AIBU to appeal this parking charge notice.

[fashu]

I stayed in a hotel over new years with my 2 young sons. Our meant to be 2 hour 55 minute journey turned into a 8 hour journey from hell!

Little back ground of my journey but you can skip if TLDR
My eldest son is 3 and my youngest was 6 months. I left at the perfect time for them to have a long nap and planned to stop at a service station when they woke up for the last hour, if they stayed asleep then bonus!
When I hit Leeds I just missed a front on collision a little further up (counting my lucky stars I went for the extra toilet trip before leaving) because I was near the front of the queue I was stood still for over 4 hours. I was scared to get my kids out of their car seats in case we had to move. I tried to give my son a feed with a bottle but he refused. He'd only just started his weaning journey because of allergy concerns so he didn't want to eat either, then my elder son unfortunately soiled his pants. It was like everything was just going wrong all at once! Got a change of clothes from him out of the boot and struggled to change him in the back. Finally we got turned around but it meant we were on a B road full of traffic and nowhere to stop. They both fell asleep again so I just kept going until I got to the hotel. My 3 year old had survived on snacks and my 6 month old had had a few ozs of milk.

After leaving home at 12:05 and getting to the hotel at 20:17, I noticed the private land signs. I asked the hotel where I should park my car, the receptionist literally said, don't worry leave it where it is for now, go and clean the kids up and ill tell you when you've finished. I said do you have the details for the prices etc. She said I'll explain it all to you later. This put me under the impression that the private land was the hotel. In hindsight yes I should have demanded she tell me where the correct parking was but I didn't want to seem rude especially with 2 screaming dirty hungry kids.

I went up to the room and tried to feed my baby. Anyone who has had a small baby will know when they are super hungry and tired they don't want to feed! It took me forever and I tried to put him back into the seat but he was screaming so much that he was doing that horrible not breathing cry.
Once he settled I gave my elder son a quick wash since he had used the toilet in his pants in the car and I wasn't satisfied with just wiping. As soon as humanly possible I got them both back in the car on the hunt for the parking (which a porter told me in the end) and for food for me and my 3 year old.

So on the 4th of January I got my parking charge through the door. They took the picture of my car 19 minutes after I parked. I left after 47 minutes. Although part of this time was getting 2 kids, a pram and suitcases out of the car.

I appealed to the land owner stating my horrendous journey and the need to attend to my children plus mentioned the poor advice from the hotel but they said I have to pay because I didn't get a permit from the hotel.

So AIBU to appeal this on compassionate grounds further to the IAS? I mean apart from the fact I was mislead by staff, i really needed to feed my baby.
Any advice on how to appeal would also be great.

If you have the name of the member of staff, then I would appeal to the hotel to assist you. Email them, tell them your story, and say that you hold them responsible for the parking fine, as their member of staff gave you incorrect information. See what response you get, and go from there would be my advice.

@Speakuptomakeyourselfheard

If you have the name of the member of staff, then I would appeal to the hotel to assist you. Email them, tell them your story, and say that you hold them responsible for the parking fine, as their member of staff gave you incorrect information. See what response you get, and go from there would be my advice.

Hi @Speakuptomakeyourselfheard Thank-you, I did try thst. Called them 3 times and finally got the managers email and they just said Sorry you got a charge, here is the appeal website. This makes me think they knew people get charged all the time. I've sent a follow-up email saying I was disappointed they couldn't apologise for the poor advice I received and I wanted some help with the appeal but they haven't replied

If it's a hotel chain go on social media, post your story & copy in the fine company - this is really an issue of the hotel not advising you appropriately and they should help you resolve this by retrospectively issuing a permit & contacting the fine company to rescind it

@PerfectlyImperfectme

If it's a hotel chain go on social media, post your story & copy in the fine company - this is really an issue of the hotel not advising you appropriately and they should help you resolve this by retrospectively issuing a permit & contacting the fine company to rescind it

@PerfectlyImperfectme I think that's a good idea. I might send them a chaser tomorrow and if nothing by Wednesday then I will go to twitter, its a chain. It's annoying me because I asked twice about parking and I was told not to worry they will explain it later so its not like I was leaving it there to be lazy or not wanting to pay. I paid £26 in the multi storey for the rest of my stay, I should have just left it there, most expensive parking ever

Hey OP I appealed a fine on the grounds that the ticket machines were all closed with big signs on them saying closed due to pandemic please pay online. I had no way to pay online. When I finally got home it was 10 minutes past midnight, the deadline to pay was midnight. I paid anyway.

