Private Parking Tickets discussion

jhalli010

Parked in Borehamwood 2/10/10 overstayed by 20 mins.got ticket dated 6/10 in post yesterday(14/10/10) mugged myself off by e mailing them appeal then saw the watchdog thing last night.Got interested and found this site,realised the whole thing is a rip off.
Intend to ignore all contact from now on unless one of you good people tell me otherwise. Only thing that worries me is that I admitted being there
on the day.
I will let you all know of any developments

trisontana

Good for you. Spread the word!

Coupon-mad

jhalli010 wrote: »

Parked in Borehamwood 2/10/10 overstayed by 20 mins.got ticket dated 6/10 in post yesterday(14/10/10) mugged myself off by e mailing them appeal then saw the watchdog thing last night.Got interested and found this site,realised the whole thing is a rip off.
Intend to ignore all contact from now on unless one of you good people tell me otherwise. Only thing that worries me is that I admitted being there
on the day.
I will let you all know of any developments

You have nothing to worry about. It is indeed a scam and not a real fine.

jhalli010

Thanks for support all a bit new to me so if I wobble a bit when threats start coming please bear with me.Having said that I am determined to see this through as it is WRONG!! WRONG!! WRONG!!

Wonder what these people tell their kids when they're asked "what do you do for a job dad/mum?"
"Well actually very little. I tell people they owe me money and if they don't pay I get someone else to threaten them until they do.A bit like being a gangster but I hide in my office and never have to show my face or even take a phone call!!"
"But what if they don't owe you any money ?"
"...............shut up and eat your cornflakes."
Sorry I am ranting but having sat most of last night reading posts on this site I am so angry at this. I have always been one of the herd paying whatever "THEY" tell me to pay without asking questions,but no more."THEY" have created a monster and it's their own fault.

taffy056

jhalli010 wrote: »

Thanks for support all a bit new to me so if I wobble a bit when threats start coming please bear with me.Having said that I am determined to see this through as it is WRONG!! WRONG!! WRONG!!

Wonder what these people tell their kids when they're asked "what do you do for a job dad/mum?"
"Well actually very little. I tell people they owe me money and if they don't pay I get someone else to threaten them until they do.A bit like being a gangster but I hide in my office and never have to show my face or even take a phone call!!"
"But what if they don't owe you any money ?"
"...............shut up and eat your cornflakes."
Sorry I am ranting but having sat most of last night reading posts on this site I am so angry at this. I have always been one of the herd paying whatever "THEY" tell me to pay without asking questions,but no more."THEY" have created a monster and it's their own fault.

Good on you for taking the time to learn about this scam please pass on to friends, family and work colleagues about this, the more people educated the better.

If you read the thread about a disabled charity you will see one has jumped into bed with a few parking companies, until they did they were advising that parking bays were advisory only in supermarket car parks, now that disabled drivers are being victimised by ppc's for simple mistakes they are now saying to pay, the reason ? They get commision for everyone who pays !

Basically major supermarkets, shops, restaurants, nhs trusts, and companies are endorsing harrassment of their clientele and patients by ppc's who operate illegally and have something akin to a nigerian 419 scam to swindle people out of money, they should be named and shamed!

baindude01

Hi all,

New to these forums (and also seriously fed up with PPCs!) so apologies in advance if this post turns into a rant....

A few months ago my missus was shopping at a LIDL store in Dalkeith, a quaint (!) little ex-mining town on the outskirts of Edinburgh. She was a regular customer at that shop and has spent a fair few quid over the years in the place. Up until relatively recently, parking in their car park was free.

Anyway she did her shop, returned to the car and put her bags in the boot. She needed to visit a couple of other places (a few hundred yards away...too close to merit moving the car) and so off she went.

Two weeks later I (as registered keeper) get the standard, very official looking letter from Athena with the two photos of our car. Letter stated that as a consequence of staying in LIDL's car park for 2 hours and two minutes, or 32 mins over the allowable period, we were now due to pay this bunch of racketeers £90 (very kindly reduced to £45 if we stump up quickly).

After a bit of research on websites like this and BBC Watchdog, I decided I wasn't gonna pay a penny until I saw the whites of their eyes across a courtroom. I have followed advice and have not responded in any way whatsoever to their communications.

After 4 letters from Athena, 2 from LRC (their "Legal Recoveries & Collection" partners in extortion) and two phonecalls which I ignored (so not only do they have my DVLA info, they also have my home landline number!) I am beginning to wonder if this is ever gonna end, and at which point does this become intimidation??

The latest letter, recieved today, states that "payment is expected by this office by no later than 11:00am Tuesday, 19/10/2010 failing which our client will consider Court action to recover the debt blah blah").

I am now seriously p*ssed off at the whole thing! Not only is my wife ('cos remember she was driving the car, not me!) stessed out at threats such as "such court action may make it difficult for you to obtain credit or such things as a mortgage or property rental, loan, mobile phone contract or other credit facilities", but I am extremely unhappy with my personal data being available for comapanies such as these to demand money in such a fashion.

Anyway, you'll be pleased to know rant nearly over. What I'd like advice on is to whom should I complain about these guys' actions, and should I now write to them?

The local rag had a feature on this issue the other week, and not surprisingly the Midlothian MP's involved - he's been swamped with complaints, but reading the article there was very little by way of sound advice; sadly a significant number of motorists have been intimidated into paying up! This only encourages PPCs and their legalised robbery! Is there nothing we can do?? Are not LIDL, and the large number of big chainstores to alienating customers by getting into bed with such companies?

Any advice appreciated, so thanks for being so patient.

Still not paying!!

CB

peter_the_piper

You're very near the end of the letter chain, just the "pretty please pay up and we will reduce the fee" type to go.

baindude01

Thank goodness!!

anniewarren

Newbie - I received a parking ticket (very professional from a machine) Premier Park Ltd. Parked in a Disabled Bay for 30mins, with my mother who is the badge holder. Unfortunately whilst helping her out of the car the badge fell between the door and seat, so was not visible to the parking attendant. Came back to find a ticket £60 if paid within 14 days. I wrote them a letter copying the blue badge and explaining with a sae. They have replied to say as I did not have the clock or the blue badge displayed they would not waive charges. Pay £60 by 2/11/10. Failure to pay the reduced charge of £60 by this date will result in the full amount of £100 being passed to our Collection Agency who will apply to the DVLA for Registered Keeper details and commence proceedings. Additional charges will also be incurred at this point. Any further correspondence will be via this Agency. I do not and have not ever parked in a Disabled Bay as I know how important they are to those that need it. OK it was not displayed but I had the Blue Badge & Clock and my mother clearly needs to park there.

BIG QUESTION WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?

trisontana

Just ignore these scam artists. You do not owe them a penny. From now on do not contact them again and ignore any correspondence from them. The "appeals" process is just one big sham as it's not independent and they turn them down in 99% of the cases. For further reassurance please read all the other threads on here that deal with private parking tickets.