Petty? Yes. Illegal? Not sure...messing with a morally corrupt car park

I had one where I parked in this car park in this pub, and the wind blew my ticket off the front of the car. I proved I had the ticket and the time they fined me, and they still charged me. In the end found some place online to fight it so just had charges of that place online. But I won't park in their car parks again. What was funny is that they were advertising for a job. Who on earth would want to work for a morally ethical car parking company?
 
Last PCN I got was in Peterborough when I went to a datacenter and they would not let me in because I didn’t have the correct access. I parked up on a double yellow outside to make a phone call and a council camera van zapped me as it patrolled the area.

There needs to be a campaign against ANPR useage for parking offences.
 
Reminds me of the time I got a £100 parking fine, for parking in my works car park!!! LOL

Couldn't make it up. In the summer heat (remember one of those) my window sticker fell off, and they had me. Despite them knowing my car sits in pretty much the same bay for the past 8 years.

Tried to appeal but they wouldn't listen.
 
I've never paid a private fine when I've been in the right and I've had a few. As has been said, they're scumbags.

Letter usually myseriously makes its way directly into the shredder.
 
I guess this is the new trick the private car park people are using these days.

I remember there were some scandals years ago with them wheel clamping cars at any excuse, and then holding the car hostage until a big fine was paid. I think the law changed because of that.

So I guess this is their latest money maker.
 
The "appeal" process is part of the scam for private parking charges - they're not independent despite what they claim and they almost never succeed. Participating in the appeal just reinforces the notion that a fair consideration of the facts has taken place.

By agreeing to be bound by the outcome of their pretend appeal system you risk making yourself liable if it goes to court. They try and make what they do look as "official" as possible but their claim has little more basis than me putting a sign on my garden gate that says entering my garden will incur a fee of £10 and entering the garden means you've accepted that charge. You haven't been "fined", you've been sent an invoice made to look like a fine.

For future reference, complain to your MP and local councillors about the company behind it - you never know when action is already pending against certain companies and your case may help tip the balance. I found this when the same thing happened to me - the car park was gone within six months and the enforcement company ceased trading.

Rather than fall into line with the bogus review and appeal process, write back to them stating that you do not accept their claim, as a contract was never formed and you look forward to seeing them in court. They'll send you threatening letters, they may get a debt collection agency to try and frighten you etc but ultimately it's not up to them to decide whether you owe them money or not and they often don't bother going to court because a) it's not worth their time and b) they don't want to lose too many cases as it'll undermine their chances of continuing their scam.

As stated earlier in the thread DO send them a schedule of your charges for dealing with their correspondence and tell them that if they contact you again they will have signalled their acceptance of YOUR T&C's and will be charged accordingly. Will this stand up in court? Maybe, maybe not but, again, they're not looking to get bogged down in arguments they just want to make a quick buck at your expense and as soon as you make it complicated it's starting to cost them money. If they're daft enough to take their chances in court, counterclaim for the charges they've incurred against you.

It can also be worth finding out who the landowner is as a lot of these things happen on retail parks. Big chains - who might have innocently handed a contract to a company years ago to stop people using them as free football parking - HATE the publicity that come with these and in these days of social media it's not hard to stir up some backlash against them. Even though the larger company may have closed the store on the site in question, they may still own the land.

One final point, remember that they can only chance their arm against the registered keeper of the vehicle if they cannot identify the driver of the vehicle at the time, or if the registered keeper is unable or unwilling to identify who was driving at the time. If you (as registered keeper) can supply them with the name and a serviceable address for the person driving at the time, your duty has been discharged. So double-check if your cousin Alan was visiting from India at the time...
 
Russinating said:
I've never paid a private fine when I've been in the right and I've had a few. As has been said, they're scumbags.

Letter usually myseriously makes its way directly into the shredder.
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That's the thing, if you know you are clearly in the right it's probably safe to ignore it. When their lawyers look at it they will know they aren't going to win.
 
Monkeynut said:
If you took your plates off before you left, would they keep looking for you in the car park? Is this all automated?
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If their systems are anything like the one at the car park I got 'fined' at then after 24hrs from entry it automatically issued an invoice.

It happened to me. I went into the car park, which was free for 2 hours, I stayed no more than 45mins however the entrance/exit was north/south facing & just as I exited the sunlight was just at the right angle to "blank" my plate so I wasn't recorded as leaving. I wrote to them stating I reject the claim as I have CCTV (dashcam) evidence that I left the car park within the specified time frame. They asked for the clips to be email to them so I obliged and they cancelled the 'invoice'

God knows how many have had a similar issue and just paid.
 
Last time I got a 'fine' from a private car park I ignored it. I got lots of letters which got progressively nastier and from progressively more scumbag-sounding entities, but in the end they stopped.