Got fined. Appealed. Appeal rejected.

I think the appeal process is basically fake just there to make them look reasonable when they aren’t.

It’s a good idea about tweeting the hotel though. Really they should pay the fine.

There is a lot of unnecessary information in your OP - try to filter it out when you contact them and stick to the facts.

@Thirtytimesround

Hey OP I appealed a fine on the grounds that the ticket machines were all closed with big signs on them saying closed due to pandemic please pay online. I had no way to pay online. When I finally got home it was 10 minutes past midnight, the deadline to pay was midnight. I paid anyway.

Got fined. Appealed. Appeal rejected.

I think the appeal process is basically fake just there to make them look reasonable when they aren’t.

It’s a good idea about tweeting the hotel though. Really they should pay the fine.

That's really crappy! But I agree it's such a scam. I was told it would take 28 days and it only took a few days and it was just like, no you have to pay. Did you manage to get out of it in the end?

@elelel

There is a lot of unnecessary information in your OP - try to filter it out when you contact them and stick to the facts.

Apologies but I did put if its TLDR then skip. I just felt all the info should be on there to fully explain how bad my journey was

Apologies but I did put if its TLDR then skip. I just felt all the info should be on there to fully explain how bad my journey was

I was trying to offer advice for when you contact the hotel/parking company. They won't be interested in your journey.

@elelel

Apologies but I did put if its TLDR then skip. I just felt all the info should be on there to fully explain how bad my journey was

I was trying to offer advice for when you contact the hotel/parking company. They won't be interested in your journey.

Ok thank you, I get it now. I'll mention that I couldn't feed my son though and that I had to go and feed him ASAP after arriving do you think?

I feel stressed just reading about your journey. Sorry it was so awful. Check out Martin Lewis site he also has information and standard letters on how to appeal. I used them for 2 private parking fines I felt I received unfairly and it took a year but they overturned them. One of them was when the village flooded (I lived centre village so onstreet parking) and the only place that wasn't under water was the village car park. So everyone parked their cars there and didn't think as it was empty and nighttime and worried about house. Moved it before 8am next morning as going to work and got fined. They had only started charging 2 days previously to this, before it was free so hadn't even realised. But did think there should be a little village compassion when we were flooding.

Ok thank you, I get it now. I'll mention that I couldn't feed my son though and that I had to go and feed him ASAP after arriving do you think?

Definitely mention the baby needed fed.

The parking company and IAS won't care about the circumstances or mitigating factors. You need to appeal using points of contract law. This Facebook group is really helpful.

OP- you clearly had a long, annoying journey, 2 young kids and it was awful, but I too am so confused by your extremely long post. I can't even work out why you were fined?

You parked on private land and not on the hotel grounds?

You parked on private land- cleaned and settled the kids, then moved the car to hotel grounds?
You parked in an illegal parking on private land?

Sorry, I've tried re-reading and almost lost the will to live, and still cannot understand it.

If you do make a complain, keep it to the facts. They don't need to know the minute details of your journey and other issues. Just what you want from the complain (rescinding the fine) and what the receptionist advised. Everything else is compelling for you, but not others.Best of luck.

Join this Fb group and post but be more factual- long journey multiple delays children were ill from journey and soiled, arrives late at night , (then what staff member at hotel said to you)" give them a shorter post. Take screen shots of your parking fine letter and black out identifying details. The many admin on the Fb group will give you advice. Talk to them before you write in appeal letter.

Oh I can see @Shmithecat2 has already put a link on
It's the slightly pink This on the "This fb group will help you"

Different fb group but there are several . Shsmithies has 28.5k members!

