Private Parking Tickets discussion

esmerobbo

Falafles wrote: »

Hi all,
I am new to this forum and looking for some advice (or even just someone to complain about my situation to!).
My boyfriend parked our car on private land and paid for a ticket, which ran out before he went to collect the car.

His ticket expired at 23:02, the car was clamped at 23:10 and was towed at 23:20. The following day (a Sunday, so the banks were not open, causing difficulties to obtain cash) we were charged £430 to get our car back. £80 of which was a £40 per day "storage fee" even though they had had our car for less than 24 hours!

We paid up because they were going to charge £40/day for every day it was with them, plus the car was a hire car so not even ours!

This just seems completely unreasonable to me, but as we were in the wrong (I think my boyfriend must have been at least 30 minutes overdue on collecting the car), I don't know if we can challenge it?

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

Thanks

Good guide here to show you how to go about suing the clampers and landowners.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?137863-Clamping-Guide

IanC1965

I received a PCN from Parking Eye which showed photos of my car entering and leaving a car park. They say I overstayed by 20 minutes, but are photos of you entering and leaving a car park evidence that you were actually parked for more than you should have been?

FYI - I wasn't the driver and have informed them of this but they're being persistent at the mo'

Oopsadaisy

IanC1965 wrote: »

I received a PCN from Parking Eye which showed photos of my car entering and leaving a car park. They say I overstayed by 20 minutes, but are photos of you entering and leaving a car park evidence that you were actually parked for more than you should have been?

FYI - I wasn't the driver and have informed them of this but they're being persistent at the mo'

Totally irrelevant.

PPC = Ignore, ignore, ignore some more.

esmerobbo

IanC1965 wrote: »

I received a PCN from Parking Eye which showed photos of my car entering and leaving a car park. They say I overstayed by 20 minutes, but are photos of you entering and leaving a car park evidence that you were actually parked for more than you should have been?

FYI - I wasn't the driver and have informed them of this but they're being persistent at the mo'

Car entered car park! Car left car park! Tell em to sue the car!:p Nah don't tell em anything ignore them!

laurajmc

Hi

Thanks to everyone for all of the useful info on this thread.

So i have got a PCN from Legion Group, can't see anything about them on here but if there are any examples could someone point me to them please. I have ignored the first demand through the post and want to continue ignoring them - got 2nd letter today but haven't opened it.

What i want to do is not open them, i'd rather not read them
Any ideas how this company tends to operate? can i ignore a solicitors letter, if that comes?

I think i could use some support please!

muckybutt

laurajmc wrote: »

Hi

Thanks to everyone for all of the useful info on this thread.

What i want to do is not open them, i'd rather not read them
Then dont !
Any ideas how this company tends to operate? can i ignore a solicitors letter, if that comes?
Yes of course you can.

I think i could use some support please!

Dont worry, the only time you have to sit up and take notice is when you get officially stamped court papers, which ppc's rarely do as 99.99999% of the time they would loose.

Treat them with the respect they deserve, think of them as doggy do do you have just trodden in.

Coupon-mad

laurajmc wrote: »

Hi

Thanks to everyone for all of the useful info on this thread.

So i have got a PCN from Legion Group, can't see anything about them on here but if there are any examples could someone point me to them please. I have ignored the first demand through the post and want to continue ignoring them - got 2nd letter today but haven't opened it.

What i want to do is not open them, i'd rather not read them
Any ideas how this company tends to operate? can i ignore a solicitors letter, if that comes?

I think i could use some support please!

There was a thread on here about them only the other week, here's a quick Google search of MSE forums:

search result MSE 'LegionGroup PCN'

Ignore all the letters in the absence of a think envelope of Court papers (won't arrive). If you don't want to read the threatograms then don't - but it's actually quite amusing when you know it's all hot air. I ignored a fake ticket like that one over 2 years ago and laughed at each debt collector letter - in fact I still carry them all in my handbag to show anyone who is scared by, or uninformed about, this generic scam.

Like a lot of newbies, did you think this discussion was the only thread on these fake tickets? It's one of thousands on MSE forums on the subject of private parking tickets!

Have you read the sticky threads at the top of this board, by Crabman? One shows all the letters these companies may send and another shows the unenforceability of these fake PCNs and gives a link to a Watchdog programme showing you exactly what to do with such a bogus 'ticket'.

See my signature for the link wording to click on to read all the threads on the board - I can't link it to my signature (not allowed) so you have to find it at the top under the Banking Saving Tab. Then make a cuppa and read all the threads you never knew were here.

Oopsadaisy

laurajmc wrote: »

Hi

I think i could use some support please!

A new bra???

sburgess1

11/02/11

Subject : Parking ticket Excel Parking

My Girlfriend was given a parking ticket on 18/10/10 for parking in a disabled bay without displaying a badge. She thought it was a mother and child spot by mistake. It was on an out of town retail park in Huddersfield and there is no charge for parking there normally.
she was a bit miffed at the ticket but decided to pay as it was my mistake even though it looked like a mother and child bay.
When She got home she went on their website to pay them and She put In the ticket details and it gave Her different payment options £25 £30 £40 £50 £60 £100 £115 £125 as she knows that the payment in kirkless council for parking fines is £25 as Her mother works for Kirklees she Paid this and the website accepted this as payment and did not ask for any more money or say that the amount paid wasn’t enough so She thought she had paid the fine.
Then about 3 weeks later I ()got a bill (as i am the registered owner of the vehicle)from excel saying that I had not paid enough and the bill had been £60 and because I hadn’t paid on time that the new bill was now another £75.
I rang them up and explained that I thought I had paid and it was a mistake but they were very aggressive and said it was my fault and that I should have read the ticket properly in the first place. When I looked at the ticket it did say £60 in very tiny writing which I found hard to see at my age (44 Years) so how someone with bad sight would see it is beyond me.
I was adamant that I was not paying the extra charges so I went on line and came across the money saving expert web site which said don’t pay fines to excel at any cost as it is not officially the law that private companys cant Enforce this.
Since then I have ignored a couple of letters and the latest one which came on 1st Feb 2011 was from Roxburghe debt collectors with a new total bill of £117 saying if I don’t pay then they will pass the matter on to their solicitors name of Graham White who will review the case for legal action.
Again I have been on money saving web site and still and it says don’t pay these bills but I am wondering if my case is different because
1) I have paid part of the bill so that is like ive admitted guilt on my part
2) it tells me the cost of the fine on the ticket and I paid the wrong amount (even though It was very difficult to see as it is in tiny Print)
I would appreciate any feed back on whether to pay now or what to do as I am not knowing what to do.
Thanks

westernpromise

The first bit of advice would be, please don't post in huge bold italics.

You didn't need to pay anything at all because their contract is unenforceable. They can't make you pay more. If you look through the thread you will see lots of references to Excel and Graham White. These are empty threats. Ignore them.