Private Parking Ticket; Why to Ignore & not pay (Very Long Post)

give_them_FA

Utterly disgraceful. Cowboys doesn't even begin to describe them.

Perhaps the most disgraceful aspect of all is that the police prosecuted the victim instead of the criminals.

Luckily the Great British Jury told them where they could stick their prosecution:

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Clamping-nightmare-driver-28-cleared/story-11427513-detail/story.html

27col

Interesting read, thanks for the link, FA

goldenspiral

Thank you for an excellent initial post and lots of great replies.
I wrote to MET parking services saying I wasn't the driver and wouldn't pay. Wish I hadn't bothered. This is now the fourth letter and it claims that the Norwich Pharmacol principle is directly relevant.

Looked this principle up…

It was a case where Norwich Pharmacol tried to compel an agent to release information about who had been importing license-infringing supplies of a patent-restricted drug. The judge ruled that the 3rd party did have to release the information since it was in the public interest.

Met claims this means the court will consider me to have obstructed the course of justice if I don't tell them who was driving.

Although I'm 99.99% sure that I can safely ignore this, anyone here have a different view?

Stephen_Leak

The "Norwich Pharmacal Order" is PPC legal gobbledegook at its best. For a start, only a court can issue one. It doesn't apply to civil cases in the county (small claims) courts. It's only been used in a handful of serious criminal cases in the high court. But it sounds really good, though.

give_them_FA

Goldenspiral- you are being lied to. But I think you sussed that for yourself. Here is what you do with letters from MET:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA


Followed by which you sue them for harassment if you were not the driver.

Gooner86

Hi,

I have recently received a parking ticket from a company called Care Parking. The value is £65 rising to £90 if not paid within 14 days.

I was parked in my own parking space, underneath my flat. I had a permit for the space, but not did realise the permit contained an expiry date, which has now expired. I presumed as long as I paid the rent on my flat, the permit was valid. The parking space comes with the flat.

I feel it is very unfair I have received this ticket, as I pay my rent each month.

Is ignoring the ticket all together the best course of action? Or should I pay it?

Thanks for any help.

Stephen_Leak

The only people to suffer when a building management company bring in a private parking company are the residents. I can't wait for mine to make the same mistake. They won't know what hit them.

Contact the management company. They will almost certainly say that it's nothing to do with them. B*ll*cks. Advise them that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and their actions have been judged to constitute harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That should make them reconsider the wisdom of allowing a PPC to victimise their clients.

If the meantime, you are going to receive a series of letters from the PPC, then a debt collector and then a solicitor. The debt collector and solicitor are usually also the PPC, but using different headed paper. These will threaten you with all sorts of financial and legal unpleasantness, to try and intimidate you into paying. But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a blackmailer couldn't sue their victim if they didn’t pay.

Ignore their empty threats. Eventually, they will run out of things to intimidate you with, and stop throwing good money after bad.

give_them_FA

Don't pay. Total try-on by some very dim people. Just ignore them. Show them YOU don't "Care".

Coupon-mad

Complain to the managing agent about their agents harassing you, especially if your lease gives you rights to your own space. If so, then in fact the PPC were trespassing - and you did not even need a permit as it's your space and the lease trumps any made-up moneymaking scheme a third party has introduced. You can 'opt out' you know, tell the managing agent that unless it's a condition of your lease then you do not accept the PPC at all and are opting out of the stupid 'permit scheme' (= moneymaking scheme, similar to a protection racket) forthwith.

I wouldn't let a PPC scammer near my parking space if I was still in my old flat! Would definitely opt out and try to get the PPC kicked out.

Ignore the PPC completely, including the letters - previews of which are shown in the second to top thread here called 'PPC letters & threats'.

And read some other cases like yours; we have plenty on here entitled 'PCN in my own space' or similar, if your search this specific forum for those keywords. Also on pepipoo forums they have this query crop up regularly as well. Wait for this link to load itself and read the advice on some threads:

LetmeGooglethatforYou

You will see that the advice on pepipoo is the same as on here. FAKE PCN = SCAM. IGNORE IT.

Gooner86

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. It feels wrong but i'll ignore it and see what happens.

Cheers.