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#Post#: 122382--------------------------------------------------
Re: Double dip with ECP for second time - would ideally like to
sue them in return or cause them some other trouble / co
DIR By: leafgrain
Date: June 19, 2026, 10:47 am
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--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
> In our anecdotal experience supermarkets are often some of the
most responsive in terms of getting parking charges cancelled
for genuine customers. Contacting them is always the best
starting point.
>
--- End Quote ---
Yes its absolutely true that the staff at the supermarket cancel
it without question. But the shared frustration that both they
and we have at these incidents, is the matter to me. Why should
we have to face this - essentially bullying or predatory
behaviour. It genuinely causes stress. We have done nothing
wrong but have to defend ourselves - if we miss the letter
(which in this case nearly did happen as it was tucked into a
pile of the usual junk that goes directly to recycling) - we
suffer the consequences outlined above, with a court taking a
dim view (granted maybe if you plead that you missed the letter,
they take that into account - or do they even? And why should we
need to worry about such things?).
Of course I don't want to preach to the converted but surely it
should be the other way around - if they are that confident of
their position we should be able to leave it and just respond to
the court letters with our evidence? That way there is a cost
imposed at least on ECP? Because without that sort of situation
I don't really see why ECP should, from a business perspective,
make any effort to improve their technical accuracy etc. I would
not, given that regulatory environment. In fact it would be of
benefit to make mistakes like this as many will either not have
a record of their times of attendance or would be intimidated
into just paying up, which surely is a very poor state of
affairs.
If this is indeed the situation then thank you for letting me
know certainly. Its worse than I realised and does make me
reassess whether I even want to stick my neck out. But if its
not quite this bad and there are other options open to me other
than going to the supermarket to cancel it (which if I'm honest
feels like, basically, pleading), then please do say, as I would
prefer virtually anything other than this option. Other than
actually paying ECP that is.
#Post#: 122383--------------------------------------------------
Re: Double dip with ECP for second time - would ideally like to
sue them in return or cause them some other trouble / co
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: June 19, 2026, 10:57 am
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The purpose of this part of the forum is to advise people who
wish to challenge parking charges they have received. Our advice
is focused on the steps a motorist can take within the system as
it stands to get their charge cancelled as quickly and cheaply
(both in terms of money and time) as possible. The quickest way
to do that is to get the supermarket to cancel it. The second
quickest way is to appeal. If you provide good evidence, you
have a good chance of getting it cancelled long before court.
If people want to take up the good fight and push for change,
that's their call, and I applaud them for doing so. If you want
to change the system such that there is stronger regulation of
the industry, you should encourage your MP to do what they can
to progress the introduction of the Private Parking Bill,
preferably not watered down.
Them spending £35 initiating a court claim they inevitably
discontinue won't make them change. The government properly
regulating the industry just might.
They were clamping vehicles until government outlawed it.
#Post#: 122385--------------------------------------------------
Re: Double dip with ECP for second time - would ideally like to
sue them in return or cause them some other trouble / co
DIR By: leafgrain
Date: June 19, 2026, 11:13 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
> Them spending £35 initiating a court claim they inevitably
discontinue won't make them change. The government properly
regulating the industry just might.
>
--- End Quote ---
Yes I see.
--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
> The purpose of this part of the forum is to advise people who
wish to challenge parking charges they have received. Our advice
is focused on the steps a motorist can take within the system as
it stands to get their charge cancelled as quickly and cheaply
(both in terms of money and time) as possible. The quickest way
to do that is to get the supermarket to cancel it. The second
quickest way is to appeal. If you provide good evidence, you
have a good chance of getting it cancelled long before court.
>
--- End Quote ---
Understand that too. The members here have previously helped me
in that regard (or those on the last forum but I believe its
many of the same) and so thanks for that. Its basically not your
remit to advise on what I'm asking about though right? I hear
your suggestion re writing to my MP and I'll do that for sure.
Re our current situation is there anywhere I can get advice on
'the good fight'? Its small fry as you say, but I wonder whether
the hourly rate they pay for their admin is quite as low as you
suggest, once everything is taken into account. And I would also
hope that if there was a good route to tying them in
administrative knots when one is clearly in the right, others
would also copy it, so it does feel like something other than a
one off route to costing them a few quid and ourselves many
hours of effort. But maybe not.
Regarding avoiding getting into trouble with the court, would
advising them today that their equipment has made a mistake and
that the driver left the car park between their first registered
and last registered ANPR records be sufficient? And then leave
it in their hands to decide how to proceed? Or does a formal
'appeal' need to be made? Because we would really prefer not to
follow their appeal process. It seems that advising them of the
facts should be sufficient to cover ourselves with the court
surely.
#Post#: 122386--------------------------------------------------
Re: Double dip with ECP for second time - would ideally like to
sue them in return or cause them some other trouble / co
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: June 19, 2026, 11:29 am
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In my view, the priority with individual cases should always be
to get the charge cancelled. Once that's done you can pick up
the 'good fight'.
In my view, the way to fight the good fight is as I've already
said. Lobby your MP, file complaints, build up your knowledge
and become a regular on here - I've made far more of a dent in
the coffers of private parking companies by offering advice on
here (and PePiPoo before this) than I ever have handling my own
parking charges.
I don't mean to sound defeatist, but with individual cases
there's probably not much that will tie them in knots. When
you're issuing 5,000 charges per day, you conduct your business
using templates. The best way to fight them is long term, trying
to force change to the industry.
As I noted at the start, you could try and sue for misuse of
data. That's your choice to make and is not risk free. It would
essentially be a GDPR/Data Protection claim, which isn't in my
immediate sphere of knowledge.
#Post#: 122396--------------------------------------------------
Re: Double dip with ECP for second time - would ideally like to
sue them in return or cause them some other trouble / co
DIR By: ixxy
Date: June 19, 2026, 12:42 pm
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If it helps the parking company will not give a monkeys about
you or your campaign to cause them grief. They see it every day
and it's just businessas usual, you do not matter to them and
they won't care.
It's not deliberate on their behalf, they will have missed two
of the images, when you're seeing millions of vehicle movements
a week as ECP will, even a tiny percentage of double dips will
result in a sizeable number of double dips. Double dips can
result from dirty plates, tailgating and non compliant plates
that have spacing changed or inappropriate screw cap colours as
well as poor camera positioning. Mix that up with the fact a lot
of PPCs don't even know if their cameras are working yet alone
whether they are working well and double dips just become a fact
of life they are happy to live with.
If you really want to kick off annoy Tesco (which I assume is
the supermarket in question) as they might change provider but
seeing as they recently went to tender and stuck with ECP I
don't think they will care either.
Get it cancelled and get on with your life.
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