carpark charge notice HELP!!!

jabjabjab78

Ok, so Im a bit nervous as to what to do - I have just received a parking charge notice from 'Highview Parking' with photographic images of my car entering and leaving a carpark. This carpark is decribed as 'Yate Shopping Centre - Main Car Park'. On the offending day, I did park in a carpark in Yate and I admit I did over stay although after racking my brains, it was not the towns shopping centre carpark as such, it was Tescos (would they share the car parking land, they are very close in proximity?) that I was visiting for that many hours (and spend money in the shop) and therefore I assume it was Tesco carpark not the towns shopping carpark???? My sum charged if £80, which if I pay promptly, will be reduced to £40. This letter was not sent recorded or signed for so maybe it never actually got posted through my door ?! So do I ignore, or as it was me who actually overstayed, should I pay? Help would be so much appreciated.

Trebor16

Highview parking sound like a private parking company so the best thing to do is ignore them. There are plenty of threads on here about this type of company and that is the advice that is given to the vast majority.

Half_way

Ignore them is the easiest and recomended approach, the other is to fight back, do not appeal, just state the facts to them somethig like this, also copy the supermarket in on this woth something slightly different....

To highview parking..
"Thank you for the photos of my vehicle, regarding your speculative invoice..
I find the charges that you state to be extrmely high for a breif stay in a free car park.
Your charges ar set at an unreasonable high amount and as such your charges amount to a penalty and/or a fine which is further evidenced by the fact that the charge doubles after a set amount of time.
As you are aware you have no authority to issue penaltys or fines - only the Police the local authority (XYX district council) can issue such things.
Your signage also falls foul of the unfair terms in consumer contracts act, as well as the Equalities act.
Further more only the landowner can sue for any genuine losses sufferd as a result of my overstay, as the car park is free, and there were plenty of available spaces at the time these losses are zero, also as you are not the land owner you can not impose these charges, this mater is now closed, should i receive any more un warrented demands for money with threats then i will take this to be harrasment by both Highview parking and Tesco ( at location) as defined under the protection from harrasment act. and other than a letter from yourselves acknowledging that fact that this matter is now closed, I do not want to receive any more comunications from you on this matter."

To the manager at your local tescos..
"I recently received a letter form one of your contractors/agents, for whos actions you are responsable for, this letter contained photos of my vehicle, complete with a speculative invoice for £80 reduceed by 50% to £40 if paid within a few days.
I find the charges that are stated to be extrmely high for a stay in a free car park.
Your charges ar set at an unreasonable high amount and as such your charges amount to a penalty and/or a fine which is further evidenced by the fact that the charge doubles after a set amount of time.
As you are aware you have no authority to issue penaltys or fines - only the Police the local authority (XYX district council) can issue such things.
Your signage also falls foul of the unfair terms in consumer contracts act, as well as the Equalities act.
Further more i can only be sued for any genuine losses sufferd as a result of my overstay, as the car park is free, and there were plenty of available spaces at the time these losses are zero, this mater is now closed and other than a letter from yourselves acknowledging that fact, I do not want to receive any more comunications from you on this matter, should i receive any more un warrented demands for money with threats then i will take this to be harrasment by Tesco ( at location) as defined under the protection from harrasment act. I would at this point like to remind you that you are fully responsable for the actions of your agents, high view parking in this matter, "

Stephen_Leak

Firstly, the legal stuff.

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”.

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 a driver entering the car park in the first place. See The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997 and Excel Parking Services vs. Cutts, Stockport, 2011, 1SE02759, the Peel Centre case.

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.

There are also now two very recent court cases, VCS Parking Control vs. Ibbotson, S!!!!horpe, 2012 and HM Revenue & Customs vs. VCS Parking Control, Upper Tax Tribunal, 2012, where both judges found that only the car park owner can take drivers to court. The Upper Tax Tribunal is a court of record, equivalent to the High Court, and therefore its judgement sets a legal precedent.

What should I do now?

We don’t condone not paying or overstaying in a pay car park. If you do owe the CPO anything, then you ought to write to them, offering this in “full and final settlement”.

In any event, you ought to advise the CPO that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and that any further actions have been judged to constitute harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That ought to make the CPO call off the PPC and, hopefully, realise the potential cost of doing business with them.

Don’t appeal to the PPC. They always reject them. What’s in it for them to let anyone off? Actually, there is something in it for them: information. They need to know the identity of the driver of the vehicle involved at the time, because that’s who the alleged contract was with. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to make do with chasing the registered keeper.

With windscreen notices, an appeal letter will tell them your name and address, and maybe who was driving at the time. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to buy the details of registered keeper from the DVLA. With postal notices, they’ve done this already. But they still need to know the identity of the driver.

They sometimes say that they have the right to ask for this information. This doesn’t mean that you have to tell them.

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

What will they do to me?

The PPC, then a debt collector and then a solicitor will send you a series of letters. The debt collector and solicitor are usually also the PPC, but using different headed paper. These letters will threaten you with every kind of financial and legal unpleasantness imaginable, to intimidate you into paying.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a Nigerian e-mail scammer couldn't sue anyone who didn’t pay them.

What should I do then?

Continue to ignore everything you get from the PPC and their aliases. It does seem counter-intuitive to deal with something by ignoring it. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats, and stop throwing good money after bad.

jabjabjab78

Wow thanks! Ok so I either ignore, easy peasy! and I will keep putting anything sent standard royal mail to me in the bin because how do they know I ever received it .... or I fight....They maybe could prove I was driving from photos but if in the first instance they were in no position whatsoever to actually issue me a charge notice whether or not I overstayed then they cant win?! I will call to local council to confirm its nowt to do with them if not, then I will be brave and not pay up! My thanks.

Stephen_Leak

Yate Shopping Centre car park is privately owned and Highview Parking Ltd. are a PPC.

How can they identify you from the photo? They don't know you from Adam.

Coupon-mad

This is an old thread! The advice herein is no longer valid!
STOP READING IT AND CLICK TO THE CURRENT FORUM!!!!!!!!!!

Please do not post here!

timbo58

Yep, ignore and be assured that thousands are doing the same as you with no chance of being caught out.

Parking eye are trying the same with me at present, although they are already £2.50 + 2 x post charges out of pocket so far as they have had to do a DVLA search and send me 2 letters which have been ignored.

Parking in an empty car park between 9.30pm and 1.30am when the first 2 hours of a retail park were free anyway: i.e. loss anyway= nowt, loss possible at that time of day with all shops firmly shut =nowt.

I have another event to attend there soon and guess where I'll park as much as I damn well please again?

jabjabjab78

All replies have been so helpful and I have the reassurance I need so thanks once again. This site is cool!

Turtle01

Hi, I drove passed the ASDA in Hounslow on a private road managed by the highview company, and I expect a £75 letter soon. As I drove the buslane on that private road are there grounds for me paying this £75. The road is owned by the Bleihnem Centre, not the council or TFL. please advice as I'm getting quite anxious.

Kite2010

For all that matters Highview or another private company could paint a lane on the ground and call it a "Yellow-car only lane", for all the weight it will carry in court.

Just ignore them, they soon go away