Parking Ticket Advice - Private company

[GenevaSaint]

My mum got a ticket yesterday from a private firm for parking in Totton without paying. The machines were broken at the time and when she got back to the car saw the ticket and saw a fella at the machines fixing them.

 

Issue is.... she didn't take his name or any confirmation the machines were knackered. She can appeal but it's her word against the warden. The fee is £75 within 7 days or £100 after.

 

Has anyone ever just ignored these "fines"? I seem to remember people syaing they don't really have a leg to stand on if it went to court????

 

Any ideas?

[Chez]

IMO do not pay the fine.

Do not ignore the fine.

Instead write an official letter accompanying the form you send back outlining the reasons for non payment. Provide as much detail as possible, times, dates, car park name, etc. Say how you saw the person from the council fixing them on your return.

 

You might want to provide a reason for not getting the details of the maintenance officer - perhaps because by the time you had reached your car and saw the ticket he had completed the work and left.

Perhaps say something along the lines of: `I imagine the council keeps a record of all maintenance performed and can colloborate this'. You might want to find the council department that handles maintenance and perhaps ask if they keep a record of work done.

 

If you went to court you would clearly win using that evidence, unless someone from the council lies in court. They are not gong to do that and IMO they will not take this to court as it costs them money. They will cancel the fine.

 

All IMO of course. Good luck. Don't pay just for the easy life. You are in the right. Fight it.

Edited 1 April, 2011 by Chez

[saint si]

If it was a private (i.e. not council) car park, they can't touch you. Ignore it.

[Saint-scooby]

Was she parked near Lidl, they are right Nazi B stards there, the machines are normally torched, brokem or covered in spit or all three, write a letter, send it recorded and wait and see.

I have one on going at this moment with Twickenham council £120 !!

[saint si]

If it was a private (i.e. not council) car park, they can't touch you. Ignore it.

 

Just to follow up:

 

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

[toofarnorth]

As it so happens this was published a couple of days ago and one of the highlighted cases is that of someone who could not get a ticket as the machine was broken.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12859104

 

Edit: Just read above and as its a private ticket, should be ignored. Make 100% sure it is a private ticket though.

Edited 1 April, 2011 by toofarnorth
About council tickets

[tony13579]

Don't write a letter , Ignore them.

[GenevaSaint]

Was she parked near Lidl, they are right Nazi B stards there, the machines are normally torched, brokem or covered in spit or all three, write a letter, send it recorded and wait and see.

I have one on going at this moment with Twickenham council £120 !!

 

Yes it was near lidl, sounds a right bodge job.

 

Will ignore any further communications unless it ends up in court, which from what I've read isn't going to happen.

[trousers]

http://www.appealnow.com/private/

 

HAVE YOU RECEIVED A DREADED "PRIVATE" PARKING TICKET? IF SO APPEALNOW.COM CAN HELP YOU.

 

What do you do if you have received a so called "Parking Ticket" for parking on private land?

 

Firstly the use of the word "Parking Ticket" referring to a penalty imposed for supposedly overstaying or infrinding some "parking" regulation is a misnomer.

 

It will normally be issued by a private company.

 

Secondly unlike a Penalty Charge Notice (the legal name for a parking ticket issued by a local authority under Traffic Management Act 2004, or in Scotland, The Road Traffic Act 1991) it is NOT governed by statute but by contract law and property law.

 

I believe that most private parking penalties are unenforceable because

 

1. They are penalties which can only be enforced by statute (Interestingly the RAC foundation have recently taken legal advice and confirmed that a penalty cannot be levied by private individuals or companies) and

 

2. the so-called contract is often either not seen or not seen in its entirety by the motorist . Moreover the right of the car park company to levy the fine is, once again in my view, dependent on the contract with the land owner or lessee.

 

Click on this link to be kept up to date on all parking ticket matters, private or council issued.

