MET Parking Charge Notice, McDonalds, Gatwick.

[Jansandra1]

This weekend my daughter received a parking charge notice from MET Parking Services that her vehicle was parked for 71 minutes , oversstaying the free parking time of 60 minutes.

 

Although she is the registered keeper, she was not driving, I was.

We stopped at the restaurant, and had a lot of trouble parking.

The car park was full and there were many taxis there.

 

 

After we found somewhere, we queued for food and we waited about 25 minutes in all to pay and for it to be cooked.

 

 

After we had eaten, we used the washroom facilities and went back to the car.

We had to wait about 10 minutes to reverse out of our space as there was a queue of taxis behind us blocking us in.

 

Imagine my horror when the parking charge arrived, charging us £100 with a discount of £50 if paid within 14 days.

 

What should I do?

Do I appeal?

 

I phoned McDonald's customer services,

but all they advised was that I should of asked the manager for an extension in time for parking.

 

Thanks

[ericsbrother]

they will have to prove you were parked all of that time so you should ask Maccy D's for a copy of their CCTV for the time you were in their restaurant and any external CCTV. Ask for it as an evidential matter under CPR 31 as you are considering suing them and they should provide this for the cost of doing so rather than the statutory £10 for a SAR. If they destroy the CCTV then you can complain to the ICO for destruction of your data without your permission when they knew it was needed in a court action. Seems heavy handed but if they think that you are going to drag them into an argument in court with one of their agents they may well tell MET to drop the matter

[ericsbrother]

S for MET, well if you can show that your version of events is more likely than their claim they will lose.

[Sidewinder]

I broke a golden rule last week and used this McDonalds myself and I can fully endorse the fact that the car park there is exceptionally busy lately - to the point that I queued outside for a good 10 minutes before even getting to the point where the ANPR would have pinged me on the way in. It then took a further 15-20 minutes just to get to and then through the drive-by counter, and you then have to wait behind the taxis etc to go around the car park again to get to the exit. I was over half an hour just getting breakfast at the window.

 

As above - challenge them to prove that you were actually 'parked' and create merry hell about how long it takes to actually negotiate the car park before you even get in to order a meal. They will no doubt say that this is precisely why there is a need for car park 'management' and to a degree I can see why otherwise the site there would just be crammed with taxis 24/7, but they would be fart better actually 'managing' the parking and movement of vehicles rather than issuing charges for minor overstays. That wouldn't generate revenue for the PPC though...

[Jansandra1]

Thanks for your advice, I have phoned McDonalds customer service team again and they are sending me a copy of the CCTV. Shall I still go ahead with the appeal before receiving this information. The customer service team also told me that I should of asked for an extension from the manager of the McDonalds for parking. I wasn't to know that this was available either.

[Homer67]

If the signage states nothing about asking for an extension and it is possible to ask for one then the signs are incorrect and can be considered not enforceable. Point that out to McD's.

[ericsbrother]

no, the entire point of asking for this was to show that their claim is rubbish and you will then have the proof.

As an extension of the parking time is within the remit of the restaurant staff this rather knocks the claim on the head as the contract is thus individually negotiable. Shame you phone them rather than asking in writing otherwise you would have now killed the claim. Ask them for a response in writing. You have 28 days to get a reply and still be within time to appeal to MET and later POPLA

 

Thanks for your advice, I have phoned McDonalds customer service team again and they are sending me a copy of the CCTV. Shall I still go ahead with the appeal before receiving this information. The customer service team also told me that I should of asked for an extension from the manager of the McDonalds for parking. I wasn't to know that this was available either.

[Jansandra1]

Thanks, yes I phoned McDonalds, and they said they would be in touch and then send the CCTV. They haven't yet done so. If I appeal, do I inform them that I was the driver, not the registered keeper? Do I inform MET services that I am awaiting CCTV evidence. I was only 11 minutes over time in spite of all of this. I do not think 11 minutes warrants such a fine.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[silverfox1961]

McDonalds spew this line out regularly. Ask for an extension. I have been in a few McD's and I have never seen any signs offering this option so how can you ask if you don't know this exists? Granted, I didn't look at the signs to see if there was anything on them about extensions but I doubt they would have anything as this would affect MET's bottom line.

[ericsbrother]

there is no reason to contact MET at this moment, you arent going to pay them so why worry about their discount period. get on to Maccy d's again by all means.