Private Parking Tickets discussion

samphil

I parked in a private car park (available to shoppers) in Exeter recently, and was horrified when I returned to my car just 10 mins late to find it being clamped. I was forced to pay £100 to have the clamp released. What angered me was that on the parking info board it said you would either be issued a ticket which would be reduced upon early payment, or clamped. And yet no ticket option was given, just straight to clamp.

I sought a bit of advice from the BPA and was told the actual person clamping must be registered with them - look for a licence number on the ticket that they give you - the clamper himself MUST have one.

I decided it was not worth my stress trying to fight it, but maybe I should have. My lesson learned that I can pass onto others is DO NOT park in private car parks if there are council alternatives! The council car park would simply have issued a £50 ticket, which would have cost £25 if paid within 14 days (far cheaper risk than clamping).

Interested to know if anyone thinks I should have fought it!

moongarden

We parked in Meadowhall Retail park car park at 10pm after all the shops (except the McDonalds which has its own car parking) were closed. We walked across to the cinema on the next retail estate along the road and saw a film not having noticed the tiny 2 hour max signs.

We got a ticket through by post soon after with two photos of our car, on entering and one leaving, and a demand for £70.

Well being a DFW and having a few techniques up my sleeve I wrote back to them quoting some of the reclaiming bank charges legislation - namely that the charge they make must reflect the actual costs they have incurred. Needless to say i never got a proper response from them. Given that all the shops were closed and the rest of the car park was empty there can hardly have been any opportunity costs.

That was over a year ago and apart from two standard threat letters which didn't even acknowledge the points I raised in my (sent signed on delivery) communication and then we have heard nothing since.

sarahg1969

samphil wrote: »

I parked in a private car park (available to shoppers) in Exeter recently, and was horrified when I returned to my car just 10 mins late to find it being clamped. I was forced to pay £100 to have the clamp released. What angered me was that on the parking info board it said you would either be issued a ticket which would be reduced upon early payment, or clamped. And yet no ticket option was given, just straight to clamp.

I sought a bit of advice from the BPA and was told the actual person clamping must be registered with them - look for a licence number on the ticket that they give you - the clamper himself MUST have one.

I decided it was not worth my stress trying to fight it, but maybe I should have. My lesson learned that I can pass onto others is DO NOT park in private car parks if there are council alternatives! The council car park would simply have issued a £50 ticket, which would have cost £25 if paid within 14 days (far cheaper risk than clamping).

Interested to know if anyone thinks I should have fought it!

Well, you could always have removed the clamp yourself. Little point in pursuing the clampers for a refund - they'll do a bunk.

moongarden

samphil wrote: »

Interested to know if anyone thinks I should have fought it!

Always worth a little go even if you later cave and just pay it.

diabeticguy

This is all very well but surely you are missing the point that some !!! holes park incorrectly and they should be deterred from doing so. What other methods do the supermarkets have from stopping lazy able bodied drivers from abusing the disabled bays?

rob2360

So parking on other people's land is perfectly fine and Martin should be congratulated for giving us all this great wheeze! As an office owner and occupier who is just behind a high street it's amazing the number of people who think my and my staff's parking spaces are somehow just fine for them to park in; somehow they fail to notice the signage and in their universe being parked "all day" becomes "just a few minutes". Ha ha. Next time I'm travelling into a town and fancy parking somewhere I'll just park on someone's drive - I mean - what are they gonna do? Cheers Martin! Shame you don't list your home address at Companies House as my car would love to pay your drive an extra special visit.

Former_MSE_Archna

trisontana wrote: »

I have just received Martin's weekly newsletter, and guess what? it's headlined "Don't Pay Private Parking Fines". Come on Martin, I thought we had sorted this all out and agreed that these are not fines!

Hi there,

Unfortunately we have tight character limits when we write the tip which means we have to convey the message in a short amount of space. When people come to the article they get a full explanation.

AlfretonRed

bargepole wrote: »

You haven't been fined, it's a private company. And it isn't illegal to park there, as parking laws don't apply to private property.

Have a read of other threads on here, and you'll soon realise it's a scam. Don't pay the shysters a penny, and ignore all their rubbish threatening letters.

Hi Bargepole. Let me know where you live n I'll come and park on your drive!

I've got a small car park for my business and flat. It's just off a high street and despite the private parking sign, I have a constant battle trying to keep spaces free for my customers.
I've been blocked in, customers get blocked in and its frustrating when people take advantage like that.
I'm particularly annoyed because a few years ago the local waterboard did a re-rating and I got a water bill of £1300 for this piece of land.
So Im paying for a car park that others feel its ok to use for nothing!

Any ideas what I should do bargepole? Martin?

bargepole

r!!!360 wrote: »

So parking on other people's land is perfectly fine and Martin should be congratulated for giving us all this great wheeze! As an office owner and occupier who is just behind a high street it's amazing the number of people who think my and my staff's parking spaces are somehow just fine for them to park in; somehow they fail to notice the signage and in their universe being parked "all day" becomes "just a few minutes". Ha ha. Next time I'm travelling into a town and fancy parking somewhere I'll just park on someone's drive - I mean - what are they gonna do? Cheers Martin! Shame you don't list your home address at Companies House as my car would love to pay your drive an extra special visit.

You've clearly become confused between public parking areas (eg supermarkets) where there is an invitation to park, and private property, where there isn't.

Parking uninvited on someone's drive would be trespass, and appropriate legal remedies are available for that.

PPC "tickets" for parking in the wrong place, or overstaying, in private car parks have no legal basis, and Martin quite rightly points out that there is no need to pay the fly-by-night companies who issue these non-fines.

Coblcris

rogerbanana wrote: »

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.

The Interpretation Act means that they do not have to prove receipt merely that it was posted. To rebut receipt you could end up having to assert non-receipt 'under penalty of perjury'.

That is not something to be done if in fact you did receive the mail items.

There are much better ways to resist these companies that does not raise any exposure to the victim but instead places various and several exposures exactly where they belong. On the perpetrators.