Expensive Parking in Maidstone

[Paul80]

The following is a cautionary tale

 

Last week we popped into Maidstone to do some shopping, all the usual car parks were full, so my last ditched effort was to try the one by the local Sainsbury's, were we found a space and it's connected to the main shopping centre as well, checked the board by the pay machine it said 3 hours was £5, a bit pricy as it's £2 in all the others but I paid it any way, we did our shopping including some in Sainsbury's and went home all in under 3 hours.

 

Yesterday I got a parking ticket from the private company that runs the car park for Sainsbury's  saying I overstayed the paid parking time.

 

What the fluff hi thought I paid for 3 hours, couldn't believe I still had the parking receipt in my wallet so checked it, sure enough I paid £5 but according to the ticket that £5 got me 15 minutes parking.

 

Now got to fight my way back tomorrow to take photographic evidence of the charge notice posted then try to fight it.

 

Just a heads up to anyone else who might find themselves in one of their car parks, check what you are paying for.

 

Paul

[woodenhead]

https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/locations/romney_place_u107sjb0uww/?country=uk&arriving=201912021000&leaving=201912021300

 

Parkopedia also says 5.00 for three hours so it sounds like the parking company have their wires crossed.

[Nearholmer]

If you get the photo evidence, take it all the way if they don't acknowledge that and back down.

 

I got demands from a car parking company contracted by costa coffee in similar circumstances. They didn't acknowledge when I pointed out contradictions in the signage, and issued a summons through the courts. The summons included papers asking me to state my case, which I duly did, citing the wording of the signs.

 

Posted-off the papers, and have heard nothing further for six months, which means either that they've, at last, given up pestering, or that the court mills grind even slower than I thought.

[BoD]

Isn’t it sad* that our economy actually relies on this sort of thing.

 

 

*Other descriptions are available.

[Free At Last]

You're not having a good time with owning a car lately. I would get rid of it.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Free At Last

[Paul80]

Yes I am starting to take the hint, these things come in threes, I wonder what's next.

[hayfield]

Paul

 

I have no connection with Sainsbury's (I don't even shop with them) I used to work in a shop next to an underground station, it's car park was not very big but some motorists did try and use it as free parking for the railway. I understand in your case you paid what you thought was a parking fee to park there for 3 hours, when the 3 hours I presume is the charge for customers who have spent money on that visit

 

In the past I think many of us have used a supermarket car park when we were not shopping in that store ( I did so only 2 mths ago), many stores now operate this system purely to preserve spaces for folk spending money in their stores. I think as time goes by this will be more common and all of us will have to be a bit more careful 

 

A quick letter to Sainsbury's may pay dividends, let's face it all supermarkets do not want to upset prospective customers, goodwill is the latest buzz word in retail

[Nick C]

A complaint to Sainsbury's on Twitter might help - they responded very quickly and professionally when I complained to them about something (some chicken I'd bought that was 'off' despite being well inside the use-by). I suspect it's helped by being in the public eye...

[Georgeconna]

Why the heck you would anyone pay to park at a supermaket or coffee station is baffling to me anyhow. Personally I would stay away

 

Packing cost all over the UK is nuts, one of my pet hates when I holiday over there. Thankfully  this pratice has not transferred accross the pond......yet.

 

good luck with your Crusade to get this cleared, Of course you time and effort  batttling this will not be compensated for by the company sending you the notice. 

 

 

[polybear]

Beware also that some Garages are starting to issue penalty charges for staying too long on a forecourt (e.g. 20 mins).  Not hard in some - you can blow half that refuelling and paying without even trying.  Some also have grocery shopping, Greggs the bakers, loos etc. etc.

 

My Uncle hated paying with a vengeance (he was a master at not paying). He'd say:

"It costs enough to run a car, without having to bloody well pay to stop it!

Mention NCP, sit back and have hours of free entertainment....

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Georgeconna said:

Why the heck you would anyone pay to park at a supermaket or coffee station is baffling to me anyhow. Personally I would stay away

 

Packing cost all over the UK is nuts, one of my pet hates when I holiday over there. Thankfully  this pratice has not transferred accross the pond......yet.

 

good luck with your Crusade to get this cleared, Of course you time and effort  batttling this will not be compensated for by the company sending you the notice. 

 

 

 

Firstly if you are shopping in the shop and do not overly extend the period you stay in the car park, parking is free.

 

Sadly as I said earlier some motorists rather than pay for a public parking space use shops customers parking instead. Out of town is not an issue, usually there are no restrictions on parking. However supermarkets in the main shopping area would quickly run out of space for their customers if no action was taken. This is private land designated for the use of customers wishing to shop at the establishment   

[micklner]

16 hours ago, Paul80 said:

The following is a cautionary tale

 

Last week we popped into Maidstone to do some shopping, all the usual car parks were full, so my last ditched effort was to try the one by the local Sainsbury's, were we found a space and it's connected to the main shopping centre as well, checked the board by the pay machine it said 3 hours was £5, a bit pricy as it's £2 in all the others but I paid it any way, we did our shopping including some in Sainsbury's and went home all in under 3 hours.

 

Yesterday I got a parking ticket from the private company that runs the car park for Sainsbury's  saying I overstayed the paid parking time.

 

What the fluff hi thought I paid for 3 hours, couldn't believe I still had the parking receipt in my wallet so checked it, sure enough I paid £5 but according to the ticket that £5 got me 15 minutes parking.

 

Now got to fight my way back tomorrow to take photographic evidence of the charge notice posted then try to fight it.

