Hit by parking charge at Northampton UK supercharger

[RoyTurner]

I used the Northampton UK Campanile Hotel superchargers a couple of years ago, and a few days later was hit by a £100 ANPR parking charge demand from Parking Eye. When I appealed they said that they needed receipt or bank statement as evidence that I had used the hotel. I didn't have this, and at the time I gave them the benefit of the doubt that I may have too focused on getting a coffee and forgotten to key my registration number in at the hotel reception desk, so I just paid up. Annoying, but a one-off, as I thought.

Last month the same thing happened again. Having been stung once, I am very sure I keyed my registration in this time. This is an obvious scam and makes me very angry. I have now paid £100 to charge at Northampton. Twice. I would be interested to know if other Tesla drivers have experienced the same thing.

At the time some initial browsing of the web suggested that it was safe to ignore these notices as they were unenforceable, and anyway why would Parking Eye go to the expense of taking me to court for just £100. However, they have sent a series of threatening letters and are about to take me to the Small Claims Court, with the risk of a County Court Judgement damaging my credit rating. A bit more detailed browsing (e.g. How to fight ParkingEye parking tickets ) shows that Parking Eye take 600 people a month to court, employ specialist solicitors to support this and you are unlikely to win a case unless you pay for legal representation or, waste huge amounts of time researching the process, which is hardly worth it. It seems the only way to fight back is to shame the companies employing Parking Eye (hello Campanile, Tesla), and to raise awareness through consumer and motoring organisations.

My advice is to keep a receipt or get written confirmation from the Campanile if you charge there, use your phone to video yourself entering the registration number etc. It is apparently important for the process to lodge an appeal within 28 days of the first demand letter from Parking Eye as this entitles you to British Parking Association support, also ask the land owner (Campanile in this case) to cancel the demand.

 

[Mark_T]

I seem to recall that you are supposed to enter your details within a certain time period from arriving, is there any chance you left it too long before registering in reception?

 

[RoyTurner]

Thanks Mark - I wonder if that was it. I'll read the notices very carefully next time.

 

[.jg.]

If you get a PCN like this, it is worth appealing to the management of the property concerned - they typically have a facility to have tickets cancelled (within a certain timeframe e.g. 28 days from issue). Such a facility is needed where errors have been made for customers or staff.

 

[RoyTurner]

Thanks jg. That sounds like the quickest and smartest policy.

 

[Tozz]

Tesla should move away from that location as a Supercharger. It's absurd you risk a 100 pound fine for using a Tesla owned charger if you don't follow some third party rule.

 

[halloz]

I also just got the fine!!!! Ridiculous!!!!! did you pay it?

 

[phillcom3]

I used the Northampton UK Campanile Hotel superchargers a couple of years ago, and a few days later was hit by a £100 ANPR parking charge demand from Parking Eye. When I appealed they said that they needed receipt or bank statement as evidence that I had used the hotel. I didn't have this, and at the time I gave them the benefit of the doubt that I may have too focused on getting a coffee and forgotten to key my registration number in at the hotel reception desk, so I just paid up. Annoying, but a one-off, as I thought.

Last month the same thing happened again. Having been stung once, I am very sure I keyed my registration in this time. This is an obvious scam and makes me very angry. I have now paid £100 to charge at Northampton. Twice. I would be interested to know if other Tesla drivers have experienced the same thing.

At the time some initial browsing of the web suggested that it was safe to ignore these notices as they were unenforceable, and anyway why would Parking Eye go to the expense of taking me to court for just £100. However, they have sent a series of threatening letters and are about to take me to the Small Claims Court, with the risk of a County Court Judgement damaging my credit rating. A bit more detailed browsing (e.g. How to fight ParkingEye parking tickets ) shows that Parking Eye take 600 people a month to court, employ specialist solicitors to support this and you are unlikely to win a case unless you pay for legal representation or, waste huge amounts of time researching the process, which is hardly worth it. It seems the only way to fight back is to shame the companies employing Parking Eye (hello Campanile, Tesla), and to raise awareness through consumer and motoring organisations.

