Private company parking fines

[Simbo]

Heading down to a car show with my mate couple of weeks back, he was in his car and I was in mine, we had the misfortune of my mate breaking down, he got towed to the nearest motorway services. So after the tow truck dumping him in the services we had to sit and wait on the AA coming to tow his car away.
We must have waited about 3 hours on them coming.
So comes home from work today to find a letter from a private company called CP+ informing me that I had been on their client premises (the roadside services where the tow truck dumped us) for more than the allocated 2 hours, I have been fined £100, £50 if I pay within 2 weeks, they said the 2 hour limit was clearly marked but I wasn't actually in the car park, I was in a kind of lay-by round the back area between 2 abandoned HGV's. According to the photos they sent they only have photos of me entering and leaving the car park, not of me actually being parked.
Iv heard a few stories before that if I don't pay it they probably won't chase me for it as it's not worth their while doing so, any truth in it?? anybody ever done this??. Or should I just pay it?

 

[chrisd]

Heading down to a car show with my mate couple of weeks back, he was in his car and I was in mine, we had the misfortune of my mate breaking down, he got towed to the nearest motorway services. So after the tow truck dumping him in the services we had to sit and wait on the AA coming to tow his car away.
We must have waited about 3 hours on them coming.
So comes home from work today to find a letter from a private company called CP+ informing me that I had been on their client premises (the roadside services where the tow truck dumped us) for more than the allocated 2 hours, I have been fined £100, £50 if I pay within 2 weeks, they said the 2 hour limit was clearly marked but I wasn't actually in the car park, I was in a kind of lay-by round the back area between 2 abandoned HGV's. According to the photos they sent they only have photos of me entering and leaving the car park, not of me actually being parked.
Iv heard a few stories before that if I don't pay it they probably won't chase me for it as it's not worth their while doing so, any truth in it?? anybody ever done this??. Or should I just pay it?

Don't pay, go on to www.Pepipoo.com and look under private parking tickets and clamping. Their experts will give chapter and verse on fighting any private ticket and if you do as they advise you will get it cancelled at the appeal stage to POPLA there is no legal justification to these tickets and I would never ever pay one as they will, despite anything anyone else posts here, notstand up in court.

 

[chrisd]

Don't pay, go on to www.Pepipoo.com and look under private parking tickets and clamping. Their experts will give chapter and verse on fighting any private ticket and if you do as they advise you will get it cancelled at the appeal stage to POPLA there is no legal justification to these tickets and I would never ever pay one as they will, despite anything anyone else posts here, notstand up in court.

Whatever you do, don't ignore it. That advice was the case until the law changed a couple of years ago but Pepipoo have never lost an appeal if their advice is followed and it will not cost a penny either

 

[SaintHacker]

The advice always used to be ignore, but as Chris said that has changed. You could also look on the COnsumer Action Group site, a there is also plenty of advice on there. Don't fret about it though, even if they did take you to court (about as likely as winning the lottery) they would have to prove to the judge that you parking there has cost them £100. Not a chance in hell.

 

[JCW]

The advice always used to be ignore, but as Chris said that has changed. You could also look on the COnsumer Action Group site, a there is also plenty of advice on there. Don't fret about it though, even if they did take you to court (about as likely as winning the lottery) they would have to prove to the judge that you parking there has cost them £100. Not a chance in hell.

Well said , just like wonga and faked letters , another company is RTA , google them and thier selling your business for you , they all bully the weak and work on 100 bully boy threats and they win 10 they are quids in so take the sound advise given and let us know how you got on ..............EYG

 

[chrisd]

The advice always used to be ignore, but as Chris said that has changed. You could also look on the COnsumer Action Group site, a there is also plenty of advice on there. Don't fret about it though, even if they did take you to court (about as likely as winning the lottery) they would have to prove to the judge that you parking there has cost them £100. Not a chance in hell.

The way that it's done now is to do what is called a "soft appeal" to the parking company after you get the invoice, and the appeal wording is based on whether the parking company is claiming parking fees or trespass, you then ask in the appeal letter ( templates on Pepipoo web site) for a POPLA CODE and then do a full blown appeal to POPLA citing such things as the charge is clearly not a genuine estimate of their liquidated losses, they don't have a proprietary interest in the land to allow them to bring actions, the sinage is not compliant, there was no consideration or agreement to form a contract and depending on the wording of CP+'s invoice a few other valid points that will render the charge un enforceable.

Done properly, POPLA will find in your favour and quash the charge but you need to go to Pepipoo and bone up on your particular set of details and follow their advice and, as I have previously said, you will not have to pay!

Some of these companies do court (especially Parking Eye) so it's best to deal with the matter properly and get it quashed once and for all at POPLA and one other good thing, if you lose at POPLA You can still not pay whereas they have to stop if and when you do win

 

[CMAC]

sound like thieving con men.

Move to Scotland where we don't tolerate these infringements.

 

[Simbo]

I live in Scotland, this happened in England whlle I was on a weekend away!!.

Iv been reading that pepipoo website and popla. Popla do state that they can't fight cases that are mitigating circumstances, a broken down car for example.

