Parking Eye + Disabled Blue Badge

JillyBob

Hi thanks for all this advice. I received a parking charge from Parking Eye on Friday, unfortunatelly I emailed an appeal before I read these posts. I stated that I had my mother in law in the car
who is dasabled and a blue badge holder, the badge was displayed in the window and I was parked in a disabled space - I now know I shouldn't have replied, do you think I should ignore any further letters I receive??

trisontana

Yes, just ignore, especially as the blue badge scheme does not apply to private land.

Barneysmom

It just means they now have a real name to put on the top of their letters, it doesn't change anything though, still ignore them.

I've had 4 or 5, the last 2 have threatened me with court, I still ignore them and will conitnue to do so.

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 company or individual can't. Private parking companies (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 with 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.

All the car park owner (CPO) can claim from a driver in damages for any alleged breach of any alleged contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If it’s in a free car park or the driver 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.

The Blue Badge scheme doesn’t apply to private car parks. Anyone, who’s disabled under the terms of The Equality Act 2010 can use a disabled parking bay. If they’re also Blue Badge holders, they don't need to display it. The Equality Act doesn't say that able-bodied drivers can't also use disabled parking bays. OK, maybe they shouldn't, but they can. Doing so probably contravenes the terms & conditions for the car park, which usually state that you shouldn't park in a disabled bay without displaying a Blue Badge. This, in itself, contravenes The Equality Act.

There are also now recent landmark court cases, VCS Parking Control vs. Ronald Ibbotson, S!!!!horpe, 2012, HM Revenue & Customs vs. VCS Parking Control, Lower Tax Tribunal, 2012 and VCS Parking Control vs. HM Revenue & Customs (Appeal), Upper Tax Tribunal, 2012. In these cases, the judges ruled that only the CPO can charge for parking and take drivers to court. The Upper Tax Tribunal is equivalent to the High Court, and therefore its judgements set legal precedents.

What should I do now?

We don’t condone not paying or overstaying in a pay car park. If you owe the CPO the original charge, then you ought to write to the CPO, offering this in “full and final settlement”. In any event, you should write to the CPO, advising them that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and that any further actions by either of them would be regarded as harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This ought to make the CPO call off the PPC and, hopefully, realise the potential cost of doing business with a PPC.

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 harassing 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 had to do 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 just means that they can now harass the driver instead of harassing the registered keeper.

How will they do this 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 blackmailer can't take anyone who didn’t pay them to court.

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.

pogofish

JillyBob wrote: »

Hi thanks for all this advice. I received a parking charge from Parking Eye on Friday, unfortunatelly I emailed an appeal before I read these posts. I stated that I had my mother in law in the car
who is dasabled and a blue badge holder, the badge was displayed in the window and I was parked in a disabled space - I now know I shouldn't have replied, do you think I should ignore any further letters I receive??

The Blue Badge scheme dosen't even apply in private car parks - so there is no requirement for you/her to display it. This is made quite clear in the booklet that comes with the badge and on the issuing autrority website.

So you should not have replied to the scammers and you should certainly have no further contact with them. Check the forum sticky to see the pointless letters they will now try to scare you with.

If you speak to anyone, give the retailer a rocket for allowing themselves to be dragged into this flagrant breach of the Equality Act!

JillyBob

Thanks, I need to read up on blue badge scheme, my father in law died recently and he would usually have driven the car, I wouldn't usually have my mother in law in the car so didn't know the blue badge scheme wasn't for private car parks.

Stephen_Leak

Our condolences on your loss.

A lot of Blue Badge holders don't know this, either. It's in the booklet that comes with every Blue Badge, but, let's be honest, who reads these?

Coupon-mad

JillyBob wrote: »

Thanks, I need to read up on blue badge scheme, my father in law died recently and he would usually have driven the car, I wouldn't usually have my mother in law in the car so didn't know the blue badge scheme wasn't for private car parks.

Was your ticket issued for 'overstaying'?

If so then you have done exactly the right thing by writing because if they persist with this scam PCN then they are breaking the law:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8488737.stm

That link is a bit old, but only in that it cites the DDA whereas the law now is the Equality Act 2010. The rest of it is still completely true and you can see the the Supermarkets have been made aware of the situation a long time ago but still let their agents ignore the law. A disabled person is legally entitled to a 'reasonable adjustment' which in a car park, would include disabled bays AND an allowance to park for longer than an able-bodied person. And the good thing about the EA is that you can now sue for harassment of a disabled person and/or their carers (harassment was not a feature of the DDA).

Trying to continue to enforce an additional charge for a disabled person to be parked longer to do their shopping - or visit a cinema or whatever is on site - is discrimination under the Act and the sending of further threatograms now that you've told them about the disability, would be harassment without a doubt.

If you are so minded, if you do get further threatograms now, then you could sue for damages in a Small Claim (no solicitor needed). It's only about £50 up front to sue which can be done online - which you can claim back along with the 'damages' which could be £550 - £1,000 easily, IMHO, if you are up for it.

Half_way

If you get a reply back from them saying appeal successful as you had a blue badge then thats the end of it, as for who was driving it doesnt matter that youve told them, as that chnages nothing- its still un enforcable.

How ever if you get a appeal rejected letter back you should get in touch with the car park owner, and the parking compnay again telling them that you had a blue badge and their demands are in breach of the equalities act.
if anything its the car park owner who should eb your main target as they are responsable for the actions of their agents, in this case parking eye.
parking eye probably dont give a toss and just want your money, the car park owner on the other hand such as a supermarket ( who probably promote the fact that they have an equal oportunities policy etc etc) would hate the idea of being told that they openly and activly discriminate and harras disabled customers plus any bad press/media atention that may be generated from this.

bazster

Absolutely. If you can find out who actually owns the car park then write to them (signed by your MiL) claiming compensation for discriminating against her under the Equality Act 2010. A claim for a few hundred quid should get them in a bit of a tizzy.

If you can't find out who owns it then do the same to Parking Eye, but much better against the landowner: rub their noses in the smelly consequences of hiring sharks.

JillyBob

In response to the question ' was the ticket issued for overstaying' the answer is yes and no, you can park free for 30mins apparently but I was there for 48mins, I didn't purchase a ticket because I thought blue badge holders could park for free.:(