My advice is to keep a receipt or get written confirmation from the Campanile if you charge there, use your phone to video yourself entering the registration number etc. It is apparently important for the process to lodge an appeal within 28 days of the first demand letter from Parking Eye as this entitles you to British Parking Association support, also ask the land owner (Campanile in this case) to cancel the demand.

simple do not ever pay this crap! I got a similar for mis parking in a bay at deepdale preston where there isn't a paymeter or anything. everything I read just said ignore it it costs them more to recover than they get from you so do not encourage them by paying.

 

[Rooster6655]

Thanks Mark - I wonder if that was it. I'll read the notices very carefully next time.

From google maps it says to register within 10 minutes of arriving.

Out of principle I would not be paying any fine where I was allowed to supercharge and especially if I had entered in my registration number, I'd be inclined to reply to each letter they tell you with the same response, they will not take every claim to court as they will issue more than 600 a month so if you have a good defence such as a genuine customer I can't see why they would risk the hassle.
-You went to use their facilities,
-You entered your registration number in,
-You didn't abuse their system so you won't be paying
-You will file an appeal with the parking authority
-You will be writing to the land owner as well

simple do not ever pay this crap! I got a similar for mis parking in a bay at deepdale preston where there isn't a paymeter or anything. everything I read just said ignore it it costs them more to recover than they get from you so do not encourage them by paying.

Especially if your a genuine customer entitled to park there!



Its also noted on trip advisor to contact the hotel to have the charge removed based on other Tesla owners posting reviews

 

[ElectricJoules]

I also just got the fine!!!! Ridiculous!!!!! did you pay it?

When were you there? I used that supercharger on 23rd August, I did enter my reg when I arrived, and have a photo of my car charging (complete with timestamp and location). Not sure if that would protect me from a false charge.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Tesla should move away from that location as a Supercharger. It's absurd you risk a 100 pound fine for using a Tesla owned charger if you don't follow some third party rule.

The signs are very clear .. whether you would see them at night / in the rain I dunno.

I can well imagine that a hotel placed where it is used to get loads of people dropping-off-a-car for the day, and then travelling with a colleague and this is the result ... but I don't have a better answer

I would ask hotel for all reg numbers at my arrival time to be checked in case I had entered wrong-digit on their screen [and for all other car Reg that you own, in case you put that in by mistake]. Apps like TeslaFi would enable you to go back and see exact time of arrival ... and Lat/Long, which might be good enough to prove you were parked for charging and not abusing a paying bay for the day ...

Other threads:

Call for civil disobedience - Northampton Supercharger

UK Northampton Supercharger - reassign as Destination Charger?

 

[Tozz]

The signs are very clear .. whether you would see them at night / in the rain I dunno.

I don't really care if the signs are obvious or not. Tesla shouldn't make the use of their charging locations so complicated. Same goes for some locations in the US where they only have Valet parking (can't park your own car) and the Valet parking don't move vehicles after they are done, so you're always getting idle-fees charged to your account.

IMHO Supercharging locations should be free of additional costs or procedures like parking costs, vehicle registration and what not.

 

[pdk42]

These companies are leeches. There needs to be stronger regulation of them. The appeal system is a joke since its an industry body - it is vested only in working for their sponsors. Personally I'd fight them all the way. Ignoring them is a good start.

 

[Artiste]

I never pay any parking charge which isn’t issued by police or local council. I get threatening letters for a few months, which are instantly binned, but it’s never been taken any further.

 

[.jg.]

I also just got the fine!!!! Ridiculous!!!!! did you pay it?

Ask the hotel to have it cancelled.

 

[.jg.]