I have had a fine from a council car park though, similar to someone above, I had a permit and it blew off one day. Their letter said their database of exempt cars didn't list me so I had to show the permit, eventhough my car was obviously in the OTHER database of people with a permit. Idiots but for £35 it's impossible to argue with a bureaucrat. A friend got a council PCN because a police car boxed him into a space. Even with a written transcript from the police and their evidence, the council wouldn't budge.

The mistake is assuming anyone who works in these industries is rational, unfortunately I expect they have to enforce their rules as written otherwise their jobs would probably be even worse than they already are. I'm sure they also deal with plenty of people wilfully breaking the rules and trying to get out of paying.
 
Resident said:
If their systems are anything like the one at the car park I got 'fined' at then after 24hrs from entry it automatically issued an invoice.

It happened to me. I went into the car park, which was free for 2 hours, I stayed no more than 45mins however the entrance/exit was north/south facing & just as I exited the sunlight was just at the right angle to "blank" my plate so I wasn't recorded as leaving. I wrote to them stating I reject the claim as I have CCTV (dashcam) evidence that I left the car park within the specified time frame. They asked for the clips to be email to them so I obliged and they cancelled the 'invoice'

God knows how many have had a similar issue and just paid.
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Haha yeah by their records you'd still be there, right?
 
I once went on a stag do in Cardiff and paid for 3 days in advance at an NCP. Week later I got a fine in the post so assumed it was a mistake, sent them my proof of payment along with the times and dates I paid for, basically everything they should have needed and it was still rejected with a generic response. Had to take it to the ombudsman in the end which was a chore and it was eventually dropped.

Ive had several like this and its always the same. They're exploitative ***** for the most part so good on you. Just play of the safe side and cover yourself.
 
Beansprout said:
Last time I got a 'fine' from a private car park I ignored it. I got lots of letters which got progressively nastier and from progressively more scumbag-sounding entities, but in the end they stopped.

I have had a fine from a council car park though, similar to someone above, I had a permit and it blew off one day. Their letter said their database of exempt cars didn't list me so I had to show the permit, eventhough my car was obviously in the OTHER database of people with a permit. Idiots but for £35 it's impossible to argue with a bureaucrat. A friend got a council PCN because a police car boxed him into a space. Even with a written transcript from the police and their evidence, the council wouldn't budge.

The mistake is assuming anyone who works in these industries is rational, unfortunately I expect they have to enforce their rules as written otherwise their jobs would probably be even worse than they already are. I'm sure they also deal with plenty of people wilfully breaking the rules and trying to get out of paying.
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I've seen town/parish councils fine county councils when a county council employee was on a job fixing the parish council's IT equipment.

When asked why they wouldn't be reasonable and drop the charge, the response was (very matter-of-fact):

"As a parish council our funding is basically non-existent, and we need every penny we can get. We therefore have a policy of never rescinding any parking ticket, under any circumstances."

Which in turn means if they have a problem with their equipment, they can go fizzle next time.
 
Personally I think you should find a piece of their land and dig a hole about a foot deep. Put in a 2.4m high 2x4 piece of wood and fill the hole with concrete. Then look on Facebook market place for a cheap or even free UPVC front door, Get some hinges from wickes and fix to the wood, Now your ready to connect the door. Finally proceed to poo through the letter box.
 
Beansprout said:
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The mistake is assuming anyone who works in these industries is rational, unfortunately I expect they have to enforce their rules as written otherwise their jobs would probably be even worse than they already are. I'm sure they also deal with plenty of people wilfully breaking the rules and trying to get out of paying.
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I got quite a few tickets from the Council during my short stint as an Uber driver, I always contested them regardless how unlikely it was to be cancelled, a lot of the times if reason was good they cancelled.

However I got my back with the my local council once. They did some line markings on our road once, somehow they managed to get a small drop of paint on my rear bumper. Put in a claim and they paid me £300 (had to send in 2 quotes from garage for the work). I didn't bother getting the work done in the end as it was white paint on a white car and not very noticeable. Sold the car not long after as well.
 
I'd happily argue to a judge that requiring payment within 10 minutes is unfair
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Is there a sign outside the car park warning of that. Just saying T&C doesnt make it legal, making people queue for one machine with a time limit is easily arguable as a setup.
 
great story love to hear these about the bad parking firms that just do the bare minimum to be legal being on the receiving end of the grief they cause. :D

I once got a PCN incorrect signs around the car park no details on how to pay so the fine goes up:mad: some of these companies are design to rack up fines....to cut a story short, did a quick companies house check & popped around the directors house to offer to pay the fine before the price went up anymore. Although after a short discussion the nice chap offered to right it off:cry:
 
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