Met pcn now letter from drp

[Snowy28]

I received a PCN from MET Parking for £50 back in June for over-staying in Macdonalds at Fosse Park Leicester by 19 minutes. ( I was in the restaurant with my children and just lost track of time, what with it being so busy, the play area and the Ipads etc!)

I sent a letter using a template from Martin Lewis' website. They responded asking me to pay up or appeal to POPLA. I appealed and they rejected it in September and increased the charge to £100.

I missed the deadline to pay this due to holiday, sickness and other factors and today received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus asking for £170 (!) by 6th November. If I don't pay it they will... "recommend to our client (Met Parking) that they take court action against you."

Firstly, what is the likelihood of MET taking me to court?
second, what is the best course of action now? I do not want to pay £170 for over staying by a few minutes.

Please help!

[ostell]

You ignore DRP, they can do nothing.

Has the driver been identified? If not then edit your post so that the identity of the driver cannot be inferred. Use "the driver.... " etc

Post the suitably redacted PCN but leave dates

[Snowy28]

I think I have inadvertently dropped myself in it during my initial response. I didn't realise at the time how vital it was to not identify yourself. I mentioned about the entry signs not being so visible whilst I was driving.
PCN attatched

[ostell]

Looks like Met have got their act together and got it almost right. The failure is period of parking. Can't be parking if you are moving in front of a camera.

Appeal on the basis of unclear signs and not visible, the time of parking was not 109 minutes as the car was still moving, the remaining time was well within the grace periods required by their Code of Practise and therefore you can not be held liable

They will reject but you will possibly be successful with a POPLA appeal

[Snowy28]

That's a great point. I have however appealled to Popla and been rejected. The latest is the letter from DRP. Can I still make any argument now I am at this stage?

[ostell]

Sorry, I didn't see the mention of POPLA.

Noting you can do now expect sit tight and ignore the debt collector letters and wait for a letter before claim.

Look up the BPA Code of Practise and see what it says about grace periods.

Have you complained to the manager ar McD?

[Snowy28]

Yes but only today and they said there is nothing they can do.
Any idea the likleyhood of MET taking it further?

[AJamesA2004]

Yes but only today and they said there is nothing they can do.
Any idea the likleyhood of MET taking it further?

I'm with you Snowy, I too received the letter from DRP with a due date for payment of X Nov (14 days after date of issue).

I too lost track of time with kids and I too inadvertently identified myself as the driver

What are you going to do next? Play hard ball with them or pay?

Out of interest, my reply from McDs was as below:

Thank you for contacting McDonald’s Customer Services.

I’m sorry to hear that you have received a Parking Charge Notice following your visit to our X restaurant.

We've introduced parking restrictions at some of our restaurants to make sure there are always parking spaces available for customers.

We appreciate that some visits such as birthday parties or large group visits might take longer and the parking restrictions aren't intended to stop this. If you think your stay will exceed the stated maximum parking time then please speak to a manager in advance.

Your number plate is scanned by our Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system when you enter our car park, and then again when you leave. If you have overstayed the maximum time allowed, you will not be notified straight away- a Parking Charge Notice will be sent to you via the post.

If you feel that a Parking Charge Notice has been issued in error, please contact our approved contractors who issued the charge in order to appeal the charge. Unfortunately McDonald's are unable to revoke parking tickets- the outcome of the appeal is final and cannot be overturned by McDonald’s.

Many thanks for taking the time to contact McDonald’s Customer Services.

[AJamesA2004]

Sorry, I didn't see the mention of POPLA.

Noting you can do now expect sit tight and ignore the debt collector letters and wait for a letter before claim.

Look up the BPA Code of Practise and see what it says about grace periods.

Have you complained to the manager ar McD?

Am I too late to appeal to POPLA if my Parking Charge Notice was issued on 09 May 2019 and I've already appealed to MET Parking Services who didn't accept my appeal as I was over the 28 day appeal period (because I hadn't, at that point, updated my address with DVLA. It is updated now).

I attach here the wording of their response to my appeal.