£70 Parking Fine in non P&D Car Park

peter_the_piper

I have been waiting to see what happened to them and had assumed that, as always, the PPC had given up.

marleyboy

taxiphil wrote: »

You make it sound like a fanciful notion to go to court armed with what you read on MSE. But don't forget that thousands of people did exactly that with the banks, and it worked.(yes but this wasfirst proved to work succesfully - only then did it spread)



Cases of victory in court against a parking company are admittedly rare - for the simple reason that the claimant gets to see the defence and any supporting evidence before the hearing. When a proper robust defence is submitted (most importantly, one that challenges the legality of 'penalty' charges and argues that damages should only be based on actual loss), the claimant can simply fail to attend the hearing, causing the claim to be struck out.

The reason they do this is because it would be disastrous for their business, and indeed the whole private parking industry, for a transcript of an unsuccessful hearing to get into the public domain. By failing to attend court they ensure there is no hearing, and so nothing is challenged or put to the test.

This is exactly the same strategy all the banks have been using when faced with many thousands of claims for unfair charges, and the reason why they never let it go to court.



I thought the challenge by bluelagoon and others was to show just one example of a parking company being beaten on a point of law. On that basis it only requires one out of the hundreds on CAG and Pepipoo to have been telling the truth. So if there was never a single instance of a parking company being beaten, it naturally follows that all those people are lying.

(I can't actually see what anyone would have to gain by lying about it, since they are all there to help each other, not mislead each other).

Im not loking for ONE example, ive stated this many times, im more interested in evidence, proof by both enforceable and unenforcable, so I can weigh them out and see for myself, evidence that can show me one way or the other. I never once accused anyone of lying, I state that until I see some credentials that can convince me they are telling the truth, I can only assume that I dont know wether or not they convince me. And by the same token Are you telling me that bluelagoon is lying.

taxiphil

marleyboy wrote: »

Im not loking for ONE example, ive stated this many times, im more interested in evidence, proof by both enforceable and unenforcable, so I can weigh them out and see for myself, evidence that can show me one way or the other. I never once accused anyone of lying, I state that until I see some credentials that can convince me they are telling the truth, I can only assume that I dont know wether or not they convince me. And by the same token Are you telling me that bluelagoon is lying.

No, I have never disputed bluelagoon's claim that CPS have won cases. But as I have stated before, these wins can be explained by the fact that the defence was inadequate, and CPS only attended the hearings on that basis. I also think the cases quoted by bluelagoon/CPS are selectively cherry-picked for propaganda purposes as I doubt CPS have a 100% success rate.

I just think there is an implication in what you say that none of the people on CAG and Pepipoo can possibly be correct when they say they've beat the parking companies. OK, so they haven't provided transcripts, but purely going off common sense, I think most people on forums are honest and accurate most of the time, so I choose to believe that most of reported victories written about on there are genuine.

hollydays

I listened to Monday 4th february Radio 4 "You and yours".

On it was a discussion about the change of rules (or law?) with a government Minister, which was brought in in October(2007?) to try to stop disreputable parking companies accessing DVLA information,yet it now appears Parliament felt it was mislead. It appears that they have made another !!!!-up by stipulating that companies accessing the information electronically have to belong to a Trade Association (the BPA).Good,you might think,well yes,but companies accessing the information by post dont have to!Doh!! I dont know if this has been mentioned in this thread,and i havent the time to read through it. One specific company mentioned was called "Effective Car Park Management" (googling their name takes you to a link to the House of Commons where the question was raised).You can listen to this programme again-my real player was playing up so i missed a few bits. What is the BPA code of Practice,exactly in relation to this?

THe programme asked people to phone in (not live ) with their parking horror stories on 0800044044

Squiffy

The BPA website is here -> http://www.britishparking.co.uk/index.php?path=1,240

hollydays

Cant see anything that jumps out at me-tried searching for- Code of Practice

Squiffy

They obviously don't have one - I did read something on there which says that they will not entertain any individual complaints, so they don't seem at all interested in the general public.

hollydays

They also say their forum will be open to the public soon-that should be interesting,but if Private Parking Contractors have toadhere to a code,the Public should easily be able to check what it is.

superscaper

Squiffy wrote: »

They obviously don't have one - I did read something on there which says that they will not entertain any individual complaints, so they don't seem at all interested in the general public.

I can understand that for purely a trade organisation/association but if they're getting into "regulation" and codes of practice of members then they should really have an interface with the public, i.e. the consumers and customers of their members.

sarahg1969

Hollydays, you can read ALL about Effective on pepipoo.com

Mr Brough has been a veeeeerrrrry naughty boy. Clamping his victims' vehicles for non-payment of his "fines". On their own drives!!

I think he is heading for a big fall.