Private car park ticket

paris321

I had a funny turn at work and fainted this morning and was unable to get back to my car in time for the ticket running out

i was 30minutes late, and have a ticket from MBC parking solutions for £50!!.
I immeditely rung the company to explain the situation was out of my hand and as expected he wasn't interested was very rude and not helpful as all and said unless i had a doctors note then the invoice would be chased up if i failed to pay. i rang the doctors but as expected they cant issue a note as i wasn't there!

i've been reading the guide and threads on here on the matter of private tickets and i'm in two minds of whether to ignore, or to dispute?
its seems the forum is divided in two opinions?

I appreciate i was late for the car and the ticket isn't technically 'unfair' but it was out of my control i couldn't physically walk
If they matched the councils ticket price of £30 i probably would of payed it and moved on but the high fee and also the rudeness of the man i spoke to had made me determined not to pay it!
can anyone advise??

rappo85

There is no dispute, ignore, ignore ignore. And btw of course the ticket is unfair, if they charged you for the extra 30 minutes that would be fair. As it is they are imposing a penalty when they have no right to do so under contract law. They want you to think it is legitimate. It is not. Give them no more attention and enjoy matching the begging letters with the sticky at the top of the forum.
HTH

Trebor16

They as a private company have no power to fine you or impose any penalties, which is what their £50 ticket is. Ignore any letters you get from them. The most they could claim for is the 30 minutes of unpaid parking you had, but they never do that, they always go for their penalty. More fool them really.

titch2k6

Ignore the ticket. There is no use appealing to the operator because it will be rejected -they are only interested in the money. There is no use contacting the BPA because they are on the side of the operators and have no seperate appeal service.

If you find that MBC is continuously harassing you for payment, they are breaking the law under the Protection From Harassment Act (1997). Tell them and threaten them with a compensation claim. IF you feel that you have to take any further action because it becomes too much, try contacting the landowner of the private property, explain the situation and appeal to their sympathetic side to contact their employees (the operator) to void the notice under mitigating circumstances.

Remember, it is the DRIVER that is liable and not the vehicle owner as it falls within Contract Law. The operator has to prove that you were the driver of the vehicle to persue any charge notice demand. If they can not do that, they can not persistantly harass you for payment. Stand your ground and don't let them bully you into submission.

bromsgrovebarry

The vast majority of people advising on this forum tell you to ignore. This is good advice as the charge is legally unenforceable. All these nasty little scammers can do is send threatening letters. Just ignore the pathetic junkmail. I have ignored several private parking tickets and the threats stopped when the company realised I was not going to be scammed.

taffy056

paris321 wrote: »

I immeditely rung the company to explain the situation was out of my hand and as expected he wasn't interested was very rude and not helpful as all ....

tell em to **** off then lol, anyway just ignore the scammers, all they'll do is send you useless threat letters that will go nowhere. I hope you didn't give them your name and address, if you did you just saved them £2.50 from the DVLA

Just follow the advice above and you'll do okay!

paris321

thanks everyone very useful information.

No i didnt give them my name or address and the car isn't registered to me anyway (boyfriends parents house) .

I was very shocked to learn the dvla will give my details out for £2.50 though as thats the first thing i researched as obviously if they dont have my address they cant send me letters!

Is it best to return there letters unopened with 'not known at this address ' on them or just ignore completely?

Trebor16

paris321 wrote: »

thanks everyone very useful information.

No i didnt give them my name or address and the car isn't registered to me anyway (boyfriends parents house) .

I was very shocked to learn the dvla will give my details out for £2.50 though as thats the first thing i researched as obviously if they dont have my address they cant send me letters!

Is it best to return there letters unopened with 'not known at this address ' on them or just ignore completely?

Don't waste time and energy in returning them.

paris321

Just googled MBC parking solutions and can not believe they are still trading the stories are horrific!
They once chased holidaymakers for 4 miles then pinned them in with there van as they refused to pay a fine, one of them then climbed into the back of the car next to there 5 year old daughter and picked up a claw hammer :-o

I'm shocked that they are still running, i've heard of them roughing up/hitting people refusing to pay a clamp fine!!!

Coupon-mad

Yep, but calm down, this was just a fake PCN not a clamp and not a situation where they can chase you. You can just ignore it and you can park there again.

peter_the_piper

paris321 wrote: »

thanks everyone very useful information.

No i didnt give them my name or address and the car isn't registered to me anyway (boyfriends parents house) .

I was very shocked to learn the dvla will give my details out for £2.50 though as thats the first thing i researched as obviously if they dont have my address they cant send me letters!

Is it best to return there letters unopened with 'not known at this address ' on them or just ignore completely?

Just make sure the BFParents DO NOT PAY as the begging letters will go to them. Don't send them back, just file them away and IGNORE them.