Parking spot is this legal

Andympgs

hi all no joy on pepipoo, quite arragont and rude response on this topic. so i'll seek advice from my better forum pals.
cutting a long story short.
i have been been parking on the outskirts of town for approx 3 months.. i stopped parking in town car parks due to how expensive they are !!
I usually pop into town several times a week and has in the past amounted to over £12 in one day.
my logical thinking in walk into town from the outskirts is a better option in these hard times rather than paying a fortune in car parking fees, I have found some waste land and stick the motor there.. obviously understanding the risks of theft etc...
now opposite this waste land is a garage called walmsley auto centre..
there customers park on the waste land so does everybody else that knows about it.. i need to mention that in our town there has been a new asda built which obviously has parking facilities.
so to the story
i get to my so called parking space yesterday fairly early.. and find the whole lot parked in alreday and the one space i usually park has a huge white board noting
"parking £2 pay at garage across the road"
now forgive me if i'm gullable but i will not pay some random person that just so happens to claim that i have parked on his land... i did at this point swing my car straight into the nearest curb.. and park up... i walks over to the garage and the old boy comes over ...
hello says i
hi says the old boy
i have just taken a picture of your board stating you would like £2 for anyone parking on the land over there
why?
because i own it
oh really do you, could show me your public liability cert, notice from the council to state you have the legal right, and by the way i never noticed your parking meter and tarrifs??
its my land it all use to be sheds there ya k
thanks for your information... erm can you show me any of the documents i need in order to pay you the money your asking for?
anyhow you get the jist... it was not malicious and nothing was nasty but i did say to the chap that i will repolrt his site to the council... i did about half an hour after the conversation and they basically stated what i had already told the chap, apart from directing my enquiry to the trading standards... i was already aware of that 1 beside several authorities i could report him to...
no then can anyone here advise me otherwise as to what action i should take and if there are any right to the gentleman or myself???
much appreciated??
i will also add the response to what i had from pepipoo

1/ me: iam asking if i have a legal right to parkk in this area if there is insufficient signs etc??
have i got the right to not pay him money ?
am i within my rights at all to continue parking there

2/forum: You have no legal right to park on someone else's property - would you like someone parking in your garden?

3/ forum:You don't want to pay £12 to park in an official car park so, several times a week, you've been leaving your car on somebody's private property.

He now wants a modest £2 so you've shopped him to the authorities.

You appear to completely misunderstand the ethics of the PPP forum. The regulars have no issue with the right of car park owners to make a charge for the service they provide. We only oppose the associated use of legally questionable penalties and the unacceptable practices of dubious debt collection agencies that attempt to collect them.

We most certainly do not support the behaviour that you are intending. Not only is it trespassing, pure and simple, but is the very behaviour that the BPA is using as an example to justify overturning centuries of legal principles and put their members' tickets on the same legal footing as official council penalties.

4/ forum: It seems to me that you have a bigger problem than the garage owner trying to make a (reasonable) few bob.

I suppose if he gets shut down many people will have cause to be really grateful to you for then having to pay much more to the operators of the car parks without whom this forum would not exist.

5/forum: It's up to you to determine the owner of the land, so you might want to pay a few pounds to the land registry.

If you park there 250 days a year you could in theory be facing a £500 court claim in 12 months.

6/me: ok look, i'm sorry if i have offended anyone on this topic, i have not come here to stir trouble, just ask for advice, not least to say i have just jumped in a hornets nest here.
i guess i was eager to have people understand the difficulties of the price that general car parks cost now.. i personally.. and it's just my opinion, have had to tighten my financial belt for obvious economical reasons.
yet again maybe i have upset people here and without intent. i fully understand what you are saying in your quest to outline that the WASTELAND is his property, however i need to point out that this is an allegation!! i do not know that this property belongs to the garage owner, nor could he prove that.. i was willing to give him £2 for parking there, but he could be a random stranger asking for my money which may i remind you all that i work hard for to..
what right has anyone to take money from anyone else without justification/honesty/legal docs etc...
i guess i thought this would be the crowd that would understand about the judicial system on parking as advised by my main forum moneyexpert.co.uk.
anyway please don't get to uptight, it's only advice being asked kindly. thankyou for your words of encouragement, and generous attitudes , it has brought me such warmth, and a enlightenenment , and given me comfort to come here again and chat with you all.
may i wish you all the best in whatever troubles you may be going through, and a prosperous new year.

Please no reply is needed.....save your kind words for a more desperate fellow rapscallion

Now call me out of order put the people on the forum have completely missed the point so as i say, no jot there can anyone advise
:A:A

krlyr

Your post was a bit hard to follow but if I've read it correctly I'd say you're definately in the wrong and the garage owner is probably in the wrong with the way he's gone about things, but that doesn't make you right.

You are trespassing on private land without permission, to save yourself some money. Can you not find a public side road of an equal walking distance? The owner of the private land, whoever it is, would be entitled to take it up as a civil case and send you a parking fine.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/t_parking_fines.pdf
http://www.flashpark.co.uk/Legal.aspx

You'd probably be able to report the guy for what sounds like trying to make some money on the side - even if it's his land, you're probably right in that he needs public liability insurance on it, may need to declare his earnings, etc. but his failure to do all that doesn't entitle you to park there.

scheming_gypsy

what right has anyone to take money from anyone else without justification/honesty/legal docs etc...

When you park in a car park, do you ask to see the legal docs to say it's their land?

If you parked there without paying him because he wouldn't prove that it was his land. What would you do if you came back to find your car blocked in and he refused to move the blockage until you proved (with legal paperwork and taking into consideration that a V5c isn't proof of ownership) that it was your car?

Orford

Personally I think that the replies on Pepipoo were perfectly reasonable. They might not be what you want to hear, but they were neither rude nor arrogant.

esmerobbo

£2 a day is probably better then having a puncture when you return to your car after work!;)

dzug1

You have no right to park there at all without permission from the owner. Signs are irrelevant. Just because it's waste ground doesn't mean it doesn't have an owner. I see no reason to doubt the garage owns the land though, and if it is can prevent you parking there.

Whether he has the right to charge you if you do - pass. I'd guess he does - as a garage he should have all the necessary permissions to use his own land to store vehicles - part of his trade - for which he will be insured. And he's really not a 'random stranger' who has stuck up a chair and table and is trying to take money from other random strangers

WestonDave

He may be operating an unauthorised (in planning and licensing terms) car park, which may influence your decision whether to report him for those breaches or pay up and use it. However it doesn't mean it suddenly becomes a free car park.

My guess is that he has used this land for a long time (whether he owns it or not - he may have acquired possessory title if he's used it long enough!) for his customers parking, except that increasingly chancers have taken more and more spaces to the point where it is having a detrimental effect on his main business because customers can't park.

I can appreciate you trying to save some money but life works best with a bit of give and take - there's no sense running another guy into the ground just to save the odd couple of quid on parking.

Andympgs

Thank you all for the cracking advise,
I,m in the wrong
I will find somewhere else to park.. Take care all
AndyT