The difficulty for owners and tenants of private land is that, since private clamping and towing was banned, they really have only two legal options to control parking: physical barriers or a contract with a car park management company, PCNs, etc. Trespass parking is a particualr problem, where people with no connection to the businesses at the site park their vehicles at the site - in a popular location, they will take all the spaces. In England and Wales, trespass on private land (including trespass parking) is a civil matter and suing trespass parkers is simply not practical. If you have business with parking in town centre or similarly popular location, you can either live without the use of your car park, install barriers or sign a contract with a car park management company.

 

[Mark_T]

I've used this one a couple of times.

It isn't hard to meet the 10 min requirement, just need to not hang around before going in to get it done as the 10 mins will start as you drive in, not from when you park.

Only time I can see it being a problem is if you have to wait for a charger to be free. In that case you need to park and register then wait I guess.

Personally I don't stop there if it isn't showing available spaces as it is only a few miles to Newport Pagnell.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I don't really care if the signs are obvious or not.

maybe you don't have this kind of charging in Netherlands? Its common here. Whether its designed to catch people out to make more money from fines than fees (that's my view), or a means for organisations to make money from their car parks ... either way it narks a lot of people.

Same with pay-and-display. Most people buy an extra hour, in case they are delayed. So those people are paying for parking they don't use ... its basically a con, so that parking sticker-price appears cheaper. Our local town car park has just changed from pay and display to a card-swipe. Swipe-card on arrival, and swipe again just before you leave, to be charged just for the duration of the parking. Perfect ... except that the machine and its instruction are beyond the wit of man and there is now a long queue to use the machine because the user interface and instructions are diabolical, and the software so slow that it takes an age, even if you do know what you are doing. No idea what happens if you return to your car and forget to card-swipe ... you get no ticket on arrival, only on departure, so no proof if anything goes wrong ...

Tesla shouldn't make the use of their charging locations so complicated.

At the time Tesla was very grateful for any landlords that made their car park available without a whole lot of aggro. That site opened in 2014, just 6 months after the very first UK Supercharger, so most likely it was an "onside landlord"

Nowadays I am sure they would prefer big sites that were better placed. I don't know what the arrangement was, back then, its possible that the landlord has contributed - e.g. power cost in return for custom

But big motorway-style sites are not immune either - someone was fined recently for over-staying at Grantham. There is a 2 hours (or similar) limit there, camera controlled,. That person Supercharged and then stayed to do some emails ... noone arrived needing the stall ... but the time limit was exceed and a fine issued. I have no wish to dwell at Grantham, its not very salubrious, but I have charged there often and never saw the signs. They aren't hidden ... but the charge is unexpected.

IMHO Supercharging locations should be free of additional costs or procedures like parking costs, vehicle registration and what not.

In an ideal world ... but "free" is always abused by a minority, and then becomes "not free" for the majority. Idle fees would not be necessary, but for the idle ...

 

[phillcom3]

From google maps it says to register within 10 minutes of arriving.

Out of principle I would not be paying any fine where I was allowed to supercharge and especially if I had entered in my registration number, I'd be inclined to reply to each letter they tell you with the same response, they will not take every claim to court as they will issue more than 600 a month so if you have a good defence such as a genuine customer I can't see why they would risk the hassle.
-You went to use their facilities,
-You entered your registration number in,
-You didn't abuse their system so you won't be paying
-You will file an appeal with the parking authority
-You will be writing to the land owner as well



Especially if your a genuine customer entitled to park there!



Its also noted on trip advisor to contact the hotel to have the charge removed based on other Tesla owners posting reviews

I was a genuine customer but id parked my motorbike next to a store... so clearly not in a marked bay but there was n o motorbike bays and id didn't want to use a cars bay ... I bent the "rules" that I never even knew existed! hence why I just ignored it all then moved house lol.

 

[mr_steve_2000]

I used that supercharger to top up both ways on a recent trip. On the way back I got into a fun discussion with 3 owners (an S, 3 and X) and realised after 15 minutes I hadn't registered within the 10 min limit. No parking ticket arrived so they have a small grace period I guess. No need for the 10 minute rule as there isn't anything of interest around that area there as far as I recall.