ParkingEye - Whats the legal definition of parking?

[Pdoh]

I'm expecting court papers from ParkingEye shortly and will be submitting a defence based around them not being the landowner, not a true pre-estiamate of cost etc as well as a mitigating circumstance (the mitiaging circumstance wont hold much weight in law, but may help get some sympathy).

 

I was however wondering about a further line of defence and that is the definition of parking.

 

ANPR records when you enter the site and exit the site and parkingeye issue a ticket based on the differance between the 2. However at the point of entry and point of exist you arent actually parked as the car is in motion. You could in principle spend x amount of time driving around looking for parking.

 

Would the fact that the car is not parked when the entry and exit photos are taken and that the contract stipulates '2 hours free parking' hold any weight in law?

[martin g]

"Waiting for a space is not Parking. ParkingEye lose in court. Beware of snakes at Fistral Beach "

 

 

This was covered in the above post on The Parking Pranksters blog, March 17th 2014.

Hope this helps,

Martin g

[Pdoh]

Thanks, I'll take a read of that

Just want to make sure I have as full a defence as possible against this mob.

[ericsbrother]

not being parked is a contractual issue, not mitigation. I would say that this is a fairly important matter in your case as it actually means that a contract has not been formed at the time the car was clocked entering and leaving the car park, only from when you parked up and the leaving. in effect you are arguing that you accept tht a contract can be made by your use of the car park but that the number plate capture does not represent the start and finish of the contract you entered into.

THEN you can argue that no loss made by landlord/PE and that their claim does not represent a loss etc. How can a loss be made by driving around looking for a space? Wear and tear? then that goes to LL not PE who "manage" the place

[CraigMcK]

How much over the 2 hours were you. If it was say 20 minutes you might be able to argue that. If it was 2 hours then I would not use that as an argument in the case.

 

I do agree entry / exit times don't constitute parking duration. It would be strange not to have some tolerance built into the time capture to allow for this... But I suppose they are out to get as much money as possible irrespective of the ethics

[Pdoh]

How much over the 2 hours were you.

 

Less than 15 minutes over - and the overstay wasnt actually my fault as I was ready to leave well before hand but couldn't.

Both parkingeye and POPLA rejected my reason for overstaying - but that's I believe because POPLA dont really deal with mitigating circumstances.

[esmerobbo]

Unfortunately POPLA don't do mitigation of any kind. However courts do, a similar one lost at POPLA keeper had broken down on the infamous JLA approach road. Keeper still refused to pay VCS took them to court Judge agreed a breakdown was not stopping it was an inability to move. VCS lost.