# Parking eye scam



## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

anyone else had one of these scam parking charge letters through the door for parking in a retail park or supermarket.

i was a customer last week at the local morrisons where i take a lot of disabled people i help and often it takes 2 hours 2 get thetre shopping then take them to the cafe and then back to the car well the scum bags sent me one of these unenforceable charges of 85 quid for being in there car park for over 2 hours ..I know its a load of BS and will not loose sleep over it but anyone else had experience with this 

after all its certainly made me think to where i will shop and will no longer be using any shop that employs these cowboys


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

I'm sure when I watched a programme on them if they are not council enforced they cannot do anything to enforce it.
Although I've never had one


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## toddy23 (Jun 16, 2012)

Yes I've had one just put it in a drawer and you will get maby 4 more and then you won't hear from them again,if its not issued by the council or police then it means nothing


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## ChrisST (Jul 19, 2009)

Yeah, I had the 'pleasure' of dealing with them last year after I sold my old Porsche 924.

The new owner got caught overstaying in a carpark in London and due to the speed of the DVLA I was still showing as the owner.
I decided to play them at their own game and send them a sarcastic email explaining that they had to prove it was me, they don't have the power to do anything anyway...etc etc. Even the fact I was at Evans Halshaw in Altrincham on that day having an MOT on my old RS wasn't enough to not put me at the 'scene of the crime'. 

I managed to get their actual address and not just the PO BOX they hide behind and my next step was to pay them a visit but didn't need to..

The last letter will normally go on about court and bayliffs blah blah, just ignore it as they will stop after that.. :thumb:


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

make a nice story in the local paper what with the disabled folk n all that


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## kh904 (Dec 18, 2006)

Yeah I had one of these invoices a couple of years ago. Almost paid it but just before I did I had a quick look online and found out I could just ignore it.

However I believe late last year, legislation was passed at the same time when wheel clamping by private firms/land was illegal, that the registered keeper can now be liable for these private parking charges (before it was the driver), and now ignoring them may not work.

However I'd suggest looking into it more online for advice to confirm what your options are.


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

Not looking to start an argument but why not just put an extra hour on the parking and avoid any issues in the first place?


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

danwel said:


> Not looking to start an argument but why not just put an extra hour on the parking and avoid any issues in the first place?


Is this not a standard supermarket car park where you can park for a specific amount of time, no longer?


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

steveo3002 said:


> make a nice story in the local paper what with the disabled folk n all that


That's just what I was thinking, nothing like being publicly shamed to bring people to their senses !


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

kh904 said:


> However I believe late last year, legislation was passed at the same time when wheel clamping by private firms/land was illegal, that the registered keeper can now be liable for these private parking charges (before it was the driver), and now ignoring them may not work.


I think there may be something in this as I know of a local case where the poor soul involved is now recorded as a "bad debter" for refusing to pay the invoice.


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

danwel said:


> Not looking to start an argument but why not just put an extra hour on the parking and avoid any issues in the first place?


Morrisons do state that parking is for a set time if its free, after that you have to pay. If you have a disabled badge it entitles you to 3 hours, think supermarkets say 2 hours. Unless you live in hertfordshire, where they charge you to park anyway.


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

You can usually claim it back if you shop there in our one in Redcar if you shop there and the Scarborough one is free.


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

Hes getting at the ones.like around here , you drive in and the camera takes your reg and you get 2 hours . But there's nowhere to pay to extend your stay


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## kh904 (Dec 18, 2006)

uruk hai said:


> I think there may be something in this as I know of a local case where the poor soul involved is now recorded as a "bad debter" for refusing to pay the invoice.


That can only effect your credit rating (County court judgement) if it goes to court, you lose & don't pay up as i understand. But before that, they (the car parking firm) has to prove that there was a contract between the parties that was agreed and that it was broken.
I can't see why the driver or reg. keeper couldn't put up a sign on their car stating that they refuse their terms and negotiate their own offer (since that's what they do by putting up their signs of terms & conditions)?

