Unsolicited goods and services act, and Distance selling regulations???

anewman

I've just been reading about Unsolicited goods and became interested in the fact there have been laws against unsolicited services. The Distance Selling Regulations more recently amended the Goods side of things, though have no affect on services from what I can tell.

I have not seen mention of this come up before (I might be stupid and have missed it) so I suspect it is a no go, but wanted to throw the idea out there.

It was this that really peeked my interest (emphases added).

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/30/section/2

Demands and threats regarding payment.

(1) A person who, not having reasonable cause to believe there is a right to payment, in the course of any trade or business makes a demand for payment, or asserts a present or prospective right to payment, for what he knows are unsolicited goods sent (after the commencement of this Act) to another person with a view to his acquiring them [F1for the purposes of his trade or business], shall be guilty of an offence and on summary conviction shall be liable to a fine not exceeding [F2level 4 on the standard scale].

(2) A person who, not having reasonable cause to believe there is a right to payment, in the course of any trade or business and with a view to obtaining any payment for what he knows are unsolicited goods sent as aforesaid—

(a)threatens to bring any legal proceedings; or
(b)places or causes to be placed the name of any person on a list of defaulters or debtors or threatens to do so; or
(c)invokes or causes to be invoked any other collection procedure or threatens to do so,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [F2level 5 on the standard scale].

I am not a legal expert, so not sure if the above refers to goods only - or services also. Given the name of the act, I would assume it does apply to services.

Now of course they can claim services are not unsolicited if there is a sign detailing these services (e.g. no parking over 2 hours, otherwise please pay £60). But there appears to be occasional circumstances under which companies try to stick these mickey mouse tickets on cars without such signs, or there could not possibly be any rights to payment for a service (like the guy who got a ticket for parking on the public highway from a private company who had no rights over the land).

The law makes reference to more than one offence liable for fines. Demanding payment, or claiming a right to payment, in itself. Threatening court action. Threatening to give a bad credit record. Threatening to initiate collection proceedings. All things that PPC's do and relish in doing as a matter of course, regardless of the legality of the ticket.

I wonder if there is any potential for taking one of the private parking companies to court for providing unsolicited services under this, or a related law.

Sirdan

anewman wrote: »

I've just been reading about Unsolicited goods and became interested in the fact there have been laws against unsolicited services. The Distance Selling Regulations more recently amended the Goods side of things, though have no affect on services from what I can tell.

I have not seen mention of this come up before (I might be stupid and have missed it) so I suspect it is a no go, but wanted to throw the idea out there.

It was this that really peeked my interest (emphases added).

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/30/section/2

I am not a legal expert, so not sure if the above refers to goods only - or services also. Given the name of the act, I would assume it does apply to services.

Now of course they can claim services are not unsolicited if there is a sign detailing these services (e.g. no parking over 2 hours, otherwise please pay £60). But there appears to be occasional circumstances under which companies try to stick these mickey mouse tickets on cars without such signs, or there could not possibly be any rights to payment for a service (like the guy who got a ticket for parking on the public highway from a private company who had no rights over the land).

The law makes reference to more than one offence liable for fines. Demanding payment, or claiming a right to payment, in itself. Threatening court action. Threatening to give a bad credit record. Threatening to initiate collection proceedings. All things that PPC's do and relish in doing as a matter of course, regardless of the legality of the ticket.

I wonder if there is any potential for taking one of the private parking companies to court for providing unsolicited services under this, or a related law.

IMO
Under this section of this Act no chance whatsoever, just because the title contains the word "services" it doesn't follow that every provision in the act relates to services as well as goods.
You can not by virtue of the title of the Act extend Section 2 to cover services when it quite clearly relates only to goods. (There will be other sections re services no doubt).**EDIT THERE DON'T APPEAR TO BE ANY ..which does beg the question why the word services appears in the title at all...:-(
Equally provision of parking is a service not goods.

peter_the_piper

Unfair terms and conditions should be a different matter I would have thought.

bluelight

The legislation extract quoted in anewman's post applies equally to unsolicited goods and services. A Level 5 fine is £20,000. Also, don't forget that if someone sends you goods that are unsolicited, you can regard the goods as an unconditional gift and do not have to pay for them. It's the sender's loss. Likewise, if someone cuts your grass or cleans your windows when you are out, you have not asked them to do it and they demand payment, they are not entitled to a penny.

With regard to PPCs, the legislation that applies to unsolicited goods and services doesn't apply in their case. If they are running a Pay and Display car park and you overstay, they are only entitled to the fee displayed for the time you have overstayed, e.g. £1.20 per hour, overstay by 5 minutes, amount payable £1.20 for the 5 minutes overstayed. The law does not allow them to impose any penalty and there is case law that prevents them from claiming more than they are actually due.

As regards a PPC making threats other than for money they are lawfully due, this is best dealt with by Section 21, Theft Act 1968 (Blackmail) which carries a maximum penalty of up to 14 years' imprisonment. They can also be caught by Section 2, Fraud Act 2006 (Fraud by False Misrepresentation) which carries a maximum penalty of up to 5 years' imprisonment.

Police and Trading Standards Officers have found that the Criminal Law is far more effective in dealing with PPCs than Consumer Law - and more of a deterrent. Go onto YouTube and watch the clip of a clamping firm's tow truck being towed away by the police in Birmingham. Not surprisingly, the clamping firm did not get their tow truck back due to its having been used in the commission of criminal offences.

Happy days!