MOTO services parking charge notice

I_Hate_Banks_2

Hi guys hope you can help with this.

I have read through the forums for ages and struggling to find anwsers so here goes.

I was driving down to Birmingham on the M42 through the night in late September and taking notice of the sign posts stating cleary DON'T DRIVE WHILE TIRED TAKE A BREAK I pulled into the MOTO services reclined my seat at just after 3am and woke at just after 7am, I never left my car I just thought damn now I'm late and drove off.

Today I recieved an invoice from the car owners who we lease the car from stating I have to pay them £50:00 for a charge for parking over 2 hours without paying £8:00 as the signs stated and a further £25:00 administration because they have paid it as the legal owners of the car. on contacting the lease company I stated I would have not paid this charge but would have challenged it as I strongly feel putting my life and others in danger whilst driving would not have been acceptable and I took advice of the highway code stating find somewhere safe to pull over and rest. Where is safer??? the services or the hard shoulder, for this I should not have been penalised, I understand if I had parked at 8am and left my car whilst leaving the service area with someone else then coming back at 5pm then I would have deserved all I got but not in the situation I recieved the ticket.

Simply put, this forum states the charge is against the driver and not the car so should I simply wrote to the lease company stating this and informing them in writing I would not have paid this as the driver and ask them to squash the invoice or just pay up and shut up? Hope I haven't waffled on too much but writing in anger is starting to hurt my fingers.

Regards
Ripped off again.

peter_the_piper

The """fine""" has already been paid so its too late appeal, with a ppc its nearly always too late as they don't give up a chance of making money very easily.
Unfortunately as they ahve already paid its too late to stop the hire company, you could get a copy of their t&c's and see what they say. If they do not say they will pay all charges and only say fines then you may be able to bluff your way out of it.
There a fair chance you'll have to pay them if they hav'nt already taken it from you c.card.

Mark_Hewitt

While I don't agree that there should be charges at services, and I certainly don't agree that they should 'invoice' someone who was taking a break there. In their defence MOTO do very clearly set out that parking is free for 2 hours and thereafter must be paid for, which you failed to do.

AlexisV

Please ignore this load of patronising baloney.

Write to the lease company and inform that it is just an unenforceable invoice from a private company - it is not a legitimate fine which can only issued by councils and the police.

Tell them you regret they will not be reimbursed as your contract only makes you liable for legitimate parking fines.

Express surprise that they have in fact paid as the vast majority of lease companies know about this nationwide scam.

trisontana

As I Hate Banks points out on the one hand we are told not to drive if we feel tired and accidents are caused by people falling asleep at the wheel, and then when he does the right thing, he gets "fined".

The stupid thing about this is if he had been driving on a non-motorway road he could have pulled into a layby and stayed there for hours on end without suffering any penalties. What so special about a motorway service area? it's only a fancy layby when all is said and done.

Enfieldian

The leasing company will most likely not have paid this fine yet, they are waiting for you to send them the money and it is a nice little earner for them.

I had a case a few years back where Harrow Council had rightly issued me with a ticket and I forgot to pay. The company I worked for then said they had paid it and wanted an extra £50 admin charge on top of the ticket fee for paying me. I logged on to the council website and found that the fine had NOT been paid and took care of it myself there and then. Told my fleet department to take a running jump after that.

The problem here is that the fine you have is not legally enforcable and you could use the "Take it up with the driver" approach, however as the car is leased you would be asking the Leasing Co to supply your details as the driver but it would be in your interest for the company you lease it from to supply the PPC with your details so that you can deal with it (tell them to eff off/ignore it) yourself.

As a further point, I now make sure that if I ever rent or lease a car then I get the contract amended to say that any company/organisation contacting the registered keeper regarding parking offences, real or otherwise are given my details at no extra charge.

Leasing companies have been happy to do this, the likes of Hertz/Avis are a little harder to persuade, however if they don't do it then they don't get my business. Simple as.

king100

Unfortunately you will probably find that you have to pay in terms and conditions. I would check to see about this admin fee though.

My boss had a similiar ticket in his company car. He called the hire company and stated that as it was unenforcable he wasnt going to pay it. Never heard anything as of yet.

"In their defence MOTO do very clearly set out that parking is free for 2 hours and thereafter must be paid for, which you failed to do."

So I arrive at 3 in the morning.Really tired.Want to sleep.

Do I

A) Get out of my car look around for signs or a pay and display in probably a deserted carpark.

Get my head down for a quick snooze, cannot see any illuminated pay and display machines or signs stating that I can only stay here for 2 hours. No signs stating that I can only stay for 2 hours max on the way in.

C) Continue driving and cause an accident.

They would lose at court as they have not lost any revenue during those hours as they arent really peak hours.

Coblcris

Check the wording of your lease agreement very carefully. Most only cover official parking tickets from councils and police issued notices.
What is the exact wording of the relevant section(s) ?

jkdd77

Coblcris wrote: »

Check the wording of your lease agreement very carefully. Most only cover official parking tickets from councils and police issued notices.
What is the exact wording of the relevant section(s) ?

Even if it did cover PPC invoices, surely it would be an unfair and therefore unlawful contract term by (effectively) forcing someone to pay an invoice that is itself unlawful and unenforceable?

It would be utterly peverse for an unlawful charge from a PPC to suddenly become legally binding when charged by a third party (the car hire firm).

The danger is that the hire company will simply deduct the "fees" from the OPs credit card, and then it will be very difficult to get any money back.

However, if this doesn't happen, then the OP can safely ignore all threatening letters.

Coupon-mad

UKlad, are you mad or do you just work for a PPC?

This is such a crappy reply I do hope the OP ignores it. I Hate Banks needs to read the posts by the others who have replied, particularly acting on the suggestions of AlexisV and Coblcris asap.

Maybe the lease company have not been stupid enough to actually pay this scam yet...double check and tell them 'NOT to pay it or to reverse the payment, as it's a scam and why on earth did they fall for it'?

Coblcris

jkdd77 wrote: »

Even if it did cover PPC invoices, surely it would be an unfair and therefore unlawful contract term by (effectively) forcing someone to pay an invoice that is itself unlawful and unenforceable?

It would be utterly peverse for an unlawful charge from a PPC to suddenly become legally binding when charged by a third party (the car hire firm).

The danger is that the hire company will simply deduct the "fees" from the OPs credit card, and then it will be very difficult to get any money back.

However, if this doesn't happen, then the OP can safely ignore all threatening letters.

I do not disagree.

However the wording still needs to be examined.