Private Eye Parking Fine

esmerobbo

trisontana wrote: »

Why is a satirical magazine going into the private parking business. I assume you mean Parking Eye.

I hope it is parking Eye not Private Eye and as the later is well used to court!:)

Linzimw

I received a £70.00 parking charge in the post today sent by Parking Eye, a Member of British Parking Association. I parked in a supermarket car park for the length of time and on the date stated. I had moved from another part of the car park that was covered by a pay and display notice and didn't think that the notice covered the area I was parked in. The two parts were in front of different supermarkets separated by an entrance road. If I pay before 26/611 the charge is only £40.00 but goes up after that to £90 because of an adnin fee. It looks very official - my details supplied by DVLAand states that Parking eye are 'fully compliant with the information commissioner What do I do?

Coupon-mad

Linzimw wrote: »

I received a £70.00 parking charge in the post today sent by Parking Eye, a Member of British Parking Association. I parked in a supermarket car park for the length of time and on the date stated. I had moved from another part of the car park that was covered by a pay and display notice and didn't think that the notice covered the area I was parked in. The two parts were in front of different supermarkets separated by an entrance road. If I pay before 26/611 the charge is only £40.00 but goes up after that to £90 because of an adnin fee. It looks very official - my details supplied by DVLAand states that Parking eye are 'fully compliant with the information commissioner What do I do?

I wonder? Ignore it OF COURSE like the advice on here, it is a scam!

Read the stickies please bor adding questions to someone else's thread:

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

You must read 'PPC letters, what to expect' which is self explanatory, and 'welcome, please read before posting' with the paper aeroplane skills of the Solicitor on Watchdog.

It is easy, there is no dilemma here. Read up on the scam. Did you somehow think it made a difference that they are 'a member of the BPA'? The BPA are not a regulator, they are an old boys' club, a members' group of private parking companies - including Parking Eye. So what if you stayed for the time stated? This isn't a fine and there was no 'offence' (they have no authority to issue penalties!).

Let's be clear. Only MUGS and the uninformed pay these fake PCNs.

esmerobbo

Linzimw wrote: »

I received a £70.00 parking charge in the post today sent by Parking Eye, a Member of British Parking Association. I parked in a supermarket car park for the length of time and on the date stated. I had moved from another part of the car park that was covered by a pay and display notice and didn't think that the notice covered the area I was parked in. The two parts were in front of different supermarkets separated by an entrance road. If I pay before 26/611 the charge is only £40.00 but goes up after that to £90 because of an adnin fee. It looks very official - my details supplied by DVLAand states that Parking eye are 'fully compliant with the information commissioner What do I do?

As Coupon says ignore the clowns, however writing to the supermarkets concerned may help in getting these parasites thrown out.

As for all the we are members of this and we abide by that, its an attempt to try and give them some relevance when really they have none.

They claim to be DPA compliant in gaining the registered keepers details then claim the keeper is responsible for any charge. So they may be compliant but they also tell lies.

marieaqua

I have just received a parking fine from Parking eye, i think its disgusting! i only went in to Mc Donald's to use the toilet and for my friends to get some food after the festival T4 on the beach. The queues took ages because of how busy it was. They obviously don't want any custom as no-one can buy and eat food in 10 minutes which is their car parking limit! some great tourist attraction!

Coupon-mad

marieaqua wrote: »

I have just received a parking fine from Parking eye, i think its disgusting! i only went in to Mc Donald's to use the toilet and for my friends to get some food after the festival T4 on the beach. The queues took ages because of how busy it was. They obviously don't want any custom as no-one can buy and eat food in 10 minutes which is their car parking limit! some great tourist attraction!

Yes but it's not a fine..and you won't be paying it now will you?

Stephen_Leak

To all 3 OPs ...

Firstly, the legal stuff.

Only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. A private parking company (PPC) or an individual can't. Even PPCs call their tickets “Parking Charge Notices”, not “Penalty Charge Notices”. In law, they’re called “speculative invoices”.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a fair and legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and a driver entering the car park in the first place. See The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997 and Excel Parking Services vs. Cutts, Stockport, 2011.