 

Just a heads up to anyone else who might find themselves in one of their car parks, check what you are paying for.

 

Paul

There are lots of posts on internet re parking charges. Most advise ignore the letter and never admit any knowledge etc.

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets/

 

 

[polybear]

14 minutes ago, micklner said:

There are lots of posts on internet re parking charges. Most advise ignore the letter and never admit any knowledge etc.

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets/

 

 

 

However, it can all go very wrong if the Bailiffs arrive and the charges start racking up very quickly....

[Tim V]

We keep getting letters for the previous occupants of our house - I've sent them back. I opened one to see what it was about - parking charge!

 

The previous people left here 22 years ago. I'm waiting for the bailiffs to turn up - yes you can take anything that belongs to Mrs XYZ, but she left here a long time ago!

[hayfield]

4 minutes ago, micklner said:

There are lots of posts on internet re parking charges. Most advise ignore the letter and never admit any knowledge etc.

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets/

 

 

 

In the past this was normally the case, now with ANPR and private contractors running the scheme they do chase things up. The main issue was proving the company had made a financial loss.

 

Where there is an attendant checking tickets at the exit barrier the companies can prove a financial loss as free parking is a concession with terms and conditions attached to it

 

Plus if you are a shopper wanting to do your weekly shop but the car park is full of non shoppers cars you would be rightly annoyed. Our village CooP has a small car park a few buildings down is a private school (without any car parking facilities) at going home time the car park is full of mums and their Chelsea tractors too lazy to cross the road to use the public car park

[hayfield]

16 minutes ago, Tim V said:

We keep getting letters for the previous occupants of our house - I've sent them back. I opened one to see what it was about - parking charge!

 

The previous people left here 22 years ago. I'm waiting for the bailiffs to turn up - yes you can take anything that belongs to Mrs XYZ, but she left here a long time ago!

 

Sounds like someone is either falsely using your address, or the company has made a mistake on either the post code or road name.

[Tim V]

17 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Sounds like someone is either falsely using your address, or the company has made a mistake on either the post code or road name.

More likely, the DVLA have given the wrong address - anyway, I'm not worried!

[bourneagain]

There`s recently been a report in our local paper quoting instances where motorists have been issued with £100 fines for exceeding a 30 min max stay at some Petrol Stations. An increasing number of garages, especially BP and Shell are now having CCTV cameras installed and motorists say that they have received a fine for exceeding the maximum permitted time while queuing to use the car wash after filling up with fuel.

[Fat Controller]

1 minute ago, bourneagain said:

There`s recently been a report in our local paper quoting instances where motorists have been issued with £100 fines for exceeding a 30 min max stay at some Petrol Stations. An increasing number of garages, especially BP and Shell are now having CCTV cameras installed and motorists say that they have received a fine for exceeding the maximum permitted time while queuing to use the car wash after filling up with fuel.

This was mentioned in Saturday's Guardian. I'd have thought it would have been counter-productive for the petrol companies.

[Paul80]

Sent all the photo evidence showing tbeir signs and their machines all showing £5 For three hours off with my appeal today, will let you know how I get on, is there an Ombudsmen for the parking industry?

 

Paul

[Fat Controller]

6 minutes ago, Paul80 said:

Sent all the photo evidence showing tbeir signs and their machines all showing £5 For three hours off with my appeal today, will let you know how I get on, is there an Ombudsmen for the parking industry?

 

Paul

There is a trade body, which seldom seems to find against its members.

[bourneagain]

19 hours ago, bourneagain said:

There`s recently been a report in our local paper quoting instances where motorists have been issued with £100 fines for exceeding a 30 min max stay at some Petrol Stations. An increasing number of garages, especially BP and Shell are now having CCTV cameras installed and motorists say that they have received a fine for exceeding the maximum permitted time while queuing to use the car wash after filling up with fuel.

In the same newspaper article was this quote -

A spokesman for MET Parking Services told PetrolPrices: "We would encourage any motorist who believes they were issued with a charge notice incorrectly to appeal using our BPA [British Parking Association] audited appeals process. Motorists have the right to appeal to the independent appeals service, Popla [Parking on Private Land appeals], which is a free and easy to use service."

This may help your case.

Edited December 4, 2019 by bourneagain
Incorrect word used

[Paul80]

Thanks will keep that info in mind should I need it next.

[mezzoman253]

The problem is, we, the motorist, have to go through the appeals procedure, with its attendant problems, because the camera system is a catch all.

 

It doesn't account for legitimate reasons for overstaying the time limit. Such as the car washer above. The staff at the counter have no input to the system as it's run by an independent company.

 

Rob

[stewartingram]

19 hours ago, bourneagain said:

There`s recently been a report in our local paper quoting instances where motorists have been issued with £100 fines for exceeding a 30 min max stay at some Petrol Stations. An increasing number of garages, especially BP and Shell are now having CCTV cameras installed and motorists say that they have received a fine for exceeding the maximum permitted time while queuing to use the car wash after filling up with fuel.

This is a big issue for me. Punters fill their cars at the pump, then abandon it there whilst they go into the filling station shop to do their shopping/get a coffee or snack. Meanwhile here I am waiting at the pump. As I run on lpg, there is usually a maximum of 1 pump at the garage, so I can't go to another lane - and unlike most punters, I have the sense to know I can stretch the hose to the other side of the car, so use either side, another irk that I've noticed. I've had to wait 15-20 minutes on many occasions at my local Morrisons.

 

Stewart