Private Parking Tickets discussion

rosie1ogrady

I have received two parking fines, one from Wickes and the other from a neighbouring car park Rock Retail Park. Both times I have gone over the time limit and therefore stand guilty as charged. The problem I have is the amount they are charging me. One is for £95 (reduced to £75 if paid within 14 days) and the other is £75 (reduced to £50 within 14 days). I have appealed against both stating that I didn't realise it was a paying car park as there are no meters and did not notice their warning signs. I believe there was a similar story that appeared on a consumer programme on tv a couple of weeks ago (not sure which one) and they managed to have the fine reduced to about £30.

My options are to: (1) Pay up. £125 coming out of my monthly wage arghh!! (2) Ignore and hope they will give up. (3) Contact consumer programme.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received to help me make my mind up.

trisontana

rosie1ogrady wrote: »

I have received two parking fines, one from Wickes and the other from a neighbouring car park Rock Retail Park. Both times I have gone over the time limit and therefore stand guilty as charged. The problem I have is the amount they are charging me. One is for £95 (reduced to £75 if paid within 14 days) and the other is £75 (reduced to £50 within 14 days). I have appealed against both stating that I didn't realise it was a paying car park as there are no meters and did not notice their warning signs. I believe there was a similar story that appeared on a consumer programme on tv a couple of weeks ago (not sure which one) and they managed to have the fine reduced to about £30.

My options are to: (1) Pay up. £125 coming out of my monthly wage arghh!! (2) Ignore and hope they will give up. (3) Contact consumer programme.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received to help me make my mind up.

You are not "guilty" and they are not "fines". you have not done anything wrong and you have not broken any laws. From now on do not not contact the parking company, and ignore all correspondence from them.

You can contact a consumer programme if you want, but on past experience they don't seem to have much of a clue, with the likes of Dom Littlewood still calling these unenforceable invoices "fines"

mrbrightside842

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Yes and Yes....

(usually, check it does not say anything about council first)

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Yes of course, usually in the guise of a company like Euro Car Parks or something similar.

It's easy to tell. A Council one has a Council logo and calls it a Penalty Charge whereas a private one 'should' call it a Parking Charge (if they use the word Penalty it makes no difference, you must still ignore it). PPC tickets are a SCAM.

I got my ticket last year in a Supermarket car park, they are notorious for allowing these scum-bags on their land - whose goons haven't the first clue about fairness/customer service/the Disability Discrimination Act. I ignored it all of course and after a few laughable letters they crawled back under their stone & pursued easier mugs.

It's all about extorting money, don't fall for their fake PCNs or scary 'debt collector' letters! :mad:

Dave_save wrote: »

Most of the retail car parks seem to be 'managed' by PPCs. There was a case here recently of a disabled guy writing to his MP to assist him in having a £110 charge cancelled for parking outside B&Q and straddling a white line. A few yards away there were 100s of free spaces, so B&Q and these scam merchants couldn't exactly say they had suffered any loss whatsoever. When he managed to get the charge revoked, the MP was applauded in the local press for getting the 'FINE' cancelled. It's just a pity our honourable members and the press don't understand the legality of the word 'fine' in relation to these scams.

Thanks. Yes it's definitely not a council one, I can't think of the name on it at this moment though. They say it's £25 now, or £50 after 14 days. I'm weak and likely to buckle if they persist for a long time though, scare tactics will work on me, so I'm tempted to pay the £25 rather than being harrassed for the £50

rosie1ogrady

trisontana wrote: »

You are not "guilty" and they are not "fines". you have not done anything wrong and you have not broken any laws. From now on do not not contact the parking company, and ignore all correspondence from them.

You can contact a consumer programme if you want, but on past experience they don't seem to have much of a clue, with the likes of Dom Littlewood still calling these unenforceable invoices "fines"

Thanks for that...:)

Coupon-mad

mrbrightside842 wrote: »

Thanks. Yes it's definitely not a council one, I can't think of the name on it at this moment though. They say it's £25 now, or £50 after 14 days. I'm weak and likely to buckle if they persist for a long time though, scare tactics will work on me, so I'm tempted to pay the £25 rather than being harassed for the £50

They don't persist for very long, please, you are not weak and we will give you strength!! :T

Why not post on here for reassurance each time?

