Armtrac Exeter

cornishboy_2

My son rents a flat in Truro, the parking on the small estate is managed by Armtrac. I parked there on the main access road with a visitors pass issued by my son in January. he has two passes, a gold one and a book of visitors passes. he has never had any instruction from the landlord or letting agent which pass is valid for where, and there are not any visitors bays marked on the estate. When I returned to the car Armtrac had put a parking ticket on the car demanding £80.The ticket said I should have used the gold pass for the access road, though my son was not aware of this. I ignored them. They wrote to me as the registered keeper in March demanding £100. I wrote back explaining the above with a photo of the visitors pass in the windscreen of the car. I am now on the letter threatening court action unless I pay £100 in 7 days.
Is there any history of Armtrac actually going to court? Shall I continue to ignore?
thanks

ManxRed

I think they may have tried a couple of times, but not fared very well at all.

I would get some pictures of the lack of signage just in case.

Any court claim would have to be based on a contract formed with YOU, not your son. So they need to make it clear to YOU what the terms and conditions are, not him. Telling him is irrelevant (even if they had done that properly).

Also, £80 is clearly disproportionate to any losses suffered as a result of the breach of any parking (contract) terms, so it would be deemed a contractual penalty. It wouldn't last five minutes in court, and for that reason I suspect they wouldn't bother trying.

Coupon-mad

cornishboy wrote: »

My son rents a flat in Truro, the parking on the small estate is managed by Armtrac. I parked there on the main access road with a visitors pass issued by my son in January. he has two passes, a gold one and a book of visitors passes. he has never had any instruction from the landlord or letting agent which pass is valid for where, and there are not any visitors bays marked on the estate. When I returned to the car Armtrac had put a parking ticket on the car demanding £80.The ticket said I should have used the gold pass for the access road, though my son was not aware of this. I ignored them. They wrote to me as the registered keeper in March demanding £100. I wrote back explaining the above with a photo of the visitors pass in the windscreen of the car. I am now on the letter threatening court action unless I pay £100 in 7 days.
Is there any history of Armtrac actually going to court? Shall I continue to ignore?
thanks

As ManxRed says, take pics of the signs so you can show how unclear they were and that there is no clear contract conveyed by them. Keep all the letters but carry on ignoring the threats.

If they do try a real Small Claim it wouldn't last 5 minutes. Google 'Armtrac pepipoo Court' and you will find several losses by them as discussed on pepipoo forums - here's just one where pics of the signs showed the judge they had no case:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=62528&start=200&p=642409&#entry642409

The bottom line is - do NOT even think about paying this scam fake PCN.


HTH

give_them_FA

Perhaps the worst aspect of private companies generally is the fact that they take absolutely no notice of courts telling them they have no case, but just carry on regardless with the scam.

Take photos as suggested, save whatever rubbish they send you, and maybe we can see if there's a chance of YOU taking THEM to court- you will have a better case than they would, I think!

Do not pay the twisters one penny.

HO87

Armtrac was, of course, involved in the famous case of Arthur v Anker as Mr Anker's employers. However, their court record of late has been particular dire and they have been spanked several times. Its frightening really to think that here we are very nearly 20 years later and Armtrac are still operating in Truro.

sarahg1969

Remember the old "Armtrac Security (Off Street Parking Places) Order 1997"

lol

trisontana

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Remember the old "Armtrac Security (Off Street Parking Places) Order 1997"

lol

You mean this ? :-

http://forums.pepipoo.com/lofiversion/index.php/t39444.html

Coupon-mad

Oooh I had forgotten about that pepipoo thread! :T

give_them_FA

Did anything come of it in the end?

cornishboy_2

Thank you to one and all for you advice and help. i will go and take some photos of the signs and the lack of marked visitor spaces, anything else I should take a photo of?
I was also going to call Devon TS to complain about them.
is there anything else I need to do?
thanks again

give_them_FA

Yes. Put your feet up, relax, have a glass of beer, and laugh at the utterly pathetic attempts that will be made to scare you.