Parking Eye - unbelievable ticket - help!

lawabidingcitizen1

JALBRAM wrote: »

Long story short - I stopped at the services near Stansted, just the petrol station part, to get coffee and use the loo on my way north up to near Peterborough. Several hours later I stopped on my southbound journey at the same place, again bought coffee etc. I did not use the Welcome Break part at all.

Anyway, my dad received a parking fine from them (my car is for some reason in his name). It says I parked there for 6 hrs 1 min !!! It shows my car entering and exiting the complex, but not being parked up.

As I didn't want dad getting any more letters, and I do know about the writing a letter saying you are not the driver but I didn't want to involve him, I wrote to them saying I was not paying (did not use the word 'appeal') as I had not parked up at the main services, and if they examined their tapes they would see me leaving after about 20 mins that morning, and re-entering about 20 mins before their later timed photo of the afternoon. I explained where I had been, that I had proof of this by way of confirmation from the people I had met on business, phone records, even the accident I was stuck near on the motorway etc, and that I wanted them to provide me the tapes or prove that I had been park up at Welcome Break for that length of time.

Dad has had another letter from them (despite me putting my name and address on my initial reply to them) and it says that since I have failed to provide any evidence to the contrary, the fine still stands. In very small writing at the very bottom of the letter it says that they will not communicate any further with him unless it is him providing said evidence.

What to do? I don't have receipts or anything from my time between visits to prove I shopped somewhere else. I also do not think that the space behind the petrol station is technically part of Welcome Break but either way it does not have designated parking areas.

Should I now send them the 'I was not the driver' letter from my dad? Should I just leave it - it will go away. Surely it is up to them to prove I was there for that duration? It will all be on their camera tapes if they haven't deleted it all.

Another strongly worded letter to them, or keep quiet?

Advice please - I'm in a panic about it really.

Many thanks.

Be careful. If they decide to pursue (and they have done before), then you will be liable for late payment charges, baliff fees and court costs.

halibut2209

OP ignore the above user. He is one of the aforementioned scammers

Sophie4120

lawabidingcitizen1 wrote: »

Be careful. If they decide to pursue (and they have done before), then you will be liable for late payment charges, baliff fees and court costs.

I'm not sure if you read the full post, but Parking Eye are wrong about the amount of time the OP was there. The OP has been so kind as to correct them - they will be unable to prove he/she was there for 6 hours - surely no court in the land would force a 'law abiding citizen' to pay costs to a company which has such blatant disregard for the truth.

Stephen_Leak

lawabidingcitizen1 wrote: »

Be careful. If they decide to pursue (and they have done before), then you will be liable for late payment charges, baliff fees and court costs.

Post reported.

Now, the real legal situation.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a fair and legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and the driver in the first place. (The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997.)

Even if there is a contract, all the car park owner 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 not legally enforceable. (Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914.)

Under various legislation, only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. Private parking companies can't.

Despite all of this, private parking companies believe that their signs create a fair and legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and the driver, that their demands are their losses and not fines or penalties, that these are reasonable, and that they are legally enforceable.

For reasons best known to themselves, PPCs have rarely taken people to court. Here are the latest ones I know of ...

UK Combined Parking Solutions vs. Murphy, Burnley, 2012, 1QZ30035. The judge told the PPC that their demands were unreasonable, were therefore an unlawful contractual penalty and found in favour of the driver.

Parking Eye vs. Smith, Manchester, 2011, 1XJ81016. The judge told the PPC that their demands were unreasonable, were therefore an unlawful contractual penalty and found in favour of the driver. As they were unpaid, he awarded the PPC the parking charges of £15.00, not the £260.00 penalty. He also awarded them costs of just £95.00, not their claimed £4,457.20.

Please note the mention of bailiffs. For things to actually get to this stage, the PPC would have to take you to court, win the case and then you’d have to refuse to pay. After 28 days a CCJ would be issued and the bailiffs would be appointed, both by the court.

There is, of course, one fatal flaw in this plan. A blackmailer couldn't sue their victim if they didn’t pay.

give_them_FA

Let's not take the troll seriously. He knows himself he is spouting rubbish.

Other posters please ignore lawabidingcitizen, he is the owner of a parking company. And what do we do with parking companies?

IGNORE.