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Exiting carpark without paying - dilemma


theduisbergkid
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A friend of mine often uses an airport situated locally for short-hauls business trips. The carparking fee is a rip-off, probably the highest in the UK, and my friend has written to complain on a couple of occasions, to no avail. He usually pays with a credit card on exit.

Very recently, he got to the exit to discover the barrier open, so thought, 'sod it', and whizzed off without paying the £25 for parking 12 hours on their litter-strewn, windswept, potholed dump of a carpark. However - friend has just noticed the car reg plate printed on the entry ticket... are they likely to pursue me, ahem, him, for payment ? What doesn't help is that my friend has a long string of correspondance with said airport over their sh*tty service, and doubts they'll let him off the hook if they trace the car and see his distinctive surname.

So, what to do ? Will they come and get him ? Should he call and apologise and pay somehow ? Advice please... :confused:

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Hmmm, the T5 business park prints your reg number too but I've never worked out what for.

Actually, come to think of it in the early days of using T5 it used to print the WRONG reg number on the ticket which makes me wonder whether it is used for anything other than lost tickets or something.

How long ago was your "mate" involved in this scandal?

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Well, one supposes that if the barrier was up the machine might have had trouble taking payment too ...

I was going to say exactly the same thing. The machine refused your card and there was traffic behind you so you couldn't go and explain your plight to the brain-dead car park attendant who coincidently was nowhere to be seen.

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The registrations are recorded to speed up prebooking. You book on line, pay - it's loads cheaper.

Plan is the booking is against your number plate so when you enter it records your number plate, when you exit it reads it - confirms the booking and off you go.

Doesn't funking work though. Well rarely for me anyway.

Usually results in the machine asking for money anyway, and having to go to Cust Services :ffs:

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Can't see the problem as was said earlier - barrier up, you needed to get a move on, etc. Their problem.

That said, it's not the most expensive - I can assure you of that.

I took our youngest to the Dr Who Exhibition in Newcastle Upon Tyne last month, on its opening day (shes a major Dr Who fan). Car parks were busy so I parked at Newcastle Central Station. We knew we'd only be about 2 hours.

I knew we'd pay a premium for short stay, but what I wasn't expecting was what came up on the ticket machine when we inserted the card to leave.

The price for 1 hour and 40 minutes was £14.50.

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Dr who exhibition opening day, far too late. I was at a meeting there a week before it was due to open and got chatting to one of the BBC staff that were there putting everything together. He gave me a mini guided tour of all the props and backstage gubbins that makes it work although it was kinda lost on me I'm afraid as I don't watch it. I did get my picture taken with a Dalek though, that was nice.

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The registrations are recorded to speed up prebooking. You book on line, pay - it's loads cheaper.

Plan is the booking is against your number plate so when you enter it records your number plate, when you exit it reads it - confirms the booking and off you go.

Doesn't funking work though. Well rarely for me anyway.

Usually results in the machine asking for money anyway, and having to go to Cust Services :ffs:

Yeah, I do this at Stansted and it works a treat, in fact, if you overstay it doesn't ever ask you to pay the extra. You can book 1 day knowing you're staying for 3, you only have to pay for 1. Mid stay. Try it. ;)

For anyone who stays at the NCP at Brum airport and pre-books online, try 'BHXTA' or 'TABHX' for a whopping discount +++

So, I'll tell my friend not to worry about it then, thanks :)

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This sounds like a breach of contract - you contracted to pay £25.00 to park at their facility and failed to pay. If they are interested in recovering that cost they should write to you and ask you to pay - at which point you should simply pay it as it should only be the £25. If they have to pursue you further you will then start to be liable for their additional costs.

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I discovered my car would fit under the barriers in a multi-story in town not long ago, so even though I'd paid for my ticket I drove out without putting it in the machine. :uhoh:

Never heard anything back about it, but the barriers have those bits that hang down now.

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That's a fair point. You never actually exited?

I once parked in the NCP at Aldgate for work, and then completely forgot. Remember a couple of weeks later. That hurt :ffs:

See, the trick there would have been to stand by the entrance barrier, wait for someone to drive up to it (or get a mate to drive up to it), and take the ticket, then go and pay on that ticket, hey presto, cheap 2 weeks parking!

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Expensive parking? How about £9 for 10 minutes on Wednesday night in London.

"Park your car and come and meet us for a drink" was the text. Then she was waiting outside the place. I only discovered this once I had parked the car.........

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Expensive parking? How about £9 for 10 minutes on Wednesday night in London.

"Park your car and come and meet us for a drink" was the text. Then she was waiting outside the place. I only discovered this once I had parked the car.........

Did you take the parking costs out of her bill? :grin:

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That's a fair point. never actually exited?

Yes, the car has exited, same day as entry (as per the original post). The only way they can prove the car was there is by the entry/exit camera, they'll only require payment after exit, the only way they'll know the car has gone is by the exit camera, so they'll know how long it was there for and, I guess, charge accordingly.

MrMe - 'admission' ? No mention of name, car, car registration, which airport or even which carpark at the airport. :rolleyes:

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