How much is the fine op? Is it worth the time and trouble appealing?

Your appeal is basically - I was told by someone unconnected to the car park that I could leave my car while feeding my baby and changing my child. I was gone 47 minutes before moving my car.

I suspect the response will be: signage is clear. Appeal rejected

Google moneysavingexpert.com pcn

This is THE best place to go to with this, not the Martin Lewis page ( as good as he is )

Read the 'Newbies' and post your own thread for help, it really is brilliant.

Sorry in bed now but just to add the parking space was directly outside the hotel, I parked next to the managers car. I moved my car later to a NCP car park a 3 minute walk away.

It is not a ' fine ' it's an invoice, it is a money making scam.

Do not ignore any letters but do not pay.

Please go to moneysavingexpert.com pcn forum for help from the regulars on there. They have been helping people for years and win 99% of cases.

@fashu

Sorry in bed now but just to add the parking space was directly outside the hotel, I parked next to the managers car. I moved my car later to a NCP car park a 3 minute walk away.

You put in an awful lot of detail about your terrible journey (which I feel for you - been there and it's horribly stressful) but almost no detail about the actual parking situation.

It sounds like you parked in the hotel car park, spoke with the receptionist who told you to deal with your children and she'd sort out the parking later for you, then you went and fed and cleaned up your kids and then, without talking to the receptionist to sort out the parking, moved your car out of the hotel car park and into an independent NCP one?

Then the company who manage the land the hotel car park is on fined you because you parked there and didn't sort out the parking with the hotel?

Is that right?

Hi @NumberTheory, nope I parked in the staff parking/drop off zone and would have had to move it which I wanted to do as soon as we check in, except she told me twice to just leave it there for now. the hotel did not have long stay parking at all. The way the receptionist told me made me feel like it was parking run by the hotel, which it turned out not to be. I should never have been told its ok to leave it there. When I came back she was nowhere to be found despite me standing at the reception for a few minutes until I seen the porter who told me how to get to the parking.

I appreciate you had a horrible journey and it was difficult for you children, but to be brutally honest, please don't be offended, if I were looking at your appeal, I wouldn't care one iota about your feeding/washing your kids. I'd only be looking at getting my money and if there was a good reason you hadn't paid/parked correctly. The more you went on about your kids, the more irritated I'd be and the less sympathetic I'd get. TBH anyone can say stuff about awful circumstances but if you have to pay, you have to pay. It really doesn't take that long to put your car into the correct parking space.
Although it seems to me like your issue isn't with the owner of the parking area but the hotel staff who gave you misleading information. It's them you need to pursue.
Definitely follow up as a previous poster suggested on moneysavingexpert. My sister sent the letters they suggested and did get one parking fine waved. Council fines are a different matter. But you can but try.

You have to go down the proper channels to get this sorted. As others have said, no need for all the background info, as far as the parking cowboys are concerned they are not interested in stories about babies they just want your money. Stick to the actual facts.
Dont waste any more time on this and dont bother trying to contact them to do any sort of deals. Do not pay.
moneysavingexpert.com pcn

@fashu

Hi *@NumberTheory*, nope I parked in the staff parking/drop off zone and would have had to move it which I wanted to do as soon as we check in, except she told me twice to just leave it there for now. the hotel did not have long stay parking at all. The way the receptionist told me made me feel like it was parking run by the hotel, which it turned out not to be. I should never have been told its ok to leave it there. When I came back she was nowhere to be found despite me standing at the reception for a few minutes until I seen the porter who told me how to get to the parking.

That’s much clearer. I think the Twitter or other social media route sounds good. I would be much clearer about the parking aspect of it and only give a very brief outline about the need to feed and change your children. All that emotion you have over the bad journey is basically irrelevant to the parking issue (though I really do appreciate its was the driver behind what happened). Your issue is with being given the wrong information and support over parking in the drop off zone by the hotel staff, leading to a fine. That’s the stuff people need to know about.

Possibly, if your appeal of the fine was similar to your OP, it would be worth resubmitting the appeal concentrating on the more relevant detail but I suspect you need something from the hotel backing that up first.