Received a demand from a PPC and they know I was the driver ('cos I told them...)

squirestan

Hello,

I'd appreciate some guidance with this issue. Before learning that the best thing to do with these letters is ignore them, I e-mailed the company to inform them of the extenuating circumstances (too boring and irrelevant to go into here) which had caused me to overstay in the car park. I've read that, as long as the company cannot prove who was the driver, their attempt to take payment is made more difficult. But what should I do now that I have admitted I was in the car and their records show that I did indeed overstay? Should I ignore further requests for payment?

Thank you in advance,

Squirestan

Trebor16

Was it a free car park with a time limit? Their losses are zero so the best thing you can do now is to ignore them. They will reject your appeal and insist they can levy a "fine" against you. They cannot as they have no legal authority to issue fines. They can only try and recover any losses as a result of your actions and as the car park is free they have lost nothing.

Lone_Ranger_2

Don't worry, most of us fell into the trap of thinking PPCs were fair, law abideing citizens and thought that appealling was the best thing to do. It's not a problem just ignore them.

squirestan

The car park was not free, it was a pay-per-hour system, I paid for three hours and overstayed by 20 minutes. I'm presuming the advice on here would still be to ignore the ticket?

However, my principal issue with this is that the company are now aware that I was the driver, and that their 'contract' (such as it is) is with me. Should I still ignore?

Thank you once more.

pustit

Whatever you do beware not to listen to LAC.

vax2002

No contract allows them to charge a penalty, Ignore them unless they ask for what you lawfully owe, which is 20 mins of parking pro rata.
If they ask for anything else it is a contractual penalty and unlawful

Coupon-mad

squirestan wrote: »

The car park was not free, it was a pay-per-hour system, I paid for three hours and overstayed by 20 minutes. I'm presuming the advice on here would still be to ignore the ticket?

However, my principal issue with this is that the company are now aware that I was the driver, and that their 'contract' (such as it is) is with me. Should I still ignore?

Thank you once more.

Yes still ignore the company.

Yes this question is asked every week at least - if you just search the parking forum for 'already appealed' you will find loads of people in your shoes who fell for it at first. All of whom were then told to start ignoring. And none of whom had anything to worry about - they just received the letters as shown in our second to top thread. And they ignored them!

give_them_FA

What company is it, anyway?

Stephen_Leak

squirestan wrote: »

The car park was not free, it was a pay-per-hour system, I paid for three hours and overstayed by 20 minutes. I'm presuming the advice on here would still be to ignore the ticket?

However, my principal issue with this is that the company are now aware that I was the driver, and that their 'contract' (such as it is) is with me. Should I still ignore?

Thank you once more.

Unless they ask you for just the extra you should've paid for the 20 minutes, yes.

Even if you’ve written and confirmed who the driver was, it doesn’t make their actions any less unlawful. It just means that instead of unlawfully harassing the registered keeper, they can now unlawfully harass the driver.

They still can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a blackmailer couldn't sue their victim if they didn’t pay.

squirestan

Thank you for all your help. It may come as no surprise to you to learn that the company in question is Parking Eye.

Thanks once more to all of you who responded.

lawabidingcitizen1

Will those advising you not to pay be willing to underwrite your losses if you follow their advice and ingnore the charge?

If they are so sure of their advice, then that should be no problem for them.