Reply With QuoteUnless a "ticket" was issued by a traffic warden, I wouldn't bother. Ignore.
We went to Thurrock lakeside retail park on Sunday, I parked in the next available slot between two cars in a long row, funnily enough we commented that the lines were completely warn out, when we returned there was a parking ticket stuck to the windscreen, it said that the infringement was for not parking correctly in the parking bay £100, our view is to treat it as an invoice and ignore it, what do people on here think?
Unless a "ticket" was issued by a traffic warden, I wouldn't bother. Ignore.
It the past it was ok to ignore these 'invoice' style parking fines however since a judge set precedence where they could be legally enforced parking companies are far more likely to persue you to court than before. It's the luck of the draw nowadays.
Best thing to do would be to take pictures of the badly marked parking bays and any receipts of purchases made, send the photos to the shopping center management company (not the parking company itself) and ask them to call off the dogs.
I had a parking charge from the comet hotel in Hatfield removed on production of proof that i had used their facilities (breakfast), they just phones the parking enforcement company and told them to drop it.
If, after this, you are still liable then it's probably easiest to pay up unless you want to roll the dice and go to court.
As I parked in a line, what I don't know is did every car in the line receive a ticket and they were all not parked correctly.Originally Posted by julian2002
Mention this in your phone call / letter to the shopping center management company, they could alienate a lot of shoppers if their parking company is getting overzealous, more fuel to your fire.
Post it on http://www.pepipoo.com and follow the advice given.
The major problem the OP is facing is that there is not much information to go on.
If he mis parked, the warden would have almost certainly taken a pic to prove it and as such the OP would "be guilty". However the £100.00 is an invoice and if it went to court, the parking company can only expect to be awarded adequate compensation. So is £100.00 a reasonable sum to charge if there were lots of empty spaces. The OPs bad parking has in effect cost them nothing. Even if the OP had prevented another driver from parking, all that they could demand is the cost of the lost parking fee of the blocked up space.
Also Courts tend to sympathise with the public and often decide not to award damages as they regard the summons as vexatious and wasting the courts time.
There is little precedent to go on at the moment, so yes, it is a bit of the roll of the dice scenario.
I think I would ignore the "invoice" and take a chance.
You'll get lots of posters telling you to just ignore it but notably none of them will offer to cover your costs when you end up in court.
While ignoring the issue is unwise there are a lot of steps the enforcement company needs to follow with exactly the correct wording & timing. I suggest you do nothing until you have read a few posts on Pepipoo & this forum:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?h=0&f=10
You'll need to search for relevant posts (there are many) but here is one example:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/...f=10&t=1815564
If you post on Pepipoo they will not spoon feed you: they will help but they expect you to put effort in to researching the issues.
I would, initially, take the advice of Julian. We had an issue with a car parking company commencing Feb 2018. They tried letters, then two debt collection companies, the matter dragged on until November was an absolute pain. Luckily we found a loophole that got us in the clear but even after informing the company of this they still came ot us until they eventually gave up.
I would contact the shopping centre management and see if they can call of the dogs.
I'm sorry, but that is factually incorrect.
After the judgement by the Supreme Court in the ParkingEye Ltd vs Beavis appeal case, parking companies can charge an additional "penalty" for breach of the contract, and not just rely on a genuine estimate of loss.
There's a QC's opinion on the implications of the ruling here: https://hardwicke.co.uk/the-law-on-p...geye-v-beavis/
OP - you need to either pay the fee or fight it, but do not ignore it. There have been a number of changes in the relevant law over the last few years but there's still a lot of outdated advice around. There's plenty of good, and current, advice available on Pepipoo, MoneySavingExpert and on the Parking Prankster's blog.
Last edited by PhilipK; 27th August 2019 at 14:50. Reason: Fixed the URL
The invoice is for incorrect parking only. Different type of case, hence my comment, not enough info to go on.
Last edited by Mick P; 27th August 2019 at 15:23.
Mick, the OP indicates that this was a (private) parking ticket and asked if he should treat it as an invoice and ignore.
