£100 fine, short stay car park, Ocean Terminal

[Victoria '82]

Recently visited the Britannia in the Ocean Dock, Southampton. Parked in the short stay car park adjacent to the terminal. Returned to the car a little over 4 hours later with the P&O guide, went to the pay machine and plumbed in car registration number which calculated the cost (camera entrance and exit) paid the charge which I thought was extremely reasonable at £3 and left the car park within 4 minutes of paying. A week or so later I received a penalty notice from Parking Eye for £100 saying that I had not paid sufficient for my car park stay! The letter showed a pic of my car arriving along with the time of entry and a pic with the time of exit. No more information other than pay within 28 days and the charge will only be £60! Fortunately I retained the car park receipt but on appeal Parking Eye has rejected my summary of the event and have continued to push for the £100.

Has anyone else encountered this? I appreciate £3 was a very small charge but that is what the pay machine generated. Could I have overstayed the time limit which was certainly not drawn to my attention! That said I did not read the detail on the signage in detail as I just assumed it was a 'car park' used for ships visits and would need to pay for the time stayed.

Interested in your thoughts and experiences.

 

Vicky

[Scriv]

There is another thread along these lines, Vicky, which may have some useful links...

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?p=46799388

 

I do sympathise. We very nearly got caught out in the nearby Triangle Car Park. We had delayed embarkation on Ventura and decided to park in town. Saw the car park with spaces so went in, got out of the car and looked for the Pay and Display then realised it was a cashless car park - so back to the car to get the phone to do 'Ring Go'. We didn't check how much it was. I decided to check and to pay for my friend, but then saw on the board that it was (very) long stay with high charges - so we got back into the car to go. We weren't dilly dallying, but we weren't hurrying. Then a very nice man came into the car park and warned us to get out within 15 mins otherwise we would be charged a huge penalty as would be on CCTV. So we hopped it very quickly indeed - I think we managed it, but that could have been a very expensive mistake because we were trying to work it all out.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Scriv

[Victoria '82]

Thanks Scriv, I had seen this but they had left without paying which is different to us, we did!

 

Vicky

[Scriv]

That's really awful. :( I would have hoped that any such restriction should have been very obviously signed.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Scriv

[Thejuggler]

Its a well known 'scam' operated by Parkingeye, Snowdon Mountain Railway is exactly the same. Make it confusing as they need tickets to maintain their income. The photos do not prove you were parked! You could have entered at one time left 5 minutes later, entered 4 hours later and left 5 minutes later. Parkingeye system isn't set to know you visited twice.

 

Lots of advice on parkingprankster and pepipoo websites. In fact if you go to Pepipoo forums and search for Southampton Cruise Terminal you will find another thread from someone who received an invoice (they are not fines) for parking in an area they were told to by a Port employee!

 

Unfortunately if you want to defend you need to do a lot of reading and submit a robust defence, Pepipoo and Moneysavingexpert have lots of guidance and advice from those who 'sort' out Parkingeye on a regular basis. As they have rejected you should have a code to appeal theough an independent body, use it, but read up first, you have time to prepare a robust rebuttal of their claims.

 

I would also contact the local Southampton newspaper and make them aware of how this scam operates so they can investigate. You won't be the only one and the presence of Parking Eye will cause misery for thousands.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Thejuggler

[Vampire Parrot]

Have a look at http://www.pepipoo.com/ "Helping the motorist get justice."

 

Look in the "Private Parking Tickets & Clamping" forum for information on fighting an unfair ticket...

 

VP

[happy v]

You do not have to pay this.

Don't contact them again or it will go on for longer.

Keep your receipt.

They will send you more letters, don't read them, don't reply. Eventually they will get the message and stop.

[Scorpio41]

You can challenge parking eye charges and win. My OH did using the template letter.

 

The best place to go for advice an a template letter is The Money Saving forum.

All the information you need. Click Here

 

 

Edit: Keep original ticket and send a photocopy.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Scorpio41

[Thejuggler]

You do not have to pay this.

