Can a shoppers car park charge from opening time

photome

Overheard a converstaion this afternoon.

A young lady said she had lost her car park ticket in a multistorey owned and operated by the shopping centre (The Mall I think the company is called).

This was at about 1400, she had a baby in a pushchair, she was told she would have to pay from 0800 and because it was over 4 hours short stay the fee was £8 or £10 (not sure which).

Can they legally enforce that payment or could she have argued that she had only been in the car park 2 hours (for example) I dont know how long she had been there.

I have no connection, just curious

taffy056

Think it depends on whether its a council car park or not, I would think that its an unfair clause as most car parks have cctv they can rewind the tape to when she came there, still its only £8-£10 so would it be worth going to court to claim it back ?

muckybutt

taffy056 wrote: »

Think it depends on whether its a council car park or not, I would think that its an unfair clause as most car parks have cctv they can rewind the tape to when she came there, still its only £8-£10 so would it be worth going to court to claim it back ?

If it had been council I would expect a proper PCN or ECN to have been issued.

I know of a few private multi storey car parks where signs do state that for lost tickets they will charge a standard day rate, I cant really see a problem with that really personally - yes its a kind of penalty but its a reaistic one, not in the £xxx ones like PPC normally issue. I suppose if its a ticket on exit system then they have you over a barrel as you need the ticket to get out ! so you have to pay.

Alexis27

No they cannot legally enforce it unless they can prove she was their all that time. You would be forced to pay if there was a barrier on exit though.

I've been in this situation though. Pay by Visa Debit card and then perform a Visa Debit Chargeback. The £8 extra I had to pay in an NCP car park was refunded by my bank. I honestly stated the amount of time I had parked and the amount I should have paid and the amount I was owed back.

I paid what I owed for the service I received.

I know of a few private multi storey car parks where signs do state that for lost tickets they will charge a standard day rate, I cant really see a problem with that really personally

The amount is the maximum potential amount of loss they could have incurred. Basically they are calling you a liar if you state you've only been there for x number of hours and that you have to pay for 24 hours though. Not exactly customer service is it? You wouldn't take it from any other kind of company would you?

vikingaero

The reason car parks charge the full daily rate for lost tickets is that otherwise every Thomas, Richard and Harold would park all day, "lose their ticket" and claim they were only there for 1 hour.

photome

vikingaero wrote: »

The reason car parks charge the full daily rate for lost tickets is that otherwise every Thomas, Richard and Harold would park all day, "lose their ticket" and claim they were only there for 1 hour.

Thanks for all replies.

I understand the reasoning behind it but just wondered if they can enforce it.

It is a private car park, not council. As said in first post it is owned by "The Mall" and yes it is a barrier comtrolled exit so you do need to have a paid for ticket to exit

Coupon-mad

As Alexis says, if it's a barrier then - if forced to pay the whole day's rate - use a VISA debit card, or any Credit Card, and get the overpayment charged back later.

AlexisV

vikingaero wrote: »

The reason car parks charge the full daily rate for lost tickets is that otherwise every Thomas, Richard and Harold would park all day, "lose their ticket" and claim they were only there for 1 hour.

I really doubt every person would try to commit fraud!