Highview Parking - Charge Notice for a purchased ticket

SodG24

Sazz wrote: »

I did think about just paying what I owe (as it was £3.60 for an hour the 5 mins is 30p!!). Although from looking on here I can see the advice is not to pay anything to Highview themselves or I enter into a contract with them basically? Absolute robbing b*****ds!!! What annoys me most is how do they know how long it took me to actually find a space/leave the car park! I think I'm going to take the advice on here and hope for the best - although it will give me some sleepless nights if bailiffs letters etc start coming through!

You can't and won't get bailiffs letters - only a court can assign a bailiff and that won't happen as Highview will go nowhere near a court.

What you will get is a number of ever increasing desperate begging letters from Highview and then possibly some from whoever their pet debt collection agency is. The whole idea is to scare you into paying - that's because it is the ONLY way they can get people to pay.

Know your rights, know the law and realise Private Parking Companies are scum who prey on people not knowing these things.

Sazz_2

scum is one word for them (a rather mild word!). You say "know your rights, know the law"... is there not somewhere where the "law" on this is stated. It seems everyone is asking the same question and I've been unable to find any hard facts on this other than the very helpful advice offered on this site

SodG24

Sazz wrote: »

scum is one word for them (a rather mild word!). You say "know your rights, know the law"... is there not somewhere where the "law" on this is stated. It seems everyone is asking the same question and I've been unable to find any hard facts on this other than the very helpful advice offered on this site

There's plenty of elements of law that come into play in these cases but the only one you really need to understand is the legal ability of a PPC to offer a contract to park on private land. A court case in 2011 deemed they would have to either own or have a lease over the land to be able to offer a contract to park. Therefore, with a very few notable exceptions ( mainly NCP ) the PPCs can't take you to court as they have no rights over the land.

Even if the PPC does have the ability to offer a contract ( i.e. they own the land ), contract law prevents them issuing penalties so all they can sue for is their loses - in your case 30p !!!!! I'm sure you can see from that the Judge is hardly going to entertain a claim for £75, £90 or £150 because it would be a penalty.

There's numerous other legal issues PPCs have to overcome as well but no need to worry about them when the court case in 2011 was so conclusive.

ManxRed

Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_penalty

Also, as SodG24 states above, in line with recent case law (VCS v HMRC) unless the party issuing the claim has proprietorial or occupational rights to the land in question (Freehold/Leasehold) then they cannot even form a contract with a driver in the first place, let alone pursue charges for breaching it.

Fergie76

Sazz wrote: »

Even though I've already admitted to them on an email I only paid for an hour but was in fact on the car park 5 mins longer? I replied in panic before searching the internet about this. I rang Leeds Council and the Parking Team advised I paid Highview as they are a legitimate Company and the fines will go up and they can take legal action - is this just all talk then?

From BPA Code Of Conduct:

http://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/BPA_Code_of_Practice_2012_Version_1_October_2012.pdf

13.4 You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action.

I would call giving less than 5 minutes, less than reasonable. Therefore in my view they have broken the BPA Code Of Conduct.

But as the others have said, just ignore.

jpbakewell

Hi,
I to have received a charge notice from Highview for Edward Street Carpark in Leeds for 16-17th November. Luckily paid by debit card and still have the ticket.
I will be writing to my MP and trading standards and would urge everyone else to as well.

trisontana

jpbakewell wrote: »

Hi,
I to have received a charge notice from Highview for Edward Street Carpark in Leeds for 16-17th November. Luckily paid by debit card and still have the ticket.
I will be writing to my MP and trading standards and would urge everyone else to as well.

Are you saying that you actually paid the sham "parking charge notice", or just the fee to park?

Fergie76

trisontana wrote: »

Are you saying that you actually paid the sham "parking charge notice", or just the fee to park?

I think they are saying they paid their parking fee by debit card and not the invoice. :huh:

Coupon-mad

Sazz wrote: »

scum is one word for them (a rather mild word!). You say "know your rights, know the law"... is there not somewhere where the "law" on this is stated. It seems everyone is asking the same question and I've been unable to find any hard facts on this other than the very helpful advice offered on this site

Pepipoo has some nice summaries (they have been updated & edited this year, so don't worry about the old date on the original post):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46975

A summary about the fact a company cannot send bailiffs in or 'apply for' a CCJ:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=24362

Like all the other posters on this board, you have a fake PCN. You have emailed anyway so why not 'do the appeals thing' to one more stage, to cost the scammers money, which I WOULD if I were you.

If the scammers did not send you a POPLA verification code for the independent stage of the appeal then email back and demand it, pointing out that a 5 minute 'apparent overstay' based on cameras at the entrance/exit is NOT a parking overstay as it does not consider the time taken to park, get a P&D ticket, then once back at the car, load the shopping and wait for pedestrians in a very busy car park until it was clear for you to leave the space, slowly drive from the space through the car park and then queue and crawl out of the exit. Point out that to pursue this fake PCN for 5 minutes breaches 13.4 of the BPA Code of Practice and you'll happily tell POPLA this, at the scammers' expense for the decision.

Copy in the Store Manager and word your email as a COMPLAINT, not an appeal/excuse, a very assertive and angry COMPLAINT.

Even if you'd been 5 hours over we'd tell you not to pay this!

The whole scam of fake PCNs relies firstly on people's ignorance of the fact that a random private company can't fine anyone, and secondly on their natural fear of parking tickets and the escalating costs/bailiff scenario. So PPCs copy the look of a real parking ticket and - hey presto! - the cash rolls in from victims who know no better, and (like you) think there will be bailiff letters or summat.

This is not a penalty at all. It's rubbish, there are no bailiffs. You can appeal to POPLA or just ignore it as long as you are the owner/keeper of the car with the DVLA.

Tick off the threatening letters here.

You say you were unable to find other websites telling you about this? There are loads, plus there have been TV shows about it and newspaper articles too.

Watchdog clip with expert Solicitor's opinion here.

Barrister's opinion on a legal Q&A website here.

Recent Auto Express article here.

The letters are actually quite funny when they arrive at the address of someone who knows it's all hogwash and not a real parking ticket at all. My 18 year old niece has EIGHT fake PCNs so far and laughs & texts me every time she gets one (she has a medical condition which means she can legally overstay but the scammers don't know or care about disability law, we know this for a fact). We also have posters here and on pepipoo forums who collect fake PCNs for fun and to cost the scammers money. I don't set out to overstay but would happily collect more fake PCNs than the 2 that I already have for Supermarket overstays (more than an hour overstays, both times). Plus I have a nice collection of amusing/alarmist debt collector letters which I carry in my handbag to show friends & colleagues if the subject crops up! :rotfl:

HTH - please spread the word with friends/family and on facebook, NEVER to pay any private parking ticket.

Coupon-mad

jpbakewell wrote: »

Hi,
I to have received a charge notice from Highview for Edward Street Carpark in Leeds for 16-17th November. Luckily paid by debit card and still have the ticket.
I will be writing to my MP and trading standards and would urge everyone else to as well.

Good one, the more complaints the better. And when it's a Supermarket/cinama car park, definitely a complaint in writing to the Supermarket/cinema about the harassment (ASDA/Tesco/ALDI/Cineworld/B&Q or whoever, are legally responsible for the actions of their agents even where no money changes hands between them).