Parking Charges -charges or penalties ?

Sirdan

From ..Guidance for the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts
Regulations 1999 published by the Office of Fair Trading



"The Regulations are concerned with the intention and effects of terms, not just their mechanism. If a term has the effect of an unfair penalty, it will be regarded as such, and not as a 'core term'. Therefore a penalty cannot be made fair by transforming it into a provision requiring payment of a fee for exercising a contractual option."

Now I'm not legally qualified but I read that as Parking Charges are penalties whether or not they are called charges or penalties.
What it says to me is that a PPC can't say the contract is free parking for two hours but £50 for any time over two hours ..that is still a penalty because it's intention is to penalise you or to dissaude you from staying longer than the two hours.

This seems a compelling argument if linked with this from the same guidance .
"It is unfair to impose disproportionate sanctions for breach of contract. A requirement to pay more in compensation for a breach than a reasonable pre-estimate of the loss caused to the supplier is one kind of excessive penalty. Such a requirement will, in any case, normally be void to the extent that it amounts to a penalty under English common law"

£50 for an overstay in a free car park ..so the pre-estimated loss is calculated how exactly ?

Sorry if I appear to be teaching veteran posters to suck eggs but I thought this info would be of interest to newer visitors.

No wonder PPC's don't want to go to court ..they are on very very shaky ground it would appear.
(NB Just my opinion I am NOT legally qualified.)

AlexisV

You're bob on the money.

Whatdoiknow

Just to add my twopenneth and apologies if it has been mentioned previously.

We have cited the below from The Malicious Communications Act 1988 in response to a letter from a certain company (no names) that has suggested that as the registered keeper we are responsible for any charges incurred to a PPC by one of our drivers.

1) Any person who sends to another person :-

(a) a letter, electronic communication or article of any description which conveys :-

(i) a message which is indecent or grossly offensive; (ii) a threat; or

(iii) information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender;

Basically we have told them they can go and swivel.