Private Parking fine

Snap

Guys, they do have a right to pursue it, as I said, under breach of contract. Its not a fine, its a payment for breaking the terms of the contract you entered in parking in their car park.

Its not an offence like parking on a yellow line etc, but it is still enforceable under civil law. The difference is in how it is enforced legally.

The risk you take in diggin in and refusing to pay is that they are bothered enough to take you to court. If they do, after last year's change in case law, the chances are you will be found in breach and you could be landed with damages and charges plus the original penalty,

You need to be careful in what you read on line and make sure it is taking into account the case I mentioned, which was either last year or in 2014. There is lots of duff info on this, and misconception.

Reason I say this, is that I was in the same boat after a ticket I got in Feb.

Used to be you could refuse to confirm who was driving, but that has been binned through court. USed to be if you didn't confirm who was the registered keeper, they could not pursue, again this has been canned.

recent changes have meant that the power has shifted to the parking companies. This is fair really - if you own a plot and say people can park on it for a fee, you should be able to pursue them if they park and dont pay. Same principle as if someone contracts with you to do a job - you'd expect the contract to be honoured, and if it wasn't you'd be able to pursue them for breach. Same deal with private parking.

Cirrus

I'm not a lawyer, but I do play guitar.

Either ignore it if you're feeling brave, or fight it if you're feeling argumentative, or pay it if worry is going to keep you up at night.

If it did end up in court, at this point and in light of recent rulings I'd probably be arguing that the charge was way too high and amounted to a punitive charge - the typical amount requested is usually really high, does for example £100 charge for staying 5 minutes past your allotted time in a half empty carpark really reflect a reasonable estimate of the value of the space or the operators losses?

At any rate, I've had a couple of the last few years and ignored them totally. They get bored, and court isn't worth the risk in most cases.

midlifecrisis

for best advice as mentioned above look at the pepipoo website.   the rules have changed but there are procedures that mean you should be able to get off any private parking "charge"., firstly dont engage with the firm unless advised to and strictly as instructed by pepipoo.   they will advise you how to apeal via POPLA which is the industry adjudicator, this costs you nothing but costs the firm £35 win or loses. Also its not legally binding on you but is on the firm.

thomasross20

Just read the letter, they quote the beavis case saying it's enforcible. Man, really don't have the time for this!!

The mse thread indicates Scottish drivers can safely ignore.

musicegbdf

And what about the DVLA who ignore our basic human right of privacy by selling our private details.
Would love to see someone take the DVLA to the European court....
It is a disgrace that a Government department is allows to do this.

thomasross20

That's true!

capo4th

Do not pay they will send you about 6 letters telling you about court action realise they have wasted £10 chasing you and move on to their next victim . 

I experienced this in the summer. 

There is a video on Watch dog and the chap advises you to make paper aeroplanes with their letters.

thomasross20

Did they mention the beavis case in your letter @capo4th?

littlegreenman

A solicitor acquaintance always said just throw them away as they can't come back and bite you.

Until the day he did just that and was hit with a £90 proper fine for littering!

True story.

ewal

I'm with Snap on this one. I don't quite understand why folk get so hot under the collar when I private company does what they say they will do if you breach their terms and conditions. If you don't like it - don't park in private car parks.

Emp_Fab

Mrs Fab had one and I advised her to ignore it.  They gave up after three letters - the final one from some solicitors'.  I would never respond to them.

capo4th

thomasross20 said:

Did they mention the beavis case in your letter @capo4th?

no not mentioned ! They are chancers who rely on fear ignore them

ICBM

The Beavis case doesn't directly apply in Scotland.

It's not quite as simple as that it doesn't apply at all though.

http://www.cas.org.uk/system/files/publications/private_parking_legal_opinion.pdf

Sporky

So... did you park there?

TheMarlin

Look up Estopal Notice (Get Out Of Debt Free is a good website to check out).
You send them three letters. It legally obliges then to stop contacting you, and copyrights your name (always write your name in lower case, red ink is good).
The upshot is, you can claim infingment of copyright for every letter, email, of phone call they make to you. They won't risk it, it'll permanently shut them up.
My mother got two of those parking letters. The fist one, we ignored. She was still getting scared letters a year later. The second one, I did an Estopal Notice, killed it dead in two weeks.
It's very effective.
Marlin

Cirrus

ewal said:

I'm with Snap on this one. I don't quite understand why folk get so hot under the collar when I private company does what they say they will do if you breach their terms and conditions. If you don't like it - don't park in private car parks.

Absolutely, but sometimes you just mess up - I got one after parking at a retail outlet - the kind that are usually free parking, so I just didn't think to look for a ticket machine! As it was, there was a small sign saying it was run by a parking company on the opposite corner of the lot next to a pay and display machine that was totally obscured by a van from where I parked, so I'd not have seen it even if I'd looked. There was also a small sign at the entrance which I'd missed simply because I was turning off a road and it wasn't in a place I'd spot it.

The second time, it was a service station. Met someone for a meeting and overran their 90 mins free parking by about 5 minutes, again I had no idea there was such a restriction in place because it was a huge car park, the signs were small and far away, and at any rate it was dark and pouring with rain when I arrived so I ran inside.

Both times, the first I knew about it was when I got a letter asking for money, and subsequently went back to see how I could have messed up.

thomasross20

Did you pay?

ewal

Fair do's @Cirrus - in the circumstances you describe, I can understand you being irked. I just find it strange that non-payment seems to be the default position for so many people.

speshul91

I had one for parking in an empty shop car park near the local hospital as I was taking a friend who had been mugged on his way back from a night out. It got used for roach and I haven't paid it nor had a letter about it.

Phil_aka_Pip

speshul91 said:

I had one for parking in an empty shop car park near the local hospital as I was taking a friend who had been mugged on his way back from a night out. It got used for roach and I haven't paid it nor had a letter about it.

so occasionally they do have their uses