I just recieved a letter from ParkingEye demanding I pay a “Parking Charge” of £85 reduced to £50 if payed within 14 days.

It was in a retail car park that is free to park in. They must have recently changed the rules as I used to park there often and then head out climbing hence why this happened as I wasn’t looking for notices informing me of time limits fines etc.

My plan is to just ignore all the letters and it should go away. Thats what the general advice on the internet seems to be. I was just wondering if anyone has any experience of the same things and did they eventually just give up sending you letters?

Thanks

Ignore and it will go away, they can’t enforce a thing. Been there done that.

ignore it, they give up.

Two things, there will be signs up. There always are. Sorry. Secondly – did you intend to shop in this retail park or just use up spaces for shoppers?

I think the rules on ‘ignoring’ are changing Pepipoo is the best place to ask/check.

I ignored about 5 years ago. Got letter after letter and not had anything for the past 2 years

Hora

No i did not plan to shop. 3 of us met there and left 2 cars in the car park and went off climbing for the day. We have done this lots of times but the rules must have changed recently an we never noticed.

There probably are signs but I never saw them.

Will look at Pepipoo.
Thanks

Ignore and it will go away, they can’t enforce a thing. Been there done that.

They can make a claim for damages (trespass), but it’s highly unlikely they’ll bother. It would be very difficult for them to show a loss in a free car park, unless you took the last place, so the demand for £50 is not reasonable.

My wife had a similar letter from the same company a while back. We ignored the reminders and they appear to have given up.

Ranos – you say a while back? How long ago?

I don’t know if it makes any difference but this happened in Scotland?

Just ignore, ignore and when they escalate, ignore even more.

They’ll give up eventually.

Ranos – you say a while back? How long ago?

6 months?

Thanks

I have to live day in, day out with one of these stupid companies.
Where I live, all residents have a garage and so 2 years ago, the “comittee” decided that the 3 car parks that we have (that are always empty) are just for visitors and have banned residents from parking in them or face a fine. It’s annoying as my garage is where I keep our bikes and my car is too big to fit in it anyway.
I have to pay £70 a year for a road permit from the local council and contribute to the upkeep of the car parks with our maintenance charge….

Can’t wait to move!

Some of the rules changed last year so best check it out, PE tried to invoice me about 4 years ago and i just ignored it and they gave up. Thing is (as im sure someone will soon say) you are in the wrong etc BUT i just dont like these companies as they are very good at implying stuff to threaten you. The invoice is made to look as if it could have come from the police and thier wording plays down the invoice element to try to look like a fine. There are those out there that may think they have been fined and just pay. At the end of the day if they were to charge use for a days parking plus admin it would be at most aboy £25 (i know this is dependent on local car park charges) but £85???. It just seems that if they were completely above board then they would not use these tactics, of course they may well have cleaned up thier act but i doubt it!

Ignored it a couple of years ago (Scotland) and it went away, but I have a feeling things have changed since then and you might be liable?

In six months you will probably get a “letter before action” vaguely threatening legal proceedings. Ignore that too.

The law is that they can only claim for their loss, so whatever the parking cost would be, maybe a quid an hr or something. they are not allowed to profit from the compensation.
So they could take you to court, with the risk that they might lose..

I don’t know if it makes any difference but this happened in Scotland?

I was advised by a Scottish Solicitor to ignore, it does carry a very minimal risk. Which you’d need to accept, but it’s very very unlikely that they’ll do anything. It doesn’t really make any business sense to them, unless they wish to make an example of you.

Even with the changes I’d be more than comfortable taking that small risk. Whether you do is up to you.

Yup been there after stayed for 5 mins longer than 2 hours!

Ignore they will go away after 5 letters or so

Do a google search for parking eye if not sure

DON’T IGNORE……

Parking eye have been sending out huge amounts of court claims against people who have ignored, they are even backdating them……
Register on pepipoo, read up on parking eye and post up your case, and strategy.
You don’t have to pay, but you need to do some work.

