Parking fine appeal panel planned

vinylmusic

I did mention this in a thread but I think its important enough to have a thread of its own

I hope that this will be good news for all of us except for the thieving unscrupulous private parking scammers

A new independent appeals panel to stop motorists from being unfairly fined by unscrupulous private car parking companies is to be established.

see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8450403.stm

anewman

To start off with they're not fines. Even the Private Parking Companies understand this and word their signs appropriately. Also, the charges are unenforceable. There are only one or two examples of court cases with judgement going against the parker, so I don't see any point in legislating in relation to the charges. People should merely be reminded of the legal status of the unenforceable invoices and told not to pay them as they are on these forums. Problem solved. No wasting tax payers money on trying to regulate a cowboy industry.

IMO Transport Minister Sadiq Khan is a waste of tax payer's money and needs to get a clue about the scam. Clamping needs to be against the law. Private parking charges either need to be legally enforceable, or also against the law as at present they merely set out to menace people.

Anyone fancy enlightening Mr Sadiq Khan as to the law? http://www.sadiqkhan.co.uk/index.php/contact

peter_the_piper

It'll only be of use if it has teeth, whats the good of an adjudicator if they cannot FORCE the miscreant to repay the money. I hope its not like patas where they can tell the councils to repay but afaik they cannot force them to (though most do)
What happens when the clamping firm morphs from Scumbag clampers ltd to Scumbag clampers uk. ltd etc.

bargepole

It's all just an irrelevant attempt to grab headlines with an election looming, the reality is that there is zero chance af anything like this reaching the statute books before parliament is dissolved, and who knows what the next lot will do.

Coupon-mad

bargepole wrote: »

It's all just an irrelevant attempt to grab headlines with an election looming, the reality is that there is zero chance af anything like this reaching the statute books before parliament is dissolved, and who knows what the next lot will do.

Sincerely hope it does die a death!

Otherwise shoppers who have supposedly 'overstayed' by 5 minutes at a busy time like Christmas, in a 2 hour 'free stay' Supermarket car park might be ordered by the appeals panel to pay the PPC.

Not sure how much clout the appeals panel would have but it would appear to support the PPCs and ignore the motoring public's issues with these firms - which is a shocking move.

anewman

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Not sure how much clout the appeals panel would have but it would appear to support the PPCs and ignore the motoring public's issues with these firms - which is a shocking move.

Well politics is all about being by the rich, for the rich. The primary benefits are for land owners and private parking companies. There's little to no benefit for the average slightly errant parker.

vinylmusic

anewman wrote: »

Well politics is all about being by the rich, for the rich. The primary benefits are for land owners and private parking companies. There's little to no benefit for the average slightly errant parker.

Well if the conservatives get in we all know who they will be supporting and it wont be the innocent motorist

Sir_Roger_deLodger

vinylmusic wrote: »

Well if the conservatives get in we all know who they will be supporting and it wont be the innocent motorist

And Labour do????