So so Angry ..........Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Just had the old lad come round that is a family friend , worried as he had been caught on camera xmas eve for overstaying parking in Aldi, £40 fine (£70 if not paid within 14 days of issue). I didn't want him to pay it and we contest it but he worries and insisted I pay it online for him and it would be taken no further so did as I was asked. Then stupidly after I paid it found this

http://www.arrse.co.uk/intelligence-cell/185727-can-parking-eye-actually-fine-you.html

The trick is they send an official looking notice and write "Parking Charge Notice" instead of "Penalty notice" no legal right to issue the latter , and if they want to pursue a parking charge it is a whole load of trouble for them in the small claims court.

To make matters worse we now know on that day the old lad was somewhere else. They take a pic of the car arriving and the car leaving and over 2 hours issue the charge. Arrived at 08.23 and left at 10.42 so overstayed by19 minutes. HOWEVER we now realise at 09.15 he was giving my OH a lift to the Doctors , she had an appointment which we have on record. So it looks like he must have come and gone twice but they show the first and last picture, if you understand.

Looks like a nightmare of hassle to claim back / appeal once it has been paid as all you have done is accepted a £40 parking charge. The best we can come up with is to have receipts for the shop that day but still cannot prove he left and came back as no faces shown of the driver / passenger in the pictures.

I would never normally pay something like that straight away and I am so angry with myself for being so accomodating

Oh, sh1t!

The big message is do your research and don't just roll over for them

That's horrible! I hope you're able to sort it out.

If we can't then we can't but hopefully other people can learn from it

Well good luck to you!

Huh. This is what happens when people try to be nice, eh?

What a trick to pull i imagine it will be a pain proving the 2 visits to the car park. Good luck Dave

could even be a mistake on the camera software that we can prove , I may got to Aldi management over it with his help as it's bad press for them , as long as we can find a receipt for the 2nd visit and the 1st visit . I am sure my OH would have been in the shop on one of the visits anyway so made the old lad take 20 of us so at least he is not so out of pocket.
Feel like going to put my car in Aldi and leave it there for a week now just to give me chance to have a poke at this Parking Eye company and take them to task

What about the shop CCTV there would be a camera at the entrance of the store, it would show what time he arrived and left each time ??

can't see them wanting to go to that kind of trouble over their car park system . The main point I was making with this post though is if you get a "fine" from this company , don't pay it research it and leave it , don't let them get away with this.

Just asked hubby about this, just throw the notice in the bin, the only people that can impose a parking "Fine" is the court so unless the letter came from one just ignore it.

Completely useless information now I know as you have paid it,

My God we're not safe anywhere from scammers are we - I despair. Thank you for the warning Dave.

You did a kind deed Dave for your old friend. I hope you get it sorted.

Kathy wrote:Just asked hubby about this, just throw the notice in the bin, the only people that can impose a parking "Fine" is the court so unless the letter came from one just ignore it.

Completely useless information now I know as you have paid it,

Yup I know now hence the ...................Aaaaaaaargh on my post

Lynda wrote:My God we're not safe anywhere from scammers are we - I despair. Thank you for the warning Dave.

You did a kind deed Dave for your old friend. I hope you get it sorted.

Not so much a scam as a company relying on the fright tactics as I bet there's a lot of people out there that would just pay it. If it had been my "fine" then I would never have paid it without looking into it first. They are not scamming people really , it's just most people don't know the law

Dave wrote:

it's just most people don't know the law

This is spot on Dave, sadly this is what they rely on.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing