PCM(UK) fine at Bluewater..Pay or Ignore?!

Croydon1

Does anyone have experience of ignoring a fine received by PCM?
I parked at Bluewater shopping centre in a bay that is marked with white stripes. Probably not a real space but several other cars had done the same thing. When I returned they all had tickets!
Are these tickets enforceable or should I ignore it? Happy to do so but don't want to end up in court!

bargepole

Ignore. It's toilet paper.

ManxRed

They are not enforceable, and you are extremely unlikely to end up in court (and if you did, you would win anyway).

give_them_FA

You cannot end up in court if you ignore as they won't know who the driver was and you have no obligation to tell them. All you will get is a series of asinine letters after which they will sod off.

Mr_Thrifty

Blue Water is very reputable and is Europe's largest Shopping Centre. A force not to be reckoned with! Surely they are in the right in this instance?

Mr_Thrifty

give_them_FA wrote: »

Surely you don't know what you are talking about. This is a help and advice board. If you don't want, or cannot offer, either, then please do not mislead people.

I can imagine some pub car park getting it wrong, but Blue Water??! It is a very large, reputable shopping mall - the biggest in Europe!

give_them_FA

Blue Water may well be a highly reputable organisation. However, the cowboys it contracted its car parking enforcement to are anything but.

Stephen_Leak

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

Blue Water is very reputable and is Europe's largest Shopping Centre. A force not to be reckoned with! Surely they are in the right in this instance?

Blue Water may be, but PCM aren't.

White (or yellow) lines in a private car park do not have "the force of law". Neither does a speculative invoice.

Only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. A private parking company (PPC) or an individual can't. Even PPCs call their tickets “Parking Charge Notices”, not “Penalty Charge Notices”. In law, they’re called “speculative invoices”.

All the car park owner (CPO) can claim from a 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. Demanding more has been judged to be unreasonable and therefore an unfair contract penalty under the terms of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997, which is not legally enforceable. See Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 and countless cases since.

In this instance, as the OP managed to squeeze in an extra car and, presumably, purchased something, the CPO has actually gained as a result.

PS. Don't call me Shirley.

pogofish

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

yeah it's about time somebody got tough with these parking bullies, next time i get a ticket i'll throw it away

i think some of the councils are just as bad too, what with all their confusing road markings and bus lane traps.

in many ways it represents society today: all very unfair and based on threats and bluster. also like when u see speed cameras along roads where the speed limit changes like 10 times in under half a mile or where there are 3 lanes on a huge fast road and the limit is 30mph

Stop conflating legit/legal enforcement with private/cowboy operations. This is quite irrelevant!

Mr_Thrifty

pogofish wrote: »

Stop conflating legit/legal enforcement with private/cowboy operations. This is quite irrelevant!

sorry, won't do it again

Stephen_Leak

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

yeah it's about time somebody got tough with these parking bullies, next time i get a ticket i'll throw it away

i think some of the councils are just as bad too, what with all their confusing road markings and bus lane traps.

in many ways it represents society today: all very unfair and based on threats and bluster. also like when u see speed cameras along roads where the speed limit changes like 10 times in under half a mile or where there are 3 lanes on a huge fast road and the limit is 30mph

We're working on it. Mind you, at the moment, some PPCs seem to be doing a good job of "self-destruction" on their own.

Council tickets are legally enforceable. But they still make mistakes.

I have no problem with speed limits or speed cameras per se. However, don't get me started on badly or cynically located ones.