Cp Plus Parking ticket - not parked in a designated space

maraf1

Dear all,

I am new to this forum, searching for some help with the ticket I have received recently.

It was at the parking by the train station. I have parked there for the last two years, always payed and displayed.
I have returned from work last thursday to find a parking ticket on my front windscreen. I was absolutely shocked !

It quoted: '05 Not parked in a designated parking space'.

It was only then I have realized that I have parked next to a car, that was parked in the last bay. Next was a small break, to get into the next line of parking spaces. I must point out here, that I was not blocking the path to the next line of parking spaces.

The parking was flooded after a heavy rain fall during the night, and in the dark of the morning (6am) there was absolutely no way I could have noticed that there was no white line on the left side of my car. I could hardly see the white line on the right hand of the car as well (dark, and about 1 inch of water).

I was given a '7 day discounted' penalty of 50 pounds (80 after that ) ... and that is on top of 6.5 pounds I have paid for parking on that day !

[FONT=&quot]How can I fight back ? how can I appeal ? I am completely new to this, as I have never received a parking ticket ... well, only ones I have trully deserved, and payed

PS
ticket ahs been issued by a private company CP Plus
[/FONT]

Driver8

maraf1 wrote: »

Dear all,

I am new to this forum, searching for some help with the ticket I have received recently.

It was at the parking by the train station. I have parked there for the last two years, always payed and displayed.
I have returned from work last thursday to find a parking ticket on my front windscreen. I was absolutely shocked !

It quoted: '05 Not parked in a designated parking space'.

It was only then I have realized that I have parked next to a car, that was parked in the last bay. Next was a small break, to get into the next line of parking spaces. I must point out here, that I was not blocking the path to the next line of parking spaces.

The parking was flooded after a heavy rain fall during the night, and in the dark of the morning (6am) there was absolutely no way I could have noticed that there was no white line on the left side of my car. I could hardly see the white line on the right hand of the car as well (dark, and about 1 inch of water).

I was given a '7 day discounted' penalty of 50 pounds (80 after that ) ... and that is on top of 6.5 pounds I have paid for parking on that day !

[FONT=&quot]How can I fight back ? how can I appeal ? I am completely new to this, as I have never received a parking ticket ... well, only ones I have trully deserved, and payed

PS
ticket ahs been issued by a private company CP Plus
[/FONT]

CP Plus? Utterly ignore.

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.

Driver8

Forgot to add stigy will be along soon with his Train Station routine stuff. Ignore him if the ticket is from CP Plus.

maraf1

Thank you for all your help !!! a couple more questions:

what do you exactly mean by saying "stigy with his Train Station routine Stuff' ??

IF it gets to the court, what line of defence do I take then ? Do you reply any earlier to any of the letters ? solicitor etc ...

peter_the_piper

maraf1 wrote: »

Thank you for all your help !!! a couple more questions:

what do you exactly mean by saying "stigy with his Train Station routine Stuff' ??

IF it gets to the court, what line of defence do I take then ? Do you reply any earlier to any of the letters ? solicitor etc ...

That was just a joke about stigy. It won't get to court so do not worry and just keep ignoring.

esmerobbo

Best to ignore completely. Dont worry about court it wont happen in 99.99% of these matters.

Kite2010

Does it say anything about railway bylaws on the ticket anywhere?

If it doesn't, than ignore, as long as you have paid to buy a ticket from the machine/season ticket, than the landowner has suffered no loss, so the most the landowner can sue you for is nothing. So ignore the various demands sent from various desks in the CP Plus caravan asking for more and more sums of money, with empty threats such "ignore this and we will get a CCJ against you"

Stigy

Oooo, I didn't see this one. I'm not going to get in to a heated discussion about this, just to entice the likes of Driver7. I'm assuming Railway Byelaws aren't mentioned? To be honest, even if they are mentioned, the points to prove for it to go to a Magistrate's Court are more hassle than most TOCs wish to encounter for something as small as a parking notice. What Train Company operates the car park?

stevie1965

I received a ticket in my windscreen in Cwmbran Shopping Centre (South Wales) from CP Plus for £50 (reduce to £25 for prompt payment) for not parking in a designated space.

I checked and they operate in the carpark (which is free to use) with the permission of the Shopping Centre's Management Company

Assuming my car was parked outside of a designated space I assume I should still ignore this ticket?

I also understand this carpark has cctv fitted.

esmerobbo

stevie1965 wrote: »

I received a ticket in my windscreen in Cwmbran Shopping Centre (South Wales) from CP Plus for £50 (reduce to £25 for prompt payment) for not parking in a designated space.

I checked and they operate in the carpark (which is free to use) with the permission of the Shopping Centre's Management Company

Assuming my car was parked outside of a designated space I assume I should still ignore this ticket?

Yes ignore them and any letters you receive. These companies look for any infringement they can find to try and justify their charge.

Makes no difference what they think you may have done wrong simply ignore them.;)

Coupon-mad

Seconded, ignore them and their threatograms.

Start reading from the top of the forum, certainly read all the stickies except the one about ParkRight which isn't relevant to you:

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

You will find pictures of the debt collector letters to ignore (nothing happens, honestly) and you'll find a link to Watchdog showing what to do with a private parking ticket. The Watchdog example ticket was one with a pretty picture of a car (but no pic of the driver) just like yours...:D

The whole PPC fake ticket thing is a scam, it's shocking that big retailers allow this sort of protection racket to target their customers. If you want to write to anyone, write to the retailer and complain about their use of a private parking company picking on a genuine customer who spent lots of money in the shop (but who will not shop there again until the parking company is ousted). Don't say who was driving, say 'we visited' and 'the car was parked' then just complain about how this private parking bogus fines threat is driving away business - encourage them to Google the company to realise the truth and/or give them the Watchdog link.

HTH