Parking charge when wife was driving company car

woffle99

I've had a look at the guide here and since my situation is slightly different to the norm I'm not sure what the best way to handle it is.

Basically, I have been handed a Parking Charge Notice by my company that says that my company car was parked for over the 3hr limit (by quarter of an hour) in a store car park last week. My wife was driving the car that day and was in the store but is fairly adamant she wasn't there for more than 3 hours (and even if she was, she was in the store that entire time as she runs a an event every week, that the store are quite happy to host).

Now if this was my car, I would simply take the advice, wait to see if they send an invoice and say that it wasn't me driving and I'm not telling them who was.

However it being a company car puts a bit of a crimp in it as my company are saying that I am responsible for the car and that they aren't happy to refuse to tell these people who the car is issued to.

My first thought is to get my wife to talk to the store and get them to call off their parking agents (but without giving them anything other than the car registration and certainly not her name) - she is a regular customer there and the staff know her quite well.

If that doesn't work then would the next thing be to send an adjusted template letter saying that I am the person the company car was issued to but I wasn't the driver at the time (I was at work and can have numerous people attest to it) and am under no obligation to tell them who was?

Could they still chase my company in that case (who could then put pressure on me to pay)?

It seems ridiculous in the first instance that they can just stick two grainy photo's on a piece of paper, add two times (that you have no way of verifying are at all accurate or if they are totally made up) and then send you a charge, and in the second instance that you can be charged for spending too much time in the store concerned.

Mark_Hewitt

What arrangements exist for staff of Borders?

woffle99

Not sure - I would have to get her to ask. What are you thinking?

Mark_Hewitt

Well the three hour limit is for customers. But surely the staff need to park for longer than that. How do they do it without getting ticketed?

juliescot

They will undoubtedly chase your company but you need to let whoever deals with transport see the parking threads here and elsewhere. You could talk to your employers and tell them that it is no more than a money making scam and they need do nothing however I suspect the company will want to pay it and move on, which means they will want the money from you.

woffle99

I imagine if the staff do park there they let the parking company have their vehicle reg details, but I'm not sure how this would be relevant to me in this situation (though if the wife carries on with the story group she could possibly ask to be able to do the same in future).

I have tried to tell my company about this being a scam (effectively) but you are right Julie, for them it is easier to insist I sort it out and I don't think they will refuse to point the finger in my direction.

As I said in my original post, should I write to them and say that I am the person issued with the company car but that I wasn't driving and I refuse to say who was. Or should I just ask my company to send them a letter giving them my details as the company car keeper, they can then contact me at my home address and I can then tell them to naff off because I wasn't the driver at the time (thinking about it, that seems to be like the best course of action - removes my company from the chain so they can't pressure me to sort it out and so that I can use the 'wasn't me guv ' response properly). What does everyone think?

juliescot

woffle99 wrote: »

I imagine if the staff do park there they let the parking company have their vehicle reg details, but I'm not sure how this would be relevant to me in this situation (though if the wife carries on with the story group she could possibly ask to be able to do the same in future).

I have tried to tell my company about this being a scam (effectively) but you are right Julie, for them it is easier to insist I sort it out and I don't think they will refuse to point the finger in my direction.

As I said in my original post, should I write to them and say that I am the person issued with the company car but that I wasn't driving and I refuse to say who was. Or should I just ask my company to send them a letter giving them my details as the company car keeper, they can then contact me at my home address and I can then tell them to naff off because I wasn't the driver at the time (thinking about it, that seems to be like the best course of action - removes my company from the chain so they can't pressure me to sort it out and so that I can use the 'wasn't me guv ' response properly). What does everyone think?

If you are "given up" by your employers, these scum will start to harrass you but you can of course ignore them, but as it is a company car I would, if I was operating this scam, go back to your employer and say that you were ignoring my demands for money so now I am going to ask your company for it, as it is their car.

Then I think your employer would cave in and start to badger you, possibly try to use disciplinary procedures against you try to make you pay the charge.

You shouldn't need to pay this, but I think that unless you can get your employers on your side you may be stuffed.

jkdd77

Any deduction from pay would be unlawful under section 13 of the Employment Rights 1996, and any disciplinary action for 'non-payment' would also be unlawful.

In either case, you could take your employer to a tribunal.