Parking charge notices from Town and city parking

peterdanko

Hi, we live in a flat that does not have a parking space and occasionally we have to park our car in the ASDA car park which is next to the property we live in because the on street parking spaces are fully occupied. after two months since we bought the car we started to receive '' Parking charge notices " from a company called Town and city parking Ltd asking to pay 40 pound for each notice thez sent by post.

I paid first two naively thinking they will stop sending it, but now I found another 4 notices in our mailbox and I am not really fancy to pay them.

Every notice contain picture of the reg plate and time when the car entered and left the car park. They are "kindly "giving me 14 days to pay the 40 pound fine, otherwise it will be 70 pound. They inform me that if I do not respond to those notices it may lead to civil legal action being taken to recover the parking charge notice charge.

I have already dear something about similar parking notices on the internet but those discusions were about 2 years old and I am not sure if there wasn't a change of law or something like that. Do I really have to pay them even if I wasn't driving but I am the registered keeper? How can I tackle them?

I would really appreciate any advice what to do! Thanks

taffy056

Its not a fine, so you really don't have to pay them anything at all, they will not take you to court, I don't believe this company took a single person to court in 2011 after a freedom of information request was asked of the courts.

But we don't endorse abuse of car parks whether private or council on this forum, can't you find alternate parking in your area? even if you have to walk a couple of minutes to get home?

lasajoe

I have also received a ticket from these people after forgetting to display my pass in my works car park. I am planning on ignoring this but I know other people at my work were told that if they don't pay, the outstanding amount will be passed to a debt recovery agent, what happens if they do that? I live in Scotland so am unsure if the law is different.

surfboy1

Debt recovery agents are just as easy to ignore.
They have no more authority than you or i.
All they can do is write a letter asking for money. You either IGNORE the letter or you could just tell them that any debt is denied.
It realy is as simple as that!

taffy056

lasajoe wrote: »

I have also received a ticket from these people after forgetting to display my pass in my works car park. I am planning on ignoring this but I know other people at my work were told that if they don't pay, the outstanding amount will be passed to a debt recovery agent, what happens if they do that? I live in Scotland so am unsure if the law is different.

The simple answer is to ignore, but please don't hijack other's people's threads, for a more complete answer post below in a new thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

Coupon-mad

lasajoe wrote: »

I have also received a ticket from these people after forgetting to display my pass in my works car park. I am planning on ignoring this but I know other people at my work were told that if they don't pay, the outstanding amount will be passed to a debt recovery agent, what happens if they do that?

I live in Scotland so am unsure if the law is different.

You will get some letters to ignore, that's all!

peterdanko

We do not mind to park the car further from our house but sometimes we do not have other option and we have to use asda car park but it always is for limitied time only but unfortunately it is more than 2 hours, which are free.( usually it is 1 hour over the limit)...we are lmoving to new flat in a week time with allocated parking space so the parking problem will be sorted.

I do not abuse car parks and as I sad I paid them two notices they sent me because it was me who was driving, but I am not goin to pay for other people just because I am registered keeper.

Thanks to all for your advice!

taffy056

Peter I am not judging you by saying about parking abuse, I am just stating that we don't endorse it here mostly, the reference is put because you do this regularly it seems, and that is just showing to retailers that they do have a problem.

Anyway the situation is resolved when you move it seems. Unless you have a private parking company there also, which means showing permits and getting invoices for any breach of pathetic rules. Best of luck with the move.

The_Slithy_Tove

taffy056 wrote: »

Anyway the situation is resolved when you move it seems. Unless you have a private parking company there also, which means showing permits and getting invoices for any breach of pathetic rules. Best of luck with the move.

On that note, if it is as taffy surmises, don't be fooled into paying when you happen to forget the permit. And be thankful that clamping will be outlawed from 1st October, as there have been so many instances of residents being clamped in their own parking spaces (unlawfully most of the time, but it doesn't stop the aggro getting the money back).

RENEGADE_2

To Lasajoe - no there is no clause in Socttish law that endorses de facto penalties imposed by private companies for matters relating to Contract Law. They can seek proven losses and not a penny more. You can confidently ignore every piece of their muck that lands on your mat.

To Peterdanko - I am deeply sorry that you have submitted money to those subhuman apes in the past but am very pleased that you have discovered these forums which spell the facts. Whilst nobody openly encourages flouting landowners' rules, what you do is your business but once you make your decision, you'll find there is no need to return here and tell everyone what you've done. Be that as it may, T&C are no different to the rest of the PPCs, their methods are the same; wholly unlawful and you have nothing to worry about in ignoring their rubbish. I got a T&C ticket like you in August 2011 and received about five threatograms the last of which came around the very end of last year. It's about a five-month process and about five letters every one of which can be cut to shape and "affixed" to the toilet roll. Or if you like, when you familiarise yourself with the sender address you can mark the post "REFUSED AS SCAM - RETURN TO SENDER" before flicking it back to the red box. That must surely wind them up and it costs you nothing.

mattyprice4004

peterdanko wrote: »

We do not mind to park the car further from our house but sometimes we do not have other option and we have to use asda car park but it always is for limitied time only but unfortunately it is more than 2 hours, which are free.( usually it is 1 hour over the limit)...we are lmoving to new flat in a week time with allocated parking space so the parking problem will be sorted.

I do not abuse car parks and as I sad I paid them two notices they sent me because it was me who was driving, but I am not goin to pay for other people just because I am registered keeper.

Thanks to all for your advice!

Ignore the letters, but in the interest of fairness I think you are abusing the car park.

Do you only use the car park when you shop? No, therefore that's abuse. Its not a public car park, asda own the land and you should only park there if you're using the shop.