£100 parking charge from Euro car parks

[QBee]

Advice please from anyone who has tried to appeal one of these charges

Two weeks ago I parked at Morrisons in a car park run by these people.
I came back to it after 10 minutes and it wouldn't start - total silence, I assume it was an immobilise fault.
Went back into the store to tell them, they said it's no problem, the cameras aren't working.
I called the RAC and they told me they would be there in two to three hours.
I went home to get on with some work and came back when the RAC attended.
RAC got the car started for me and I left the car park.

I was parked for three hours and one minute.
Limit is two hours.
Is there any point in appealing?

[pavarotti1980]

QBee said:

Advice please from anyone who has tried to appeal one of these charges

Two weeks ago I parked at Morrisons in a car park run by these people.
I came back to it after 10 minutes and it wouldn't start - total silence, I assume it was an immobilise fault.
Went back into the store to tell them, they said it's no problem, the cameras aren't working.
I called the RAC and they told me they would be there in two to three hours.
I went home to get on with some work and came back when the RAC attended.
RAC got the car started for me and I left the car park.

I was parked for three hours and one minute.
Limit is two hours.
Is there any point in appealing?

Yes

Assuming you got some paperwork from RAC, take that and go back to Morrison's and speak to the store manager. Explain the situation and they should be allowed to cancel the ticket. If they refuse, just appeal to Euro Car Parks (not identifying the driver) and explain that the car required RAC attendance to make it work, send copy of RAC paperwork with appeal and ask for it to be cancelled

[QBee]

Yes, the RAC emailed me a confrmation of their attendance.
I will start with the store manager, thanks for the advice.

I tried to ask Euro themselves and there is no way you can talk to them by phone.
You have to appeal on their website, at which point you forfeit your chance to pay £60 not £100.
I vaguely remember reading on PH that these parking companies are not the easiest to persuade.

So yes, Morrisons it is. Thank you

[kestral]

QBee said:

Advice please from anyone who has tried to appeal one of these charges

Two weeks ago I parked at Morrisons in a car park run by these people.
I came back to it after 10 minutes and it wouldn't start - total silence, I assume it was an immobilise fault.
Went back into the store to tell them, they said it's no problem, the cameras aren't working.
I called the RAC and they told me they would be there in two to three hours.
I went home to get on with some work and came back when the RAC attended.
RAC got the car started for me and I left the car park.

I was parked for three hours and one minute.
Limit is two hours.
Is there any point in appealing?

Yes. Provide evidence of the mechanical failure.

But if you go to the manager at Morrisons remember that that is not the usual procedure for appealing so make sure he has the power to cancel the charge.

[Wacky Racer]

You will be OK, I'm pretty sure.

[pavarotti1980]

kestral said:

But if you go to the manager at Morrisons remember that that is not the usual procedure for appealing so make sure he has the power to cancel the charge.

It is very much the usual procedure for getting a ticket cancelled. Whether it is supermarkets, hospitals, GP surgeries etc it is the first port of call. They all have (in 99.9% of the time) the ability to log on and cancel the ticket

Also it is not an appeal

[Vasco]

Amazing - sensible and helpful responses.

I'd immediately assumed that everyone would be asking why you didn't use Waitrose.....

[Pica-Pica]

As said, get the RAC paperwork, identify times called and the response time, and appeal. You were unable to fulfil your implied contract by an unexpected cause (force majeure?). If there will be a delay in getting that information. Write an outline appeal, stating that details will follow.

My wife had similar, after fainting at a dentist. We had to leave her car overnight. I had the complete ambulance NHS sheet with times on it. Parking Eye accepted the appeal.

[QBee]

Thanks guys, top info and disussion.

I headed down to Morrisons (not because Morrisons is beneath me, but because it is half a mile from the River Trent and I live on top of the old beacon hill just outside the town) and spoke to customer services. Told the fags-and-lottery lady what had happened and she immediately called the manager and asked him/her is he/she was willing to cancel the charge? Answer was in the affirmative. Job jobbed.

So the inital advice was spot on.

I was misled by the security guard, as I could have paid a few quid to park legally but was told I didn't need to, but the customer swervices lady said I should have told her, not security, and she would have notified Euro before the whole sorry affair even started.

And for the record, I do go to Waitrose's car park too. It's a good place for spotting the latest edition of every off roader and SUV in its natural environment, especially the new Defender. And I have broken down there too, but that time the RAC guy cancelled another job and was there in 20 minutes.

QBee's top tip for getting a swift response from the RAC - break down in something interesting (TVR) not somethng boring (Saab). Even RAC men are petrolheads.

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

The breakdown is a valid reason.
I had this once in London and the borough eventually cancelled the fine as well.

[matchmaker]

My sons car broke down in a camera controlled Tesco car park. It was going to be several hours until we could recover it so I informed the customer services desk of this. They entered his cars registration number into a computer terminal and this presumably overrode the CCTV system and no ticket.