There are some really good forums worth investigating on these types of things, i'll have a peep and let you know what i find out!


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## andystevens (Dec 12, 2011)

My Mum got nabbed by them in an Aldi Cap Park. She was displaying her disabled badge & in the correct bay. She contacted them & they threw it out then she contacted them again & said I will see you in Court = They dropped the charge.

I had a similar incident with another company = Don't pay it.

Your credit file can be affected if you don't pay something but that can only be a credit agreement like a loan or phone contract that you would have signed for. Anything else would be the subject of a CCJ & that as said above would only happen if you defaulted on the Court payments.


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## andy monty (Dec 29, 2007)

andystevens said:


> My Mum got nabbed by them in an Aldi Cap Park. She was displaying her disabled badge & in the correct bay. She contacted them & they threw it out then she contacted them again & said I will see you in Court = They dropped the charge.
> 
> I had a similar incident with another company = Don't pay it.
> 
> Your credit file can be affected if you don't pay something but that can only be a credit agreement like a loan or phone contract that you would have signed for. Anything else would be the subject of a CCJ & that as said above would only happen if you defaulted on the Court payments.


That and charges have to be reasonable.... a free car park suddenly wanting £60 off you after 3 hours is not deemed reasonable especially if the local authority car park is 60P per hour opposite


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## kcass (Aug 24, 2010)

had a few in the past,you'll get a couple,each one more demanding,threatening court action,bailliffs etc.don't be tempted to contact them at all,just sit tight.they will go away.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

kh904 said:


> Yeah I had one of these invoices a couple of years ago. Almost paid it but just before I did I had a quick look online and found out I could just ignore it.
> 
> However I believe late last year, legislation was passed at the same time when wheel clamping by private firms/land was illegal, that the registered keeper can now be liable for these private parking charges (before it was the driver), and now ignoring them may not work.
> 
> However I'd suggest looking into it more online for advice to confirm what your options are.


Don't worry, this is rubbish, believe me, I've been on pepipoo long enough, they like you to believe its "enforceable" but it's not, have a snoop around on their forums, you'll be pleasantly surprised. There has been examples of these companies issued fake small claims court papers to scare people into paying, so again, have a good read.

There is one company trying the court route, and I believe they still haven't one a case yet (if you know what to say properly), as well as a few other lodging genuine court papers and then not turning up when they find out its being challenged


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## Freddie (Mar 17, 2013)

Correct me if Im wrong but it will cost them a lot more than the £85 you owe for them to take you to court! So if need be offer resistance and it won't be worth their while.


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## Tricky Red (Mar 3, 2007)

IIRC the law has changed on this and a lot of what is read on the internet is old law and out of date.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...t/9917918/Private-parking-fines-hit-150m.html


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## kh904 (Dec 18, 2006)

bidderman1969 said:


> Don't worry, this is rubbish, believe me, I've been on pepipoo long enough, they like you to believe its "enforceable" but it's not, have a snoop around on their forums, you'll be pleasantly surprised. There has been examples of these companies issued fake small claims court papers to scare people into paying, so again, have a good read.
> 
> There is one company trying the court route, and I believe they still haven't one a case yet (if you know what to say properly), as well as a few other lodging genuine court papers and then not turning up when they find out its being challenged


I not so sure though Bidderman, if you ignore it, you will be in default of their notice and agree that you had agreed to be liable as the registered keeper if you didn't respond to who was driving.
But as I understand the parking firm can't enforce it until it goes to court & you lose.
I think you first have to dispute it through the new private parking authority (I forgot what they are called), but even if their judgement goes against you it still isn't legally binding (it's not a court of law). 
The new parking authority I hear is pretty much a sham, as I hear many appeals are turned down unreasonably.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Tricky Red said:


> IIRC the law has changed on this and a lot of what is read on the internet is old law and out of date.
> 
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...t/9917918/Private-parking-fines-hit-150m.html


Doesn't help misreading stuff like this, what new powers?