All the car park owner (CPO) can claim from a driver in damages for any breach of contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If this is a free car park or they paid, this is £0.00. Demanding more has been judged to be unreasonable and therefore an unfair contract penalty under the terms of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997, which is not legally enforceable. See Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 and countless cases since.

There are also now two recent court cases, VCS Parking Control vs. Ronald Ibbotson, S!!!!horpe, 2012 and VCS Parking Control vs. HM Revenue & Customs, Upper Tax Tribunal, 2012. In both cases, the judges found that only the car park owner can take drivers to court. The Upper Tax Tribunal is a court of record, equivalent to the High Court, and therefore its judgement sets a legal precedent.

What should I do now?

We don’t condone not paying or overstaying in a pay car park. If you do owe the CPO anything, then you ought to write to them, offering this in “full and final settlement”.

In any event, you ought to advise the CPO that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and that any further actions by them would be regarded as harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That ought to make the CPO call off the PPC and, hopefully, realise the potential cost of doing business with them.

Don’t appeal to the PPC. They always reject them. What’s in it for them to let anyone off? Actually, there is something in it for them: information. They need to know the identity of the driver of the vehicle involved at the time, because that’s who the alleged contract was with. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to make do with chasing the registered keeper.

With windscreen notices, an appeal letter will tell them your name and address, and maybe who was driving at the time. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to buy the details of registered keeper from the DVLA. With postal notices, they’ve done this already. But they still need to know the identity of the driver.

They sometimes say that they have the right to ask for this information. This doesn’t mean that you have to tell them.

However, even if you’ve written and told them who the driver was, it doesn’t make their actions any less unlawful. It just means that instead of harassing the registered keeper, they can now harass the driver.

What will they do to me?

The PPC, then a debt collector and then a solicitor will send you a series of letters. The debt collector and solicitor are usually also the PPC, but using different headed paper. These letters will threaten you with every kind of financial and legal unpleasantness imaginable, to intimidate you into paying.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a Nigerian e-mail scammer couldn't sue anyone who didn’t pay them.

What should I do then?

Continue to ignore everything you get from the PPC and their aliases. It does seem counter-intuitive to deal with something by ignoring it. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats, and stop throwing good money after bad.

bondy_lad

parking eye issue=parking charge notice=fake/scam/not legit,,only a PENALTY charge notice is legal, only issued by police/traffic warden/local councill,,so what you have on your car whilst nipping to the toilet is merely,, toilet paper itself???,,so ignore all future threat o grams on or on behalf of these morons as ALL are part of the SCAM, nothing will/can happen as a result,, why?,,because its not legal,, its a SCAM,, there you go, jobs a real good un.please read stickies for further reassurance.

Cash_JR

I have received a Parking Charge Notice from Parking Eye who operated a motorway services car park. The signs clearly state two hours free parking but I was parked for 3 hours 24 minutes, so I have clearly breached the conditions of parking. The photo evidence is of my car entering the car park at 00:27:57 and exiting the car park at 03:52:45.

Do I have any defence to this parking charge?

I'm aware of previous posts regarding private companies being unable to legally enforce a parking charge, but if on the rare occasion I do get summoned to court, the evidence is in their favour as I clearly enter the car park at 00:27 and I don't leave until 03:52.

The charge is a ridiculous amount of £90 reduced to £60 if paid by 19/07/2012

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

ManxRed

The evidence clearly ISN'T in their favour. Your clue is your own admission that the charge is a ridiculous amount.

The only redress open to anyone for breach of contract is the actual losses incurred as a result of the breach. The charges for parking there are zero, so as a result of your overstay they have 'lost' £0.00. This is all they would be entitled to pursue the driver for.

However (don't worry, it gets even better), due to a recent ruling in the Upper Tax Tribunal (which is binding on the lower courts, includig small claims which is where this would end up) it has been found that a parking company - if they do not own or lease the land (and they won't own the land belonging to a service station) - do not have the legal authority to form a contact for parking services with a driver anyway. So, only the landowner could pursue the driver, not the parking company.

So, to summarise, you legally owe the landowner only (not the parking company) £0.00.

Ignore all their letters and do not contact them.