Parking "fine" / charge

Lynton

Lynton

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Just wondering if anyone on here has had any experience in dealing with issues arising from overstaying "their welcome" on private car parks - e.g. Tesco's Parking Mall etc, and received a fine (invoice) in the post.

What did you do about it and why?
 
You just pay it
 
technically it's an invoice, not a fine - therefore a contract which is not abiding or enforceable. There is no fine to pay. An invoice for which there was no agreement.

No loss to the outlet centre as free parking and plenty of empty spaces. Was in the place the whole time, free parking so no loss of revenue.
 
Who is the invoice from, tescos or some other third party?
 
3rd party (and it wasn't Tesco's in the first place)

@wack - that's my line of thinking on this one after scouring the net....... just wondering if any with actual experience...
 
Ah,

if it's not the owner of the land/car park then I'd bin it.

There was a case not far from us where the supermarket took 3 peeps to court and won. To be fair to them one guy had used the car park every day to park his car as his office was 500 yards around the corner. Cost him a £200 fine and had to pay costs.
 
I had one from sainsburys in bolton lastyear.... they are run by euro carparks.

They allow you to stay 2hrs and then you get a "fine"

I was shopping and had lunch at their cafe...

When i recieved their "fine" (invoice) i contacted them and said i have proof that i was still shopping. They wernt bothered and said i have to pay or they will take me to court.

I just left it at that, and didnt pay, it would cost them to much to persue it.
 
Like Raj, I got one of these invoices a year ago from Euro car parks after parking at a Sainbury's for my shopping. I ignored it and haven't had any other contact from them in 13 months.
I don't think the company are likely to take you to court unless you are a repeat offender or using the car park for other reasons like the bloke using it for his office. I think the costs are to high for them to take most people to court.
 
cool - i am thinking the same thing.....

not worth the hassle for them for £60 ... and the OH was there all the while.

Fully understand the Tesco's guy and can understand that people could try that one in this carpark.
 
if your worried about it though, do you know anyone that works at the supermarket?

you could get them to say they borrowed your car that day for work
 
My son had this. He panicked and paid the first one without telling me about it. He then got another at KFC and showed me it.
Absolute rip off scare mongering t***ers! I researched it a bit and found out that they tend to send up to 8 letters threatening court action. Each one getting more expensive and with increased demands.
I made sure that he did nothing and sat it out to the end. They gave up finally. I think we did actually make it to 8 letters.
The annoying thing about both times, is that he was inside eating with his mates and chatting. The staff even confirmed it, but the independent parking company wouldn't reverse the charge when I phoned them.
Makes my blood boil to think how the bully people into paying. Not everyone will call their bluff. That's what they count on. Shouldn't be allowed. :bang:


kev.
 
Raj_p said:
if your worried about it though, do you know anyone that works at the supermarket?

you could get them to say they borrowed your car that day for work
Click to expand...

It is not a stupidmarket! ;)


BigBudgie said:
Ignore it.
DO nothing.
DO NOT contact the parking company or the supermarket.

This will help

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?t=28052

Rgds Budgie
Click to expand...

Ta. Will have a read in a min! Have done nothing so far!

kevshore said:
My son had this. He panicked and paid the first one without telling me about it. He then got another at KFC and showed me it.
Absolute rip off scare mongering t***ers! I researched it a bit and found out that they tend to send up to 8 letters threatening court action. Each one getting more expensive and with increased demands.
I made sure that he did nothing and sat it out to the end. They gave up finally. I think we did actually make it to 8 letters.
The annoying thing about both times, is that he was inside eating with his mates and chatting. The staff even confirmed it, but the independent parking company wouldn't reverse the charge when I phoned them.
Makes my blood boil to think how the bully people into paying. Not everyone will call their bluff. That's what they count on. Shouldn't be allowed. :bang:


kev.
Click to expand...

Yep that's what I am thinking. OH is crapping bricks at today's letter threatening a big man to turn up on the doorstep. Personally, I say bring him round.
 
I got one about a year ago for exceeding their time period on a wet Tuesday morning when no-one was there and I spent all the time using the services (and paying for them) of one of the businesses.

Mine was from Met Parking. After looking about on the internet I didn't pay and didn't get in contact. Got about a dozen letters in the end, of varying degrees of threat, and during that time they were shown on BBC Watchdog, if you look around you'll find the clip online.

Basically, it's an invoice not a fine. The only parking fines you have to pay are those from the council or the Police.
 
