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Hi,
The other day my wife and I visited a sofa shop in a retail park and parked in their car park. As we were looking at sofas - which can be a tough choice as we all know - we were in the shop whose car park it was for about an hour and then walked to another shop close by where we also spent another hour. At no point did we notice any signs relating to parking and with the car park being that of a large furniture store we would not expect there to be any charges. Then we received the letter below from which I have clearly removed identifiable information. The red areas show time-stamped photos of our car arriving and leaving from an ANPR camera. I am currently still within the initial 'discount' period. From reading this (excellent) and other forums it seems that as I did not see the sign there could have been no contract between myself and Parking Eye relating to parking (even assuming it is possible that a contract would be valid). Obviously it's a bit difficult to prove that i didn't see the sign but that is the truth. The layout of the car park was such that there were two adjacent 'lanes' from the road to the car park, one for going in, one for going out. Since receiving the notice I have found the car park on Google Streetview and now I can see that the only Parking Eye sign that was anywhere near the path i took to my space was positioned by the lane going out. It also looks very inconspicuous to me and easily miss-able. I can believe that it does comply with the minimum size requirements as stated in the BPA code, however.
My albeit uninformed view is that for there to be a claim for damages against a breach of contract, not only must PE prove all the elements of a contract were present but that my actions cost them £40 - or £70 if i don't pay quickly. Since the car park (which by the way was almost empty) was 'free' for the first 90 minutes, I don't see how this can be the case.
Not sure if it's relevant that my wife is the registered keeper of the car but i was driving, so the notice was addressed to her.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
thanks,
bob123
The other day my wife and I visited a sofa shop in a retail park and parked in their car park. As we were looking at sofas - which can be a tough choice as we all know - we were in the shop whose car park it was for about an hour and then walked to another shop close by where we also spent another hour. At no point did we notice any signs relating to parking and with the car park being that of a large furniture store we would not expect there to be any charges. Then we received the letter below from which I have clearly removed identifiable information. The red areas show time-stamped photos of our car arriving and leaving from an ANPR camera. I am currently still within the initial 'discount' period. From reading this (excellent) and other forums it seems that as I did not see the sign there could have been no contract between myself and Parking Eye relating to parking (even assuming it is possible that a contract would be valid). Obviously it's a bit difficult to prove that i didn't see the sign but that is the truth. The layout of the car park was such that there were two adjacent 'lanes' from the road to the car park, one for going in, one for going out. Since receiving the notice I have found the car park on Google Streetview and now I can see that the only Parking Eye sign that was anywhere near the path i took to my space was positioned by the lane going out. It also looks very inconspicuous to me and easily miss-able. I can believe that it does comply with the minimum size requirements as stated in the BPA code, however.
My albeit uninformed view is that for there to be a claim for damages against a breach of contract, not only must PE prove all the elements of a contract were present but that my actions cost them £40 - or £70 if i don't pay quickly. Since the car park (which by the way was almost empty) was 'free' for the first 90 minutes, I don't see how this can be the case.
Not sure if it's relevant that my wife is the registered keeper of the car but i was driving, so the notice was addressed to her.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
thanks,
bob123
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