While your advice to ignore was good a few years ago, I took this route when I was given a ticket for outstaying my welcome at Watford Gap service station and the demands eventually dried up and blew away as the company knew that if it did go to court their (then) excessive fine of £85, plus fees and costs would indeed be thrown out and the most they'd get would be a few pounds. Therefore not worth pursuing.
Since the court case mentioned above, punitive and 'excessive' fines have been given approval precedent by the judiciary and appeals courts. This means that private parking companies are more likely to pursue you for the fines and fees as they will be more likely to see a return on their 'investment' - hence when I got given a ticket in Hatfield I was advised to seek an alternative method of avoiding the fine, which I successfully did.
It is of course up to the OP how he handles the situation however as he has a good claim to have been parking reasonably and in line with everyone else I would imagine the shopping center will instruct their agents to drop the issue. At the cost of a phone call, an email or a stamp it is at least worth trying.
Adrian - can you show us the pictures you took?
"A man of little significance"
I did not advise him not to pay, I said that I would take the chance and not pay.
The case you referred to was for parking without paying on private land with a warning sign on display.
In this case the OP seems to have paid the fee but has been accused of incorrect parking. The chances are that he has done just that and is guilty as it where.
However, mis parking was not covered by the ruling that you quoted and is therefore a grey area. I did say that there was not enough info to go on and this is why.
The OP can genuinely state that he has not deprived the company of money if say the car park was half empty. Even if he did prevent another car from parking, it is likely to cost them no more than two parking fees during one day.
Therefore the company stands a good risk of having this particular case declared as vexatious.
If the OP had parked without paying, I would advise him not to ignore the letter. This is a different case entirely and as I already said, is far from being clear but if it happened to me, I would risk it.
I believe, as part of the “deal” when the law was changed, the parking companies were required to establish an ‘independent’ appeals procedure. I would have thought that was worth pursuing in addition to the other suggestions of contacting the retail park owner, etc..
What a load of utter wibble.
The ruling that was quoted was in respect of breach of contract - it doesn't matter whether the motorist didn't pay. or was parked outside of a marked bay, or overstayed the permitted period, or was in breach of any of the other terms of the contract which they (implicitly) accepted when they chose to park where they did.
Some previous appeals have succeeded on a technicality (e.g. that the contract was not sufficiently legible or didn't have the right contact details) but most of the Parking Operators have got wise to that and ensure that their signage is valid.
Yes, a POPLA (Parking On Other Peoples' Land Appeal) is the first stage of a formal appeal - as would be pointed out by any of the forums mentioned above.
I deal with many finance applications where CCJs have been registered due to parking fines.
If it was me I would pay up and then forget about it
AKA “Settle down, Beavis”.
I had a similar situation arise when meeting a friend at a McDonalds, who on his arrival promptly locked his keys in the boot of his Audi. It took two and half hours for the AA to arrive and 10 minutes for them to get into the car and thence the boot. McD's had a 90 minute parking limit so we both received £80 fines from some company in Liverpool. A quick Google about the legitimacy of the ticket prompted us both to contest the tickets politely, with explanations of what had happened, that we had alerted the McDonald's staff we'd had a "break down" and that the AA were on the way.
We had to send details of the AA visit in writing to the ticketing company and they withdrew the ticket. I was in the same restaurant last week and the place is plastered with warnings about the tickets and time limits, so clearly a number of people have been had over.
Ignoring these sort of things would seem not to work and could add additional costs due to time limits imposed, however arbitrary and unfair they may be. So I'd provide as much evidence as possible to the ticketing company and the shopping centre, to show how unreasonably you've been treated.
Best of luck!
Was the line broken and in bad condition, that would be a factor. If double yellow lines are in bad condition ie broken and worn, a Warden cannot give you a ticket.
For £100 I'd pay it and move on, and not risk ccj's or bailiffs.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
That is what these parasite parking companies hope you will do. Not paying the parking charge is one thing, being a fraction over a line in a partly empty car park tells you in dazzling lights what a total bottom-feeding *anker the car park attendant is.
I stand by my first post. Contact the site owners with proof and reasoned logic asking for them to cancel the ticket. If they refuse then pay and be more vigilant in future.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Maybe, but try parking in a space where the cars both sides parked a 'fraction over the line'!
