Parking Charge, nahh thanks!

ppc_guy

See this is one thing that really riles me. WHY on earth did you park i the disabled bay? Yes you may have had to move goods from the vehicle to the store BUT you have perfectly good working legs.

Whilst it is safe to say you can ignore the demand for payment. Hopefully however this incident will encourage you to learn some respect for other people.

Fine the gate wasn't working but this is the retailers problem not that of the disabled person who now potentially had to park further away and face the inconvenience of your ill-mannered move.

Half_way

on a side note what vehicle were you using to transfer the goods form one store to the other? if it was your own private vehicle does it have buisness insuarance? if tis just the normal private car insurance you could get into big trouble, as technicaly your not insured.

Stephen_Leak

The Blue Badge scheme doesn’t apply to private car parks. If you have a badge, you don't need to display it. Anyone, who is disabled under the terms of The Equality Act 2010 can use a disabled parking bay. They may, or may not, also be Blue Badge holders.

But, The Equality Act also doesn't say that able-bodied drivers can't also use disabled parking bays. OK, they shouldn't, but they can.

This probably contravenes the contract terms & conditions for the car park. However, they usually state that you shouldn't park in a disabled bay without displaying a badge. But, this contravenes The Equality Act.

Firstly, the legal bit.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and the driver in the first place. But, the private parking company (PPC) don’t know who the driver was, so have to make do with chasing the registered keeper of the vehicle involved.

Even if there is a contract, all the car park owner (CPO) can claim from the driver in damages for any breach of contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If this is a free car park or they paid, this is £0.00. By asking you for more, which is unreasonable, it’s become an unfair contract penalty, which is legally unenforceable.

Only councils, the police and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. Private companies can't. (Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., 1914.)

So, what do you do?

Don’t appeal. They always reject them. Why should they? What’s in it for them to let anyone off? More importantly, you might divulge the identity of the driver. This is a useful piece of information for them. They sometimes say that they have the right to ask who the driver was. OK, they can ask. This doesn’t mean that you have to tell them. However, if you have appealed, it doesn’t make their actions lawful.

They will threaten you with all sorts of legal and financial unpleasantness, in order 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 for non-payment.

Their threats usually include bailiffs, damage to you credit rating, etc. But, for things to get to this stage, they would have to take you to court (and have their actions subjected to legal scrutiny), win the case (which would happen if you didn't attend) and then you’d have to refuse to pay. Bailiffs would then be appointed by the court. This scenario is possible. But it is also unlikely, as you have control over it at two points.

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

ppc_guy

Stephen,

I believe the EQA does actually put an onus on the business to provide access to goods and services. Allowing general joe public to park in disabled spaces can be a breach of this requirement. There have been several out of court (and a few in court) cases where asda/tesco..... etc have been sued for damages for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent misuse of bays provided inline with the EQA.

Coupon-mad

ppc_guy wrote: »

Stephen,

I believe the EQA does actually put an onus on the business to provide access to goods and services. Allowing general joe public to park in disabled spaces can be a breach of this requirement. There have been several out of court (and a few in court) cases where asda/tesco..... etc have been sued for damages for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent misuse of bays provided inline with the EQA.

Yep, and hopefully soon there will be cases where disabled people who have got a fake PCN for daring to use the reasonable adjustment provided for them (disabled bay) get a settlement too.

It is high time a disabled person sued over a fake PCN & harassment from Roxburghe etc.

vax2002

PPC_guy
They are no such things as disabled bays on private car parks, they are impersonations of disabled bays to go with the impersonation parking tickets you and your crooked friends dish out .
Common courtesy states you park elsewhere, but If I had a heavy item to deliver I would park as close to the door as possible to prevent becoming a disabled person and screw the car park and its fake tickets.

marky1989

HappyMJ wrote: »

Same chance you have of winning the lottery. They could but it's easily defendable. I'd love to go to court and defend a case but none of them want to take me there.

well if i do get took to court, ill let u no and u can come defend me, you'll love that!

Stephen_Leak

ppc_guy wrote: »

Stephen,

I believe the EQA does actually put an onus on the business to provide access to goods and services. Allowing general joe public to park in disabled spaces can be a breach of this requirement. There have been several out of court (and a few in court) cases where asda/tesco..... etc have been sued for damages for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent misuse of bays provided inline with the EQA.

If you click on the hyperlink in my post, it should take you to the text of the Act.

Businesses are required to make "reasonable adjustments". One obvious adjustment is marked bays close to the entrance and/or exit.

I can't find anything about abuse of any of these adjustments and how to deal it. It assumes that everyone else will see and obey any signs.

I wonder if those cases have been where disabled people were issued with tickets for not displaying a Blue Badge. Doing so in a private car park is no different to requiring them to ring a handbell and shout, "Unclean".

Not all disabilities are visually obvious. There's a discussion over on the "Disability and Dosh" board about this, and I've had comments made to me when I took my disabled and BB holding mother shopping and I got out of the car.

Someone on this forum made the point that, due to the disabled sign, most people associate disability with wheelchair use. They suggested changing it to a drawing of a politician stamping on a disabled person.

give_them_FA

What company issued this unenforceable invoice, marky?

marky1989

It was ukpc !!