Private Parking fine

thomasross20

I just got a letter saying I owe £90 for a parking offence on some car park near where I live. 

Supposedly these are unenforceable (in Scotland?) and I know a friend who got lots of letters leading up to "court action" and then never heard again. 

I just know if I contact them I'll get roped in (even just to say I never saw any signs). 

Anybody experienced this? Should I pay!?

thomasross20

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

octatonic

I wouldn't and haven't in the past.

They eventually fuck off.

Phil_aka_Pip

No response. No payment. Ever.

thomasross20

I'll pick up the letter tonight to read. 

Supposedly it's an invoice and not a fine. 

Pfft!

thomasross20

Thanks, guys - think I'll just ignore it!

thomasross20

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4816822

Appears if in Scotland even better chance of ducking out of this. Chancers!!

joeyowen

I've ignored them in the past

They get bored

randomhandclaps

Just ignore it.  They rely on harassing people into paying.  Utter scum.

Rickyd

Can't access the site here from work but I think its called fightback forums. I used it when a local council gave me a dodgy parking ticket an won the day from them. 

Phil_aka_Pip

Councils seem to have some kind of appeal procedure, and they have legal clout, so if you get a ticket from a council the best thing to do is use the procedure in as a conciliatory manner as possible.

Whereas as has been said already - ignore the private chancers.

Iamnobody

I have no idea about Scottish law and have successfully ignored private parking fines myself in the past.

However things may be changing :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3052063/Victory-parking-cowboys-Appeal-court-throws-chip-shop-owner-s-challenge-unfair-charges-park-private-land.html

Excuse the choice of website but it came up first in Google search.

It may simply be that he decided to engage with them rather than ignoring all their communications.

gubble

I wrote to say I would be contesting it and never heard anything back.

Which was nice

SRich

I'm a fleet manager for a company with approx 1300 vehicles out there.........and these private parking nonces are a f***'in nightmare!

If it's a 'Parking Charge Notice' for one of these chancers, it's likely that they are merely playing the numbers game - some will pay up without a fight, some don't. If it's a more professional set-up (still chancers) they may try another few threatening letters, but in all reality, it's probably not worth their time.

Good luck!

Snap

Recently there was a ruling in an English court in favour of the private firm . THe short version:

When you use a private car park, you are entering into a contract, so the penalty is chased under contract law, as breach of contract. The terms are set out on the notice in the car park - basically, you park here for x time, for y fee and if you breach these terms, there is a penalty due. The penalty has to be reasonable and they have to give you an early payment penalty discount, with a mx penalty of £100.

So, the case in question, was the plaintiff challenging the penalty saying it was unfair etc. THe judge said that if he found in favour of the plaintiff it would potentially render all private car park charges unenforceable, so he set the precedent by finding for the car park firm.

This now means that in England and Wales, your chances of gettting away with a ticket penalty, if it goes to court, are much slimmer than they used to be.

BigMonka

I believe that, in England at least, the guidance changed from just ignoring them to replying saying that you won't be paying.

There's a forum here with loads of info: http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

RaymondLin

Only the crown and the police can issue fines, everyone else issue "invoices".

So unless it's the council or police, they are not fines. They can however pursue the "invoice" in civil claims against you, albeit unlikely.

thomasross20

I hear that as soon as you reply to them, they have their hook in, so I'll save the letters and not reply. 

Sibelius

Send them an invoice with a breakdown of your fees for processing their invoice.

thecolourbox

I've had this with a notoriously twattish car park owner in Haworth in Yorkshire, unfortunately they intimidated me into paying there and then which was silly as they generally have no right to pursue it properly as I understand it. However since then I've been reporting him everywhere I can and also reported him to a charity he was supposedly selling books for in his car park which I doubted the sincerity of. I may also have sent him various loads of free sample stuff you find online from time to time so I do hope he's enjoying his lemon tree, his sample pack of tena Lady, his compost and his liquorice flavored tea (which I can confirm tastes like sweaty socks after a week in a damp bag)

BigMonka

thomasross20 said:

I hear that as soon as you reply to them, they have their hook in, so I'll save the letters and not reply. 

Have you read through that moneysavingexpert link you posted? I didn't think that just ignoring it was recommended.

Do you know why you got the "fine"? staying too long? not parking in the marked bays etc?