Fuming...looking for some parking ticket adive
Discussion
Afternoon all,
I've Recently got myself a parking ticket and I'm far from happy, a few weeks ago I needed to meet a work mate in the evening and we decided to meet at the holiday inn at Brentwood as it is just off the M25 and suited us both, it was around half 9 at night and pitch black, I pulled in to the car park, met my work mate and around 25 minutes left.....I've not used this hotel for a few months and it transpires that at some point in May of this year they have employed a company called Parking eye who have installed cameras and plate recognition equipment.
My main irritation with this is that as it was late and therefore very dark I didn't see any signage as they are not lit up and so I had literally no clue of the changes to their parking regs...the other thing is the size of the fine verses the 'crime' committed (£100 reduced to £60 if paid quickly).
Anyone got any advice on how best to get out of paying this? I want to be honest and effectively state exactly the same as I have in this post however I suspect that won't be deemed as a good enough reason.
Thanks in advance.
I've Recently got myself a parking ticket and I'm far from happy, a few weeks ago I needed to meet a work mate in the evening and we decided to meet at the holiday inn at Brentwood as it is just off the M25 and suited us both, it was around half 9 at night and pitch black, I pulled in to the car park, met my work mate and around 25 minutes left.....I've not used this hotel for a few months and it transpires that at some point in May of this year they have employed a company called Parking eye who have installed cameras and plate recognition equipment.
My main irritation with this is that as it was late and therefore very dark I didn't see any signage as they are not lit up and so I had literally no clue of the changes to their parking regs...the other thing is the size of the fine verses the 'crime' committed (£100 reduced to £60 if paid quickly).
Anyone got any advice on how best to get out of paying this? I want to be honest and effectively state exactly the same as I have in this post however I suspect that won't be deemed as a good enough reason.
Thanks in advance.
This is not a fine. Only a court can issue a fine and only a public authority operating under statute and regulations can issue what is called a penalty charge notice for parking. You have been sent a a bill based upon an alleged contract between you and the parking company, a private enterprise. The company would say that it displayed its terms on signs, and by parking at the location you are taken to have accepted those terms. You might have an argument that the signs were not sufficiently illuminated or otherwise noticeable so as to draw your attention to them. That argument would depend on the facts - it might be simply that you failed to notice what was noticeable.
You could also argue that the charge is an unenforceable penalty, but as to that point the Supreme Court is shortly to make a decision on a private parking case that may either support or severely weaken or eliminate that argument.
You can write to the company. You can later use a form of arbitral appeal service (there is no statutory appeal service in relation to private parking charges), details of which the company will provide to you (or it should). Ultimately, the company might sue you in the county court for the charge.
There are websites that specialise in discussing these things, but I suggest that you avoid them as they are populated by anarchist nutters and single issue obsessives, and are mostly full of woo and nonsense.
You could also argue that the charge is an unenforceable penalty, but as to that point the Supreme Court is shortly to make a decision on a private parking case that may either support or severely weaken or eliminate that argument.
You can write to the company. You can later use a form of arbitral appeal service (there is no statutory appeal service in relation to private parking charges), details of which the company will provide to you (or it should). Ultimately, the company might sue you in the county court for the charge.
There are websites that specialise in discussing these things, but I suggest that you avoid them as they are populated by anarchist nutters and single issue obsessives, and are mostly full of woo and nonsense.
OP, I gather that you did not drink in the bar at the Holiday Inn (very sensible, no doubt, it would be a rubbish bar), but what makes you think that you should be able to park for free on a business's property without being a customer of that business?
Is this sort of thing makes you fume, then count the blessings of your first world problems! What would you do if anything really bad happened?
Is this sort of thing makes you fume, then count the blessings of your first world problems! What would you do if anything really bad happened?
I drive past this place every day on my way to work and I've never noticed any signs (then again, I've never really had a need to look).
Definitely worth a look to satisfy yourself that you have a valid point if you do challenge it based on poor signage.
It does surprise me that more places don't employ this strategy though to stop people randomly parking in their car park and not using the facilities.
Definitely worth a look to satisfy yourself that you have a valid point if you do challenge it based on poor signage.
It does surprise me that more places don't employ this strategy though to stop people randomly parking in their car park and not using the facilities.
dean350z said:
Afternoon all,
I've Recently got myself a parking ticket and I'm far from happy, a few weeks ago I needed to meet a work mate in the evening and we decided to meet at the holiday inn at Brentwood as it is just off the M25 and suited us both, it was around half 9 at night and pitch black, I pulled in to the car park, met my work mate and around 25 minutes left.....I've not used this hotel for a few months and it transpires that at some point in May of this year they have employed a company called Parking eye who have installed cameras and plate recognition equipment.
My main irritation with this is that as it was late and therefore very dark I didn't see any signage as they are not lit up and so I had literally no clue of the changes to their parking regs...the other thing is the size of the fine verses the 'crime' committed (£100 reduced to £60 if paid quickly).
