Athena ANPR Ltd

masterlumps

but if there is a permitted duration of stay, and has been exceeded?????

Crabman

As has been stated - this is yet another unenforceable piece of rubbish.

OP - welcome to MSE - you'll probably receive threats of court action (I am yet to see a genuine court case arising from one of these) as well as threats of bailiffs and 'credit record' entries, all of which are empty threats. They'll try to scare you into paying and when they realise you aren't going to, they'll go away. Take a look at our "What To Expect" thread for further info.

P.S: I've moved this thread from Motoring over to Parking board

Sir_Roger_deLodger

masterlumps wrote: »

but if there is a permitted duration of stay, and has been exceeded?????

Then the owner of the site may sue for damages. If the car park is free, the damages amount to zero. Penalties are not enforceable under contract law.
OP, ignore all correspondence from Athena, they will eventually give up.

Coupon-mad

masterlumps wrote: »

i dont really get it tbh, you havent said whether or not you actually parked there longer than you should have

doeasnt matter what the reason was (stuff in eyes etc etc) but if you did the crime.....

:eek:

No, sadly not many of the first posters on this thread get it, as you clearly don't - but now this thread has been moved to the right place at least the advice will be correct and some peeps will learn the truth about this con.

I could tell that this thread was originally started on the wrong board because most advice was hopelessly wrong at first - I nearly spat out my tea at shockingly naive MSEers actually saying if you overstay then you have to pay a private ticket!

- It's a private ticket (for that, read 'unenforceable scam rubbish').

- The person is disabled.

- The DDA takes precedence over any pathetic rules the retailer fancies scrawling on a sign.

- Failure to make reasonable adjustments (such as allowing more time for disabled customers) is a clear breach of the DDA. That's the crime here!

The big Supermarkets realise that NOW as the BBC has pointed out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8488737.stm

Maybe other private car park companies and retailers don't know or care that they have to allow extra time - but that's their look-out, maybe they will find out the hard way.

Finally, if any of you who pop back over here still think that private parking tickets should EVER be paid please read other threads on this sub-board and learn that they are a scam. Watch the link given in the stickies to a previous Watchdog show (make the bogus ticket into a paper aeroplane) and also see Watchdog this Thursday!

KTM_Gordo

Coupon-mad wrote: »

- Failure to make reasonable adjustments (such as allowing more time for disabled customers) is a clear breach of the DDA. That's the crime here!

Going by the supermarket car parks that I've seen, they allow a time measured in hours - at least two, often three.

I don't think that there's much need to extend that time for someone who's disabled - even in a wheelchair is isn't going to take three hours to do a shop in Morrisons. But by all means make reasonable adjustment where an adjustment is required, but if it isn't required there's no need to make it.

I sympathise with the supermarkets and other private car park owners. They provide facilities for their customers, and some people take advantage of their generosity.

Would anyone care to suggest how private car park owners should ensure people don't abuse them?

Coupon-mad

KTM_Gordo wrote: »

I don't think that there's much need to extend that time for someone who's disabled.

It's a good thing the powers that be didn't consult you when formulating the DDA then isn't it?

I have disabled relatives and have worked in disability advice and disability transport jobs so I think I can comment with some knowledge as well as with a well-known deep hatred of the scumbag PPC industry. There is no need to threaten and unfairly/extortionately charge customers, frightening them about their credit rating and ultimately chasing them away!

Of course there are people who need more time to park, it's a basic DDA right. If an able-bodied person is allowed 2 hours then a disabled person should be allowed longer, the law rightly says so. The car park owners and APCOA have NO excuse for this DDA breach (the ticket issued to the OP who has done nothing wrong), in fact they could end up in court over it themselves.

As far as disabled bay 'abuse' is concerned this has been discussed so many times before I could scream. The alleged 'abuse' isn't what you think it is, people DO NOT have to display a Blue Badge to park in a private disabled bay so the massive assumption of 'abuse' when seeing cars without badges is naive to say the least. To park there, the visitor should simply need the provision (i.e. they or a passenger must meet the DDA definition of disability) and no-one should judge anyone parking there without knowing the facts.

