parking ticket motorway services

gazzebo69

loracan1 wrote: »

Gazza, read what it says on the ticket. I got one of these 'parking invoices' a year last May for overstaying at a motorway services. I also got follow-up letters in varying fonts, colours etc. They were all very pretty but a waste of my time and theirs since there is nothing legally binding in them.

Also check pepipoo or the parking ticket forum on here if you need further reassurance.

Many thanks for the info.

The chap who hired the minibus is fretting and so far I have manage to convince him to do nothing. Hopefully he won`t crumble and pay up, but not sure what the hire company will do. My thoughts are that if and when they waste their money on a DVLA check, they see its an hire company, they will just forget it, but I want them to keep chasing just to waste their time for being a bunch of egits.

The parking warden quickly scarpered as well I noticed cause I checked for clear visible signs and they weren`t the easiet to spot so I set off after him to have a word, but disappeared into thin air.

Cheers
Gazza.

anewman

The main issue in situations like this is the hire company. Many assume these are fines and pay them automatically, then take the fee off the hirer's credit card and add a tasty admin fee for themselves on top. I have to say I'm not sure what the best thing to do in these situations is.

laurz121

The main thing here for me is morals. If I knew I had parked legally or had done nothing wrong and I was issued with a fine or notice from anyone I would either ignore it or fight it depending on the law and who it was from. If I knew I had parked against the rules or against the law I would pay up because it was my fault and using legal loopholes to get out of being a responsible and moral person is out of order in my opinion.

You say your driver intended to leave before the time limit was up but overslept. This to me is an admission of guilt. ie he knew that there was a time limit (otherwise how could he have intended to leave before it was up) and he chose not to take any steps to ensure he left before the limit was up (an alarm clock is a reasonable step in my opinion). Legally he might be able to dodge the fine, morally he should pay up as he knew there was a time limit and still went over it.

tomstickland

laurz121 wrote: »

You say your driver intended to leave before the time limit was up but overslept. This to me is an admission of guilt. ie he knew that there was a time limit (otherwise how could he have intended to leave before it was up) and he chose not to take any steps to ensure he left before the limit was up (an alarm clock is a reasonable step in my opinion). Legally he might be able to dodge the fine, morally he should pay up as he knew there was a time limit and still went over it.

There are no morals with parking companies.
There is no legal case to answer.

cyclonebri1

laurz121 wrote: »

The main thing here for me is morals. .

It's not actually, it's whether the invoice/fine is enforceable.

I doubt the "offender" caused any hardship to anyone, merely fell foul to the ghouls that "try" to prey on minor transgressions over which the have no authority to act. Period.:mad:

anewman

Only the Police and Councils can make law. A private company cannot. It is perfectly legal to park across 2 spaces, in a disabled space without a blue badge, and to park for longer than stated on a sign. The charge notice put on the car is intended to imitate a police or council fine, but is simply a legally unenforceable invoice based on a presumed contract with the driver. The registered keeper is not necessarily the driver and the keeper is under no legal obligation to tell a private company who the driver was. You will also find that these private companies never take anyone to court to enforce their charges. If the charges were legal, then they would take people to court instead of simply sending threatening letters SAYING they will take you to court and you will get a CCJ etc etc.

A private company is no more entitled to dish out charges to people not parking in accordance with their signs, than I am to charge posters on this forum £60 for every time they write the word "fine" in their posts. You'd tell me to take a hike with my pointless made up rules only made for my own benefit, so you should tell the parking companies to also.

loracan1

laurz121 wrote: »

The main thing here for me is morals. If I knew I had parked legally or had done nothing wrong and I was issued with a fine or notice from anyone I would either ignore it or fight it depending on the law and who it was from. If I knew I had parked against the rules or against the law I would pay up because it was my fault and using legal loopholes to get out of being a responsible and moral person is out of order in my opinion.

The key word here is 'legal'. I could make a hand scrawled notice and put it on the road outside my house. I could issue as many 'invoices' as I cared to. I might even fool someone into paying but I'd be making my own rules up and morals certainly wouldn't come into it.

laurz121

loracan1 wrote: »

The key word here is 'legal'. I could make a hand scrawled notice and put it on the road outside my house. I could issue as many 'invoices' as I cared to. I might even fool someone into paying but I'd be making my own rules up and morals certainly wouldn't come into it.

Public road that is nothing to do with you at all other than being near your house or a private service station? Not in any way shape or form are the two things alike at all.

If a company puts up signs stating that they give permission for people to park for a certain length of time free of charge but anyone parking up for longer than that does not have permission to park on their private land and will be fined then I see nothing at all with that.
Are you saying it is morally right to park on private land against the express wishes of the owner?

gazzebo69

laurz121 wrote: »

Public road that is nothing to do with you at all other than being near your house or a private service station? Not in any way shape or form are the two things alike at all.

If a company puts up signs stating that they give permission for people to park for a certain length of time free of charge but anyone parking up for longer than that does not have permission to park on their private land and will be fined then I see nothing at all with that.
Are you saying it is morally right to park on private land against the express wishes of the owner?

I wouldnt say it was right to park on someones private land against the express wishes of the owner.

However.

A motorway services for one is far from that, it is a business to help the motorist recharge the batteries, have a break, chill out before they continue their journey. We are even encouraged, and rightly so, to stop and have a break if we feel tired, yet the moment we do, we are pounced upon by some jobsworth trying to make commision for some idiot company who think it is fair to charge for the privilege of me buying their overpriced petrol and food.

Now, I wouldnt mind if there was a big clear sign stating, Do not park here with a minibus or whatever vehicle you are driving, etc, but it isnt, they are placed in such a position so as to fool the driver and hence get a ticket.

To me, that is wrong. It is not fair, and everyone who gets a ticket in such circumstances should just ignore.

And because of that, if the sign clearly said 2 hours only, and you parked for 2 hours 30 at a motorway services, I would still ignore it because they have been so unfair in the first place.

If they can`t play fair, then neither can we.

sparrer

I agree with everyone who said don't pay. In Jan last year I was issued with a parking fine for staying in Moto on the M6 for 4 1/2 hours. I was suffering from norovirus, the M6 was nose to tail and I had to pull off. I took 2 paracetamol and like your driver fell asleep and overslept. Fortunately I have a relative who knows a little about these things, as do the posters here, and although it was a bit of a fight correspondence-wise (I was passed from one debt collector to another, strangely all connected, but I refused to reply to any, only dealing with Moto themselves) I eventually got a letter of apology from their CEO.

Do stick it out, don't pay this illegal 'fine'. It really is worth taking the advice on here otherwise these companies will go on stealing from those not in the know.