Edited 1 April, 2011 by trousers

[rocknrollman no2]

If its a private company,dont pay it because it takes a lot of effort to go to court,so they dont bother.My wife had a ticket from a private company in West Quay and didnt pay,despite warning letters,they never followed it up.

Good luck.

[hamster]

IIRC, if the ticket includes the word 'fine' or 'fined' then it is the issuing company who have in fact broken the law.

 

Only a court of law can issue a 'fine'. They have to use the word 'penalty' or 'charge' I believe.

 

I seem to recall a council inScotland was ordered to refund thousands of 'fines' following a test case a few years back.

[saintbletch]

I'm not sure of the Totton area - was it private land or a private company enforcing parking regulations on council land?

 

If it was private land then I think the advice in this thread is probably correct. If it was council land then I think the process is different. I looked into this a year or so ago as I was fined for parking in Windsor in a council owned car park but operated by a private parking company.

 

I actually had to pay a fee to get my car out of the clamp and went to appeal - which is a joke. My ticket was valid and on the dash but had turned upside down, presumably from a draft when I closed the door. The private company considered the appeal and told me that the sign clearly stated that a ticket must be displayed. Technically correct but it doesn't half make your blood boil that you tried to follow the rules and still get stung.

 

But either way as you mother hasn't parted with any cash at the moment then, as others have said, the onus is on them to chase her and they may not have the stomach for it.

[Whitey Grandad]

Just remember that, unlike an official parking offence, you don't have to tell them who was driving at the time and they can't go after the vehicle owner.

[Crispypie]

my son had a ticket from a private parking co, we wrote and told them it was no longer his car and they completely ignored us. Kept on sending demands, they even passed it on to a debt collector. I phoned them once and told them the parking co were wrong and never heard any more about it. Even the debt co knows it a waste of time chasing it.

[Guest Dark Sotonic Mills]

Yes it was near lidl, sounds a right bodge job.

 

Will ignore any further communications unless it ends up in court, which from what I've read isn't going to happen.

 

Absolutely right. You have 90 minutes free there (which cannot be enforced) and the "contract" is unenforceable in law.

 

If you get any sh*tty correspondence from their solicitors, write back citing the following case:

 

Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163

 

just as written, and say that their contract to park is unenforceable and you relish the chance to face them in court.

Edited 1 April, 2011 by Dark Sotonic Mills

[Huffton]

Ignore everything they send you, as soon as you reply in anyway you are almost admitting being there. Ignore everything. They will keep sending letters that get more and more threatening, and then they will get bored and go away. Did I say ignore everything?

[Swansea_Saint]

I had one of these about 6 months ago from a company called 'Parking eye'

 

I was parked in ALDI down by the hobbit. Ignored first letter, they then sent me 'proof' of me going into and outside the car park and ignored that and havent heard anything since.

 

As far as I understand it when you enter into these car parks you are entering into a contract between the company and the driver and not the owner of the car like official tickets, so it would be up to the company to prove that you were driving for them to chase anything up.

[Secret Site Agent]

I have successfully appealed many tickets and a few clamps in my time, the most recent is three against Medway Council which I was successful at. I have an advantage that I have to carry a copy of the 'SIGNS AND ROAD MARKING REGULATIONS' and the 'ROAD TRAFFIC ACT' manuals with me for work.

 

The key is to be blunt with them, (if they are private) that you refuse to pay any outstanding cost as at then time you made an offer to pay as part of your contract but they refuesed acceptance,(in that they did not allow you or give you an accaptable avenue to pay - as the machine was broken). It's now too late, in your eyes, for them to come back to you. So there. Throw in DMS quoted Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163 and, if they start trying to be heavy you can always get a solictor to do you a letter refuting payment

If they decide to go for court action, there are many solicitors, (and a few Barristers) who relish the chance to cream these people in court as they have to be very tight with their evidence and very squeeky clean as well, as any little oversight is enough to put doubt in their case, and is in your favour.

These people rely on threats and intimidation as they are unregulated and with the control on clamping upcoming they are looking for easy ways to continue to make money.