No offence, but you are in the percentage of the public that roll over and pay this without properly looking into it, as I said, no-one to date has successfully been prosecuted through the courts for this. So why not browse the forum I pointed out, run by people who know what they're talking about, and see what I mean?


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

kh904 said:


> I not so sure though Bidderman, if you ignore it, you will be in default of their notice and agree that you had agreed to be liable as the registered keeper if you didn't respond to who was driving.
> But as I understand the parking firm can't enforce it until it goes to court & you lose.
> I think you first have to dispute it through the new private parking authority (I forgot what they are called), but even if their judgement goes against you it still isn't legally binding (it's not a court of law).
> The new parking authority I hear is pretty much a sham, as I hear many appeals are turned down unreasonably.


Default of a non-legal invoice? They're "appeals" system is someone sitting at another desk in their office, why would they turn it down????

Trust me, it's them just fishing, if some pay, they keep going

If it really was "enforceable", they would take EVERYONE to court if you ignored them as they know theyd win, so why don't they then??????????


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

As an alternatively, pay me the fine money and say I was driving, I don't mind

Sorry to everyone in this thread, I tend to get overwhelmed with things like this, I'm a bit passionate about people getting ripped off, especially members on here getting ripped off, hate it, lol, hence why I go a bit overboard on these things.

Have to admit, things do seem to be changing on these "fines", so sorry Kh904, I do apologise for this, the principle is still the same but we need to go through the right process's now to make sure they are dealt with properly, so again I do apologise for that.

But to the OP, do visit the pepipoo forums and they'll see you alright


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## ianrobbo1 (Feb 13, 2007)

Bidderman has it nailed, unless it's local council or the feds, simply ignore it, DON'T get in touch with them, as they will attempt to draw you into writing/saying something that possibly gives them credibility, and "IF" it ever gets to a court,and they actually attend :doublesho wait until the appropriate time and offer them the 60P or whatever the charge would have been, rather than the silly amounts they are claiming, as you don't want to defraud them of any parking fee's that "may" have been payable, they will be obliged to accept that, and if they want to try and justify why you should pay more good luck to them!!  as you did not enter into a contract with them  all this is available on the site Bidderman pointed you to!!:thumb:


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## Tricky Red (Mar 3, 2007)

bidderman1969 said:


> Doesn't help misreading stuff like this, what new powers?
> 
> No offence, but you are in the percentage of the public that roll over and pay this without properly looking into it, as I said, no-one to date has successfully been prosecuted through the courts for this. So why not browse the forum I pointed out, run by people who know what they're talking about, and see what I mean?


Never said that I 'rolled over' and paid. I just stick to the times and make sure that I leave before the ticket expires. That is what you should do isn't it?

No offence taken....and thanks for your advice.


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## andy monty (Dec 29, 2007)

Tricky Red said:


> Never said that I 'rolled over' and paid. I just stick to the times and make sure that I leave before the ticket expires. That is what you should do isn't it?
> 
> No offence taken....and thanks for your advice.


A ticket car park is somewhat different iirc...

its these car parks without tickets and relying on "passive contracts" bit like me putting a small sign up in my shop window saying you agree to pay me £5 if you browse for 5 or more minutes then harassing you for money

To the OP do you have AA or RAC membership? Contact their free legal assistance number and have a chat..


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Tricky Red said:


> IIRC the law has changed on this and a lot of what is read on the internet is old law and out of date.
> 
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...t/9917918/Private-parking-fines-hit-150m.html


This thread started after the 1st October 2012, I believe, so should highlight what it's all about

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=73896&st=0

:thumb:

At the end of the day, no one goes out and deliberately gets a PCN, 99 times out of 100 it's over staying in a free car park when shopping etc, so losses are nil, and why should you (as a customer putting money in the retailers pocket) be persecuted for over staying by either 10 mins or 2 hours?


