Parking charge for not entering your car reg.

suki_duki

Hi,

Please can somebody help me! :mad:

I parked in albert st car park in bham. went to pay for parking, machine needs car reg info, tried to input details but keypad was stiff, in the end I did not enter reg details but still the payment machine LET ME PAY FOR MY PARKING!!!!

I have now rec'd a PCN from a company VCS, stating i have contravened to the car parks T&C's, I have sent proof that I made full payment for the time I was there, and explained that I did try to follow procedures!:question::question:

But now reading previous threads on parking charges I KNOW they will reject my appeal.:mad: Only now I find out that I did not know not to bother with them at all:eek:

Are they not the ones who are breaching the contract by having machines that dont work according to their parking conditions!!!!! (Why does their payment machine allow tickets to be purchased if instructions are not followed correctly). Is there anyone who has any legal advice on this? This is surely bully boy tactics for LAW ABIDING people

Never had any charges like this,clean driving lic, been driving for 22 years:D.

I feel so stressed with this, I only went to visit my nephew who at that time had heart surgery at the childrens hospital.:(

What should I do when they come to me to pay???

trisontana

Calm down!. You have not broken any laws, and they won't "come to you" to demand payment. You don't owe them a penny and they know it. For further reassurance please read other threads on here that deal with private parking matters.

bazster

Simples, ignore them. You have done nothing wrong, and your driving licence is still clean.

VCS have recently become the leading PPC for getting their fat backsides kicked in court, so for all their threats and bluster they know they haven't got a leg to stand on.

taffy056

vcs won't go anywhere near a court due to the fact that I had a hiding in the upper tax tier court by the hrmc, there they were told that they have no legal right to offer car parking unless they hold propriety rights to the car park, or basically own it. They also have no right to bring a case to the small claims. So what it comes to is that there is nothing they can do except idle threats.

bondy_lad

the pcn you are talking about is a PARKING charge notice=fake/unenforceable/DO NOT PAY,,no need to worry,, only a PENALTY charge notice =legal/must pay,you do not have this, so worry not,its a scam,ignore all correspondance/threat o grams you will recieve, as nothing can/will happen to you, jobs a belter aint it.

trisontana

Once again we have an example of the actions of a PPC causing anxiety and worry to an innocent person. I hope that the BPA are proud of this, and you wonder why the whole private parking "industry" is held in such contempt. If you are reading this Perky or Haswell, why don't you get a proper job, instead of treating people the way you do? I think the term "scum of the earth" comes to mind.

Stephen_Leak

What incentive is there for a private ticketing company to have the pay machines working properly? The revenue from them goes to the car park owner, not the private ticketing company. The private ticketing company gets its revenue, and the car park owner gets a cut, usually the same as the fee, from the ticketed victims who pay up. To the car park owner, it looks like there's a problem with motorists not paying, which the private ticketing company is dealing with. In reality, the car park owner is also being scammed by the private ticketing company.

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”.

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.

You could 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 each send you a couple of letters. The debt collector and solicitor are usually the same people, but using different headed paper. Unfortunately, these letters will threaten you with every kind of financial and legal unpleasantness imaginable to try and intimidate you into paying.

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

The_Slithy_Tove

Calm down! When did anyone ever get an endorsement on their licence even for a real parking ticket (which this is not)? Just ignore it. You own nothing. It is quite likely that the machine deliberately allows you to pay for a ticket without entering the reg. no. This gives VCS an excuse to send out PCNs. It's an example of the depths to which such unethical companies will stoop.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

suki_duki wrote: »

Are they not the ones who are breaching the contract by having machines that dont work according to their parking conditions!!!!!

Yes. Except they cannot even offer a contract because they don't own the car park.

suki_duki wrote: »

(Why does their payment machine allow tickets to be purchased if instructions are not followed correctly)

So they can try to rip you off with a fake PCN. Well known scam.

suki_duki wrote: »

Never had any charges like this,clean driving lic, been driving for 22 years:D.

You still have a clean licence. Surely you don't think these idiots can put points on your licence?

suki_duki wrote: »

What should I do when they come to me to pay???

They wont. All they will do is send begging letters which you can safely ignore.

JagDriver

In the old pre-decriminalised parking regime (where you could still park on the street in most towns), did you not get points if you parked on DYL's?

Sir_Roger_deLodger

JagDriver wrote: »

In the old pre-decriminalised parking regime (where you could still park on the street in most towns), did you not get points if you parked on DYL's?

No. As far as I know the only endorsable parking offence is parking on white zigzags.