Park With Ease
Discussion
Our local media, national forums and even Trip Advisor are awash with stories of appalling parking difficulties at White Moss Common near Grasmere.
Apparently this is an ANPR system, that used to allow 20 minutes free, now reduced to 10 minutes, and charges £2 for the first hour, then 40 pence for each 20 minute period thereafter.
The complaints vary, but the most common centre around the payment, which is ticketless and made on exit.
People who HAVE paid are then receiving a demand for £50 (reduced to £25 if paid within 14 days).
This seems to be because having paid, the machine does not allow them enough time to exit the car park before they enter another 20 minute period.
Since this car park exits onto the A591, and there is no ticket stub with the time, there is no way of knowing if queueing to get onto a busy tourist route has put you over the time.
There IS an option to pay online within 48 hours - but how would you know to go and check unless warned?
Other issues are people who have been less than ten minutes find themselves unablke to pay - when they enter their reg. no. the machine tells them there is no charge, as their ten minute grace period has not expired, then they get a ticket for not being able to exit at the speed of light!
Finally, many of the demands rack up at the victims addresses months after the visit - one current thread on Facebook has the notice sent 79 days after the unsuccessful attempt to pay.
PARK WITH EASE are not BPA members, but IPC registered. POPLA is out - they rely on the ISA resolution process.
So my questions are:
Is there a legal grace period for exiting the car park once payment is made?
Is there a fixed period within which they must serve their demand for payment?
If you have paid, should you not be entitled to a printed receipt - and should it be liable for VAT - something asked on the consumer action group thread this week, but as yet unanswered!
Apparently this is an ANPR system, that used to allow 20 minutes free, now reduced to 10 minutes, and charges £2 for the first hour, then 40 pence for each 20 minute period thereafter.
The complaints vary, but the most common centre around the payment, which is ticketless and made on exit.
People who HAVE paid are then receiving a demand for £50 (reduced to £25 if paid within 14 days).
This seems to be because having paid, the machine does not allow them enough time to exit the car park before they enter another 20 minute period.
Since this car park exits onto the A591, and there is no ticket stub with the time, there is no way of knowing if queueing to get onto a busy tourist route has put you over the time.
There IS an option to pay online within 48 hours - but how would you know to go and check unless warned?
Other issues are people who have been less than ten minutes find themselves unablke to pay - when they enter their reg. no. the machine tells them there is no charge, as their ten minute grace period has not expired, then they get a ticket for not being able to exit at the speed of light!
Finally, many of the demands rack up at the victims addresses months after the visit - one current thread on Facebook has the notice sent 79 days after the unsuccessful attempt to pay.
PARK WITH EASE are not BPA members, but IPC registered. POPLA is out - they rely on the ISA resolution process.
So my questions are:
Is there a legal grace period for exiting the car park once payment is made?
Is there a fixed period within which they must serve their demand for payment?
If you have paid, should you not be entitled to a printed receipt - and should it be liable for VAT - something asked on the consumer action group thread this week, but as yet unanswered!
Roo said:
What's the time allowed between paying for your ticket and exiting the car park?
How long does it take to exit the car park?
I'm not sure if the machine allows any time at all - if you enter a new 20 minute period before you exit the car park entrance, you are deemed to have broken the contract, and get a £50 penalty demand!How long does it take to exit the car park?
Even if you waited by the machine, paid the money and then got in and raced to the exit, you could get held up as the exit onto the road is steep, and the A591 between Ambleside and Keswick is exceedingly busy, and traffic from side roads can be held up for 5 to 10 minutes in summer.
Some of the complaints relate to drivers having to queue at the machine to pay, when the driver in front is paying by card, or the machine misreads the Reg. No. that is entered.
http://www.cwherald.com/a/archive/caught-out-by-co...
http://www.motoringresearch.com/news/parking-fines...
Mill Wheel said:
So my questions are:
Is there a legal grace period for exiting the car park once payment is made?
Is there a fixed period within which they must serve their demand for payment?
If you have paid, should you not be entitled to a printed receipt - and should it be liable for VAT - something asked on the consumer action group thread this week, but as yet unanswered!
1) no - but I believe the BPA has a suggested time (although these are not BPA members as you say).Is there a legal grace period for exiting the car park once payment is made?
Is there a fixed period within which they must serve their demand for payment?
If you have paid, should you not be entitled to a printed receipt - and should it be liable for VAT - something asked on the consumer action group thread this week, but as yet unanswered!
One might hope common sense woudl prevail if it went to court and the way it has all been set out was highly likely to catch people out.
2) breach fo contract - up to 6 years to take you to court. Nothing set in stone as far as I am aware legally - may be soemthign in industry guidance
3) no entitlement to a receipt - though i believe you can require a VAT receipt
If the parking company has set up the system in a way to maximise catching people out then they may be breach consumer protection laws.
kowalski655 said:
IIRC there is case law that driving in,looking for a space,and driving out when you can't get one,is not counted as parking( somewhere in the S West I think) so exiting Herr should not be parking time
Going in to look to park is OK - you get 10 minutes - it is the paying before leaving that seems to be catching people out.The single camera is on a pole above the payment machine, which you can see next to the red van in this picture:
It would seem that by the time you have paid, returned to your vehicle, then left the car park, you run the risk that a further 20 minute period has been entered into - the machine fails to take into account that you have just paid, and the driver by now unaware that they have incurred a further charge, leaves - only to be surprised by a demand for £50 months later.
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