I strongly believe the stories of disabled bay 'abuse' are a huge exaggeration spread by PPCs and by naive disabled users who have been brainwashed (or have taken it upon themselves to get a bee in their bonnet) into spying on others to 'check' for blue badges when it means nothing on private land!

For years, disabled people have been told in the press and by ill-advised (allegedly PPC-biased) publications/charities such as Disability Now and Mobilise, that if the disabled bays are full at a Supermarket it must be because of abuse - so they look for Blue Badges in a knee-jerk reaction and suddenly 2 and 2 make 5 when they spot cars parked there with no blue badge.

A much simpler solution for Supermarkets and retailers is to put 'normal' bays first as you drive through the car park, so that most people will spot an empty ordinary space and use it. Then the disabled bays can be a little further into most car parks, maybe around a corner but less visible and less tempting for random people to 'nip in for a minute'. Away from the cashpoints and away from any drop-off bays but right next to the building. I am thinking of my local Supermarket car parks and this would work in ALL of them.

Another suggestion is simply for retailers to realise that full disabled bays might just mean they need to provide more, as the local need for them is high. Not rocket science is it?

And a final suggestion for retailers - stop scamming your customers, have you lost the plot?!

trisontana

KTM_Gordo wrote: »

Would anyone care to suggest how private car park owners should ensure people don't abuse them?

You have a barrier at the entrance to the car-park. In the case of somewhere like a supermarket you are only allowed out if you show "proof of purchase". This happens at some supermarkets and it works well.

In other private car-parks you have either barriers operated by a key, a card or keypad, or you have individual drop-down posts operated by a key.

peter_the_piper

KTM_Gordo wrote: »

Going by the supermarket car parks that I've seen, they allow a time measured in hours - at least two, often three.

I don't think that there's much need to extend that time for someone who's disabled - even in a wheelchair is isn't going to take three hours to do a shop in Morrisons.

A shop with MIL takes over an hour, allowing for a wheelchair and that can get to 2 hours. A trip to the instore restaurant could easily go over the 3 hours.

masterlumps

Coupon-mad wrote: »

:eek:

No, sadly not many of the first posters on this thread get it, as you clearly don't - but now this thread has been moved to the right place at least the advice will be correct and some peeps will learn the truth about this con.

I could tell that this thread was originally started on the wrong board because most advice was hopelessly wrong at first - I nearly spat out my tea at shockingly naive MSEers actually saying if you overstay then you have to pay a private ticket!

- It's a private ticket (for that, read 'unenforceable scam rubbish').

- The person is disabled.

- The DDA takes precedence over any pathetic rules the retailer fancies scrawling on a sign.

- Failure to make reasonable adjustments (such as allowing more time for disabled customers) is a clear breach of the DDA. That's the crime here!

The big Supermarkets realise that NOW as the BBC has pointed out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8488737.stm

Maybe other private car park companies and retailers don't know or care that they have to allow extra time - but that's their look-out, maybe they will find out the hard way.

Finally, if any of you who pop back over here still think that private parking tickets should EVER be paid please read other threads on this sub-board and learn that they are a scam. Watch the link given in the stickies to a previous Watchdog show (make the bogus ticket into a paper aeroplane) and also see Watchdog this Thursday!

you are right i didnt get it, thats why i said i dont get it, i wasnt offering duff advice, i was being honest with my answer, saying i didnt know but thought maybe x...............in the hope that someone may come along and confirm or not

but i do now, as you have also pointed out the thread has been moved to the right place

KTM_Gordo

Coupon-mad wrote: »

It's a good thing the powers that be didn't consult you when formulating the DDA then isn't it?

Don't worry, I didn't take it personally. I know a fair bit about the DDA being a disabled person myself.

But anyway, back to the question in hand: if it is a private car park then the landlord makes the rules. If you don't like them then park elsewhere.