Parking Fines - help and advice please!!

malid

My husband has just received 6 letters from Vinci for 6 separate parking fines - £40 each. Apparantly fine would have been £16 each if paid within 14 days. Our son has been using the car on occasions and parking in University (Vinci must manage the car park/payments). He accepts he hasn't always paid - like all his friends - but says he hasn't had 6 tickets on the windscreen for 6 different days. The ones he did have he ignored as all his mates did - I am horrified!

I am very concerned and worried as the letter threatens a debt collector will be employed if he (my husband) doesn't pay. Please can you advise. Should we just pay?

Any sensible advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

The_Slithy_Tove

First off, you can ignore the letters from Vinci. They are NOT fines, but merely invoices for payment of an arbitrary penalty, which is not enforceable. Just look around this forum for many, many examples of the same. There won't be debt collectors or bailiffs at your door, but you will receive lots more such junk mail. You seem to be a stalwart of MSE; surely you know how to look at the forums and do a bit of research before panicking.

However, if the car park your son is abusing is a Pay & Display one, then he really should pay his dues. Vinci have every right, on behalf of the owner, to impose parking charges. And, in fact, they could sue your son for the loss of revenue (a few quid, not £40 a go). It's becuase of people taking advantage that the parking companies thrive on saying to the car park owner how they can "manage" the parking and prevent abuse.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

malid wrote: »

I am very concerned and worried as the letter threatens a debt collector will be employed if he (my husband) doesn't pay.

Debt collectors are not bailiffs and have no power to do anything other than beg for money. Ignore them.

Trebor16

malid wrote: »

My husband has just received 6 letters from Vinci for 6 separate parking fines - £40 each. Apparantly fine would have been £16 each if paid within 14 days. Our son has been using the car on occasions and parking in University (Vinci must manage the car park/payments). He accepts he hasn't always paid - like all his friends - but says he hasn't had 6 tickets on the windscreen for 6 different days. The ones he did have he ignored as all his mates did - I am horrified!

They are unenforceable invoices, not fines or penalties. Vinci have no legal authority to fine people.

malid wrote:

I am very concerned and worried as the letter threatens a debt collector will be employed if he (my husband) doesn't pay. Please can you advise. Should we just pay?

All a debt collector can do is knock on your door and ask for payment. They have no power of entry whatsoever. All you say to them is "The debt is dispute, send it back to your client. If you contact me again I will report you for harassment".

Your husband wasn't driving the car so he has no liability whatsoever so no obligation to pay.

malid wrote:

Any sensible advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Hopefully that will be of assistance to you. But do take the time to read the threads in this section for further reassurance.

taffy056

A debt collector - employed now that is an oxymoron

Seriously though vinci are private parking company who should be ignored, their invoices are not enforceable and are basically toilet paper. They and their agents operate a scam, the victims are the motorists. Thankfully you have come here to check things out. Can I just say read the sticky threads at the top of the forum, educate yourself to this scam, and watch the watchdog videos from the BBC and Ann Robinson with a legal expert.


After that sit back relax and laugh at how useless Vinci are and their completely powerless agents who act for them - chill

Coupon-mad

malid wrote: »

My husband has just received 6 letters from Vinci for 6 separate parking fines - £40 each. Apparantly fine would have been £16 each if paid within 14 days. Our son has been using the car on occasions and parking in University (Vinci must manage the car park/payments). He accepts he hasn't always paid - like all his friends - but says he hasn't had 6 tickets on the windscreen for 6 different days. The ones he did have he ignored as all his mates did - I am horrified!

I am very concerned and worried as the letter threatens a debt collector will be employed if he (my husband) doesn't pay. Please can you advise. Should we just pay?

Any sensible advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

We give very sensible advice here!

My son is at Uni too and I am horrified that you seem to be blaming your lad and taking this mail scam so seriously! These are NOT fines!

Good for your son and his friends for having the nous to know that PPC fake PCNs are unenforceable invoices, a con. Like a Burger King flyer on a car windscreen these can be safely ignored. You and your husband really must read up on this scam as you may well get more letters, and could easily get a fake ticket yourselves in a car park one day, if you drive. They are a scumbag pariah, these companies, a parasite waiting to pounce for money - nothing to do with car park management at all.

Please read the top sticky thread 'PPC letters & threats' to see the rubbish threatograms that Vinci will churn out before giving up and moving on to a gullible victim. That's how they make their money, so do not be a victim. No reply, no 'appeal' attempt (there is NONE).

It's just a case of ignoring some letters, I have done it and so have most other sensible, law-abiding people on this board. It's like ignoring a series of phishing emails (and they can look very convincing too, after all). A 'debt collector' is just a pen-pusher in a call centre and the letters are well-known hot air.

Nothing else happens, no knock on the door, no bailiff, no CCJ, no Court, no effect on credit rating. No effect on his studies as the money is not owed to the University and Vinci can't even be bothered to find out who was driving (do not tell them of course). NOTHING else happens. The Watchdog clip which is also linked on the top thread will explain more and should reassure you as it's a solicitor's advice re what he would do if his Mum got one of these fake PCNs.

bondy_lad

sensible advice=completely ignore these scammers, do not contact or engage in dialogue,do not pay a penny, just a request for money nothing else, total scam, relax,keep your money.

Alexis27

Relax. You're the victim of a con. Simply ignore Vinci, their powerless debt collectors and their templated letters.

malid

Many thanks for all your swift responses. I have been reading posts on MSE about this sort of thing, but you know what it's like, you have this nagging feeling - is our situation different?

I have made it clear to our son that he must pay the parking charge in future and that we are dealing with these 'debt' letters. Interestingly, all the letters state that we have 28 days to pay from the date of the notice - 27th January 2012 - yet all the letters were posted 26th January.

Once again, thank you all.

esmerobbo

malid wrote: »

Many thanks for all your swift responses. I have been reading posts on MSE about this sort of thing, but you know what it's like, you have this nagging feeling - is our situation different?

I have made it clear to our son that he must pay the parking charge in future and that we are dealing with these 'debt' letters. Interestingly, all the letters state that we have 28 days to pay from the date of the notice - 27th January 2012 - yet all the letters were posted 26th January.

Once again, thank you all.

Ignore the invoices, but how do you pay for parking? Is it a pay and display or is it a permit?

malid

esmerobbo wrote: »

Ignore the invoices, but how do you pay for parking? Is it a pay and display or is it a permit?

It's pay and display.