3 hours at a motorway services costs £115

kalico

I'd welcome any comments you might have about this.

I got a £80 fine in the post from a company called CP Plus Limited, for spending 3 hours in a motorway services.

Worse is that I was in a rental car and the rental company (Enterprise) have now invoiced me £35 as an 'Admin Fee' for giving out the information about who was driving their car at the time.

Naturally, I'm none too chuffed, but wondered if anyone has any experience of similar things, comments to make or advice to give that might help mitigate the charge?

bromsgrovebarry

If you ignore any demand from CP Plus you will get 100% discount. Please look at the stickies on this board and take your time to read through the threads. This is a scam and is legally unenforceable. There is a good clip from Watchdog in which a qualified solicitor tells you to ignore the Mickey Mouse Charges. Do not allow the hire company to pay the charges on your behalf.

bromsgrovebarry

Oh I believe the car hire company has broken the Data Protection Act and had no right to divulge personal information to CP Plus. I would make sure that the hire company cannot charge the card you used to hire the car.

The_Slithy_Tove

It isn't a fine, it's an invitation to pay money to someone, an invitation that can be ignored.

As for Enterprise, you need to check carefully the Ts&Cs of the rental agreement. Normally for car rental companies, they say they'll charge for fines and other statutory charges (council or police tickets). Private parking tickets like this do not fall under that category. However, other threads here seem to suggest Enterprise's contract may allow them to do this (read them very carefully). Still worth challenging Enterprise over this. If you haven't done so already, call your card company and ensure they do not honour any further requests for payment from Enterprise, before Enterprise go ahead and charge your card. Then search around for a thread regarding Sixt, which gives all the advice you need to ensure you don't end up out of pocket. Others may be along to give you a direct link.

kalico

Wow! What can I say? Thank you so very much for all this information. What a difference a few minutes and a quick last-minute post to MSE can make.

I actually booted my lappie in order to make the payment (plus the £1.50 charge for using a credit card) but thought I'd drop a quick line on here just in case someone could give a steer. You folks have done that and more. Thank you very much.

I'll look into the stickies you mention and increase my knowledge in this area before doing anything else.

Thanks a million for all your help.

bromsgrovebarry

There is also an article in Fleet News telling fleet managers that these charges from the likes of CP Plus are unenforceable. Perhaps one of our kind chappies or chapesses will provide the link. This should prove to Enterprise that you were not given a valid fine just a speculative invoice from a bunch of chancers.

Browntoa

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2009/5/28/question-private-parking-fines-fleets-urged/30698/

Fleet managers facing fines from private parking companies should question their legitimacy, according to an appeals specialist.
Private car parks, unlike council-run ones, are governed by contract law with the operator setting the terms and conditions of use, as well as the level of potential charges.
But David Fairley, who describes himself as a consumer advisor traffic appeals specialist, said private companies have no basis in law to penalise an individual.
“Private parking company tickets have become more and more common these days,” explained Fairley.
“They are written in such a way as to make the receiver believe they are legitimate, but in truth they are generally unenforceable.”
When a driver parks their vehicle in a car park it is implied they accept the terms of the parking company, displayed on a sign.
Poor signage could be a defence, but either way Fairley says it is “practically impossible” for the company to prove a motorist knowingly entered into a contract to pay them.
One fleet manager, who did not want to be named, described the system as a “scam” after facing a £100 fine for exceeding the hour limit in a car park by 40 minutes

Kite2010

kalico wrote: »

Wow! What can I say? Thank you so very much for all this information. What a difference a few minutes and a quick last-minute post to MSE can make.

I actually booted my lappie in order to make the payment (plus the £1.50 charge for using a credit card) but thought I'd drop a quick line on here just in case someone could give a steer. You folks have done that and more. Thank you very much.

I'll look into the stickies you mention and increase my knowledge in this area before doing anything else.
Thanks a million for all your help.

And no doubt if you had paid you would have received a further letter saying that sorry payment was made one nano-second too late to qualify for that invoice, please pay an extra £30 as a late payment charge.

esmerobbo

Car hire companies know the script, I bet if one of their bod's was issued a charge when using a car they would tell the PPC to go swivel! However its a nice little earner for them at £35 a lump to give a PPC a hirers address!

Heres is the sixt thread! http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=62531


Another point we often see advised "tell the card issuer not to authorise any further payments" or "cancel your card" has anyone ever tried doing this, its not as easy as you think!

robredz

esmerobbo wrote: »

Car hire companies know the script, I bet if one of their bod's was issued a charge when using a car they would tell the PPC to go swivel! However its a nice little earner for them at £35 a lump to give a PPC a hirers address!

Heres is the sixt thread! http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=62531


Another point we often see advised "tell the card issuer not to authorise any further payments" or "cancel your card" has anyone ever tried doing this, its not as easy as you think!

Yes buried in T&C's is usually a clause allowing the hire firm almost unlimited acces to your funds. I know several couriers who regularly had their cards maxed out by Hertz (as in it is painful to deal with them) with their charging regime.

Might be worth OP complaining to hire firm about breach of DPA and tell them report has gone to Data Commissioner.

nonnatus

This place really is great isn't it Kalico? I stumbled here a couple of years ago and saved over £150 in my first week following a problem like yours.
I'm not a prolific poster but I believe I've benefited from the wisdom of others by £thousands .