) because it will be the retail park who called in the fleecers, not McDonald's.

But writing to the retail park may well work.  Lay it on thick about being a genuine customer, about using a restaurant, having a young child, etc.  Worth a try.

 

[FTMDave]

Any joy with the retail park?

[technician483]

I emailed Kerry Williams at M and G Real Estate as he/she seems to be the person in charge of Uk retail parks for M and G.

I emailed them 3 days ago but have not had any ackowledgement or reply.

13 days after the first letter from Parkingeye I've also now received a letter before court action with an increase of what they are asking for now to £105.

Had I received an initial £50 parking charge I might have just paid it but to be charged £85 and now £105 for an alleged 18 minute overstay seems excessive.

[FTMDave]

Can you upload this letter please?

[technician483]

Here is the letter I've now received from Parkingeye.

letter before action.pdf

[dx100uk]

yea its snotty letter time

well you should have yours already ready to publish here as you've been reading up knowing this was their next potential move.............

leave it till near the 30 days before you post it mind

but no harm in getting people to fine tune it for you

100's here many for PE already too.

dx

 

[FTMDave]

dx is spot on.

BTW, given the original invoice has gone missing, how do you know the car stayed for 2:16?

BTW 2, have you moved recently?  I'm trying to think about why the first letter may have gone astray.

But above all - snotty letter time.

[technician483]

I went on the Parking Eye website and was able to see the pictures of my car entering and leaving their car park with the times shown.

 

I also made a mistake, it was actually an alleged 18 minute overstay, not 16 minutes.

 

Have not moved house for many years.  Our post is very erratic to say the least.  We have had many items of post go missing or turn up weeks late, so it's quite possible they did send a first letter.

I will compose a letter as soon as I can and then ask for your opinions on how I can improve it before sending.

 

[dx100uk]

can we see these pixs?

dx

[technician483]

I can't even see them myself any more.

When I got the first letter I went on to the Parkingeye website and clicked on the appeal link.  I had to type in my reg number and the reference on the letter then it showed me 2 very clear pictures of my car with the time and I think date stamped on them.

The picture was good enough to see that my 18 month old daughter was sitting in her car seat in the front seat although the driver could not be seen.

I've just checked the Parking eye website again and I'm not able to view the images at the moment and strangely enough it says I owe them £0.00  !!!!!!

Perhaps it's wishful thinking but maybe M and G Retail have come to the rescue ??

[Nicky Boy]

Get a screenshot of that!

[technician483]

I've just gone on their payment page and put in my reference number and registration.  Again it says amount owed £0.00

I have taken a picture of the page.  I've deleted my reg number and their reference number.  Do I also need to delete the time and date before I post it up here?

[Nicky Boy]

I was thinking more along the lines of it's good evidence for your case.

You to the judge... "Sir, I actually tried to pay the alleged charge and came up against this on the claimant's website."

Be fun to see it though, as you've already taken the trouble to redact it.

(Time and date should be ok.)

[technician483]

This is the screenshot from their payment page taken just a few minutes ago.

parkingeye payment page.pdf

[Nicky Boy]

Yes, perhaps M and G have done their thing...

[FTMDave]

This is very, very promising.

However, the fat lady hasn't quite burst into song yet.

Let's see what pops through the letter box or into the inbox in the next few days.

However, you must presume they are still pursuing you until the opposite is definite.  We had someone who didn't do this recently, despite numerous warnings, and lost a case by default.

[technician483]

Thanks far all the advice so far.

It's now 20 days since Parkingeye dated their letter before action and I haven't heard anything else.

I've had no reply to the email I sent M and G Real Estate and no further correspondence from Parking eye.

When I go through to PE payment site it still says I owe them £0.00.

I assume they have cancelled the charges but without confirmation of that how would anyone suggest I proceed?

 

[Nicky Boy]

Did you send the snotty letter?

[technician483]

No I haven't sent anything yet as I was hoping the charge had been cancelled at the request of M and G Real Estate.

I still have time to send a letter but didn't want to provoke anything if the charge has been dropped.

[Nicky Boy]

How long is left to run from the paploc?

[technician483]

If it starts from the date on their letter then I have 9 days left.

[Nicky Boy]

Be ready to send one a couple of days before the deadline. Might be an idea to mock the zero amount on their portal at the same time. See what the others think..