sorry...parking eye again :(

elsie1997

Hi, came back from our holiday in the lakes to a fine from parking eye, £60 if paid by 2nd sept. We'd driven into the car park at hawkshead, was pouring with rain, could barely see in front of the car it was so heavy so would not have been able to see any parking info boards. parked in a disabled bay and displayed our toddlers blue badge (he and our other 3 children were in the car with us) our 6 month old was screaming for a feed, the parking board was facing away from us so couldn't read the info, it was raining so hard that I didn't fancy getting out of the car and having a look around & definately not with 4 children so I gave the baby a feed then we left. We were there for 40 mins.....what do I do now??!!! From what I have read the general advice is to ignore & they'll eventually go away. I haven't contacted them, so there is no admittance to who was driving the car. But what if they persist, i really don't fancy this going to court/bailliffs turning up, esp with 4 kids, one being registered disabled, but i also don't fancy forking out £60 just to sit in the car while it's raining to feed my baby! Can someone please advise me what to do? Thanks

Plushchris

Ignore them, but dont just take my word for it, there will be others along shortly to tell you the same...

The_Slithy_Tove

It won't go to court, or get anywhere near there. This is the good old Lake District National Park again, who aren't exactly doing themselves any favours in the publicity department by contracting Parking Eye to (mis-)manage their car parks. There have been a number of threads about them here over the summer.

While you should have paid to park in the LDNP car park, whereupon the money rightly goes to them, the parking charges that people are stupid enough to pay up go straight to Parking Eye. Figure that one out! Just shows you what a con it all is.

Ignore Parking Eye. Do not contact them in any way. If you are feeling really guilty, you should send payment for 1 hour's parking to the LDNP directly, and that would be all that you strictly owe.

Stephen_Leak

I'd love to visit the Lake District, but I don't think I'd dare.

Only councils, the police, some train operators and Transport for London can issue legally enforceable fines or penalties. A private ticketing company can't. What they issue are “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 1977 and Excel Parking Services vs. Cutts, Stockport, 2011.

If we assume that there is a contract, all the car park owner can claim from a driver in damages for an alleged breach of a 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 1977. See Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 and countless cases since.

There are also now 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 car park owner can charge for parking and take alleged offenders to court. The Upper Tax Tribunal is equivalent to the High Court and, therefore, its judgements set legal precedents. No private ticketing company or car park owner has taken any alleged offender to court since.

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

In any event, you should write to the car park owner, advising them that they’re "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents and that any further actions by the private ticketing company would be regarded as harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This ought to make the car park owner call off the private ticketing company and, maybe, also realise the potential cost of doing business with one.

There’s no point appealling to the private ticketing company. They usually reject them. What’s in it for them to let anyone off?

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

The final but more unpleasant threats usually include mentioning that, if the case goes to court, a county court judgement (CCJ) may be issued, that bailiffs may be appointed and that your credit rating may 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.

Continue to ignore everything you get from them. Eventually, they’ll run out of empty threats and stop throwing good money after bad.

Oopsadaisy

Private = PPC = Ignore, ignore, ignore some more.

elsie1997

Thanks everyone....guess I will ignore then...

Cozworth806

Just a quick Q as my niece told me that she got a ticket through from Parking eye, apart from the threat of a CCJ after court action, is there any way that non payment could affect someones credit rating?
Ta

Coupon-mad

Cozworth806 wrote: »

Just a quick Q as my niece told me that she got a ticket through from Parking eye, apart from the threat of a CCJ after court action, is there any way that non payment could affect someones credit rating?
Ta

Nope, no way at all.

My niece aged 18 has collected 4 Parking Eye tickets and laughed at all of them! She texts me with glee when she gets one!

joess

We got a Parking Eye letter back in July - we ignored the letters as everyone suggested (think they sent 3 letters)

Today I've received a letter from 'Debt Recovery Plus Ltd' they are now threatening court action if I do not pay the £140 within 7 days (letter dated 31.08.12) I'm worried now! Do I ignore this too? It seems to be getting serious.

Thanks

ManxRed

Its not getting serious at all. Debt Recovery Plus are part of the expected letter chain. Do not confuse Debt Collectors with bailiffs.

Also bear in mind that a debt collector cannot take legal action anyway, its not their debt.

You'll get some letters from Zenith too, but no one will take legal action against you. They haven't got a case. If they did have a case then Parking Eye would have begun legal proceedings a long time ago, instead of persisting with the scary letters from DR+.

Keep ignoring them.

Coupon-mad

joess wrote: »

We got a Parking Eye letter back in July - we ignored the letters as everyone suggested (think they sent 3 letters)

Today I've received a letter from 'Debt Recovery Plus Ltd' they are now threatening court action if I do not pay the £140 within 7 days (letter dated 31.08.12) I'm worried now! Do I ignore this too? It seems to be getting serious.

Thanks

Asked before by another newbie only last week:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/55535167#Comment_55535167

Really surprised how often people have read the advice to ignore but seemingly not bothered to properly read the sticky thread 'PPC letter chains'. Or only looked at the listed pics under their PPC and then panic when they get a different letter...a letter listed clearly under another PPC.

All the letters are there, you should just be playing a nice game of snap with them.