Euro Car Parks 'Parking Charge Notice'

Coupon-mad · 19 January 2012 at 11:20PM

laineyg wrote: »

I have received a parking charge notice from euro car parks and notice from threads that you should ignore these. Mine is photographic evidence of my numberplate entering and leaving the said car park 67 minutes over the allocated time.

I've checked various websites and am unsure if I should ignore or pay up, just worried about the charges/debt collectors etc

can anyone help ?

Obviously ignore it, it's not a real parking ticket. I had a ECP ticket 3 years ago, they NEVER do Court. It's just about ignoring some letters and it's easy.

Watch the Watchdog video linked on 'welcome, please read before posting'. You will see it's not just a bunch of strangers on a forum telling you to ignore this scam fake PCN.

Thundercatsarego · 30 May 2012 at 11:03AM

Hi there - just wanted a bit of advice...

... myself and my mom parked in a Euro car park a couple of weeks ago. She is disabled and has the appropriate badge and, after looking at the sign (which was placed high up on the car park wall) she left the car in a disabled bay (as instructed on the sign) and off we went for an hour.

On returning, we found a ticket on the windscreen declaring that we should have also paid and displayed... when we challenged the attendent he said that it clearly states that disabled cars must park in the designated spaces but ALSO pay for a ticket... on scrutinising the sign I found tiny lettering stating this... much smaller than the rest of the lettering on the sign.

As it was so tiny, both myself and Mom had failed to spot it.

I took photographs of the sign and also wrote to Euro we would not be paying due to the insufficient signage.

they have replied rejecting my appeal and saying we must pay within 14 days...

What shall I do?

On this thread it says to ignore... but my mom is widowed and I dont want to get her into any trouble...

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

thanks

Stephen_Leak · 30 May 2012 at 11:09AM

Thundercatsarego wrote: »

Hi there - just wanted a bit of advice...

... myself and my mom parked in a Euro car park a couple of weeks ago. She is disabled and has the appropriate badge and, after looking at the sign (which was placed high up on the car park wall) she left the car in a disabled bay (as instructed on the sign) and off we went for an hour.

On returning, we found a ticket on the windscreen declaring that we should have also paid and displayed... when we challenged the attendent he said that it clearly states that disabled cars must park in the designated spaces but ALSO pay for a ticket... on scrutinising the sign I found tiny lettering stating this... much smaller than the rest of the lettering on the sign.

As it was so tiny, both myself and Mom had failed to spot it.

I took photographs of the sign and also wrote to Euro we would not be paying due to the insufficient signage.

they have replied rejecting my appeal and saying we must pay within 14 days...

What shall I do?

On this thread it says to ignore... but my mom is widowed and I dont want to get her into any trouble...

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

thanks

She's not in any trouble.

Please read this ...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=16850789#post16850789

Firstly, the legal stuff.

Only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. A private parking company (PPC) or an individual can't. Even PPCs call their tickets “Parking Charge Notices”, not “Penalty Charge Notices”. In law, they’re called “speculative invoices”.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a fair and legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and a driver entering the car park in the first place. See The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997 and Excel Parking Services vs. Cutts, Stockport, 2011, 1SE02759, the Peel Centre case.

All the car park owner (CPO) can claim from a driver in damages for any breach of contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If this is a free car park or they paid, this is £0.00. Demanding more has been judged to be unreasonable and therefore an unfair contract penalty under the terms of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997, which is not legally enforceable. See Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 and countless cases since.

What should I do now?

We don’t condone not paying or overstaying in a pay car park. If you do owe the CPO anything, then you should write to them, offering this in “full and final settlement”. Also advise them that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and that any further actions have been judged to constitute harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That ought to make the CPO call off the PPC and, hopefully, realise the potential cost of doing business with them.

However, even if you’ve written and told them who the driver was, it doesn’t make their actions any less unlawful. It just means that instead of harassing the registered keeper, they can now harass the driver.

What will they do to me?

The PPC, then a debt collector and then a solicitor will send you a series of letters. The debt collector and solicitor are usually also the PPC, but using different headed paper. These letters will threaten you with every kind of financial and legal unpleasantness imaginable, to intimidate you into paying.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a Nigerian e-mail scammer couldn't sue anyone who didn’t pay them.

What should I do then?

Continue to ignore everything you get from the PPC and their aliases. It does seem counter-intuitive to deal with something by ignoring it. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats, and stop throwing good money after bad.

Thundercatsarego · 30 May 2012 at 11:15AM

Thank you so much for this. I wasn't the driver, my mom was... they only know my name and address so hopefully they shall continue to harass me (not her, as she would break and pay!) and I shall continue to ignore.

Thank you so much for this!

give_them_FA · 30 May 2012 at 11:19AM

They WILL go away. They always do. Just laugh at their pathetic attempts to bully you into paying, and you are not even liable.

iantresman · 27 July 2013 at 12:40PM

Juan_Karder wrote: »

The company will obtain the Registered Keeper's details from DVLA.

That should be illegal breaking of the data protection act.

Umkomaas · 27 July 2013 at 4:38PM

iantresman wrote: »

That should be illegal breaking of the data protection act.

Why are you resurrecting such ancient threads with pithy one-liners.

If you want to know why DVLA can issue RK details without breaking the DPA, then there's plenty of reading on this forum and Pepipoo to explain exactly why.

The debate on this has long gone and regulars are looking at many other ways of thwarting the making available of RK data to PPCs

mcgarvigo · 13 April 2015 at 1:20PM

Hi, euro carpark have issued me with 2 parking charge
notices for parking in the west end retail park in glasgow for just over 2 hours. One of them is a debt recovery letter stating
Intended court action for £120. The other is a parking charge
for £60. What should I do as I've read they cannot pursue
this in scotland. Any advice please.

Ralph-y · 13 April 2015 at 1:26PM

Hi, please read though

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4816822

while you await further help ......

it includes the advice of starting your own thread ( not one that is nearly 3 years old)

Ralph:cool:

jase.2 · 15 March 2017 at 9:37PM

mcgarvigo wrote: »

Hi, euro carpark have issued me with 2 parking charge
notices for parking in the west end retail park in glasgow for just over 2 hours. One of them is a debt recovery letter stating
Intended court action for £120. The other is a parking charge
for £60. What should I do as I've read they cannot pursue
this in scotland. Any advice please.

Wondered how you got on with this one??

I got the same notice today from this retail park asking for £60, inclined to just ignore it and not shop there again lol

Euro Car Parks 'Parking Charge Notice'

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