"Appeal" unsuccessful, now what?

Bland_leading_the_bland

Hi all,

Got a letter from CPM (Carpark Management UK Ltd), and replied as follows (specific stuff removed) following advice on the main site.

You issued me with a parking ticket on 27th February 09 but I will not be paying your demand for payment as the fine is disproportionate.

According to the Unfair Consumer Contract Regulations, parking fines on private land must not exceed the cost to the landowner during the period the motorist is parked there. In my case, the £75 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner. The car park was only a third full and my car was left for only 10 minutes.

If judging whether this fine is fair and just, compare with my income. As a fully qualified teacher with several years experience I would need to work for over half a day to earn a comparable amount of money.

If you choose to pursue me for this fine please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer the specific points raised in my letter.

Yours faithfully,




Paul Bland

They wrote back saying charges that are incurred are in line with BPA and said fine is rising to £100. I need to pay in 14 days to avoid "futher charges being incurred"
Any suggestion for next step?

sarahg1969

Firstly, the BPA is a trade association, not a regulatory body. It has no interest in the consumer; only in its members.

Secondly, you are dealing with a private company. How would it benefit them to allow your "appeal"? There IS no appeals system. They are in the business of making money, and they want yours.

Read all the other threads about private parking companies, then file their letters in a drawer and ignore.

Sure, you'll get a couple more, probably with BOLD and coloured fonts, but they are unlikely to issue court proceedings, and even if they do, they are unlikely to be successful.

Oh, and finally - you have NOT been fined!!!

daveyjp

Use any further correspondence for something useful - lighting bonfires for instance.

Bland_leading_the_bland

I'm actually quite enjoying this, it's the most rebellious thing I've ever done in my life.

bargepole

Bland_leading_the_bland wrote: »

Any suggestion for next step?

There isn't a next step - you've made your position clear, so now ignore all their ridiculous threatening letters.

BTW, please do not refer to these as "fines", private companies have no powers to fine you. They can only claim for damages for breach of contract in a civil court, which is about as likely in this case as Alastair Darling abolishing income tax.

Coblcris

What did the first letter from CPM say ?

It it does actually follow the BPA code it will be the first one ever seen that does !

Volcano

Bland_leading_the_bland wrote: »

I'm actually quite enjoying this, it's the most rebellious thing I've ever done in my life.

With reference to your other post too, the more you contact them the more they'll persist in threatening you. It's pointless trying to engage them in some sort of argument in the belief they'll eventually say "Ok, you win, we know we've been trying it on, you're much better than us" because it won't happen.

They'll go away a lot quicker if you ignore them.