My letters were one a month for about 4 months, then nothing. It's not a big deal if you know what to expect, suddenly you'll be thinking 'oh, I haven't had any more letters after that 'Final Notice' 8 weeks ago...' :rotfl:

If you pay these scumbags then as I see it, you are helping to finance this scam! Are you happy to do that, help fund them to carry on picking on families and other poor people who cannot afford their fake fines but don't know any better?

Please don't be a victim nor a sponsor of these scammers!

Coupon-mad

rosie1ogrady wrote: »

I have received two parking fines, one from Wickes and the other from a neighbouring car park Rock Retail Park. Both times I have gone over the time limit and therefore stand guilty as charged. The problem I have is the amount they are charging me. One is for £95 (reduced to £75 if paid within 14 days) and the other is £75 (reduced to £50 within 14 days). I have appealed against both stating that I didn't realise it was a paying car park as there are no meters and did not notice their warning signs. I believe there was a similar story that appeared on a consumer programme on tv a couple of weeks ago (not sure which one) and they managed to have the fine reduced to about £30.

My options are to: (1) Pay up. £125 coming out of my monthly wage arghh!! (2) Ignore and hope they will give up. (3) Contact consumer programme.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received to help me make my mind up.

Ignore, they WILL give up. It's not a real fine, you just have to ride the storm of rubbish 'debt collector' letters, that's all:

Private Parking Letters, what to expect

Relax and live your life, debt collectors are not bailiffs, they can't come round & seize goods, and the firm can't just apply for a CCJ even if their letters seem to suggest it.

Ignore each and every letter in the absence of actual Court Papers (which will never come). Whichever programme it was that got a pretend 'fine' reduced to 'only £30' are not worth the time of day!

Oopsadaisy

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Are you happy to do that, help fund them to carry on picking on families and other poor people who cannot afford their fake fines but don't know any better?

Gee, that's almost as emotionally blackmailing as the PPCs cr4p!!!

Some people are ultra-cautious and so paying £25 stops the chain of ever threatening letters....esp if it wasn't their car and their dad/nan keeps panicking every time a 'solicitor/DCA' letter drops on the doormat.

I personally recommend never paying the scum.

peter_the_piper

just count yourself lucky, the local wickes has 3 hours parking and then they clamp. They even clamp taxi's picking up disabled folk from the Tesco's on site. (DYL's )

teesside38

Hi all,

first of all may i say how glad i am i've found this website and i particular this topic, the amount of feedback is incredible and very reassurring. I am impressed by people's resolve and determination when it comes to ignoring the letters but i have a few questions.

I recieved two parking fines from a private parking company recently. The brief history behind them is; i was visiting my girlfriends flat and i parked in someone else's space. That person reported me and the parking people came, removed my car from the space and put it by the side of the road.

Now i was seething with anger at the fact they moved my car but this was doubled when i found not one but two parking fines on my window - one for a removal fee and one for parking in the wrong space :mad:

Having read through all the 59 pages of posts on this topic i have decided not to pay the combined £150 fee. However, my car is registered at my parents and no doubt the parking company will find this out when they contact the DVLA. I DO NOT want these people, debt collectors etc bothering my parents.

So i'm after some reassurrance really and general advice about the procedure these companies adopt:

- do they carry out their threats?
- how long does the whole ignoring process take before it all stops?

Finally, i must admit i did park in someone else's space, there are signs up warning you of the consequences of this and i did commit an offence. Am i still right to adopt the silent approach?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as it seems people like me seem to post when they have a problem but not necessarily when they have been successful in ignoring these letters.

Thanks.

anewman

teesside38 wrote: »

However, my car is registered at my parents and no doubt the parking company will find this out when they contact the DVLA. I DO NOT want these people, debt collectors etc bothering my parents.

Any letters would be addressed to you.

teesside38 wrote: »

- do they carry out their threats?
- how long does the whole ignoring process take before it all stops?

They don't ordinarily carry out their threats. Worst they could legally get away with is to take you to court, then if the case goes against you and you don't pay within a set amount of time, only then can bailiffs who can actually legally do anything to recover funds be used.

The one thing to NOT ignore is court papers. If you get them come to here and pepipoo for advice (this is highly unlikely to happen though - and it is known for fake papers to be sent to try scare people into paying).

teesside38 wrote: »

Finally, i must admit i did park in someone else's space, there are signs up warning you of the consequences of this and i did commit an offence. Am i still right to adopt the silent approach?

You didn't commit a criminal offence. Merely a breach of contract. That contract is with the driver, and you're not the driver and have no legal obligation to tell them who it is.