Private Parking Tickets discussion

peter_the_piper

OK, I can understand your concern, I suggest that you also look on Pepipoo http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30 and post on there with all the information including a scan of the ticket given. It is almost certain that NCP are pretending to be a Railway Agent but it would be best to confirm.

davogs

Most people don't know about the SIA requirements mentioned in Martin's comments. In fact in my town (Hull) non of the clamping staff employed by the clamping company are SIA approved and are therefore committing an offence. Furthermore the SIA states that the vehicle must be taken to a secure compound pending release. In fact when they tow a vehicle away they refuse to give it's wherebouts until the fee (£275.00) is paid. In some cases the vehicle had only been towed to the next street !! Yet they continue to get away with it. What other private organisation can take your property without a legal summons or or court order ?

peter_the_piper

Regretably the recent government "CON sultation" was aimed more at the clampers than at the public. It was a bit like asking turkeys to vote for xmas. It seems they don't have any concerns about the motoring public, just how much they can screw out of us and also how much they can get from the clamping crooks.

rogerbanana

it is possible to get away with any fine, by disputing you received any correspondence. if of course they sent it via recorded delivery thats another thing, but i asked why they didnt in court and the magistrates agreed it would solve a lot of cases before they reached the bench, and awarded me appearance costs.so, throw away any letters and let them chase you. in court they have to prove you received notification and read them. rogerbanana.

sanjaymaz

We have some issues with parking in our flat. The directors of our flat management company have signed a contract with a parking ticket company which is breach of the terms of our lease. I have therefore written to them to tell them that should they ticket any vehicle owned or being used by me, my family or visitors to our property, then they will be liable for a fine of £65 which will accompany a letter to them. So far I've sent them 2 invoices and am considering whether I should take the company to court for failure to pay.

sanjaymaz

Carrie74 - simply send them a letter stating that the company and any of its agents are explicitly forbidden to enter your property. That way if the bailiffs turn up, DO NOT let them in (they have no right of entry anyway) and call the police telling them that you are being harassed and you have trespassers who are being threatening. Good luck.

PaulS43

I would suggest that if you are compelled to hand over money because your car has been clamped, a much stronger comment to write on their paperwork is the phrase PAID UNDER DURESS rather than Paid under Protest

Also, as the article which led me here suggests, the clampers claim that the driver has agreed to being clamped because he (the drive) has failed to obey (notice) their signs which state something along the lines of "By parking here, you agree we can clamp you and extort money from you"....

What's good for the goose....

Why not put a notice in your windscreen under your tax disk which says "By your action of attaching a wheelclamp to this vehicle you agree that such a wheelclamp becomes the property of this vehicle's owner and that as such he or his agents may remove, damage or dispose of it as he sees fit." Indeed, if you drive an old banger, why not put this on the hubcaps. The clamper could hardly fail to notice the gift he were making of the clamp by his actions.

And in any case... If this doesn't work (you forgot to put such a notice in the window of the car or don't have the balls to cut the clamp off regardless) and you find yourself clamped on a hardstanding surface, then a clever thing to do is to jack the car up with a trolley-jack and physically man-handle / pull it off of the private land where it was parked and onto the public highway. If a clamper does not remove the clamp IMMEDIATELY, then there is no grey area - this is blackmail and extortion (the whole lot is in Scotland, anyway).

Clampers rely of the rules of "distress damage faisant" (<bang this in a search engine and read what it says).... The thing is, they with-hold the vehicle because they claim for the ongoing damages of having the car parked there It's perverse because were they suffering damages by having the car parked where it had been clamped, then they are actually escalating the damages they're suffering!!!!

The whole thing is a thieves' charter and is completely outlawed in Scotland, whose Law-Lords read the theft act 1968 in a different way to down here in England. Personally, I'd fight these people any way I can

PaulS43

Had a letter / invoice through the post following on from a private parking ticket? Please find below a copy of what I sent a firm based in Sheffield following my finding a ticket affixed to my windscreen and subsequently ignoring it a couple of years ago. They wrote to me about 6 weeks after I'd got the ticket demanding that I cough up or else. This is what I sent back. You are free to copy this and use it yourself. By all means give a copy to your friends too (or tell them where to find it). I don't like thieves, or extortion racketeering! This actual letter (which I have merely depersonalised) worked a treat and I heard absolutely nothing more. I sent it by recorded delivery. The bits in blue are the bits you need to change for your ticket. Do NOT sign the letter - just print your name - and don't forget to keep a copy and the recorded delivery slip:

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]DATE[/FONT]

The Manager
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Central Payment Office[/FONT]
NAME OF SCAM TICKET FIRM
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]ADDRESS 1[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]ADDRESS 2[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]ADDRESS 3[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]ADDRESS 4[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]POSTCODE[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Sir or Madam,[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]TAKE FORMAL NOTICE[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
Your Reference "PCN" Number:ticket reference number

I refer to your unsolicited and unwanted communication which you have addressed to my person as part of an attempt to extract monies from me using what purports to be official documentation when you have no lawful basis to do so. Your correspondence has caused to my person and family much anguish, anxiety, fear and personal distress and as such I emphatically insist that you do not continue to pursue this course of conduct which is nothing less than harassment.

Should you at any time in future send me any further correspondence or come calling upon my home regarding this matter, you accept that by so doing, your company, its representatives and agents will once again cause me and my family to suffer such anguish, anxiety, fear and personal distress. In such circumstances I will immediately pursue a complaint of harassment against your company. The Police will be notified about this matter should your behaviour not stop immediately.

In closing, I refute entirely any suggestion or claim that I owe your company any money whatsoever. I fervently trust I shall not hear from your company any further.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
Yours faithfully
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]NO SIGNATURE AT ALL
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Your Name (just printed - do not sign)
[/FONT]

MacBoy

There is a flip side to this.

Our private development has allocated spaces for each flat/house detailed in the individual deeds. We had been plagued for years by local criminals abandoning cars in our residents' spaces for use in later 'jobs' (a common practice - ask the Police). One car was left for over two years to rot - it ended up becoming a toilet for foxes and other vermin.

One neighbour was threatened by thugs when he challenged them. We tried the Police, Council and DVLA (these vehicles were invariably short or non-taxed), but to no avail. The law provides little or no protection for people like us - and is extremely vague when it comes to nuisance parking on private land.

We put a self-administered PPS in place (we issue any tickets, not wardens), with the consensus of all residents earlier this year and it is working brilliantly.

We have what we believe to be an extremely fair solution, whereby the odd genuine mistake by a resident/friend/workman is given the benefit of the doubt and tickets are only issued by a director of the Management Co. Residents are also issued a temporary permit, which can be lent to friends and visitors.

We take photographic evidence of any infringements and have signage positioned so that no-one parking can claim they didn't see it.

We have issued a couple of tickets to abusive residents who knowingly parked more than one vehicle on site, but apart from that we have achieved 100% compliance almost instantly and our car park is clear.

We are not using this as a revenue raiser - we raise sufficient money for the upkeep of the development through management charges. Our motivation is entirely focused on protecting our property rights and the scheme is working enormously well for us.

What is unfair about this? (and no I am not a shill for the PPCs - just a very happy resident and director).

I am all for fighting abusive companies - but the coverage here and on other sites tends to be one-sided.

Please don't fall into the trap of promoting a 'thieves' charter' - there are fair applications of these schemes too.

Regards
Mac

jamesarmitage

Totally agree with Paul. DO NOT sign any correspondence - it is not unknown for these people to scan your signature then put it onto another letter puporting to be from you (The wonders of modern technology!)