Private Parking Tickets discussion

trisontana

mark_howard wrote: »

Last weekend I parked at the local sports centre & the signs said that I must register at reception to avoid getting a ticket. Unfortunately due to a large number of people at the reception, by the time I came to pay I had forgotten to give them my car registration.
When I came out there was no parking ticket on the windscreen. 3 days later I received a letter saying that I had to pay £75.00 within 14 days or the fee would increase to £150.00
I called the sports centre & they said there was nothing they could do & that I had to contact the people issuing the fine. The receptionist did mention they have had a number of complaints & were trying to get out of the contract with them. She also mentioned they were entitled to "4 cancellations per month" but unfortunately these had already been used up. I need to know if I should contact them to dispute the fine & say i'm not paying or will ignoring it then get a letter saying I now have to pay £150. Really, really angry about this. Can anyone shed some light/expertise on what to do next ?

It's not a fine, and just ignore.

bargepole

mark_howard wrote: »

.... I need to know if I should contact them to dispute the fine & say i'm not paying or will ignoring it then get a letter saying I now have to pay £150. Really, really angry about this. Can anyone shed some light/expertise on what to do next ?

It isn't a fine.

Read Martin's article and the other threads on here to see why.

If you ignore it they will send letters threatening to increase the amount by two million pounds a day, burn down your house and kill your cat. Then when they realise you're not falling for the scam, they'll try their luck with some other mug.

What to do next:

1. Ignore
2. Go to 1.

jadring

I have just received a letter from 'Parking Eye' car park management telling me I parked for longer than I should have in an Aldi car park and they have photographic evidence. Is there anything I can do or should I just pay the reduced amount?

Thank you in advance.

juliescot

jadring wrote: »

I have just received a letter from 'Parking Eye' car park management telling me I parked for longer than I should have in an Aldi car park and they have photographic evidence. Is there anything I can do or should I just pay the reduced amount?

Thank you in advance.

There is much you can do - read all of this thread if you want, but the bottom line is, file any correspondence from the company and pay them nothing.

jadring

juliescot wrote: »

There is much you can do - read all of this thread if you want, but the bottom line is, file any correspondence from the company and pay them nothing.

Even though they have photographic evidence?

mark_howard

bargepole wrote: »

It isn't a fine.

Read Martin's article and the other threads on here to see why.

If you ignore it they will send letters threatening to increase the amount by two million pounds a day, burn down your house and kill your cat. Then when they realise you're not falling for the scam, they'll try their luck with some other mug.

What to do next:

1. Ignore
2. Go to 1.

Thanks for the info ! I'm happy to just ignore it & will no doubt get a letter saying the "parking contravention" is now £150.00....if you fail to pay....blah...blah...the bailifs will want their pound of flesh too. Do I ignore them also ?

trisontana

mark_howard wrote: »

Thanks for the info ! I'm happy to just ignore it & will no doubt get a letter saying the "parking contravention" is now £150.00....if you fail to pay....blah...blah...the bailifs will want their pound of flesh too. Do I ignore them also ?

Don't confuse bailiffs with debt collectors. Debt collectors are just ordinary citizens with no more rights than you or me. They cannot enter your premises or seize goods and they cannot blacken your credit record.

Bailiffs are officers of the court but the only time they would come to your house is in the very unlikely event the case goes to the civil court, you lose and you refuse to pay any money awarded against you.

So just ignore. It will never go to court.

bargepole

mark_howard wrote: »

Thanks for the info ! I'm happy to just ignore it & will no doubt get a letter saying the "parking contravention" is now £150.00....if you fail to pay....blah...blah...the bailifs will want their pound of flesh too. Do I ignore them also ?

Bailffs can only be involved IF they take you to court, and IF they succeed with the claim, and IF you fail to pay the judgement. You've got more chance of scooping the £85 million on this week's Euro rollover lottery.

PPCs often use "debt collectors", aka minimum-wage drones who have no powers at all. Very often this is the same company as the PPC, just using different headed paper. Take their letters to the smallest room in the house, and put them behind you.

mark_howard

bargepole wrote: »

Bailffs can only be involved IF they take you to court, and IF they succeed with the claim, and IF you fail to pay the judgement. You've got more chance of scooping the £85 million on this week's Euro rollover lottery.

PPCs often use "debt collectors", aka minimum-wage drones who have no powers at all. Very often this is the same company as the PPC, just using different headed paper. Take their letters to the smallest room in the house, and put them behind you.

Once again, thanks for the input/advice. Funnily enough, the duty manager of the sports ctre. mentioned that a previous user (who'd received a "fine") did some investigating into the company & found that the "debt collectors were one & the same" !

trisontana

mark_howard wrote: »

Once again, thanks for the input/advice. Funnily enough, the duty manager of the sports ctre. mentioned that a previous user (who'd received a "fine") did some investigating into the company & found that the "debt collectors were one & the same" !

And sometimes "solicitors" as well. They are just three different desks in a poky office in a run-down part of town.

Some companies do use "proper" solicitors, but if I was one of these legal types I would be ashamed to be associating with such low-life.