Festival Park, Stoke on Trent

Sir_Roger_deLodger

More of the usual misinformed rubbish about fines from the press. Please add comments everyone, there are a few good ones on there already.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/SHOPPERS-FACE-163-90-PARKING-FINES/article-2820594-detail/article.html

Driver8

Sir_Roger_deLodger wrote: »

More of the usual misinformed rubbish about fines from the press. Please add comments everyone, there are a few good ones on there already.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/SHOPPERS-FACE-163-90-PARKING-FINES/article-2820594-detail/article.html

I've left my signature message which is this....................


PRIVATE PARKING TICKETS - DON'T PAY!
IT IS NOT A FINE! YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL!

This is an information page for the thousands of people who receive "tickets" from private companies in the UK ever day at supermarkets, retail parks, and in any other privately-owned carpark.

We are NOT encouraging anybody to openly flout parking restrictions on private land, or to refuse to pay reasonable charges for parking. Landowners have a right to make reasonable charges for the use of their land.

For advice specific to your case, you should visit the forums at http://forums.pepipoo.com or http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

1. What you should know about these companies

It is important to remember that private parking companies (or PPCs as they are often called) have NO OFFICIAL POWERS - that's right, none at all! They give out their "tickets" on the basis that you have seen the signs in their car park and that you have therefore agreed to a contract obliging you to pay a certain sum of money.


2. What happens to people who don't pay?

In 99.9% of cases, absolutely NOTHING! The company pays the DVLA £2.50 to get your address, and then sends lots of threatening letters. In the main, these letters can be safely IGNORED. The only way the company can actually force you to pay is by taking you to the small claims court, which costs them even more money. And they are by no means guaranteed to win! And they practically never do.

The two main reasons for this (among others) are the following:

- Only the person DRIVING the car could ever have agreed to any such parking contract. The company can only get the Registered Keeper's address from the DVLA: you don't have to tell them who was driving.

-Many of these charges are so extortionately high that they constitute a penalty, which is unenforceable in a consumer contract.


3. Can they affect my credit rating?

NO! The only way your credit rating could be affected by ignoring private parking companies is if you were taken to court, lost, and then still refused to pay. But they will not take you to court.


IN SHORT

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE tickets from private parking companies, they are not official fines.

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE the threatening letters, including those from debt collection agencies.

You DO NOT have to pay a penny of your hard-earned money to these companies. Remember that the chances of being taken to court are very slim indeed.

DO NOT IGNORE COURT PAPERS!
If you receive real court papers from a private parking company (very rare) then you should go to http://forums.pepipoo.com or http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences for help defending the claim. Do not be afraid to sign up and ask questions regarding any paperwork you are not sure about.



Don’t believe the above? Watch a solicitor on Watchdog advising you what to do with the scam invoices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA

THEY ARE NOT FINES

Only the Police, Courts or Council’s can fine you. NOT a private company, please remember that.

Coupon-mad

Here's my contribution, just posted there:

Why don't you all just park there all day, there's NO FINE. Why would you take a bogus ticket seriously when there is so much info on the internet - and it's been covered on Watchdog TWICE already this year?

MSE parking board, happy reading:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...play.php?f=163

pepipoo fightback forums parking board:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Consumer Action Group parking board (scroll down to the mustard yellow headings to read threads but don't use the templates, not worth a stamp. Never acknowledge a PPC fake ticket, NEVER appeal):

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ffic-Offences&

Or just Google 'do I pay a private parking ticket'? that will find results from the forums telling you the score.

Please stop discussing 'fines' and stop worrying, these fake tickets are meaningless and only useful as paper aeroplanes.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

I see our lovely Lucy is at it again

If you get a ticket, write back with a cheque for just £10 saying this is all you are prepared to pay for the trouble you caused.

That will stop them in their tracks.
Lucy BC, UK

AlexisV

Do you have to send in a handwritten note of apology with your tenner for the 'trouble you have caused'?

backfoot

She's either in the pockets of the scamster's or very dumb.:eek:

paddedjohn

Ive only got twenties, shall i just send one of these with a nice note asking for change?....................................................


...........Thought not

peter_the_piper

If she thinks that will stop them she's on another planet.
""Oh good, they've sent a tenner now lets go all out to screw more from them.""

taffy056

So much for murdo saying it wasn't her advice that HJ is using, unless its HJ using her usual username

backfoot

Comment added to Sentinel website.

'Ha,ha, turkeys vote for Christmas.
Don't shop there till they change the rules.
Don't ever pay the scamming parking company.
Disregard the advice of Lucy BC. The worst thing you could possibly do is to part pay them.'