Thanks for the help lads. Il read more into it today.

 

[chrisd]

I live in Scotland, this happened in England whlle I was on a weekend away!!.

Iv been reading that pepipoo website and popla. Popla do state that they can't fight cases that are mitigating circumstances, a broken down car for example.

Thanks for the help lads. Il read more into it today.

You don't need to worry about mitigating circumstances because, if you use the right defences that I mentioned earlier, you cannot lose. You just have to find the argument against their particular charges that apply, so if you take the main one which is that parking over the time limit on a free car park doesn't cost any parking provider as the space is free of charge, so how can a charge of £100 (or£50) be anything other than a fine, at POPLA or in court they cannot answer that and therefore will lose on the " not a genuine pre estimate of their liquidated losses " argument. Also, you will be asking them to prove that they have a proprietary interest in the land or for sight of their contract with the land owner allowing them to charge for parking, and take court action in the event of non payment of their charge, they either cannot or will not provide this and will lose on those grounds. They might go on the "contract " method and that's an easy out, you use the earlier "it is clearly a fine" argument and add the "I didn't agree to the contract terms, the contract is not made as there is no consideration which is essential, added to which, the terms of the contact have to be readable on the notices on site which often are wrong, badly positioned and due to errors are factually incorrect

Do as I say and you will get the fine quashed

 

[The AA]

Hello Simbo,

I am a representative of the AA and I think we may be able to help you with this. We offer a confirmation of breakdown receipt which you will be able to use as proof that you wasn't simply parked there but you were broken down and had no choice. If you email chat@theaa.com with reference FO79056 and we can arrange that a receipt is sent out to you.

Kind Regards
The AA

 

[woody69]

My wife met a friend at a Service station and ended up chatting for over 4 hours (as women do). A few weeks later she (or rather I did as the registered owner) received a demand for payment due to exceeding their free parking. I just ignored it, received about 5 follow up letters, each one threatening court action etc. Eventually the letters stopped.

 

[Simbo]

Hello Simbo,

I am a representative of the AA and I think we may be able to help you with this. We offer a confirmation of breakdown receipt which you will be able to use as proof that you wasn't simply parked there but you were broken down and had no choice. If you email chat@theaa.com with reference FO79056 and we can arrange that a receipt is sent out to you.

Kind Regards
The AA

Thanks, but it wasnt actually me who had broken down, it was my friend who I was travelling with. But I had to wait with him as he was meant to be dropping his car off a bit further on then heading further south with me.

 

[Odvan]

Delighted to have just had it confirmed that a private parking ticket I got issued with was squashed by POPLA based on the operators unreasonable pre-estimate of loss.

I was 44 mins late back too but sadly/happily a £60 fine rising to £100 doesn't exactly cut it on a £1 per hour car park. Template-tastic off the net was all it took.

 

[chrisd]

Delighted to have just had it confirmed that a private parking ticket I got issued with was squashed by POPLA based on the operators unreasonable pre-estimate of loss.

I was 44 mins late back too but sadly/happily a £60 fine rising to £100 doesn't exactly cut it on a £1 per hour car park. Template-tastic off the net was all it took.

You did well as POPLA are coming up with a lot of strange decisions at the moment and always in the favour of the parking company. Everything usually comes down to GPOEL = Genuine Pre estimate of Losses and the proof that £100 fine cannot be their loss in a free or cheap car park

 

[daymond]

For more advice try going on the Honestjohn website. He has covered this subject several times in the Saturday Telegraph motoring section.

 

[chrisd]

For more advice try going on the Honestjohn website. He has covered this subject several times in the Saturday Telegraph motoring section.

I find www.Pepipoo.com as the best source of all things parking

 

[Tashyboy]

Missis tash got a parking ticket as a nurse who pays a yearly parking ticket at her local hospital.

she went through Martin Lewis and fine was squashed.

Trouble is that for every 10 fines sent out if half don't fight it, it's easy money.

 

[chrisd]

Missis tash got a parking ticket as a nurse who pays a yearly parking ticket at her local hospital.

she went through Martin Lewis and fine was squashed.

Trouble is that for every 10 fines sent out if half don't fight it, it's easy money.

Everyone should fight them, they are all scamsters

 

[Tarkus1212]

Everyone should fight them, they are all scamsters

Quite right Chris, it is a scam and one that relies on people being scared into paying up because the initial letter is threatening in nature. Even if 50% of those that receive a "fine" fight it or ignore it (and I very much doubt that the figure is anywhere near that level) then that means 50% are paying up - easy money and lots of it.

 

[chrisd]

Quite right Chris, it is a scam and one that relies on people being scared into paying up because the initial letter is threatening in nature. Even if 50% of those that receive a "fine" fight it or ignore it (and I very much doubt that the figure is anywhere near that level) then that means 50% are paying up - easy money and lots of it.

Given that the fines wouldn't hold up in court I think that parking companies should be licensed and where they use their cheating lying ways to extort money from people who think that these invoices dressed up as fines are legitimate and fair, they should be barred and their licences taken away. Also, the DVLA should be barred from giving names and addresses from these robbers

Always always fight them!