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

robtech said:


> anyone else had one of these scam parking charge letters through the door for parking in a retail park or supermarket.
> 
> i was a customer last week at the local morrisons where i take a lot of disabled people i help and often it takes 2 hours 2 get thetre shopping then take them to the cafe and then back to the car well the scum bags sent me one of these unenforceable charges of 85 quid for being in there car park for over 2 hours ..I know its a load of BS and will not loose sleep over it but anyone else had experience with this
> 
> after all its certainly made me think to where i will shop and will no longer be using any shop that employs these cowboys


Also there's no mention of a ticket here, so not sure where the "ticket" being purchased came from


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

well after many hours of research and 1000s of folk also in the same boat first thing i did was to contact directly the CEO of Morrisons i certainly didnt mince my words ( its easy to get details of ceo's ) just google the company and ceo within 24 hours i got an apology and the charge cancelled ,however the Law in Scotland is different and they cant charge folk anyway however i certainly made sure 1000s of people are now aware of these sham tactics good old facebook can be good for posting things like this issue onto the shops FB page as well as other local community local newspapers sites on FB even the local council ,people power is often the best policy if enough of us stand up and say NO then they will soon get the message .


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

also thanks to everyone that has posted your feedback is appreciated and i thank you all for taking the time to reply to this thread.NICE 1


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Bidderman is spot on. Ignore it. I had one a year or so ago, I got all the letters in the order that was posted on several forums until the final court one then they stopped.
Had another a few weeks back after doing some contract work in Asda. I had signed in etc but security guy forgot to log my reg. I threw the fine out but mentioned it to security guy next time I went in. He said oh don't worry about them he would log it on system. He also went on to say staff relatives have parked there for years whilst in town and ignore the fines and noone has been done.


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## clubber01 (May 29, 2013)

Parking Eye are taking me to court. I've had a letter from Northampton County Court back in August. The last one I received was the one where I asked to have the case heard at my local County Court.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

First, find out if the "documents" are real ones, sounds silly I know, but court papers have been made to look real to get people to pay up, if they are real, get over to pepipoo forums and they will sort you out ok


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## kh904 (Dec 18, 2006)

clubber01 said:


> Parking Eye are taking me to court. I've had a letter from Northampton County Court back in August. The last one I received was the one where I asked to have the case heard at my local County Court.


Unfortunately like I have said previously, the advice to simply ignore private parking notices is old advice! From October last year New statutory powers came in when they made clamping on private land illegal.

From now on you can't simply rely on ignoring the letters, you should just go through the popla (iirc) appeals procedure.

If the court documents are genuine, I'd recommend going to websites like pepipoo for further advice and let us know how you get on!


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## PaulaJayne (Feb 17, 2012)

http://forums.pepipoo.com/

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2013)

In something like a retail centre car park, the legal agreement is between the shop and the visiting DRIVER, not the vehicle. Therefore they have to prove that it was indeed YOU that was driving the car and for that they need photographic evidence. If they cannot provide you with that photo then there is nothing they can do. Also, unlike a police/council penalty, there is NO legal requirement to tell them who actually was driving the vehicle. If they do have a photo of you parking that car, then the maximum penalty, by law, that they can charge is whatever they lost through your excess time, so for example: if the parking charge is £2.00 per hour and you overparked by 1 hour then the maximum they can charge you as a penalty is £2.00. If the parking spot is free of charge initially, then they legally cannot charge you anything at all. They must also have clear signage.
I've been through this several times before. Just write and ask for the photographic evidence. Most won't have it and you will not hear from them again.


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## clubber01 (May 29, 2013)

I've been on pepipoo, went on there straight away, they just sent me loads of links that did my head in.


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2013)

clubber01 said:


> I've been on pepipoo, went on there straight away, they just sent me loads of links that did my head in.