Anyone got any advice on how best to get out of paying this? I want to be honest and effectively state exactly the same as I have in this post however I suspect that won't be deemed as a good enough reason.
Thanks in advance.
Not sure from your post whether you went into the hotel and purchased drinks/coffee etc., or did you stay in the car park?I've Recently got myself a parking ticket and I'm far from happy, a few weeks ago I needed to meet a work mate in the evening and we decided to meet at the holiday inn at Brentwood as it is just off the M25 and suited us both, it was around half 9 at night and pitch black, I pulled in to the car park, met my work mate and around 25 minutes left.....I've not used this hotel for a few months and it transpires that at some point in May of this year they have employed a company called Parking eye who have installed cameras and plate recognition equipment.
My main irritation with this is that as it was late and therefore very dark I didn't see any signage as they are not lit up and so I had literally no clue of the changes to their parking regs...the other thing is the size of the fine verses the 'crime' committed (£100 reduced to £60 if paid quickly).
Anyone got any advice on how best to get out of paying this? I want to be honest and effectively state exactly the same as I have in this post however I suspect that won't be deemed as a good enough reason.
Thanks in advance.
If you were in the hotel as a paying customer I should take the matter up with the manager. I did this when my mum got a ticket for overstaying her time in Aldi's car park. They backed down very quickly with no argument.
esxste said:
A few weeks ago.... pitch black at 9.30pm? Can see a lawyer ripping that one apart.
Even now it's not pitch black at 9-30pm, and the Car park appears to have plenty of lighting on Google maps.Also on Google maps there is a small green sign that mentions wheel clamping in one of the parking areas.
Wheel Clamping
Many of the lamposts have visible green signs attached which I would guess to be parking warning signs as difficult to read in Streetview.
Edited by lbc on Friday 14th August 15:55
The wheelclamp lamp widget on the map is out of date, as private operators can no longer (lawfully) clamp cars.
I assumed that the OP was doing a drug deal, dogging, or trying to rent a room by the hour for non sleepy purposes, but maybe Holiday Inn hung tough and wouldn't drop the rack rate below sixty quid. That is why the OP is fuming, mayhap.
I assumed that the OP was doing a drug deal, dogging, or trying to rent a room by the hour for non sleepy purposes, but maybe Holiday Inn hung tough and wouldn't drop the rack rate below sixty quid. That is why the OP is fuming, mayhap.
Breadvan72 said:
OP, I gather that you did not drink in the bar at the Holiday Inn (very sensible, no doubt, it would be a rubbish bar), but what makes you think that you should be able to park for free on a business's property without being a customer of that business?
Not sure how you made that leap. There is nothing in his post which says whether he was or was not a customer of the hotel. What he does mention is that he has used the hotel before (whether as a customer or not is also unclear).There have been several complaints on Trip Advisor by visitors using the hotel facilities (restaurant, bar, gym, etc) about this issue. If the OP was in fact a customer he should take it up with the hotel management. They should be able to sort it out for him.
How about "I pulled in to the car park, met my work mate and around 25 minutes left"?
If the OP went inside and had a coffee or summat, then he could ask Holiday Inn ton ask the parking company to drop the charge. If not, then the OP has been caught free loading (dogging or not). The charge is still too high, I think, but maybe the Supremes will disagree, and they trump both of us.
I hadn't really noticed the pitch black thing, but as others say, it wasn't pitch black at 2130 a few weeks ago, so there may be some exaggeration in the CSB.
If the OP went inside and had a coffee or summat, then he could ask Holiday Inn ton ask the parking company to drop the charge. If not, then the OP has been caught free loading (dogging or not). The charge is still too high, I think, but maybe the Supremes will disagree, and they trump both of us.
I hadn't really noticed the pitch black thing, but as others say, it wasn't pitch black at 2130 a few weeks ago, so there may be some exaggeration in the CSB.
I've had a couple of these over the years, even though on each occasion I purchased food/coffee/whatever from the establishments whos parking they "protect".
Always ignored, always gone away. The letters get quite official looking but always use words like; could, may and so on. So meaningless really. Scare tactic lots of people fall for, unsurprisingly to be fair, and really needs to be stopped once and for all.
You'll get about 6 - 8 letters over a 6 - 8 month period, then it'll just disappear.
Always ignored, always gone away. The letters get quite official looking but always use words like; could, may and so on. So meaningless really. Scare tactic lots of people fall for, unsurprisingly to be fair, and really needs to be stopped once and for all.
You'll get about 6 - 8 letters over a 6 - 8 month period, then it'll just disappear.
It's almost impossible for them to enforce this. Although many people say not to ignore this you can probably do so.
However go and look at this website and decide what to do. http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk
Other people may recommend pepipoo website, but there is so much conflicting information on there it is hard to get to the truth or a conclusion.
However go and look at this website and decide what to do. http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk
Other people may recommend pepipoo website, but there is so much conflicting information on there it is hard to get to the truth or a conclusion.
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