The law has changed in that the Parking company can now pursue the registered keeper of the vehicle rather than having to prove who the driver was at the time.

Regardless their ticket (sorry invoice) is still no more valid than it ever was and my advise would be to simply ignore.

There seem to have been a few cases launched by Parking Eye in the courts but if you look at the details, then these cases seem to be costing Parking Eye far more in legal fees than they ever get back in tickets.

For instance their was a case recently in Manchester that went to court. The driver had parked twice in a paid car park without paying. Despite Parking Eye claiming legal costs of around £4,500 (having 4 solicitors working on the case) the judge awarded damages in Parking Eye’s favour of just £15 (the same £15 it would have cost the guy to pay for parking in the first place). In addition the driver had to pay Parking Eye legal costs of just £95.

Clearly taking drivers to court is not a sustainable business model for Parking Eye and I suspect that these very few cases that they are trying to take to court are meant for pure publicity – to try and scare the majority into paying up. Judges generally take quite a dim view of the tactics used by these parking companies in trying to extract money from descent people, particularly when exorbitant legal fees and charges are involved. These parking company’s don’t really have any other way of getting money out of people without trying to put the ‘fear of god’ into them.

Unless it’s a valid and proper court summons just ignore and see what happens. If it goes to court (unlikely) and if they find in Parking Eye’s favour (again unlikely) then it will cost them far, far more than it will ever cost you. In the case above £95 well spent I would say 😉

Ignore the letters…

As has been said above, the most they can claim back off you is the amount you didn’t pay in the first place – i.e. £3 or so for parking.

It doesn’t really make any business sense to them, unless they wish to make an example of you.

Except of course it’s not Tescos or whoever sending out the letters, it’s Parking Eye (and similar companies) who are contracted by the retailer. They make their money by enforcing the car parking, so yes it absolutely makes business sense to pursue these cases.

Unless it’s a valid and proper court summons just ignore and see what happens. If it goes to court (unlikely) and if they find in Parking Eye’s favour (again unlikely) then it will cost them far, far more than it will ever cost you. In the case above £95 well spent I would say

Yup. If you get court papers, don’t ignore them as you will get a default judgement against you. Everything directly from the parking company should be filed in the bin.

There’s plenty of help on the web about how to defend a claim in court.

zilog6128 – Member

It doesn’t really make any business sense to them, unless they wish to make an example of you.

Except of course it’s not Tescos or whoever sending out the letters, it’s Parking Eye (and similar companies) who are contracted by the retailer. They make their money by enforcing the car parking, so yes it absolutely makes business sense to pursue these cases.

How does it make business sense for a parking company to pursue all unpaid cases to court when the costs Parking Eye would incur to do so far exceed any small award made in their favour by a court? That’s a big fat loss of money in my book. I doubt it would be sustainable for them to take many unpaid cases to court – just a few are enough to put the ‘fear of god’ into the majority of the public.

Only possible benefit to Parking Eye taking people to court would be the publicity it generates – to make those people who are currently ‘not yet scared enough’ by the letters think about coughing up ‘just in case’.

If I ever got a ticket from a Parking Eye carpark then I’d tell them to go and swivel.

I haven’t had a ticket yet by the way – as if I’m going to stay over the allotted time in one of their car parks, then somehow at the entrance/exit to their ANPR monitored car park I always seem to have collected some road detritus (crisp packet or similar) lodged into my front grill that obscures a couple of letters of my registration plate). They really ought to keep their car parks clean, tidy and free from litter.

agent007,

Won’t your revolving number plates render the litter obstruction pointless in your case?

Dum Dum Dee Dumm, Dee Dum Dumm

IGMC…… 😛

thetallpaul – Member

agent007,

Won’t your revolving number plates render the litter obstruction pointless in your case?

Dum Dum Dee Dumm, Dee Dum Dumm

Agree would have worked well but alas my silver Aston Martin with the revolving plates was destroyed recently in Skyfall I’m afraid.

I think Money Saving Expert has a good (up to date) guide on how to deal with these.