Private Parking Tickets discussion

herbie-152

MSE_Martin wrote: »

In that case you'll be pleased to hear that yesterday alone nearly 100,000 people viewed the private parking guide. And yes I have pitched it as a potential idea to vine

Martin,

If 100,000 people a day are reading your guide to this, then you have a fantastic opportunity to educate and change companies' behaviour.

It's important that we don't get judgemental here. It would be as easy to argue that if I've signed a bank's T's & C's and I go overdrawn without their permission I should be happy to accept a punitive fine, as the scenario that a private car park operator should be able to "fine" me if I don't park in accordance with their arbitrary rules.

Fundamentally, both the bank and the car park operator are acting outside of the law. By threatening people with debt collectors and court action, I would even suggest that the car park operators are demanding money with menaces. They get away with it because people don't know any better. You can change this.

Once you have educated the country, and I look forward to hearing you talk about this on Radio 2, you can then move on to the scandals of clamping (deemed illegal in Scotland) and the fact that these private car park operators can get access to information on car ownership from DVLA.

Keep up the good work.

Herbie-152

Coblcris

Martin,
I add my congratulations for the coverage you have achieved and the increased awareness that must have resulted in the general public. 100,00 hits is significant but there remains a huge proportion of the public that remains unaware so trying to address that through other media is excellent.

I have to add one aspect that is not discussed that much and that is all the 'Notices'; and letters from these companies break many statutes and regulations as do the vast majority of their websites. The list is considerable ! The applicable penalties vary from fairly low on the statutory scale to a considerable period in jail, depending on the violation of course.
Please trust me when I say that I have seen a large amount of paperwork from a large selection of these companies and I have never yet seen one set of lawful and legal paperwork

With around one hundred and fifty of these parking companies operating the combined drain on the public is considerable. Many many millions of pounds are being taken from the public via unlawful and often illegal means.

Size and reputation of the company means nothing at all. I have seen what I consider would be found clear Fraud in court by some of the more household names in this industry.
Cheating the public is the way this business operates in all parts of the spectrum

And of course the BPA is completely failing to perform as it should as an Accredited Trade Association yet the DVLA, whose remit it is, fails every time when put to the test of making the BPA do what it should do.

Of course there are sub textual issues which are probably regarded as politically sensitive by mainstream broadcasters. I am sure you are fully aware and able to assure broadcasters that you will stay on the consumer focus and not be controversial.

Although my personal opinion is that a bit of controversy may generate much better coverage. But I am not a public figure in consumer rights so my options are understandably different than yours.

If you wish a breakdown of the laws and regulations broken as a matter of course by these companies then contact me. Be aware it will take several days elapsed time to prepare if you wish to avail yourself of this offer.
Irrespective of my offer please keep on with your valuable campaign.

annjoy

Why are DVLA giving out registered owner's names & addresses? I presume this is where these companys are getting them from. Surely they should only be given out to police or councils?

My son has recently received one of these "parking tickets" (for £95!!) complete with photos of his car and the time he arrived and left the car park. He overstayed his parking time limit so they fined him. He is ignoring it and the threatening letter that followed.

Chris-M_7

Hello world,
Just a general question after reading the latest guide on private parking/clamping..

Do any different rules apply when they are dealing with a disabled driver,
displaying the correct badge & clock..

I have not had any experience of this, just thought it would be potentially pretty bad if someone disabled returned to their car and found it clamped or towed away..

trisontana

annjoy wrote: »

Why are DVLA giving out registered owner's names & addresses? I presume this is where these companys are getting them from. Surely they should only be given out to police or councils?

Because the DVLA is prostituting itself and selling this information to practically anybody. It's a nice little earner for them.

bargepole

Chris-M wrote: »

... Do any different rules apply when they are dealing with a disabled driver, displaying the correct badge & clock? ...

Blue badges / clocks only have legal validity in Council car parks. Despite what it might say on the notice, "disabled" bays in private car parks are there as a courtesy, but don't have any more legal significance than if they painted a picture of a little green man and put up a sign saying "Martians Only".

The law in Scotland has changed recently to extend disabled bay enforcement to private car parks, but not in England & Wales.

bargepole

annjoy wrote: »

Why are DVLA giving out registered owner's names & addresses? I presume this is where these companys are getting them from. Surely they should only be given out to police or councils?

The DVLA will give out registered keeper details to "anyone having reasonable cause for requiring it". They charge PPCs £2.50 a time for this service, and apparently rake in £6,000,000 a year from it, so don't expect them to give up this [STRIKE]racket[/STRIKE] revenue stream anytime soon.

ineedacoffee

just looking for some advice.... i parked my car in a mates car park for her flats in the eve, i parked neatly in a visitors bay but didnt realise i needed a visitors permit displayed (i was visiting her and was in a visitors space)

3 weeks later i get a parking notice in the post (presumbaly they checked with the dvla as to where the car was registered) with an order to pay a £75 fine as I didnt display a permit. there was nothing left on my car at the time this is the first I have heard of it. Im really nervous about ignoring it. apparently there are signs up sayin about permits but I didnt notice them as its the first time I have parked there.

they have attached a pic of my car but its just of my windscreen with no ticket on or anything, u cant even see my number plate or the car in situ.

My partner thinks i should pay it as we dont want baliffs round or anything! they do have cctv, or I would say i wasnt driving? they say they are a member of the BPA.

any advice urgently please! if I do pay i would have to do so in the next few days or it becomes a larger amount. worried! its horrible how they stress u out like this.

ineedacoffee

ps as to my above post - i def had to be a visitor as a resident lets you in the elctronic gates so I couldnt have been abusing it to park there for free, you have to be 'let in'.

bargepole

ineedacoffee wrote: »

My partner thinks i should pay it as we dont want baliffs round or anything! they do have cctv, or I would say i wasnt driving? they say they are a member of the BPA.

any advice urgently please! if I do pay i would have to do so in the next few days or it becomes a larger amount. worried! its horrible how they stress u out like this.

Have a read of Martin's article and dozens of other threads on here, and you'll soon realise that they have no powers to enforce this. Bailiffs can only get involved once you've been to court, lost the case, and failed to pay the judgement - all about as likely as winning the lottery jackpot.

The BPA are a trade organisation for private parking companies, funded by their ill-gotten profits.

They will send increasingly threatening letters, in which the charge will increase by £1 million pounds a day, a plague of locusts will descend on you, your children will be taken in to care, you and all members of your family will be blacklisted for the next 50 years - it's all bluff and bluster and part of their scam.

Ignore everything they send. They don't know who was driving, so they have no case if they were ever daft enough to try a court claim.