I have a couple of friends who run their own parking enforcement companies. My info is through them. Write and ask for the photo^^^, I doubt you will hear any more from them. Just call their bluff.


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## clubber01 (May 29, 2013)

bidderman1969 said:


> First, find out if the "documents" are real ones, sounds silly I know, but court papers have been made to look real to get people to pay up, if they are real, get over to pepipoo forums and they will sort you out ok


The court papers must be real as I replied to them on the MCOL website



CleanMe said:


> In something like a retail centre car park, the legal agreement is between the shop and the visiting DRIVER, not the vehicle. Therefore they have to prove that it was indeed YOU that was driving the car and for that they need photographic evidence. If they cannot provide you with that photo then there is nothing they can do. Also, unlike a police/council penalty, there is NO legal requirement to tell them who actually was driving the vehicle. If they do have a photo of you parking that car, then the maximum penalty, by law, that they can charge is whatever they lost through your excess time, so for example: if the parking charge is £2.00 per hour and you overparked by 1 hour then the maximum they can charge you as a penalty is £2.00. If the parking spot is free of charge initially, then they legally cannot charge you anything at all. They must also have clear signage.
> I've been through this several times before. Just write and ask for the photographic evidence. Most won't have it and you will not hear from them again.


If I had known this before (no one on pepipoo mentioned it) I would have denied being the driver. As far as I know, they only have photos of me driving in and out of the car park. I have already admitted being the driver in the defence I had to include on the court papers


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## clubber01 (May 29, 2013)

Just got the letter saying that the case has been transferred to my local court


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

kh904 said:


> Unfortunately like I have said previously, the advice to simply ignore private parking notices is old advice! From October last year New statutory powers came in when they made clamping on private land illegal.
> 
> From now on you can't simply rely on ignoring the letters, you should just go through the popla (iirc) appeals procedure.
> 
> If the court documents are genuine, I'd recommend going to websites like pepipoo for further advice and let us know how you get on!


PE seem to be one of the very few trying their luck, as after going through the POPLA appeals, and going to court, they still aren't winning when people have the properly worded defence, so in theory nothing "legal" has changed, as in the "fines" still aren't legal at all, and that's what a lot of people are not understanding about these so called "new powers" that these clowns have


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## deegan1979 (Mar 6, 2012)

Does the ticket have a BPA logo ( british parking association)
If so then it will be legit even if not issued by tge council.
Best to check their bpa status online too


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

deegan1979 said:


> Does the ticket have a BPA logo ( british parking association)
> If so then it will be legit even if not issued by tge council.
> Best to check their bpa status online too


what do you mean "legit"??????????

and the BPA is nothing anyway, except a kind of "club" for these so called "parking companies"


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## deegan1979 (Mar 6, 2012)

bidderman1969 said:


> what do you mean "legit"??????????
> 
> and the BPA is nothing anyway, except a kind of "club" for these so called "parking companies"


I too ignored what I thought was a dodgy ticket from a private company.
I wasnt aware they were registered bpa members.
This was made fully aware to me in court, my costly mistake.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

deegan1979 said:


> I too ignored what I thought was a dodgy ticket from a private company.
> I wasnt aware they were registered bpa members.
> This was made fully aware to me in court, my costly mistake.


and what advice did you get?


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## deegan1979 (Mar 6, 2012)

That the company although private was employed by that council (reigate) and that I was a bad boy.
I was advised by a few friends to ignore it so I did and ended up costing me over £200.
Just my situation, maybe this guys wilk be different


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

deegan1979 said:


> That the company although private was employed by that council (reigate) and that I was a bad boy.
> I was advised by a few friends to ignore it so I did and ended up costing me over £200.
> Just my situation, maybe this guys wilk be different


well, no offence, but thats such a vague description that could have been such a different situation that its no help to the OP at all tbh, and you got advice from "friends"???????


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