Don't contact them again or it will go on for longer.

Keep your receipt.

They will send you more letters, don't read them, don't reply. Eventually they will get the message and stop.

 

As this is in England:

 

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES IGNORE A PARKING EYE INVOICE.

 

This is outdated advice and Parking Eye will file Court papers and unless you are prepared to go to Court and defend you could end up owing hundreds of pounds.

 

Far easier to take advice from Pepipoo and the like and cut this off at the knees early on.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Thejuggler

[dgs1956]

I fought two fines from Parking Eye and won them both. One my wife had entered the wrong registration number and one where we had free parking at an hotel. I won them both but it took a long long time. I would appeal to them again and if you get nowhere then go to the arbitrator. You sound as if you are in the right.

Incidentally when I won the second case they sent me eleven duplicate letters to inform me.

[Victoria '82]

Thanks folks for all your advice. What bugs me is that I don't know what I am supposed to have done wrong. The Parking Charge Notice says I have not bought the appropriate time or I have stayed longer than permitted. Thing is, I paid what the machine asked for - £3, which I guess is not a lot but that is what was billed using my registration details! My appeal was turned down without any reference to the actual 'crime', so am in the dark so to speak.

Well I have taken it to the next stage which is appealing to POPLA but in so doing have lost the right to pay a reduced 'fine' of £60 so if POPLA go against me I either pay £100, ignore further demands and or go to court to defend my position.

It is all very complex and really, its not the money, its the not knowing what I am supposed to have done wrong.

Vicky

[Mysticalmother]

Thanks folks for all your advice. What bugs me is that I don't know what I am supposed to have done wrong. The Parking Charge Notice says I have not bought the appropriate time or I have stayed longer than permitted. Thing is' date=' I paid what the machine asked for - £3, which I guess is not a lot but that is what was billed using my registration details! My appeal was turned down without any reference to the actual 'crime', so am in the dark so to speak.

Well I have taken it to the next stage which is appealing to POPLA but in so doing have lost the right to pay a reduced 'fine' of £60 so if POPLA go against me I either pay £100, ignore further demands and or go to court to defend my position.

It is all very complex and really, its not the money, its the not knowing what I am supposed to have done wrong.

Vicky[/quote']

 

Even more reason to fight it IMHO - you havent done anything wrong! Keep us posted. These "people" should not be allowed to get away with it.

[Scriv]

Fight Vicky! Fight!

 

And if you do not get any joy after going through the proper procedure, take it to the local paper (The Echo I think?) and BBC South Today. They love things like this!

Edited October 28, 2015 by Scriv

[davenew]

Its a well known 'scam' operated by Parkingeye, Snowdon Mountain Railway is exactly the same. Make it confusing as they need tickets to maintain their income. The photos do not prove you were parked! You could have entered at one time left 5 minutes later, entered 4 hours later and left 5 minutes later. Parkingeye system isn't set to know you visited twice.

 

Lots of advice on parkingprankster and pepipoo websites. In fact if you go to Pepipoo forums and search for Southampton Cruise Terminal you will find another thread from someone who received an invoice (they are not fines) for parking in an area they were told to by a Port employee!

 

Unfortunately if you want to defend you need to do a lot of reading and submit a robust defence, Pepipoo and Moneysavingexpert have lots of guidance and advice from those who 'sort' out Parkingeye on a regular basis. As they have rejected you should have a code to appeal theough an independent body, use it, but read up first, you have time to prepare a robust rebuttal of their claims.

 

I would also contact the local Southampton newspaper and make them aware of how this scam operates so they can investigate. You won't be the only one and the presence of Parking Eye will cause misery for thousands.

This is UK wide!!

They do not listen to reason or take notice of evidence.

Don't pay it and let them take you to court

[Thejuggler]

I certainly wouldn't advise taking it to Court, unless you really know what you are doing.

 

Refusing the alternative dispute resolution service will work against someone who ignores everything. PE will claim the third party is being unreasonable and their claim will reflect this.