Parking Fines - help and advice please!!

taffy056

No bailiffs will turn up unless you go to court, lose, don't pay the judgement within 28 days, the claimants going back to court to ask for court bailiffs to attend. There is whole lot of hoops that must be made first.

In regards to that judgement do you have a link to the article ? The number of times a parking company has gone to court and won a properly defended claim you can count on one hand, they issue millions of invoices each year, they all claim to take to court, most list a judgement from 2008 on letters and sites, which when you think about it, why promote a rival company on your letters when each company must have thousands of cases each.


The simple reason is that they never do court, and when they do they lose in a huge majority of times.

give_them_FA

natasha1989 wrote: »

there was a post on another forum which also had a link to a article in which a private parking company took a lady to court and won. she was ordered by the judge to pay £300 plus costs because he said 'a parking ticket is still a parking ticket no matter who issues it'

i have no problem ignoring these letters but as i live at home my mum is panicking about bailiffs and i dont want my mum suffering because of me. from all the advice i herd a win in court for these companies is highly unlikely but if i get a jugde like that poor woman im screwed!

What they may not have publicised was the fact that the PPC lost the appeal. The district judge (junior to a judge, and can be a bit capricious) was obviously either fairly dim, or the defence wasn't presented properly with the help of people from here or pepidoo. Fear not, girl! Show the spirit that gave Britain an empire! These people are cowards who don't like it up 'em!

And if you care to look at it from another angle: the cowboys issue literally millions of these illegal charges each year. It's a big buck industry. And all they can point to is one or two court cases over a period of years? I'll take those odds any day of the week.

They rely on people adopting your attitude to buy themselves fancy cars from the profits of their scams.

Coupon-mad

natasha1989 wrote: »

there was a post on another forum which also had a link to a article in which a private parking company took a lady to court and won. she was ordered by the judge to pay £300 plus costs because he said 'a parking ticket is still a parking ticket no matter who issues it'

i have no problem ignoring these letters but as i live at home my mum is panicking about bailiffs and i dont want my mum suffering because of me. from all the advice i herd a win in court for these companies is highly unlikely but if i get a jugde like that poor woman im screwed!

That's all very interesting but please show us where you read:

'' iv just read that new generation parking have now got their own bailiffs not just debt collectors so they have every right to recover their debt! ''

and which particular case a judge said:

'' a parking ticket is still a parking ticket no matter who issues it''.

Strange I don't recall that one, unless it was the Thomas case from 2008 that forum trolls always trot out...

give_them_FA

Yes, I too was wondering if "Natasha" is who she says she is as I cannot find the quotes she describes either... perhaps she can set our minds at rest by posting up a link to where she saw them....

Lala7

Hi! Can someone please give me a little bit of advice? I've been parking in a Vinci car park for way over a year. Problaly 4/5 days a week. And, along with all my 30 other work friends, havent paid and displayed (which is bad i know but we were told ints unenforcable as its private) Ive woken up this morning to 10 letters, each charging £154 (thats way too much for a parking fine surely...) all sent out on the 31st july and they are random days here and there from the begining of April. Not everyday i've parked. And for the first one, its been 4 months until theyve sent me anything about it.... The letters are from Roxburghe Debt Collectors.... I've been told to ignore them as their crap basically but i am a little worried as theres so many sent on the same day! Surely if it was legit they would send them out a certain amount of days or weeks after the 'incident'? Not all together when some of the dates are 3 months apart...? And no one else who i work with have recieved any. Not that i know of yet anyway... So surely thats not legit as if it was it would work like clock work getting everybody?

Please help!

ManxRed

We do not condone the non-payment of legitimate parking fees, car park owners are entitled to charge for the services they provide.

The charges that get sent out by the parking companies are another matter entirely and if disproportionate to the unpaid fees then we advise to ignore.

Legally speaking though, you DO owe them the value of the unpiad P&D fees.

Coupon-mad

Your behaviour is what gives PPCs the excuse to stay in business. Do you not see that? You are perpetuating their reason to be there!

