Long wait for charger = parking charge £100!

[Nanuchka]

Nanuchka: check out post #9 above. Do not identify the driver. The goto resource is forums.pepipoo.com

Thanks

 

[Emma829]

Definitely do not ignore the letter. It used to be the case they would go away and was common advice. However, I just had a friend who had ignored a number of letters and then moved house. The old address continued to be used by the company chasing the payment (which kept increasing) and the letters subsequently advising of court action. The old address was also used on the court documentation. Unbeknown to him, due to not receiving the post, a CCJ had been taken out against him for the unpaid notice and all the costs. He only found out when trying to get a mortgage and it’s too late to get it removed. It’s not a case they will go away anymore and the costs increase dramatically the longer you leave it. Easiest thing to do is to write to them and appeal when you get the letter if you have a valid reason after a bit of research.

 

[Brianlescargot]

In England and Wales private parking companies have the legal power to require the identity of the driver under the Freedom of Information Act. Only the driver of the vehicle is responsible for the charge as the notice is sent to the registered keeper on payment of the fee to DVLA. So technically they can still get you for the charge however given that they also apparently have somewhere in the region of 600,000 unpaid charges every year it’s up to you whether you want to risk it. Personally I always make sure when I’m down south I never overstay and always check signage. In Scotland they have no power to require the name and address of the driver despite their legal blurb on the reverse of the notices. Any I or my family have had we’ve completely ignored and they have eventually given up.

 

[MikeW]

Hi,
Just had a £100 demand letter from Parkingeye. This was my first long journey in the MG5 the return leg from Gloucester to Cornwall. I stopped at Gordano Services where there was only one working charge point (out of three). Waited for two other people to charge, and had to leave at 75% as I was getting short of time (probably should have tried somewhere else but I was nervous about running into the same problem and losing my place in the queue, so decided to just wait). OH says just ignore the letter, but I'm not made of such strong stuff as he... WWYD?
N

I had a recent parking charge notice - when I was actually buying my MG5 - couldn't park at the dealers so parked in the adjacent social club car park. Paid for 1hr but overstayed. I phoned the club and they kindly cancelled it with the parking company. Might be worth a call to the service station operator? This must have happened before, probably many times.

 

[Gomev]

In England and Wales private parking companies have the legal power to require the identity of the driver under the Freedom of Information Act. Only the driver of the vehicle is responsible for the charge as the notice is sent to the registered keeper on payment of the fee to DVLA. So technically they can still get you for the charge however given that they also apparently have somewhere in the region of 600,000 unpaid charges every year it’s up to you whether you want to risk it. Personally I always make sure when I’m down south I never overstay and always check signage. In Scotland they have no power to require the name and address of the driver despite their legal blurb on the reverse of the notices. Any I or my family have had we’ve completely ignored and they have eventually given up.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities. It does this in two ways: public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities; and. members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.
Private companies are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act. Broadly only organisations considered public authorities are covered by the law. This means FOI requests cannot be made to businesses and private companies generally.

It does NOT apply to individuals and you are not obliged under any law to say who the driver of a vehicle was.

 

[smokie]

Did they not change it a bit back so that the owner gets the penalty if the perp isn't identified?

 

[Fluffykins]

In England and Wales private parking companies have the legal power to require the identity of the driver under the Freedom of Information Act. Only the driver of the vehicle is responsible for the charge as the notice is sent to the registered keeper on payment of the fee to DVLA. So technically they can still get you for the charge however given that they also apparently have somewhere in the region of 600,000 unpaid charges every year it’s up to you whether you want to risk it. Personally I always make sure when I’m down south I never overstay and always check signage. In Scotland they have no power to require the name and address of the driver despite their legal blurb on the reverse of the notices. Any I or my family have had we’ve completely ignored and they have eventually given up.

Nope, they don't.

 

[greentangerine]

Hi,
Just had a £100 demand letter from Parkingeye. This was my first long journey in the MG5 the return leg from Gloucester to Cornwall. I stopped at Gordano Services where there was only one working charge point (out of three). Waited for two other people to charge, and had to leave at 75% as I was getting short of time (probably should have tried somewhere else but I was nervous about running into the same problem and losing my place in the queue, so decided to just wait). OH says just ignore the letter, but I'm not made of such strong stuff as he... WWYD?
N

For future reference, don't stop at Gordano as they are notoriously unreliable but instead charge just up the road at Cribbs Causeway.

 

[MikeW]

For future reference, don't stop at Gordano as they are notoriously unreliable but instead charge just up the road at Cribbs Causeway.

Yes, can recommend Mollies Diner ar Cribbs Causeway. Good food and three good chargers.

 

[BugEyed]

I was fined £100 for charging my car at a motorway service station

 

[Fluffykins]

I was fined £100 for charging my car at a motorway service station

Someone else who needs to know about forums.pepipoo.com

 

[Fluffykins]

.....it does NOT apply to individuals and you are not obliged under any law to say who the driver of a vehicle was.

However if a private parking company does take a Keeper to court and The Keeper has not been careful not to identify The Driver, it is certainly within the bounds of possibility that the judge may ask "so who was driving?" and one would be obliged to answer. Respond truthfully. If one is caught out fibbing in court that can be toothbrush time. Take care.

 

[smokie]

I was fined £100 for charging my car at a motorway service station

The end is the headline is missing. It should continue with

"after I chose to not pay the reduced initial £15 for my transgression"

The writer appears to have known about the 2 hr limit. The sign in the pic is quite clear. Whether or not "the mandatory free parking period ... belongs to a different era" is irrelevant.

IMO that statement is wrong anyway, there is no harm in ensuring people don't hog chargers and 1.5 hrs is enough for most modern cars to get more than a few miles in - the MG5 supposedly gets about 20 miles per hour on a 32A charger, so enough to continue a journey (to the next charger) if you've been unlucky enough to misjudge it (and that's the polite way of putting it).

OTOH I don't have much need for public chargers so maybe I'm being a bit harsh there.

The writer says that the Dept of Transport quote "Our measures are increasing charging speeds, while making plug-in points more accessible, and today a driver is never more than 25 miles from a rapid charge point anywhere along England’s major A roads and motorways,” is rather missing the point. IMO the writer is missing the point - 1.5hrs is entirely adequate on a rapid (43kW) charger for many of the current range of EVs, probably about enough to fill an MG5 unless my info is bad.

People want to blame everyone except themselves when they get it wrong. Newspaper articles like this don't help, except in spreading awareness of the potential pitfalls of not reading the signs.

 

[BugEyed]

IMO the writer is missing the point - 1.5hrs is entirely adequate on a rapid (43kW) charger for many of the current range of EV

That to me is the key - why were they charging for 90+ minutes? It's possible that they were a newbie or there was a massive queue for the DC, but even on my original LEAF charging at only 3.6kW on the AC connector on the charge point for 90 minutes would have added 20 miles which would give the option to move on even if the DC was still occupied.
I suspect that this is the normal EV knocking - it's very unusual for the operator not to make an exception for goodwill when a national newspaper is involved.