Private Parking Tickets discussion

Alexis27

I have been issued with a final notice for a parking fine amounting to £150 and threatening CCJ charges and bailiff stuff. I and my family were having a meal in a pizza hut on one of those commercial complexes that have a number of large stores, and after the meal we wandered around the stores, never leaving the site. We were there for just under 3 hrs. I have sent the company in charge of issuing the fines, Civil Enforcement Ltd, photocopies of the meal reciept and have had the manager of the restaurant also contact them to get the fine dropped, but they are now issuing these threats. I feel like I have the moral high ground: we did not leave the space that the parking is dedicated to, and we spent money in the adjoing restaurant, so have not used the car park to 'nip into town' or for reasons other than it's intended purposes, but I don't want bailifs and a CCJ for something so trivial as a parking fine, when we surf so close to the red line as we do anyway.
so what i'm asking is: what rights do I have in this case, what can I do and how can I fight a CCJ if i am in a position to do so? Is it better to pay the £150 (making it the most expensive meal I have ever eaten) or fight tooth an nail?
Help!

It's not a fine - it's an unenforceable invoice. Simply ignore them.

It's a scam.

No chance of court. They'd lose anyway because they haven't got a legal leg to stand on. They are hoping you don't understand CCJs and bailiffs so that you will fall for their letters. Sir Roger has explained them above.

Hadeon

reigunn wrote: »

so what i'm asking is: what rights do I have in this case, what can I do and how can I fight a CCJ if i am in a position to do so? Is it better to pay the £150 (making it the most expensive meal I have ever eaten) or fight tooth an nail?
Help!:mad:

The right to totally ignore these scammers with total impunity.

What you can do is again totally ignore them with total impunity.

CCJ issues are not relevant unless they take you to court (they wont), they win (they wouldn't), and you then fail/refuse to pay the amount ordered by the court (not applicable).

NO!!! definately do not pay them & there is absolutely nothing for you to fight,(with or without teeth & nails).

Please trust the accurate advice you are being given by the good people on this forum.
Also research this & other forums (CAG & Pepippo) for added reassurance. There's shed-loads of info out there on CEL in particular as well as all the other PPC scam artists.

Don't let them take you for a mug.

reigunn

Thank you all for the info. I have looked into the MSE guidence and looked at the parking site notices in the area I have been fined for parking in and it IS clearly marked everywhere that one cannot park there for more than 2hrs. I parked there for nearly 3... so does the above advice still count? I did not notice the information on the day in question, just the part that stated it was for customers. We were customers so I ignored the rest. They clearly state that anyone who violates the terms for parking will be fined £75, followed by £150 in the case of slow payment. I just want to be sure.

taffy056

reigunn wrote: »

Thank you all for the info. I have looked into the MSE guidence and looked at the parking site notices in the area I have been fined for parking in and it IS clearly marked everywhere that one cannot park there for more than 2hrs. I parked there for nearly 3... so does the above advice still count? I did not notice the information on the day in question, just the part that stated it was for customers. We were customers so I ignored the rest. They clearly state that anyone who violates the terms for parking will be fined £75, followed by £150 in the case of slow payment. I just want to be sure.

You have not been fined, only a court can fine, only a council can give you an enforceable parking ticket, and the police can give you a fixed penalty notice, don't get confused with these tickets, here is a quick guide for you:

Parking Charge Notice (FAKE PCN) = unenforceable so completely and utterly ignore.
Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) = Issued from a council, enforceable come here for advice.
Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) = Enforceable and issued by the police, come here for advice.

So with your ticket its the first so advice is to IGNORE

trisontana

Civil law in this country cleary states that one private citizen ( i.e. a parking company) cannot punish another private citizen (i.e. a motorist). They can only claim any actual material loss suffered. As this was a free car-park then no loss has been suffered and you don't owe them a penny.

You are falling into their trap into believing they these scamsters are legitimate.

Hadeon

reigunn - I know it's still early days & I appreciate you are new to this type of scam, but with respect you don't appear to be 'hearing' the advice given.
We are absolutely sure & hope you will be.

bromsgrovebarry

Martin Lewis has a high media profile, do you think he would allow so many people to give bad advice on private 'parking fines'? Go onto Pepipoo or Consumer Action Group for more advice.

kad1

lucylucky wrote: »

If someone threatened you and said hand over your money, then many people would do just that.

Sadly many people are ill-informed as to the legality of the situation and don't realise that these scum are no more than er...scum.

Thanks, so in that case then, on what possible basis do they go getting our private info from the DVLA and why do the DVLA give them the info?

Hadeon

kad1 wrote: »

Thanks, so in that case then, on what possible basis do they go getting our private info from the DVLA and why do the DVLA give them the info?

a) On the basis of showing so called 'reasonable cause'.

b) BecauseThe DVLA make £2.50 a pop for each request & aint too fussy about how the info is then used, or should I say abused, by the PPC's against the RK.

landmark

kad1 wrote: »

Thanks, so in that case then, on what possible basis do they go getting our private info from the DVLA and why do the DVLA give them the info?

Go to https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2725231

Also read this quote

Paranoid wrote: »

Worth noting on this strand that in excess of 50 companies have electronic access to the DVLA database. Most of them PP ticket outfits.
The only (DVLA) criteria for electronic access is to be a member of the British Parking Association "Approved Operator" (!!) scheme.
The BPA appears to have no scruples about the bona fide of the members and from my experience stops communicating with complainers when attention is drawn to appalling behaviour and allows the "Approved Operator" status to continue unchallenged.

You will see that MPs do not understand the difference between a parking fine and a parking charge, and thus how much a parking charge for overstaying etc should be. Approx 99% of MPs also don't realise that the BPA is a pseudo regulator which recommends that parking charges should be the same as parking fines.

Until MP wake up and smell the coffee of corruption with the British Scamming (parking) Association, the status quo may continue unless WE tell them the truth.