No-one on here ever says 'don't pay a P&D fee'! You do owe the P&D fees and I would write offering that small amount (NOT the Parking Charge Notices amount though!) in case Graham White/Roxburghe are trying to line you up for an attempt at a Small Claim.

Normally would say ignore but with several lots of P&D fees it reminds me of the Smithy case where it would have been best if he had offered the P&D fees. Don't say who was driving, just say summat like:

'got these letters about my car, not sure why on earth you are trying to claim such an extortionate penalty amount from me when I am the registered keeper of the car and cannot possibly know who was driving on dates several months ago.

For the avoidance of doubt, I can state that I entered into NO contract with your client. I will NOT be paying any 'Parking Charge Notice' that you claim the agents of the car park have some sort of right to charge (clearly they don't).

Any contact to chase up that amount will be considered harassment of me, the registered keeper of the car. The alleged debt is DISPUTED AND DENIED.

When you return the file to your client as 'debt denied' I request that you include this letter an draw to the client's attention the following offer, made without prejudice:

I am prepared to resolve the issue by offering you client the amount of any unpaid Pay and Display fees that they can set out, with dates, times the car was seen and full evidence of who was driving on each occasion.

In doing this I would not be accepting any liability, simply wishing to offer a reasonable amount. A penalty is not reasonable nor lawful, particularly when your clients are only agents of the owner/occupier and have no right to take action against a registered keeper/owner (or even the driver who they have failed to identify).

I will only respond if I receive such a breakdown and if it is only representative of the P&D fees alone.

Any other contact in the absence of sealed Court papers will be actionable as harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. I warn you and your client to desist immediately with attempting to extort more than the P&D fees from me because I will respond with a Small Claim for damages.'


That's what I would do. Then ignore anything that's NOT a statement of the P&D fees, or real sealed Court papers (defendable, don't worry).

taffy056

I agree with what coupon has stated, you and your coleagues are abusing the car park, and are perpetuating the problem! I also agree with her on the rest of the post.

Can I make a suggestion here, pay for parking or don't park there.

retiredhobbit

Sorry to hijack the post, but I have found myself in a similar such situation. I'm well versed with all your advice here on the forum (excellent by the way) but would like some personal input.

I received a PCN from Vinci Parking (£40 payable or reduced to £16 if withn 2 weeks) when taking my daughter to an afterschool class - lasts for half an hour for which we pay a class fee. Didn't actually realise I had to pay for a P&D ticket (after 5pm for a off peak fee of 50p), and furthermore find this cheeky as I am paying for a class anyway . Notably, the time of observation on the ticket was actually before I arrived (I know this as I was late for the class!).

Anyway, based on your collective sound advice I ignored this and my wife (the registered keeper) received a letter from Roxburghe for a fee of £97, spouting some additional threats concerning credit rating and court orders as per the thread. My gut feeling is to continue with this ignoring tactic given the wealth of info present, and therefore know what to expect. Just wondering how you distinguish a genuine Court Order though (should actually there be one)?

Also, on other threads to this one some members advise contacting the land owner as above with the 50p fee to fulfil my legal and moral obligation (as I didnt pay), which may result in them calling the PPC off, or more likely continued harrassment from the mob. Should I do this? Or should I just ignore this one and ensure I pay from now on? Also, is there a risk that if I return before this settles I may be targetted in some way?

Any help much appreciated.

ManxRed

1. You'd know if you got a court order, you would be in court and the judge would say 'you lose'. What you will (not) receive is a court claim form, stamped, probably from Northampton. You would then submit a defence, and if it got to court, you'd probably win. If you didn't, then you'd have 28 days to pay up. ONLY THEN can the other party apply for a CCJ / Court Warrant / Bailiff whatever.

The odds of this happening are slim to none.

2. They wouldn't target you, but in what way do you imagibe they would?

3. Its a matter of split opinion as to whether to offer 50p or not. Personally I would, but that's me.