This one crops up from time to time. Indeed, I know someone who got caught at a railway station like this.
A father-of-one has been left disgusted after he received a £100 parking fine – for visiting the same McDonald’s branch twice in one day.
Spencer Barclay visited the fast-food restaurant at the Metro Retail Park in Gateshead to get a coffee before work, and then returned later in the day to collect a happy meal for his six-year-old son.
The 52 year old, from Benwell, Newcastle said he stopped in the popular chain at 8.25am on Friday June 24 and stopped in the car park to drink his purchase before going to work at nearby Metropolitan House where he left his car in their free car park.
He thought nothing later on of revisiting the restaurant, located near the Metrocentre just after 5pm the same day to collect the takeaway meal.
But days later he received a parking fine from UKPC which claimed he had been parked up at the eatery for eight hours and 43 minutes.
Firstly, it’s not a fine. Private businesses are not authorised to issue fines. It’s an invoice. This double dipping is not particularly unusual These companies are sharks and the procedure is to play chicken with them. There will be camera footage of vehicles arriving and leaving, so it will show that he arrived and left twice in the day, but you need to hold your nerve to fight them. That said, telling them to issue proceedings and see you in court will concentrate their minds, because they will have to produce the evidence. They rely on people being too scared to take them on. So fight back.
There could well be a counter allegation of the company attempting to obtain pecuniary advantage by deception, an offence under the theft act. Having the senior manager arrested, and given a criminal record, may concentrate their minds somewhat. It certainly worked with the parking company at a local retail park. I even invoiced them for the time taken to respond to their letter, plus the cost of stationery and stamp. The small claims court came in handy when they refused to pay. I’m retired, have all The time in the world, and don’t give a f*ck.
Awesome! If only everyone fought back, or if the company you were shopping with helped to fight your corner, they’d soon have to rethink.
They are sharks that engage in sharp practice so a no compromise approach to them is the best way, frankly. Treat them like criminals.
It might be just a case of appealing against the charge by pointing out that he went twice. Having the receipts from the two visits might help. It is also the case that such places do have to defend themselves against people abusing their parking spaces which are provided for their customers.
In the case of the person I know, they doubled down, which seems a typical response. My approach would be much more assertive. I would explain in my first correspondence that there was no way I would be paying them and that I would go all the way to court if necessary. While they do have a purpose, it is they who are doing the abusing here.
Happened to a friend at a local supermarket, he had done a shop, realised he had forgotten something and went back later in the day. Wouldn’t have been a problem when they use to employ staff to monitor the car park but they use an eye. The eye obviously didn’t pick him up leaving and coming back. He had receipts, they argued he could have still been parked there. He then produced a car parking ticket, with his reg on, for a seaside car park. He won.
It is interesting that their number plate reading technology isn’t capable of noticing that someone left and then returned later. Is it like the ticket machines that don’t give change? The technology exists to give change but it is more in their interests to rip people off.