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Hello
I am wondering if anyone could please help me.
I took my father to an appointment at a hospital that I haven't been to before. He is elderly and suffering with the onset of dementia. As I wasn't sure if there were lifts in the multi-storey carpark, I left my dad on the pavement at the entrance to the car park and went and parked the car (his motability car). I parked it in a disabled bay and displayed the blue badge. As I was concerned that my dad would wander off, I flew down the stairs and collected him and went to his appointment.
I was visiting my dad on the 22nd November (almost two months after the appointment) and found a letter from Gemini Parking Solutions stating that due to the late payment of the parking fine, the penalty had increased to £100. As far as we are concerned, we had never received a penalty notice!? I contacted Gemini the following day by email explaining that I had never been to the hospital before, was unfamiliar with parking there and was unaware that there was a 'registration screen' that I was supposed to have entered the car's details in. It wasn't until a follow up visit in October that I had seen signs telling disabled badge holders to enter another building and use a touch screen to register the car. I explained that we had not had a penalty notice to the best of my knowledge and asked if they could help.
I didn't hear anything from them.
On 12th January 2016, I once again emailed Gemini asking if I had missed another letter of their's in response to my email. I received a brief response by email on the 13th January stating that they had emailed me a response on 9th January 16 and that I should check my spam folder. Both myself and my IT tech at work searched my email account and I have no record of an email being sent to me to any folder on that or any other date! The email had a letter attached dated 9th December 15 which refused my 'appeal' and offered a POPLA verification code.
I immediately went to the POPLA website to begin an appeal. On entering the verification code, I was informed it was invalid. I emailed Gemini asking for a correct code, only to receive an email from them stating that I was now outside of the 28day appeals limits and could no longer appeal. I emailed Gemini once again and asked for a screen shot of the original email supposedly sent to me - all I got was the letter, not the screen shot of the email.
I have now received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd asking for £150 within the next two weeks.
I have written to Gemini explaining that I was happy to pay the amount for the 1hr and 38 minutes I was there, that my dad is a blue badge holder and is entitled to free parking as he is disabled, and that I was even willing for him to pay the original £60 penalty that we never received, but now I am at a loss to my rights.
I feel that Gemini deliberately never sent a PCN, and once I appealed the letter with the increased penalty, once again deliberately never sent the email with the POPLA verification code in time for me to appeal.
Could anyone help please? Many thanks for your time.
I am wondering if anyone could please help me.
I took my father to an appointment at a hospital that I haven't been to before. He is elderly and suffering with the onset of dementia. As I wasn't sure if there were lifts in the multi-storey carpark, I left my dad on the pavement at the entrance to the car park and went and parked the car (his motability car). I parked it in a disabled bay and displayed the blue badge. As I was concerned that my dad would wander off, I flew down the stairs and collected him and went to his appointment.
I was visiting my dad on the 22nd November (almost two months after the appointment) and found a letter from Gemini Parking Solutions stating that due to the late payment of the parking fine, the penalty had increased to £100. As far as we are concerned, we had never received a penalty notice!? I contacted Gemini the following day by email explaining that I had never been to the hospital before, was unfamiliar with parking there and was unaware that there was a 'registration screen' that I was supposed to have entered the car's details in. It wasn't until a follow up visit in October that I had seen signs telling disabled badge holders to enter another building and use a touch screen to register the car. I explained that we had not had a penalty notice to the best of my knowledge and asked if they could help.
I didn't hear anything from them.
On 12th January 2016, I once again emailed Gemini asking if I had missed another letter of their's in response to my email. I received a brief response by email on the 13th January stating that they had emailed me a response on 9th January 16 and that I should check my spam folder. Both myself and my IT tech at work searched my email account and I have no record of an email being sent to me to any folder on that or any other date! The email had a letter attached dated 9th December 15 which refused my 'appeal' and offered a POPLA verification code.
I immediately went to the POPLA website to begin an appeal. On entering the verification code, I was informed it was invalid. I emailed Gemini asking for a correct code, only to receive an email from them stating that I was now outside of the 28day appeals limits and could no longer appeal. I emailed Gemini once again and asked for a screen shot of the original email supposedly sent to me - all I got was the letter, not the screen shot of the email.
I have now received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd asking for £150 within the next two weeks.
I have written to Gemini explaining that I was happy to pay the amount for the 1hr and 38 minutes I was there, that my dad is a blue badge holder and is entitled to free parking as he is disabled, and that I was even willing for him to pay the original £60 penalty that we never received, but now I am at a loss to my rights.
I feel that Gemini deliberately never sent a PCN, and once I appealed the letter with the increased penalty, once again deliberately never sent the email with the POPLA verification code in time for me to appeal.
Could anyone help please? Many thanks for your time.
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