Elite Parking Fine

reenee

Feel really unjustified today, went into town parked in an Elite Management (Midland) Ltd run carpark for an hour. I was 13mins late, when i got back the attendant had just put the ticket on my windscreen. It was my fault and now im debating whether to pay the fine and be done with it. Or do what so many of you have and ignore it. The fine was for mighty £75 wouldnt be so bad if it was for myself but i was getting a pressie with a collection from work. I dont know if im strong enough to deal with the demanding letters as i have never been this kind of 'scary ' & 'legal' situation before. Any body experienced this with Elite and what was the outcome?

lucylucky

You have not got a fine.

Use the search engine.

Ignore the threatening letters and do not pay.

taffy056

Its NOT a fine! Only the police and courts can issue them, a council can issue a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) a parking company can only issue invoices, affectionately known as 'bog paper' around here, this bog paper can have many uses, for example when you run out of toilet roll or you can simply file it away like many of us on here, and read it when you are feeling a bit down, many on here have reported spontaneous laughing fits, and their spirits immediately lifting.

One particular legal expert likes to make paper planes out of them, you can view his exploits below, Ann Robinson from BBC Watchdog thought it was very amusing to see an invoice plane flying around the studio, we on here were in fits about it

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3164256

Now in all seriousness please don't pay this unenforceable invoice, it won't go any further.

Driver8

If you are not strong enough to deal with begging letters coming through your door i would pay up then because you are going to get some.

It's not "scary" and you are not in a "legal" situation.

They are a private company with private employees. What makes you think they can demand money off you with their scams?

Tell you what, if you don't trust us, just google the company and just have a look what comes up even before their own company site.

No wonder the scum are still in business.

reenee

Thanks for replies. As much as i feel that they are scum. My weakness is that i was late, and therefore dont have any real valid reason. I would like to know if anyone else didnt pay and got away with it for the same reason.

taffy056

reenee wrote: »

Thanks for replies. As much as i feel that they are scum. My weakness is that i was late, and therefore dont have any real valid reason. I would like to know if anyone else didnt pay and got away with it for the same reason.

There are 3245 threads in this section, probably 80% of them are about people not paying invoices, after we have taught them not to pay.

And you have a very valid reason not to pay, you don't have to! Now please actually click on the link I gave you above, and watch the videos, and read the first post in the thread.

EDUCATE yourself to this scam!

Coupon-mad

reenee wrote: »

Thanks for replies. As much as i feel that they are scum. My weakness is that i was late, and therefore dont have any real valid reason. I would like to know if anyone else didnt pay and got away with it for the same reason.

It's not about you or me 'getting away with it'! It's these companies that 'get away with it' by leaching off real businesses and their legit customers. Please read up on this scam and see it for what it is!

PPCs issue bogus PCNs and then send a few letters, which are shown on our top sticky thread 'PPC letters, what to Expect':

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

It's not scary if you can just play snap with each letter which matches a debt collector letter-chain shown on our top thread. How hard can that be, you don't have to read the letters (I didn't)!

Yes, I have ignored a PPC when my car overstayed by being parked for 4 hours in a 2 hour car park - I make no apologies, I was not driving and the driver was shopping in various local shops. Ignoring the letters sent to me as the registered keeper was no biggie and I am just an ordinary Mum, not used to debt collector/solicitor letters arriving either. Plenty of regular posters here have collected LOADS of these bogus fines and ignored every single one.

When you read up on it enough you will realise that ignoring a PPC is like ignoring and deleting a series of phishing emails. Nothing will happen at all. Do not appeal and do not pay, only uninformed mugs fall for this old rubbish (sorry but IMHO it's true - anyone with a PC who is daft enough not to Google the company first has been had if they just pay up and fund these company owners with their rich lifestyles).

HO87

reenee wrote: »

Thanks for replies. As much as i feel that they are scum. My weakness is that i was late, and therefore dont have any real valid reason. I would like to know if anyone else didnt pay and got away with it for the same reason.

With respect Renee, I think you are probably missing the point or, perhaps, have fallen for the propaganda and are conflating what you probably view as your moral obligation with the legal position that Elite are now claiming.

No private company can fine you. They have no power whatsoever to do so - regardless of what they may claim. What you have is not a fine it is a speculative invoice dressed up to appear legal and threatening in the hope that you will waver and pay up.

If this initial demand is not enough, companies will up the ante and make the demands a little more shrill each time, with black or red borders, full of words like "CCJ","final demand"; "debt-collectors"; "adverse effect on your credit rating" and my personal favourite "we will instruct bailiffs to execute a warrant and seize goods from your home". All of which is utter hogwash.

The standard private parking company business model is a straightforward minimum effort numbers game based on issuing as many demands for payment as possible on the basis that roughly 40% will pay up immediately and that about another 10% can be pulled in with the increasing threats. Those that don't respond are thrown aside and ignored because the companies cannot afford (or probably just can't be bothered) to pursue them through the courts. And that is all their business entails - literally issuing demands for "fines" or "penalties" for alleged contractual breaches - is all that they do. They don't sell anything or provide a service. That is all they do. Is this moral?

Of course, every now and again some companies will take a case to court just to prove that they do and to maintain something of an edge to their otherwise empty threats. However, the chances of that happening are remote.

When all is said and done, if you really feel threatened then it would be remiss of us to try to brow-beat you into something you feel uncomfortable doing. To the uninitiated the letters are threatening and become more so which is why we warn people of the fact and include copies of the standard letters in the "stickies". The mere thought of a solicitor's letter would make some quake in their boots and so if you are one of them then pay the money and bring some equilibrium back to your life. I for one will think no less of you for doing so.

funkycoldribena

reenee wrote: »

Feel really unjustified today, went into town parked in an Elite Management (Midland) Ltd run carpark for an hour. I was 13mins late, when i got back the attendant had just put the ticket on my windscreen. It was my fault and now im debating whether to pay the fine and be done with it. Or do what so many of you have and ignore it. The fine was for mighty £75 wouldnt be so bad if it was for myself but i was getting a pressie with a collection from work. I dont know if im strong enough to deal with the demanding letters as i have never been this kind of 'scary ' & 'legal' situation before. Any body experienced this with Elite and what was the outcome?

If we said we're going to charge you £75 for our replies and keep messaging you until you pay,would you pay us? PPC's have as much clout as we do, so send us the cash.

backfoot

They are trying to charge you nearly £6 per minute for the overstay.

I suspect they charged you either 30 p to 60 p for the first hour. That's only 1 pence per minute.

How are they going to show that their losses amounted to an increase of such immense proportions in a half empty car park? They can't and they are not the Local authority or the Police.

Ignore. You will get a silly letter from Roxburghe Debt Collectors and around 3 more from Graham White solicitors, who are the same people. They will add some new pretend amounts to their claim showing how nonsensical it all is. :rotfl:

Then they give up and pursue the more gullible.:D

My advice would be ' Just walk away Reenee' la la la la........You're not to blame. (Courtesy 4 Tops).

AlexisV

The amount they are trying to charge you amounts to £346 an hour.

They would have an almost impossible task trying to prove to a judge that that was fair and enforceable.