Fly-by-night private parking cowboys...

ilesmark

Hi all

Am posting this on behalf of a friend who approached me for advice on the above. I will merely paste what he has written:-

Today when taking dad to the hospital for an appt I got a £40 fine (£15 if I pay in 14 days) for parking next to the main entrance which happened to be on the zig-zag lines before a zebra crossing. It wasn’t obstructing or anything and I know it was risky but thought it would be easiest for dad and was there 10min. I then moved the car to the Homebase carpark opposite as usual and went back to join dad.

I went to the on site office where the ticket was issued and explained that my dad was elderly had difficulty walking, but they moaned ‘oh it’s a public highway… you can’t park there…’ they pointed out that I should have used the free carpark next to the entrance. I didn’t know it was free at all because it had a barrier and looked like you had to pay. I went to look and it was tiny, enough for 8 cars, 20min limit. They said you should have seen the ‘great big signs’. There were only 2 small signs that didn’t say it was free otherwise I’d have parked there.

Anyway dads appt dragged on and when I went to pick the car at Homebase there was lo and behold another fine of £50! (£30 if payable in 14days) because I overstayed the 90min limit by only 17min!

What power do these people have in actually getting any money out of you? They seem like profitering private firms who will contact the DVLA for non payment. ‘Euro Car Parks’ based in London are in charge at the Homebase carpark and the hospital one is Qpark.

I find it all a little unfair, so wondering what I should do, should I pay?

Anyone got any thoughts?

Thanks

Mark

Trebor16

No power whatsoever! In the first case, if it was a public highway where you parked what are a private parking company doing putting tickets on a car which is not on private land?? The only thing I would check is who you have to make a payment to in respect of the hospital ticket as sometimes local authoritys can issue PCN's if they have a agreement with the hospital.

In respect of the Homebase one..............ignore it!! Read some of the other threads in the parking section for reassurance.

peter_the_piper

I would also suggest that you/he were very lucky that a plod did not come by, zig-zags are definitely not to be parked on for the safety of anyone using the crossing (might be your Dad next time) Anyway, second all that Trebor says.;

The_Slithy_Tove

ilesmark wrote: »

for parking next to the main entrance which happened to be on the zig-zag lines before a zebra crossing.

Do that on a public road (rather than what is probably a private road inside the hospital grounds) and you face a £60 fine and 3 points. Parking on zebra crossing zig-zags is an offence for safety reasons.

Luckily for your friend, it's a private ticket so you can safely ignore.

ilesmark

Hi all - the friend says thanks. He also said he's not sure if the zig zag lines were real or make believe, although the ticketer guy said it was a public road (but he would!) and that it seemed more like a cross between a real crossing and a phoney Tesco-style one.

But as us armchair lawyers know, there's a difference between public roads which are adopted as public highway by the local authority and roads which are open to the public but not adopted as public highway. And regardless of the fact that he parked on a zigzag, if it was one of these private cowboys and not a proper traffic warden or police who issued the ticket then that would point towards the latter.