Advice needed

NoraJones

I live in a block of flats i pay £525 a month that amount includes one private allocated parking space.
A few months ago they introduced permits for all residents because people were parking on the estate making it dangously overcrowded.

We have two cars and were given one permit and one visitor permit.
About one mOnth ago I had to use a hire car for work purposes. When I returned home I put the hire car in my private space (waiting for enterprise to pick it up) and the other two in visitor bays.

Enterprise did not pick up the car that night but the next morning. In the morning they had ticketed the hire car.

I wrote to them explaining the situation and included proof that the car was a hire car for work and that it was parkEd in my private space which I pay for but they are having none of it- sending me generic letters not even listening to my appeal.
They are now threatening with court and CCJ's. I do not know what to do, the car was not parked unlawfully.

Please has anyone got any advise????

bargepole

NoraJones wrote: »

... They are now threatening with court and CCJ's. I do not know what to do, the car was not parked unlawfully. ..

When dealing with tickets from private companies, our advice is to ignore them completely. Have a read of some of the other threads on this forum if you need reassurance.

The_Slithy_Tove

What you should do is to be thankful that they are writing to you and not the hire company!

Sounds odd, but it is easy for you to ignore their letters - you won't go to court or get a CCJ, it's all bluster. Hire companies seem less able to ignore the letters, and they tend to pay the (unenforceable) charge and then recharge you with a hefty "admin" fee.

So, possibly unwittingly, you have done the right thing in deflecting the PPC's attention to you, but you should ignore their ridiculous threats from now on.

Stephen_Leak

The more unpleasant threats usually include mentioning that, if the case goes to court, a county court judgement (CCJ) will be issued, that bailiffs will be appointed and that your credit rating will be ruined. For things to actually get to this stage, the car park owner would have to take you to court and win the case. Then, you would have to refuse to pay, to get a CCJ issued after 28 days. Then, you would have to still refuse to pay, to get bailiffs appointed.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a blackmailer can'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 odd to deal with something like this by ignoring it. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats and stop throwing good money after bad.

The only people to suffer when a building management company bring in a private parking company are the residents. I can't wait for mine to make the same mistake. They won't know what hit them.

Write to the building management company. Advise them that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and that their actions have been judged to constitute harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That ought to make them call off the PPC and reconsider the wisdom of allowing a PPC to victimise their clients. Unless it’s a condition of the lease, you can opt out of any parking scheme.

LincolnshireYokel

If the management company has given you permission to park, then the parking company hasn't a leg to stand on. A recent ruling in the Upper tax tribunal ruled that PPC's have no proprietorial interest in the land, and therefor cant offer parking, and therefore cant form a contract with the motorist, and therefore cant charge you anything. The only possible charge that coudl be made is damages for trespass, which can only be made by the landowner, and even if the landowner did do that, there agent the management company gave you permisssion to park. Even if that were not true, the landowner could only recover actual losses, which in a free car park, is zero.

SO, pretty much squat all the PPC can do. Just ignore the chain of toothless threatograms that follows, they haven't a leg to stand on.

FOI STATISTICS on PPC THREATS:
1.8 million private parking tickets issued
849 court papers issued
49 appeared before a judge
25 won by default - ie the defence didnt turn up
24 defeated in court

SO
the chances of appearing in court - 1 in 36,000
the chances of you appearing in court and losing - zero.

NoraJones

Thank you very much everyone for your quick response.
The management company who I let the property from is different to the management company who run the permit scheme. I presume my landlord pays the management company who enforces the PPC a fee each month. Should that matter?

I am getting very stressed and worried about these letters should I just write to them asking them to stop harassing me and that I have provided satisfactory evidence that the car was not illegally parked, and then ignore or ignore completely? I really don't want CCJ'S -as I'm young and want to get a mortgage at some point.

Thanks all

trisontana

From above.
The more unpleasant threats usually include mentioning that, if the case goes to court, a county court judgement (CCJ) will be issued, that bailiffs will be appointed and that your credit rating will be ruined. For things to actually get to this stage, the car park owner would have to take you to court and win the case. Then, you would have to refuse to pay, to get a CCJ issued after 28 days. Then, you would have to still refuse to pay, to get bailiffs appointed.

Stop worrying!

NoraJones

In addition... The PPC has now referred it to debt Recovery Plus Ltd- can they still not do anything of I ignore?
Help!

bargepole

NoraJones wrote: »

... I am getting very stressed and worried about these letters should I just write to them asking them to stop harassing me and that I have provided satisfactory evidence that the car was not illegally parked, and then ignore or ignore completely? I really don't want CCJ'S -as I'm young and want to get a mortgage at some point. ...

There are no laws relating to private parking, so you cannot be "illegally" parked.

Writing to them simply means that they will harrass you for even longer, as they will now believe you are taking their threats seriously.

You can only get a CCJ IF they take you to court (very unlikely), AND you lose (very, very unlikely), AND don't pay within 21 days - not worth losing sleep over.

trisontana

Debt Recovery Plus - a debt recovery company with no more powers than you or I to demand money off people. Stop taking these bunch of clowns seriously. They are not worth it.

The_Slithy_Tove

NoraJones wrote: »

The management company who I let the property from is different to the management company who run the permit scheme. I presume my landlord pays the management company who enforces the PPC a fee each month. Should that matter?

I assume you are letting through an agent rather than a management company. The flats will have a management company who manage the common parts, and charge a fee (paid by your landlord through the rent) to do so.

Far from paying the PPC, the PPCs normally offer their "services" for free, making their money out of the mugs (i.e. not you, now you know) who pay the bogus tickets. The management company may even get a kick-back. The management companies feel that they are having the parking "managed" at no cost to them, where in fact, all it does is pi** off the residents, and it tends to be those residents, not random other people, who get stung with the tickets.

That is why you need to make it clear to the management company that they have made a big mistake in appointing the PPC.