Unreasonable £50 fine for parking in centre! Cowboys?

Coupon-mad

Nei wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have tried to post the scans of the letter received, but it does not allow me as I haven't got many post etc - does anyone know a way around this?
...however my worry is if I ignore it, they will just harass me to take extra money?

Yes they will 'harass you' with a flurry of letters. Those letters are already shown in the top thread 'PPC letters & threats' so there's no need to show a scan of your same, computerised letter. Just find where you are in the letter-chain from the top thread, and just play PPC snap like we all do when we collect these flyers on our cars. Honestly it can be fun, I would do it again with no worries!

But we do encourage harassed people to COMPLAIN to the retailers/landowner/management about the use of a practice akin to a protection racket in the car park. Don't be scared to complain about them, this is a private company pushing the boundaries because they can and because the British are generally compliant and gullible to a scam. But one thing these private companies can't do is fine anyone!

Nei wrote: »

I have done some extra research and have noted people have ended up paying.

Dunno what you mean?

Pretty much no-one ends up paying. Almost no PPCS ever go near a Court and of those who do, almost all of them lose every single time as they wouldn't know a fair 'contract' if it hit them in the face!

Who is the PPC in your case?

Have you found their letter chain in the top thread and have you watched the Watchdog clip linked there too? You are taking this too seriously, it's a CON.

vax2002

This is a scam that impersonates authority.
You are already falling for it.
Stop and listen to the advice given
They have NO AUTHORITY or legal power to fine you anything.
It is all one big BLUFF.
IGNORE, Stay ignoring and get ready for a shower of silly letters impersonating other types of authority, solicitors, debt collectors.
If you do pay to make it all go away, set aside another £100 at LEAST !
like all scammers they come back for more money in late payment charges, even if you dont pay late.

esmerobbo

nei wrote: »

thanks

however, on the letter it also states:

Having checked your details with the driver and vehicle licensing authority (dvla) you were the registered owner/keeper at time of parking. In accordance with the terms and conditions clearly and prominently displayed and agreed to when your vehicle parked on our clients property the payment of £75 is required within 28 days from this notice.
what it does not say is that the owner/keeper has no responsibility for any charge. Also any charge is purely involuntary!

so surely they have already obtained details from dvla?

they may have but the reason they ask you to appeal is to avoid this and also hopefully gain information!

sorry, i am not trying to criticise someone - just asking some questions to prepare me if they do try to harass me etc - hope you understand

00000000000000000000000000 Really ignore it!

bondy_lad

hi people,wow this site has definitely inspired me?????????????,(has it),,,well, please take our advice,its a scam,do not give it another thought, do not contact them,, do not reply to any threat o grams from them or related to them,they will then move on to some poor unsuspecting driver,nothing absolutely nothing can be done by them to you,,please get re inspired and relax.

tablelamp

Nei.
this recently happened to us and we researched alot of threads which advised to ignore but also that it could involve small claims court eventually. I suggest you get in touch with the largest retailers and/or bank you used and explain what has happened ask them if they can help in any way . Good Luck

The_Slithy_Tove

tablelamp wrote: »

Nei.
this recently happened to us and we researched alot of threads which advised to ignore but also that it could involve small claims court eventually. I suggest you get in touch with the largest retailers and/or bank you used and explain what has happened ask them if they can help in any way . Good Luck

It won't reach the small claims court, they wouldn't stand a chance.

If the OP contacts the retailers or banks, it should not be to ask for help, it should be to complain bitterly about the harrassment received by an agent of their landlord. They need to understand that they need to put pressure on the shopping centre owner to make their customers leave with a positive experience, not to get a barrage of threatening letters claiming unreasonable sums from them for the hineous crime of visiting their establishment.

Coupon-mad

tablelamp wrote: »

Nei.
this recently happened to us and we researched alot of threads which advised to ignore but also that it could involve small claims court eventually. I suggest you get in touch with the largest retailers and/or bank you used and explain what has happened ask them if they can help in any way . Good Luck

Please don't worry the OP - he does not need to ask the retailers for 'help'! Nor does he need luck to just ignore a scam and make a valid customer complaint about a criminal offence (harassment) by an agent of the owners or occupiers.

Almost all the regulars on here have collected several fake PCNs. And we've read threads on here every single day from other people ignoring fake PCNs.

I can count on one hand how many have gone to Small Claims, out of tens of thousands of threads I have read over the last 5 years! In almost every case where a PPC did chance their arm with a small claim (not many) the motorist won of course, especially where the PPC cannot even be @rsed to prove who was driving and the made-up amount 'claimed' was a stupid enough figure to be an obvious and unlawful penalty. And I can only think of two where the PPC won - in fact 3 but the third one was appealed at a higher Court and won by the motorist as the higher Court Circuit Judge understood the facts better than the CC judge had.

There's almost ZERO chance of small claims court, and the chances of a PPC even bothering with Court are so low it's really not worth worrying about at all. Most PPCs wouldn't know what a small claim is. If we knew who the PPC was, chances are we can say whether they ever do Court or not.

Nei_2

Thank you all so much for your replies!

Really appreciate them and have taken them seriously!

Before you throw things at me, just one final straw - can I?

ok here it goes, so those boards which I later realise are scattered around the car park mentioning 4 hours is the limit and penalties etc - do I happen to contravene these? is this where they have some legal footing?

or No it's all rubbish.

Sorry guys I trust you but guess the recession has made me worried that I do not want to pay extra if it goes the other way round

Please don't hate me, just wanted to clarify this.

But thanks so much again, appreciate there are helpful people out there :beer:

trisontana

Under civil law they can only claim for the actual material loss they have suffered, not some arbitrary sum of money they have dreamed up out of thin air. In you case that amounts to a big fat zero. Anything else would be considered an unfair penalty. So relax and stop taking these clowns seriously, nothing will happen to you.

Coupon-mad

Nei wrote: »

Thank you all so much for your replies!

Really appreciate them and have taken them seriously!

Before you throw things at me, just one final straw - can I?

ok here it goes, so those boards which I later realise are scattered around the car park mentioning 4 hours is the limit and penalties etc - do I happen to contravene these? is this where they have some legal footing?

or No it's all rubbish.

Sorry guys I trust you but guess the recession has made me worried that I do not want to pay extra if it goes the other way round

Please don't hate me, just wanted to clarify this.

But thanks so much again, appreciate there are helpful people out there :beer:

We don't hate you but we do hate this scam. Which is why we come back every day to advise newbies never to pay any private parking 'ticket'.

Imagine if you stuck big boards up in your front garden and put crazy paving down, and if the signs said that any visitors who stepped on the cracks had to pay you £80...

..can you see the Postman being concerned and coughing up his money?

A sign is just a sign and not a contractual agreement in 99.9% of cases. The usual PPC business model is based around impersonating authority with rambling signs and fake PCN 'documents' followed by threatograms. That's it.

Which company are we talking about? We know them all!