Last edited by oldoakknives; 28th August 2019 at 00:26.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
In this case all of the cars were about a foot over the line, I didn't look to see which car started it, I wasted some time yesterday trying to establish who the owners were, Thurrock retail park is easy as is Thurrock Lakeside, but Thurrock shopping park seems impossible, at first glance it is all the same place, but it isn't.
They probably all got letters so a good earner for the owners/company!
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
It’s owned by Nuveen Real Estate
Thank you
I have just spoken to them, he told me the reason they use a parking company is to stop people meeting there, leaving a car and going off around the M25, so they have a four hour time limit, and that parking outside the lines is not in their brief, so we will see what happens.
Probably started by someone in a precious LR, BMW etc.
It can be frustrating to have your expensive LR, BMW etc scratched by the ordinary cars that seem to frequent car parks. Perhaps a slightly more expensive section with larger spaces would be a solution.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Ignore and throw their threatening letters in the recycle bin .
Ever watch "Can't pay we'll take it away"?
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Yes but these private parking scammers like Parking Eye are different , I have had at least 5 in the past 2 years due to not validating my Tesco voucher where I shop and in Wickes car parks due to taking over the time limit. I always appeal them then get the appeal turned down(like everyone who appeals them ) so then I ignore them and eventually they get the message and move on to another mug . You never owed the money in the first place so there can be no bad credit etc ..PS is that horrible fake Dominic Littlewood on Can't pay we'll take it away or is that another programme ?Ever watch "Can't pay we'll take it away"?
Last edited by Owl1; 28th August 2019 at 15:44.
Ignoring is definitely the best advice. This young lady must have also taken the advice of an internet lawyer. Worked out well for her...
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.t...0-ignored/amp/
Street parking is totally different to parking on private retail land . Ignore OP.
Or send your man to buy your stuff?It can be frustrating to have your expensive LR, BMW etc scratched by the ordinary cars that seem to frequent car parks. Perhaps a slightly more expensive section with larger spaces would be a solution.
Some things just aren't done old chap.
Last edited by oldoakknives; 28th August 2019 at 23:29.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Yes, but the link was to a £24,500 penalty for parking on private land - it makes no difference whether it's retail or residential.
(Public) street parking is indeed different, as it is usually enforced by councils who have the power to issue fines, and so the appeals process is totally different.
Whichever you receive, the advice to ignore them is out-of-date, stupid, and possibly very expensive (as the lady mentioned in the link, and the people mentioned earlier who received CCJs as a result of ignoring parking penalties or fines, found out).
Read the article again. Private land, ticket issued by private firm. Same applies.
Last edited by GMC41; 29th August 2019 at 04:54.
I used to delight in squeezing my Volvo 240 estate between two upmarket cars parked a fraction over the line on either side, and exiting via the rear door.
If the company are working on behalf of the council or private land run by the council ( like museums ) pay the fine ( for parking on street) , if you are paying a private bullying company like Parking eye etc ...Do not pay . Unless you are a mug.
You keep saying this despite multiple pieces of evidence that this advice is out of date and likely to cause severe financial repercussions. I suspect you work for / run one of these cowboy parking bully boy companies and want people to follow your advice so you can get that 2nd platinum patek...
Would you give the same advice to the lady who ended up paying £24,500 for ignoring private parking penalties?
Would you give the same advice to the people mentioned above who ended up with CCJs for ignoring private parking penalties?
What would you have advised me to do with the court summons that I received from CEL through Northampton County Court for parking in a private car park?
You, sir, are an idiot.
Yup!
Bet you wear a trilby hat as well
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Bet you wear a trilby hat as well
Thought so!
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
You keep saying this despite multiple pieces of evidence that this advice is out of date and likely to cause severe financial repercussions. I suspect you work for / run one of these cowboy parking bully boy companies and want people to follow your advice so you can get that 2nd platinum patek...I speak from experience ..IGNORE!
I received a piece of paper which was disguised as a court summons too , a sneaky trick from the private parking company , You Sir, are the idiot .. trust me .
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