Private parking ticket advise please.

littlemisspiggy_2

Hi all

I dont know if there is anyone who can advise me on this, I had to pop to boots the other day taking with me my three children. By the time I got there the youngest had fallen asleep. I only wanted one thing in the shop and was going to be in and out very quickly. So rather than wake baby I thought I would park outside the shop in a mother and baby space. But they were all taken, there are four I belive in what is quite a large retail park. Anyway I decided to park in a disabled space, this is not normally somthing I would do, but I made sure there were plenty of others available. I left the children in the car and ran in and out the shop. By the time I had retuned my eldest told me somone had taken pic's of the car, I asked him to point out who if he could. It was a man in a yellow jacket. Upon further investigation I find it is a parking company. I receive a letter and after reading things on the net about it decide to ignor the letter. However I have now received a letter from a debt recovery company !!!!!......They are saying I have to pay £141.75 in ten days or I will be taken to court and served with a ccj. What do I do ????....If anyone can advise me on this then I would be very greatfull.

macman

littlemisspiggy wrote: »

Hi all

I dont know if there is anyone who can advise me on this, I had to pop to boots the other day taking with me my three children. By the time I got there the youngest had fallen asleep. I only wanted one thing in the shop and was going to be in and out very quickly. So rather than wake baby I thought I would park outside the shop in a mother and baby space. But they were all taken, there are four I belive in what is quite a large retail park. Anyway I decided to park in a disabled space, this is not normally somthing I would do, but I made sure there were plenty of others available. I left the children in the car and ran in and out the shop. By the time I had retuned my eldest told me somone had taken pic's of the car, I asked him to point out who if he could. It was a man in a yellow jacket. Upon further investigation I find it is a parking company. I receive a letter and after reading things on the net about it decide to ignor the letter. However I have now received a letter from a debt recovery company !!!!!......They are saying I have to pay £141.75 in ten days or I will be taken to court and served with a ccj. What do I do ????....If anyone can advise me on this then I would be very greatfull.

You were parked illegally, do you have some other defence? The fact that you were only there a couple of minutes is not relevant. You can go to court and dispute it, but on the evidence you have given you won't be successful.

anewman

littlemisspiggy wrote: »

However I have now received a letter from a debt recovery company !!!!!......They are saying I have to pay £141.75 in ten days or I will be taken to court and served with a ccj. What do I do ????....If anyone can advise me on this then I would be very greatfull.

Check the address of the "debt recovery company". It may have the same PO Box as the parking company, or at least be in the same post code area. This is just their scaring tactics to try frighten you into paying. They are unlikely to take you to court.

Unless of course this is a fine issued by a council or the police then you need to worry about it.

macman wrote: »

You were parked illegally, do you have some other defence? The fact that you were only there a couple of minutes is not relevant. You can go to court and dispute it, but on the evidence you have given you won't be successful.

On private land the disabled markings have no "legal" meaning.

anewman

uktyler wrote: »

These companies are employed to stop people parking on private land, where the land owner does not want them too. Your advice should be 'don't park there again'.

Occasionally they are incorrectly issued, or appropriate sign-age is not displayed etc - so sometimes it is through no fault of the driver. I suspect the number of non-fault cases are in the minority though.

Reggie_Rebel

uktyler wrote: »

The problem is going to be that the land owners will shut car parks, as they will have no way of enforcing their privacy.

Shut car parks in out of town retail parks?

You are aware this is 2009, cars have overtaken the horse as the preferred means of transport

sarahg1969

"When they are no longer a deterrent clamping is the next probable step."

No, it's not. Supermarkets won't risk upsetting their clientele by introducing unscrupulous clamping companies on their land.

peter_the_piper

Not so sure of this as they clamped a taxi, fetching a disabled person, outside a Tesco's at Hastings. He called a mate with a tow truck, removed clamp and gave it back to them. At this car park, retail park, clamping is the moneymaking scheme of choice.

bargepole

littlemisspiggy wrote: »

... However I have now received a letter from a debt recovery company !!!!!......They are saying I have to pay £141.75 in ten days or I will be taken to court and served with a ccj. What do I do ????....If anyone can advise me on this then I would be very greatfull.

The "debt recovery company" is just someone sitting at another desk in the parking company's portakabin. They have no more powers than you or I, and you can only get a CCJ if it goes to court, you lose the case, and don't pay the judgement in 28 days - all about as likely to happen as you winning the lottery.

Continue to ignore their rubbish letters, and any posters on here talking about "moral" issues, which have nothing to do with this.

davidlizard

There is a small retail park near us where firstly everyone would park for free to go into town, rather than pay extortionate council run car park fees. The owners got wise to this and got a private parking enforcement company in. People were then getting "fined" for all sorts of things (overstaying, not parking in between lines etc) and the free local paper was full of letters from people complaining about this.

Then the local paper printed a letter stating pretty much what forum members here state - its not a fine, just ignore it, etc, etc and sure enough people started parking there for free again.

Now they have upped the stakes again and got a very aggressive firm of clampers in - they even clamped the vehicle of a heavily pregnant lady. I did not think such clamping was legal?

Of course, if the local council did not charge stupid fees for its car parks (£2 to park for 1 hour which is a big mark up on a £2.75 item) then people would not be tempted to look at ways to reduce their parking fees.

phlogeston

macman wrote: »

You were parked illegally...

Irrespective of any moral issues, it is not illegal in this country to park in a wheelchair bay on private land.

Coblcris

macman wrote: »

You were parked illegally, do you have some other defence? The fact that you were only there a couple of minutes is not relevant. You can go to court and dispute it, but on the evidence you have given you won't be successful.

macman, that is completely wrong and totally misleading (and I am being kind in my summary).

Which PPC do you work for ?