About 2 years ago i got 5 of these from Lidl carpark in Dalkeith,which is run by a private car park firm.
I did not park there,i used to cut through there to get to another street,which i did every morning.
When the first ticket came in i phoned them & said i wont be paying this & there will be more tickets on your system for me which i won,t be paying either.
So in the end they said they were going to waive these,i said that,s up to you no payment would have been made anyway.:lol::p
 
Lynton said:
It is not a stupidmarket! ;)




Ta. Will have a read in a min! Have done nothing so far!



Yep that's what I am thinking. OH is crapping bricks at today's letter threatening a big man to turn up on the doorstep. Personally, I say bring him round.
Click to expand...

If they have sent such a letter, send a copy to your local Trading Standards, that is unlawful harrassment. They are not allowed to send nor imply they will send someone to your door unless they have a successful ccj against you and you have defaulted payments.
 
No-one can come to your door demanding money without a court order, so let them come and then call the police when they arrive..

They are bullies who rely on vunurable people just paying up through fear. The whole lot should banned and made illegal.
 
I have experience. Not got time to read whole thread until later, but stick response to the op would be don't pay it, don't even respond
 
I've got one for £95 from HOMEBASE for being in the shop for too long ( 10 mins over the limit) - Have not and will not ever buy anything from them again, they have got number plate readers on the entrance / exit to the carpark, i have ignored the letters 6 so far each one getting more threatening - bailiffs , more charges , court charges etc etc but not had anything for the last 3 weeks.
 
I had one from McDonalds in Liverpool, as did Petemc (We were sat in there for 2 hours, chatting, and I actually ordered a second round of drinks).

Anyway, got it. Didn't reply, started reading on the net.
Chose to ignore it...Had a few more stern letters...Never amounted to anything in the end.

They're deliberate scare tactics they employ. Scare you into thinking its from the Council or Police.
Those are the only two organisations that can issue you with a proper PCN (Penalty Charge Notice). All PPC's (Private Parking Companys) issue Parking Charge Notices (Theyre not allowed to use Penalty Charge Notice, it's a protected phrase/term).

Penalty Charge Notices are nothing more than invoices, based on a contract that they assume the driver accepted upon parking in their car park.
That's what these 'invoices' are based on, the law of contract.
British law states that one person cannot enter into contract on behalf of another, so the contract that exists (if any), is with the Parking operator and the *driver*. (That's the key).
They then send the invoice to the registered owner (who may not necessarily be the driver).
Legally, you have the right *not* to incriminate yourself so not only do they have no power to request you to state who was driving, you also do not have to say whether you were or you weren't. So that's them on the back foot already.

What if it was my wife driving my car? They send me the invoice, theyre onto a loser as I owe them nothing.

The next step for them would be to sue the driver for breach of contract.
That means they would only be entitled to recompense for the monetary value they have lost.
If parking was free anyway, then that would be zero. ;)
If parking, was, say, 60p an hour, and you paid for one but stayed for three hours. They would only be allowed to sue you for £1.20, as that is the sum total of their financial loss.

Also, to take it through the courts, there would be a risk of a test case and Im sure they don't want to risk that...so they will happily just scoop up the 80% of people who pay, and just mither the other 20% who know their rights until they give up.
 
I'd be surprised if 80% pay up these so called "fines" considering the amount of time they have been given on the likes of bbc watchdog, daily mail etc

Even if 10% are gullible enough to pay up they would still be "quids in" - it's essentially a "numbers game".
 
People must still be paying them, otherwise they wouldnt bother. It would cost them more employing someone to write out the "tickets" and all the admin involved than the revenue they would gain.

Sadly, there are many people who dont realise these people are cowboys and are scared of the threatening letters (which in themselves are illegal).
The more people who can be told and who actually listen to the advice of ingnore..ignore..ignore, the better.

One forum I was on, someone posted that they got one of these and he was really worried about the bailiffs coming. Everyone on the thread told him that wouldnt happen and to just ignore it all...
He chickened out and payed up about £100..
He may aswell have just thrown it in the fire.

So long as there are people like that, these companies will continue.
 
I'm sure I heard some news to the effect that they were starting to take people to court but only in the low level courts as precedents can't be set.

The parking association or some other body wants it to become law that the registered keeper is automatically completely liable for any fines!!! It'll be a licence to fake parking infractions if that idiotic idea becomes law.
 
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