ParkingEye succeed in driving customers away

[Ewan Hoosami]

A pub in the Hertfordshire town of Apsley is busy trying to repair it's tattered reputation after making the mistake of employing spiteful parking wea$els Parking(sh)Eye(sters) to ru(i)n it's car park,

‘Dear parking fine customers, have a free pint on us,’ says pub after £100 charges debacle



A pub has offered a free pint, glass of wine or soft drink to all the customers who were wrongly issued a £100 fine for parking outside of it. 
It is thought that more than 150 tickets were recently issued to drivers who left their cars outside of Apsley’s The Paper Mill in October

Signs outside of the pub say its customers can park there for free for up to four hours – if they log the details of their car with staff.

But that didn’t stop Parking Eye, which recently took over management of the car park, from issuing the tickets to people who had done exactly that.   

Multiple people have since phoned, emailed and visited the Paper Mill to voice their anger – some say they will never return to the pub again.   



In a letter to customers posted on its Facebook page last night, the Paper Mill acknowledged that the tickets were ‘very distressing’ and ‘caused a lot of inconvenience’.

It said: “We have now been informed by Parking Eye that they are cancelling the parking tickets and are sending out a letter of apology to you after their error.

“As a gesture of goodwill, please bring in your parking ticket and cancellation letter (you will need both), we will ceremoniously rip the parking ticket up and treat you to a pint of ale, glass of wine or a soft drink of your choice.   

“Please be assured that Parking Eye were introduced by the landlords of Stationers Place parking, as an attempt to help improve the parking for us at the Paper Mill.

“We look forward to your next visit to the Paper Mill.”

http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/more-news/dear-parking-fine-customers-have-a-free-pint-on-us-says-pub-after-100-charges-debacle-1-6404443

They have even placed a message on the front page of their website hoping to tempt customers back

"NOTICE
A number of our customers have received parking fines for the Stationers Place car park in error, if you have received notification of a fine please disregard this letter and we'll be in touch very soon."

http://www.papermillapsley.co.uk/

Why not let Parking(sh)Eye(sters) ru(i)n your car park?

[DastardlyDick]

Such a shame that a very nice pub (yes, I've been there) is suffering at the hands of a bunch of venal, rapacious wea$els - I hope they get it sorted out ASAP.

[The Bald Eagle]

If you lie with dogs you get up with fleas.

I have no sympathy whatsoever for someone who doesn't do their homework before embarking on an exercise that might damage their reputation. What could be so bad at this venue that they need to punish drivers for parking more than 4 hours? There is no railway station nearby that would encourage all day commuter parking, and the car park is enormous.

Let's hope that others see this and take heed.

If you lie with wea$els you get up with reputational damage.

[DastardlyDick]

I agree that Parking Eye was probably the worst PPC to choose, but it wasn't the Pub who employed them, it was the Landlord of the Estate they're on, who are probably getting a cut of the "fines". I wouldn't have called the car park enourmous at around 50 spaces either. Apsley Rail Station is just across the road, has regular commuter trains into Euston and a very small (less than 30 spaces) car park. Judging by the fact that the parking area for the nearby flats and Holiday Inn is barrier controlled, I'd say that there must have been a significant problem with commuters parking up all day for them to do that.

[Ewan Hoosami]

You must wonder why these weasels are still being allowed to rape and pillage all around them. It's common nowadays for employers to research prospective employees online but not prospective weasels it seems. A simple search of 'parking eye' will tell you all you need to know.

Perhaps it all hinges on their truly impressive marketing skills. How else could motorway service areas, usually in the middle of a barren wasteland, be hoodwinked into thinking that their car parks are being used by anyone other than service area users?

Also I am not sure that Parking(sh)Eye(sters) are the worst. They are of course unscrupulous money grabbing weasels but then so are so many other Bullshit Purveyors Association members. There are also equally unscrupulous practices committed by Insidious Parking Committee members daily.

Another thing that worries me is landowners allowing all this for a 'piece of the action'. Without customers then pubs, stores, supermarkets, etc will close to cut losses. The landowner, like the parking weasel, is sacrificing long term income for short term fraud. A massive income today but f ck all tomorrow. F ck all for anyone because the whole country has been driven to the wall. C nts. Here endeth today's rant.

[DastardlyDick]

Another thing that worries me is landowners allowing all this for a 'piece of the action'. Without customers then pubs, stores, supermarkets, etc will close to cut losses. The landowner, like the parking weasel, is sacrificing long term income for short term fraud. A massive income today but f ck all tomorrow. F ck all for anyone because the whole country has been driven to the wall. C nts. Here endeth today's rant.

The Landlord doesn't give a s**t Ewan - the pub goes bust, they re-let it to another Brewery/Pub Company. Unfortunately, these days in the UK, busineses only think to the end of the current financial year, and employees are easy (and cheap) to get rid of.

[The Bald Eagle]

I agree that Parking Eye was probably the worst PPC to choose, but it wasn't the Pub who employed them, it was the Landlord of the Estate they're on, who are probably getting a cut of the "fines". I wouldn't have called the car park enourmous at around 50 spaces either. Apsley Rail Station is just across the road, has regular commuter trains into Euston and a very small (less than 30 spaces) car park. Judging by the fact that the parking area for the nearby flats and Holiday Inn is barrier controlled, I'd say that there must have been a significant problem with commuters parking up all day for them to do that.

It is possible that at some point someone in the pub might have complained to the landowners about a problem, possibly with commuter parking. Then someone at the pub would have agreed with the landowner that the best way to deal with the problem is to use the Parking(sh)Eye(sters) cctv system rather than operate the barrier that Googlemaps shows they already have in place.

All they would have to do to stop commuter parking is close the barrier last thing at night and open it before they open at 10am.

Personally speaking, I believe it's more likely that the pub landlords saw lots of pound signs when they realised they could force drivers to register their cars with the staff in the pub.

Either way, I don't accept that the pub owners are entirely innocent in all this and hence my lack of sympathy for their plight.

As ye sow so shall you reap. 

[Bazster]

I too know this pub and have been there often.  I have now added it to my list of weasel-infested places to boycott, so that's another customer lost and I don't even drive to the pub!