Civil enforcement parking fine - advice needed

pauljoecoe

My wife stopped at what she deemed to be a pick up drop off point outside the Ramada Hotel in Milton Keynes to collect some visitors to MK. There is a sign saying 10 min pick up drop off parking. If anyone knows the area it says its the 'Ramada Encore service road, The Hub, MK'

The car wouldn't restart so she went to the Hotel to explain and they said it wasn't their land. My wife left a note on the car saying it was broken down. She then got a lift to her work where she had a jump start kit and went back to start the car.

We have just received a Parking enforcement notice form 'Civil enforcement ltd' asking for £150 within 28 days or £75 within 14 days or they will use a debt recovery agency and this will incur additional costs.

Annoyingly my wife collected the car 10 minutes after the time recorded on the photo of the car.

A few questions:

1. Is this all above board and legal?

2. Are they allowed to obtain our name and address from the DVLA?

3. Should we pay it or will they not bother with the debt collection if we ignore?

4. Is it worth writing to argue as there was a note left on the car saying it was broken down.

Any experiences, legal help appreciated.

Lum

Private parking ticket?





Serious answers:

1) They haven't broken any laws
2) Legally, yes
3) Do not pay it
4) Do not enter into any correspondence with them at all

They will make a whole bunch of threats, but they can't actually do anything because

1) They have sent a letter to the owner of the car, not the driver, unlike the council or police they have no legal power to require either of you to name the driver and they cannot bill the owner. So long as they don't know who the driver was they're screwed.

2) A civil parking notice like this is covered under contract law, not criminal law, therefore any penalty clauses in the contract must be fair and only cover costs incurred by your breach of contract, for example if the parking was £6 per hour and you overstayed by 10 minutes they could legally charge you £1. They would have to demonstrate in court that your actions cost them £150, which they can't so they wont even try.

pogofish

Take a saunter into the Parking Board - You will find all you need to know about "Civil Enforcement" and their toilet paper tickets there.

Ignore, ignore, ignore!

wantstofish

may be a good idia not to shop at asda company policy to issue private parking demands see ASDA wed site

SHIPSHAPE

AVOID parking tickets by leaving your windscreen wipers turned to 'fast wipe' whenever you leave your car parked up.

Qwerty1_2

Please help - my ex received a £150 charge in the post. He was the registered owner but changed to me (when civil enforcement paid the £2.50 to dvla, must still have being processing). Never received anything before this "final demand", didn't even get a ticket on the windscreen. It was me driving & looks as though I had exceeded the time limit, although can't remember because it was nearly 2 months ago. Have read all the threads & want 2 ignore. Problem i'v got is that should bailiff's/more letters come, they will be sent to my ex's address. He has 2 state that he is not the registered keeper, which I assume will make them re-request details from dvla. They will therefore pay me a visit. Won't the car park have photo's of me getting in & out my car?? If so, I can't deny I was driving. Went & had a look at the sign after the fine. It states "if you park longer than specified you agree to pay £150 - £75 if within 14 days). This is tiny writing & seems 2 be a huge con. Advice please - feel totally sick with worry. Can't afford this at all!!!

Trebor16

Qwerty1 wrote: »

Please help - my ex received a £150 charge in the post. He was the registered owner but changed to me (when civil enforcement paid the £2.50 to dvla, must still have being processing). Never received anything before this "final demand", didn't even get a ticket on the windscreen. It was me driving & looks as though I had exceeded the time limit, although can't remember because it was nearly 2 months ago. Have read all the threads & want 2 ignore. Problem i'v got is that should bailiff's/more letters come, they will be sent to my ex's address. He has 2 state that he is not the registered keeper, which I assume will make them re-request details from dvla. They will therefore pay me a visit. Won't the car park have photo's of me getting in & out my car?? If so, I can't deny I was driving. Went & had a look at the sign after the fine. It states "if you park longer than specified you agree to pay £150 - £75 if within 14 days). This is tiny writing & seems 2 be a huge con. Advice please - feel totally sick with worry. Can't afford this at all!!!

Relax and don't panic. Their "fines" are unenforceable as they have no power to issue fines. Read the stickies at the top of this forum for further reassurance.

lu_wees

hey everyone, in the last 3 months I have moved out of my home town and out of my parents address, and 2 days ago my parents received a letter addressed to me (but with my name spelt completely wrong) saying it was a final demand for a payment of £90 for a parking fine..now as I don't live in my parents home town any more, I thought this was rather odd that a parking fine had been sent to their house. Also this letter does not state where this parking infringement was supposed to have taken place, only the date of the alleged infringement. So I have no idea where this parking fine is supposed to have come from, and I don't see how it can be called a 'final demand' for payment, as no previous letters have been received and there has been no penalty notices left on my car. The only places I have parked in the past few months have been my car park at my residence, my university car park, and supermarket car parks to do my shopping, (which I have obviously paid for ones that require you to do so). The letter has a post mark on it from London, and the head office says it is in Liverpool, and the company is Civil Enforcement. I also thought this was odd as my parents home town is Ipswich and I now live near Nottingham. My parents even took the letter to the local police station to see if they could help us, and the police officer didn't know where the letter had come from, and he said that it should state all details of the offence, which it does not. He also gave us the advice to not pay any money to this company...however, can someone please help me and give me some advice, as I am a student that cannot afford £90, and I really don't want bailiffs knocking on my or my parents door, or getting taken to court!

Lum

Read the post immediately above yours, then ignore the letter and stop worrying about it. It's completely unenforceable.