Derby away parking fine

[Darlo Royal]

Following the instructions on the Derby County website, I parked in the Derby Conference Centre. I paid the chap at the entrance as I was driving in.
Imagine my surprise to have just received a parking fine notice for £100/£60. Dozens of other Reading fans had also parked there. Has anyone else received a fine?
Was the guy at the entrance a scammer and we should have paid some other way?

[Dirk Gently]

Is it a "fine" from a private company or a proper, legally enforceable fine from a local authority or the police?

[Darlo Royal]

It’s from Parking Eye

[The Royal Forester]

Did you get a ticket/receipt from the chap on the entrance? If so did you display it in your windscreen?

[Brogue]

[Sutekh]

I see the likely problem. OP says paid guy on driving in while the above says "go into CC reception to pay". Guess the CC may have been able to put someone on the gate on the day though, to alleviate queues and disruption in reception. So if bloke on gate gave official ticket then all well and good, but if was a scammer it's very poor the CC didn't have someone on the gate, or patrolling, to ensure scamming was a non starter as presumably have been operating the service for quite a while so may have had the issue previously.

[Brogue]

I would suggest the original poster contacts the conference centre to explain. And see what they have to say.

[The Royal Forester]

As there is, no doubt, a time limit to appeal you could try appealing to Parking Eye. You never know, if it is a scam, and they have a few people who say the same thing, they may cancel the "fine".

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Following the instructions on the Derby County website, I parked in the Derby Conference Centre. I paid the chap at the entrance as I was driving in.
Imagine my surprise to have just received a parking fine notice for £100/£60. Dozens of other Reading fans had also parked there. Has anyone else received a fine?
Was the guy at the entrance a scammer and we should have paid some other way?

Sounds like a scammer at the gate as you need to go in to the conference centre where they then give you a ticket. Did the guy give you a ticket?

[Dirk Gently]

How to fight Parking Eye tickets : https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/parking-eye/

[Darlo Royal]

Thanks for the various pieces of advice. I shall contact the CC tomorrow. You never know! It is clear to me that this was a scammer at work, as suggested by the following facts: 1. I don’t recall being given a ticket, 2. He charged £10 instead of the £8 which I’d expected, suggesting he didn’t want to have to carry large numbers of pound coins in change, 3. He directed all of us to car park C, which was a distance away behind the main building, despite there being ample spaces near by. 4. Genuine gate keepers are usually friendly, middle aged white guys. He was none of those things.

[RoyalBlue]

Thanks for the various pieces of advice. I shall contact the CC tomorrow. You never know! It is clear to me that this was a scammer at work, as suggested by the following facts: 1. I don’t recall being given a ticket, 2. He charged £10 instead of the £8 which I’d expected, suggesting he didn’t want to have to carry large numbers of pound coins in change, 3. He directed all of us to car park C, which was a distance away behind the main building, despite there being ample spaces near by. 4. Genuine gate keepers are usually friendly, middle aged white guys. He was none of those things.

You got scammed by Dai Yongge?

[Brogue]

Thanks for the various pieces of advice. I shall contact the CC tomorrow. You never know! It is clear to me that this was a scammer at work, as suggested by the following facts: 1. I don’t recall being given a ticket, 2. He charged £10 instead of the £8 which I’d expected, suggesting he didn’t want to have to carry large numbers of pound coins in change, 3. He directed all of us to car park C, which was a distance away behind the main building, despite there being ample spaces near by. 4. Genuine gate keepers are usually friendly, middle aged white guys. He was none of those things.

And if it turns out to be a scammer then I imagine there will be a few in the same boat and I imagine you might get a sympathetic view from the cc. They may well just contact the parking company and waive it. Good luck, keep us posted!!

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Thanks for the various pieces of advice. I shall contact the CC tomorrow. You never know! It is clear to me that this was a scammer at work, as suggested by the following facts: 1. I don’t recall being given a ticket, 2. He charged £10 instead of the £8 which I’d expected, suggesting he didn’t want to have to carry large numbers of pound coins in change, 3. He directed all of us to car park C, which was a distance away behind the main building, despite there being ample spaces near by. 4. Genuine gate keepers are usually friendly, middle aged white guys. He was none of those things.

And if it turns out to be a scammer then I imagine there will be a few in the same boat and I imagine you might get a sympathetic view from the cc. They may well just contact the parking company and waive it. Good luck, keep us posted!!

Yeah let us know how you get on.

[Darlo Royal]

Monday morning update. Derby County phone me this morning! I had emailed them over the weekend. Also, I discovered from my bank account that £10 had been taken from my account by Event Support, Coventry. Now, the car park is managed on match days by Big Parking, who are based in Coventry. The lady from Derby County was quite concerned, since she understood that the charge was £8. Though she was mystified as to why I received a parking fine. She said she would contact Big Parking on my behalf and see what is going on. Fair enough!

[Darlo Royal]

Another update, courtesy of the lovely Emma Drury from Derby County. She spoke to Big Parking who looked into it (very quickly, it seems, lol. Did they anlready know there was a problem?) and apparently the ANPR cameras operated by Parking Eye are supposed to be turned off when there’s a match on. But on this occasion no-one told Parking Eye there was a game on.
She seems confident that I will get my fine rescinded if I email a screenshot of my bank account and other details to Big Parking.
I asked her about all the other Reading cars parked around me. Good point, she said. So she’s going contact Big Parking to see what they can do about everyone else. I can’t believe they only issued a fine to me, when I was surrounded by several dozen other cars.

[Brogue]

great stuff!

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Another update, courtesy of the lovely Emma Drury from Derby County. She spoke to Big Parking who looked into it (very quickly, it seems, lol. Did they anlready know there was a problem?) and apparently the ANPR cameras operated by Parking Eye are supposed to be turned off when there’s a match on. But on this occasion no-one told Parking Eye there was a game on.
She seems confident that I will get my fine rescinded if I email a screenshot of my bank account and other details to Big Parking.
I asked her about all the other Reading cars parked around me. Good point, she said. So she’s going contact Big Parking to see what they can do about everyone else. I can’t believe they only issued a fine to me, when I was surrounded by several dozen other cars.

Result!

[morganb]

Another update, courtesy of the lovely Emma Drury from Derby County. She spoke to Big Parking who looked into it (very quickly, it seems, lol. Did they anlready know there was a problem?) and apparently the ANPR cameras operated by Parking Eye are supposed to be turned off when there’s a match on. But on this occasion no-one told Parking Eye there was a game on.
She seems confident that I will get my fine rescinded if I email a screenshot of my bank account and other details to Big Parking.
I asked her about all the other Reading cars parked around me. Good point, she said. So she’s going contact Big Parking to see what they can do about everyone else. I can’t believe they only issued a fine to me, when I was surrounded by several dozen other cars.

Someone posted on Twitter earlier with a similar issue:

https://twitter.com/harryarthur10/statu ... 8541173036

I'll put the link to this thread up there...

[Greatwesternline]

A happy end to this story. But worth reminding, when you get a parking fine from a private company, you are in a contractual dispute with them. Any "appeal deadlines" are bogus. They can't fine you more for taking longer to pay. And they can't fine you more for taking longer to appeal.

They are not relying on any legislation to fine you, so they have to play by the rules of any other contractual dispute.