MET CCTV PCN - Occupants Left Carpark - Appealed - Starbucks (closed) 346 SouthGate Park, Stansted, CM24 1PY

[Spiritual Alchemist]

Hi All

 

Help or advice needed please.

I just received a parking charge for Southgate Park.

I did not receive the original charge.

Therefore I am out of the 28 days to appeal.

now I have to pay the £100.

I called them to let them know that I had paid the airport charge, the lady told me to put it in writing.

as I was sending them a email, I googled them, then I realised that it was for Macdonald's, Starbucks.

I parked at Starbucks, as they were closed I walked over to Macdonald's etc.

 I haven't seen this site, I have just emailed them, telling them that I was the driver and what I did.

Am I screwed and do I now just need to pay the charge and put in down to experiences. or can I just ignore the letters ?

With much gratitude in advance 

CB

[FTMDave]

We have about 130 cases at this scam site.  Yes, that's what it is.  It's been exposed as a scam site in the national press and on national television.

Of those 130 cases, in only six have MET tried court. 

One was thrown out at a preliminary stage by a judge, in two cases MET discontinued when the Cagger defended, two are ongoing, and in only one case did MET actually win when the motorist stupidly didn't defend so MET won by default.

So don't pay them a penny. 

Mind you, you haven't helped yourself by outing the driver when there was absolutely no need to.

 

 

[FTMDave]

Please fill in the forum sticky and upload what they have sent you plus your appeal.

 

[Spiritual Alchemist]

1 Date of the infringement 03rd March 2024

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] I did not received a NTK 

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

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

7 Who is the parking company? MET Parking Services

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] (346) Southgate Park, Stansted CM24 1PY

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

If you have received any other correspondence, please mention it here I received a parking charge Final Reminder today 15th April 2024 

 

2024-04-03 MET PCN final reminder for PCN 2024-03-03.pdf

[FTMDave]

I've had to hide your post.

You've left your name, address, registration number as well as MET's reference all showing.

Please redact the PCN and upload it again, following our upload guide.

[dx100uk]

pdf sorted post unhidden

why have you received nothing more to date? have you moved in recent times did not update your cars v5C??

7 hours ago, Spiritual Alchemist said:

I called them to let them know that I had paid the airport charge,

what charge did you pay and to whom?

can you also post up the text of the email you sent to them please

thread title updated.

lots of occupants left the carpark stansted threads here too read ...

dx

 

[lookinforinfo]

No you don't have to pay them. 

it is their scam which the Courts know about.

There was a classic case a few years ago that decided that £100 was not a penalty because that company had a legitimate interest in keeping the car park clear of cars that overstayed etc because they were there to maximise the availability of car park spaces.

As Starbucks was closed in your case, Met have no legitimate interest so their £100 charge IS a penalty.

Therefore the case would be thrown out.

if they took you to Court and you turned up in Court to defend yourself.

So no you shouldn't pay.

[Spiritual Alchemist]

The incident was 03rd March 2024 - and that was the only letter that I have received from MET 15th April 2024

The charge I paid was at the Stansted Airport exit gate (No real relevance now - I thought this charge was for that!!).

Here is the content of email to them (Yes I know I said I was the driver !!!!) as said above

-  I thought this charge was for that!! "Stansted Airport"

Dear “To whom it may concern”

My name is ?? 
PCN:  ??
Veh Reg:

Date of Incident: 03rd March 2024

I have just received a parking charge final reminder letter, dated 10th April 2024 - for an overstay. 

This is the first to my knowledge of any overstay.

I am aware that I am out of the 28 days, I don’t mean to be rude, this feels like it is a scam

My movements on this day in question are, I pulled into what looked like a service station on my way to pick my daughter and family up from Stansted airport.

The reason for me pulling into this area was to use a toilet, so I found Starbucks, and when into there, after the above, I then purchased a coffee. After which I then continued with my journey to pick my daughter up. (however after I sent this email I remember that Starbucks was closed so I then I walked over to Macdonalds)
There was no signs about parking or any tickets machines to explains about the parking rules.

Once at Stansted, I entered and then paid on exit. 

So Im not show where I overstayed my welcome..

With gratitude

[lookinforinfo]

You need to send Met an SAR and they will send you the original PCN .. However all their PCNs appear to be the same and as the car parks are on airport land the keeper is not liable for the debt. Only the driver is responsible. But there are other considerations which can be enough for you to win.

Poorly lit signage; scam site, it's a penalty; as well as problems with the contract. So you have a lot of things going for you as well as Met are not keen to take well defended cases to Court.

 

[FTMDave]

OK, you made a bad mistake by outing yourself as the driver.

But that's not fatal.  It's a case of one argument unfortunately down, but lots of other arguments still standing.  Chiefly that this is a scam site with an invisible line separating two car parks in order to entrap motorists.

1.  As LFI says, send a SAR to MET so you can get your hands on their original invoice.  Invest in a 2nd class stamp and get a free Certificate of Posting from the post office.

2.  About six months ago, when the tsunami of cases at this site started, lots of Caggers contacted the CEO of Starbucks  https://www.ceoemail.com/s.php?id=ceo-82463&c=Starbucks UK-General Manager  Starbucks then contacted EuroGarages which seems to be another company in their group, and which runs the Stansted branch, and which got the invoice withdrawn.  However, after one, two, 10, 20 of these cases Starbucks seemed to get fed up.  However, it's only an e-mail, and surely worth a shot.  Lay it on thick about being a regular Starbucks customer but on this occasion you found the branch closed, and it is completely unfair to be charged £100 for briefly stopping in a car park while trying to use Starbucks.

The main point here though is that MET are very, very wary of starting court cases for this site.  If they don't do court there's no reason to pay them.

[Spiritual Alchemist]

How do a SAR is it just send MET a Full Subject Access Request under the new GDPR 2018 regime ? in a letter?

[honeybee13]

If you click on the letters SAR in your post or mine, you go to a new page that explains what to do and has a template letter.

HB

[dx100uk]

On 15/04/2024 at 22:16, dx100uk said:

why have you received nothing more to date? have you moved in recent times did not update your cars v5C??

 

[Spiritual Alchemist]

No I have not moved, therefore I don't know the answer.

Thanks

[FTMDave]

There have been developments today on Quaker6's thread re Starbucks/EuroGarages.