Has Anyone Had Letters From So Called ParkingEye?

[MummyNovember]

We went on holiday & on the 3rd of september we parked in Pavillion Square car park in Scarborough for 20 mins whilst I found a bathroom. Despite only being here for a short amount of time we got a ticket for an hour an my husband sat in the car whilst I went to find a toilet. A fortnight after returning we get a letter from Parkingeye saying that we were staying in a privatly owned car park & have incurred a charge of £50. The letter showed a picture of out car leaving the car park. But its funny that it didnt clock the fact that we had paid for a ticket. Apparently what we didnt notice is there was a pay and display which is where we got our ticket from & then there was one of them machines where you push the button for a ticket & pay on your way out. How are you supposed to know which one to use! I wish we had kept out parking ticket but we chucked it after leaving the car park.

Has anybody ignore parking eye & they left you alone? Ive spoke to many people, looked on money savings expert & a couple of legal sites that say to ignore them because unless its a letter from the council or police they cannot legally charge you or take any action as they are just threatning you to try and get money out of you. I recieved my third letter this morning saying that we now owe £85 & if payment isnt recieved in 14 days then they can get solicitors involved etc. If i had kept the parking P&D ticket I could throw that in thier face but we didnt keep it!

 

[Redhead84]

The law changed on this in october 2012. You can no longer simply ignore them.

 

[bigbetty]

They won't chase you for it, it will cost them a lot more than what you "owe" to get solicitors and courts involved x

 

[DippyTink]

I received a letter this morning from them and am wondering what to do. When i google it, lots of people say to ignore them - even that martin bloke from money saving expert ! Just not sure whether to or not

 

[MummyNovember]

Loads of ppl have ignored them an eventually they leave U alone. Its not issued by a council or the police. What I don't get is if it was private car park why didn't it say an why were members of the public parking there. Why would it even have a pay and display lol

 

[MummyNovember]

Ive emailed my local solicitor. See what they say about it

 

[ellismum]

I know a few who have and never been served court papers.

 

[xcharx]

I had one from a diff company.. They sent me 3 threatening letters - ignored all of them & nothing has happened!! If you ignore them they have no proof you ever received a letter

 

[MummyNovember]

Apparently a new law was passed July this year that you have to pay attention to parking fines. In regards to ParkingEye they recommend you appeal against thier decision and if they dont accept it you ask for a POPLA code or however you spell it and this enables you to take the case higher up. My husband did the research this evening. Still not entirely convinced though that we should be paying anything. But my husband has sent them an email now so we shall see if any good or bad will come of it. Apparently there is a court for small cases like parking fines and if you dont try to defend yourself then ParkingEye win automatically.

 

[Belle25]

Parking eye are awful. We got a "fine" for parking at a hotel. Parking came with our hotel.

Anyway, as its s company car it was sorted at husbands work but it wasn't pàid as it wanted owed. Plus they tried to Persue it out of the legal time limit. Idiots.

Please please go on martins money tips forums-there's a fab one on parking charges and the people gave excellent advice.

The letters are far more official and scary looking than they actually are. They can't fine you in the way the council can. Merely threaten to sue.

What annoys me is the dvla sell our info to these sharks for money so they can do this!
X

 

[rhdr9193..x]

Sorry just had to comment. I live in scarborough, and that car park is a bloody nightmare. All the locals avoid it. I don't think you have to pay it, they send you about three letters, threaten court and nothing happens x

 

[rhdr9193..x]

And btw that car park is definitely a pay and display, did you put your registration into the machine correctly? That's another reason why you might have got a ticket x

 

[MummyNovember]

We may have put our reg in wrong. I dont remember as it was back in September. I think I personally would of ignored them still and waited to see what did happen. But my husband likes to be cautious . We have probably opened a whole new can of worms writing to them. Hopefully my local solicitor will advise us

 

[2011butterfly]

I too had a parking invoice (or whatever you wanna call it) from a private parking company UKPC. And I too have been reading MSE.
I think the general advice is to complain to whoever the car park is, eg if shopping centre it'd be the centre management. Then appeal to the parking company. Then take it to POPLA.

 

[babycrazy1706]

I never pay when I'm in a parking eye carpark. I've had letters and just put them straight in the bin. They just try to scare people to try and make you pay but they never take it further. Council car parks you never get away with it but parking eye is a scam! Xx

 

[DippyTink]

MummyNovember - did you hear back from the solicitor?

 

[Abigailly]

I recently got one from 'High' something. Can't remember what they were called. I ignored the first letter as it was bullshit. We'd been there less than an hour and the sign says no more than 3. So after that they sent me another saying that out of 'courtesy' they'd half the fine for me!?

Then I received a letter from a bailiffs and on research discovered that this was a company owned by them and it was one of their scare tactics.

So I called them, and let rip. Threatened them with police action for harassment, which was suggested by my old boss who is CID.

They told me they'd drop it this once.

 

[MummyNovember]

My solicitor said the same thing that we found out. You have to defend yourself otherwise they will take you to court and win automatically. I did message the BPA about 5 days ago as apparently parking eye are a part of it & they have yet to respond to my complaint

 

[DippyTink]

Think ill just pay the £50 fine before the cost goes up to £85. I wouldn't win in the appeal as i did actually overstay my alloted time. Thanks for replying! Hope you sort yours out

 

[MummyNovember]

Yeh its best to be safe than sorry because if a new law did indeed get passed in July 2013 it may not be safe to ignore them any more. I just wish we had kept our parking P&D ticket to throw it in thier faces. Will still try and appeal anyways xx