Will TPS take me to court?

jodie_jo

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice on the best course of action to take.
I work full time at an nhs hospital where they brought in a private parking firm - Total Parking Solutions, and since October last year I have received 8 tickets!
The main reason for this is because parking facilities are so poor ( I and many other staff have complained about lack of parking spaces) and so many staff park their cars wherever they can get. TPS must be making a mint off us!
A couple of tickets I have received are for not paying because I've come off a night shift a few minutes late and the parking attendants have started their shift.
Following advice from people at work and from what I've read on the internet, I decided to ignore them, thinking they can't enforce them, but since receiving more and more, I'm really worried.
If I have to pay these fines, it amounts to nearly double a months wages.
If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

AlexisV

I'm not aware of TPS ever taking anyone to court.

Ignore TPS, but keep an eye on the NHS suits.

There was a case recently where Aintree NHS took a member of staff to court for 25 tickets totalling £1600. They lost, so there is case law in place to defend you if hell froze over and you actually got a court claim.

give_them_FA

Do you not have a union there who could say either give the staff adequate parking, or kick out the parasites.. (or both?)

Stephen_Leak

How did the NHS Trusts' legal people let that one get to court?

Anyway. Yes. Ignore.

Also tell everyone you can that PPC tickets are not legally enforcable.

Also consider sueing the PPC for harassment. In your particular circumstance, with it being your employer's car park. I'd recommend NOT sueing them as well. You could, as they're "jointly and severally liable" with the PPC. But, why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?

ManxRed

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

How did the NHS Trusts' legal people let that one get to court?

Its public money, they don't care.

Seriously.

esmerobbo

ManxRed wrote: »

Its public money, they don't care.

Seriously.

£120K at the last count! Before that case!

jodie_jo

Thanks for your responses, it's put my mind at ease!
I keep getting letters every few days, and today I received my first final warning and they are threatening me with court action now. Do I just ignore this one too?
I feel like I may be in a different position from most other people because rather than having one isolated ticket, I have 8 and worried they will want to make an example out of me!

Nozone

jodie_jo wrote: »

Thanks for your responses, it's put my mind at ease!
I keep getting letters every few days, and today I received my first final warning and they are threatening me with court action now. Do I just ignore this one too?
I feel like I may be in a different position from most other people because rather than having one isolated ticket, I have 8 and worried they will want to make an example out of me!

Letters from TPS? If it's a 'final warning' from TPS there's also 2 'final warnings' from Roxburghe and one from Graham White, then in my case back to a further 'final warning' from Roxburghe.

Hm, I wouldn't worry in particular about them making an example out of you for having 8 tickets - if these morons were going to make examples out of people they would do it with anyone they could get their hands on (infact logic dictates they would specifically target people with one ticket - they could then say 'if you have more than one ticket, you have no chance. Pay up'.)

However, logic is not a strong point with these morons. Also, they threaten court action right off the bat to scare people. I think my first letter threatened me with court action and bailiffs and a bad credit rating if I didn't pay up within 14 days. They then sent me the above series of 'final warnings'.

Again, logic would dictate they stuck to some sort of timescale and only issued the threat of court action near the end of the letter chain, however these eager beavers like to play their ace card right off the hoof.

If you're comfortable with the advice in this thread so far, as to ignore TPS, then continue to do so.

Nozone

Also - someone might like to clarify/verify this point;

Any court action is on the basis of recovering loss, which makes it cyclic because the times you were late was because you were working at the hospital, which relies on the car park, which just means the ball is being passed around. Seems like a case that no court would really take seriously.

Coupon-mad

Nozone wrote: »

Also - someone might like to clarify/verify this point;

Any court action is on the basis of recovering loss, which makes it cyclic because the times you were late was because you were working at the hospital, which relies on the car park, which just means the ball is being passed around. Seems like a case that no court would really take seriously.

If they cite trespass then they can only recover loss.

But most PPCs who do try Court rely on the law of contract - where they can claim more if they can show that the driver 'agreed' to pay it by seeing and being informed by signage that was clear, with a charge that is proportionate, not a penalty, and all that jazz. Nigh on impossible for a PPC to win in most cases!

But the signage with a 'fair/clear contract' is where they tend to fall down as most PPCs couldn't draft a fair/decent contract to go on a sign if you gave them a perfect template and a photocopier!

It's all irrelevant though because TPS don't do Court.