Motorway Service Stations and parking charges

Cardiffairtaxi

Hello,my name is Steve from South Wales,and i took some clients to Gatwick Airport,in the very early hours of last week.
On my return journey,i felt extremely tired,so decided to pull into Reading motorway services.
Being tired,i thought this was the safest thing to do,and i was heeding the advice of the motorway signs "Dont drive tired"
Imagine my surprise,when i had a letter from a parking company,stating because id dared to sleep for 3 hours,i now owed them a £50 fine.
This rather encourages "tired" drivers,to continue their journey,rather than stopping at a motorway service station,for a rest.
I arrived at the services at 05.55am in the morning,parked in a marked car parking space,and a very empty car park.
Can anybody please tell me,if they have had a simialar experience,and also the outcome please.

trisontana

For a start it's not a "fine", just an unenforceable invoice. Just ignore all subsequent letters from the company, "debt collectors" and "solicitors". They will eventually go away. They might threaten to take you to court, but this is a civil matter, and the only thing they can claim from you is any material loss that was suffered. As this is a free car-park then no actual loss was incurred by them. So they have no case.

But you do make a point about tiredness and encouraging drivers to take regular breaks. Once again this shows that these parking companies only have one aim - to steal money from motorists, irregardless of any road safety considerations.

Spartacus_Mills

Cardiffairtaxi wrote: »

Hello,my name is Steve from South Wales,and i took some clients to Gatwick Airport,in the very early hours of last week.
On my return journey,i felt extremely tired,so decided to pull into Reading motorway services.
Being tired,i thought this was the safest thing to do,and i was heeding the advice of the motorway signs "Dont drive tired"
Imagine my surprise,when i had a letter from a parking company,stating because id dared to sleep for 3 hours,i now owed them a £50 fine.
This rather encourages "tired" drivers,to continue their journey,rather than stopping at a motorway service station,for a rest.
I arrived at the services at 05.55am in the morning,parked in a marked car parking space,and a very empty car park.
Can anybody please tell me,if they have had a simialar experience,and also the outcome please.

It is a scam. Ignore all correspondance from the scammers. You will get letters from the PPC, debt collectors (not the same as bailiffs and probably a different desk at the PPC) and then solicitors. All increasingly threatening with lots of red ink and stating they "may" take court action.

They won't as it is legally unenforceable.

It is astonishing, well knowing this shambles of a govt probably not astonishing, it is allowed to happen.

MarkyMarkD

Most motorway service station car parks are not "free". They are free for customers, for a limited time period. Exactly like many supermarket car parks.

There is normally signage indicating that you are only allowed to park for (say) 2 hours, and instructions as to how to pay if you wish to park for longer.

Not reading the signs is not a justification for not paying to park. Nor is the fact that the car park was not full.

So, they are not encouraging tired drivers to keep on driving. They ARE encouraging tired drivers to pay the charge they set for parking.

trisontana

But these charges are unenforceable.

trisontana

FlyingCabbage wrote: »

The price of a pint of beer is unenforceable, but would you refuse to pay when the landlord had poured it?

In that case you are actually buying a product. By parking in a free car-park no purchase has been made.

movingforward2010

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Most motorway service station car parks are not "free". They are free for customers, for a limited time period. Exactly like many supermarket car parks.

There is normally signage indicating that you are only allowed to park for (say) 2 hours, and instructions as to how to pay if you wish to park for longer.

Not reading the signs is not a justification for not paying to park. Nor is the fact that the car park was not full.

So, they are not encouraging tired drivers to keep on driving. They ARE encouraging tired drivers to pay the charge they set for parking.

strange really where exactly would you park and go off to? its on a motorway you hardly going to park up and walk 10 miles down the motorway:rolleyes:

anyway OP dont pay ignore the letters

scrounger_2

FlyingCabbage wrote: »

It comes down to what is the decent thing to do.

By parking in the car park, you have accepted the offer of a service, and the associated terms.

You pay it then!

movingforward2010

FlyingCabbage wrote: »

It comes down to what is the decent thing to do.

By parking in the car park, you have accepted the offer of a service, and the associated terms.

and a £50 fine is decent too? what i think is fair that the OP should pay a couple of quid or what ever the amount for the car park was for the parking 'invoice' not £50. The £50 is just extortion.

movingforward2010

FlyingCabbage wrote: »

It's not for you to decide these things. The charges are set by the Independent Enforcement Agency and are not open to debate.

well if i was the OP i would decide not to pay! £50 is to much, the cost of the car park is £2 for example, how is the £50 justified? This is why these 'fines' are not enforceable.

cant say i've ever heard of the 'Independent Enforcement Agency' :rolleyes: they are obviously crap as the 'fines' cant be enforced, and people dont have to pay

bargepole

FlyingCabbage wrote: »

It's not for you to decide these things. The charges are set by the Independent Enforcement Agency and are not open to debate.

The Independent what??? Is that another figment of your PPC imagination?