Private Parking Tickets discussion

Hadeon

Leaniebean wrote: »

You know what? I think a lot of you all rely on your mates telling you what to say and you inadvertedly spout !!!!!! Me and Pinkpinkfizz have a valid point when we are from north of the border and to be honest we have never been answered about the law differerence north or south.So come on guys whose right and whose wrong and what can we do about it all in Scotland if anythng???????????????

Leaniebean:

I concur with the posts of peter_ the_ piper & Coupon-mad.

With respect, I consider your comments to be as unreasonable as the expectations you have of this forum. It is not a dedicated legal help-line staffed by solicitors & qualified legal eagles offering a pro bono service.
Stating the obvious, but it is a forum used & contributed to by, in the main, us ordinary folk who share our common problems, personal experiences, variable knowledge &, where possible, offer advice/opinion (take it or leave it) for the information, consideration & benefit of all.

If you require professional advice/representation with your particular issues, then you are quite at liberty to seek out the services of a solicitor specialising in Scottish Law, contract law & PPC's.
Do bear in mind that legal opinion differs, even among qualified experts, & you pay around £200.00 an hour for the privilege.

You pays your money (or not), takes your choice, & then makes your own informed decision.

ckerrd

Leaniebean wrote: »

You know what? I think a lot of you all rely on your mates telling you what to say and you inadvertedly spout !!!!!! Me and Pinkpinkfizz have a valid point when we are from north of the border and to be honest we have never been answered about the law differerence north or south.So come on guys whose right and whose wrong and what can we do about it all in Scotland if anythng???????????????

If you don't like the advice here - then PAY THE "FINE"

People have been kind enough to offer their advice, based on experience and precedent. They have also been kind enough to direct you in the direction of other forums which can help allay your fears. If you choose not to read the advice given and act upon it, then you are an idiot.

For some reason you have decided that you wish to take issue with what has been posted.

Fine.

Now go away and don't bother the nice helpful people on here again.

beetplek

I`d just like to thank all of the posters in this thred that said dont reply to the firms trying to get money from you for "illegally" parking. I ignored 5 letters last year and havn`t heard anything in over the past 6 months. Just shows what you can learn from the good people on this site. My advice is, just never even respond to any letter you get. Its only in the firms interest if you do, and if you do you`ll get nothing but trouble, even if you are 100% intitled to park there.

If anyone wants to pm me and ask why and how i did what i did you are more than welcome, please do, it will reasure you.

craftymonkey_2

I would like to thank all posters in this tread including those who work for the car park industry. Martin's guide can make it worse. Private Charge Notices are simply a potential claim for breach of contract - they have no force in law - they are effectively a private dispute. So in order to make a claim they have to take you to the County Court - small claims. So ignore any letters you get, do not respond to them. Why?

• Cost - there is a non returnable admin fee even if they win.
• they have to attend the nearest court where the alleged breach of contract occurred - this is very likely to be your nearest court. The companies concerned tend to be national so someone from head office/regional office will have to attend. If it is not your nearest you ask it to be transferred to yours.
• They have to get the documentation right - they have to show you were the driver of the vehicle and therefore the other party to the contract. If you respond to any letter, you are giving them evidence as to who it might be.
• If there is any error in the docmentation such as the fact they are claiming you were the driver because you are the registered keeper their case is sunk along with their deposit. They tend have to start proceedings all over again with another fee.
• Also a District Judge would take a dim view of them launching proceedings without them first writing the letters again.
• Also as part of the proceedings they have to disclose all their evidence in advance - or the lack of it!!
• They have to show actual loss - this will only really occur if you have taken up a space in a full car park - not paid or overun. Again they will need to show that the car park was full and they turned away potential car parkers. Alleged increases in what you owe because you did not pay in time will not wash. They are potential unfair contract clauses, that is if they can show a contract exixts. Again District Judges can see through this ploy to try to up the value of the claim.
• They also do not know your status taking an unemployed or bankrupt person is a waste of time as they will be highly unlikely to be able to enforce a judgemement.
• All of the above will usually mean it is not worth it to pursue a claim, especially where the judge may make an award of no more than the cost of parking on the day.

I have had these claims and helped others avoid them - by simply ignoring the letters - they are never sent by recorded delivery - so there is never any proof they were sent or received. Again something a judge would expect from a company. No threatened court action ever occured - the companies gave up.

Hadeon

An excellent post craftymonkey, well done. It summarises the situation brilliantly.
Lets's hope it is read & followed by many if not all who get caught in the web. :T

Leaniebean

Sorry guys, I hold my hands up, I was getting a bit stressed out the other night.
You are all doing a grand job and thanks coupon mad for the link to pepipoo.
While on there someone left this link which I think you will all find rather interesting.
Would love to hear your comments on this
http://www.combinedparkingsolutions.com/legal.html

Coupon-mad

Leaniebean wrote: »

Sorry guys, I hold my hands up, I was getting a bit stressed out the other night.
You are all doing a grand job and thanks coupon mad for the link to pepipoo.
While on there someone left this link which I think you will all find rather interesting.
Would love to hear your comments on this
http://www.combinedparkingsolutions.com/legal.html

Glad you came back, and as I said I was giving you the benefit of the doubt as it was late when you posted that stressed-out post!

CPS is the company run by Perky. He likes to take uninformed patsies to Court occasionally so he can continue to line his pockets from an industry that gives NOTHING to this country. He has found a way to make money for nothing, and manages to sometimes convince judges that a contract has been formed.

I wouldn't worry about him at all - a properly defended case would not result in the examples he gives on his website. He has lost plenty of cases too but doesn't show those!

And most PPCs don't do Court anyway so it never needs defending.

Coblcris

Leaniebean wrote: »

Sorry guys, I hold my hands up, I was getting a bit stressed out the other night.
You are all doing a grand job and thanks coupon mad for the link to pepipoo.
While on there someone left this link which I think you will all find rather interesting.
Would love to hear your comments on this
http://www.combinedparkingsolutions.com/legal.html

Goodness gracious that page is horifically wrong. Just one example "Under section 143 (1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 - The registered keeper should know at all times who is driving a vehicle". Completely wrong. I would discard anything and everything that came from the imagination which produced such a mis-statement of a clearly understandable, simple and well known law.

ckerrd

[STRIKE]

ckerrd wrote: »

If you don't like the advice here - then PAY THE "FINE"[/STRIKE]

[STRIKE]People have been kind enough to offer their advice, based on experience and precedent. They have also been kind enough to direct you in the direction of other forums which can help allay your fears. If you choose not to read the advice given and act upon it, then you are an idiot.

For some reason you have decided that you wish to take issue with what has been posted.

Fine.[/STRIKE]

[STRIKE]Now go away and don't bother the nice helpful people on here again.[/STRIKE]

In light of the subsequent posts I have struck out, but not deleted, my comments

I do realise that people get scared, bullied and frightened into paying.
One must keep one's resolve and not bow to pressure.
Not at all easy in the face of pseudo leaglese letters that may well drop through your door.

The companies that operate these parking scams are beneath contempt.

Do bear that in mind should you get a letter from them

They are scum, pure and simple.

Shadders

I've been reading through the thread and it has some great advice, cheers guys.

I was just wondering, is there ever an instance where you would recommend just paying the fine? Or is it always best to just let it go away?