Parking fine from CP plus - overstay at motorway car park £90, £50 if paid in 14 day

Driver_29

Today among the usual post was a letter from a parking authority called CP plus, titled Charge notice, together with a picture of my car going in, and one taken much later of it going out.

Unfortunately you can just about make out my picture in the going out photo, so i cant say prove it was me driving

it goes on to say "Having checked the vehicle details with the Driver and vehicle licensing agency (DVLA) we are writing to you because either you were the registered keeper at the time of parking, or the registered keeper has named you as the driver at the time of the event. In accordance with the terms and conditions clearly and prominently displayed and agreed to whn your vehicle parked on our clients property, the payment of £90 is required within 28 days. from the date of this notice"

blah blah blah

" We will accept the reduced sum of £50.00 if payment is received within 14 days, ie before DATE
If payment is not received within 28 days an additional administration charge of £40 will be incurred"


It then goes on to state:
some stuff about a new law, protection of freedoms act.


and at the bottom it says that this is in accordance with the British Parking Associations code of practice.

As far as i know the British Parking Association are an official regulator/government body in charge of parking laws in the UK.

What would be the best way to deal with this parking fine, as its backed up with a new law, and an official parking association, Christmas is coming and my wallets looking slim.


At the moment im going to ask for some advice at my local pub, as they have a parking enforcement company paroling their car park, and i will also ask at the service station the next time i pass.

If i do make an appeal ( as £90 seems a bit steep ) my main grounds for the appeal will be as follows:
******************
I was not parked for the whole time, i visited once in the early afternoon, and again in the evening - so the cameras didnt record all of my movements


The charge demanded is a bit high, and if i have to i would like to pay the reduced rate over a period of time (5 lots of £10 )
*****************

At the moment im a bit worried and concerned, as i may have to re-plan Christmas and new years.

As well as asking at the pub, i will also pop into the services area to speak to the manager about paying it in installements if possible.


Thank you for reading this, im a little bit worried and concerned - driver_29

timbo58

If I put a note on your car (however official looking I might make it) that was total codswallop and had no meaning legally whatsoever and was merely an invitation to pay me a large amount of your money just so I stopped sending you letters -would you?

Well then, a note from me/ your OH/ your cat has as much legal standing as this 'speculative invoice' you may ignore it and safely ignore all others sent to you.

There are literally hundreds of similar tales on here: I've had 2 this year and I've paid them b@gger all.

spacey2012

It can be reduced to £0 by ignoring them, they will pretend to be all sorts of authority, but realistically they are just a tin pot parking company.
They can do very little but make threats, they can not affect credit ratings, all they can do is huff and puff.
They will make all kinds of threats and offer you all sorts of free legal advice.
The end game is cheating you out of money you do not owe them.
The BPA is a club where the members are all private parking firms.
Do yourself a favour, read up and then just ignore them.
MSE rules forbid us calling this a scam, despite the Oxford description of a scam having 5 points and this meeting all 5 of those points.
So I can not tell you that this is a scam.

Coupon-mad

Driver_29 wrote: »

Today among the usual post was a letter from a parking authority called CP plus, titled Charge notice, together with a picture of my car going in, and one taken much later of it going out.

Unfortunately you can just about make out my picture in the going out photo, so i cant say prove it was me driving

The new law has only really changed one thing - and it's that in England/Wales you can no longer say 'prove it was me who was driving'. So the pic is irrelevant, except it's nice to have a free photo of your car. Think of it as a Christmas present from a scammer!

Driver_29 wrote: »

It then goes on to state: some stuff about a new law, protection of freedoms act and at the bottom it says that this is in accordance with the British Parking Associations code of practice.

As far as i know the British Parking Association are an official regulator/government body in charge of parking laws in the UK.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!! Think again! :rotfl:

The BPA are NOTHING of the sort! They are a trade body run by the scammers!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?901-Private-Parking-Companies-continue-to-bully-motorists-backed-by-a-new-Government-Code.

''Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group said: ‘We regard the BPA as a self-serving club. It speaks the fluent jargon of customer care and poses as the motorist’s friend, yet everything it does is geared towards enabling its members to fleece the public. BPA members pay the DVLA £5m a year for drivers’ data. The BPA is not publicly accountable.''

Driver_29 wrote: »

What would be the best way to deal with this parking fine, as its backed up with a new law, and an official parking association, Christmas is coming and my wallets looking slim.

It's NOT a fine and it's NOT backed up by the new law which we have posted about pretty much every single day since October 1st. Here's just one thread about the 'new law':

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4281337

Driver_29 wrote: »

At the moment im going to ask for some advice at my local pub, as they have a parking enforcement company paroling their car park, and i will also ask at the service station the next time i pass.

Noooooo, don't waste your time!

Driver_29 wrote: »

As well as asking at the pub, i will also pop into the services area to speak to the manager about paying it in installments if possible.

Don't be ridiculous please, offering to pay it??????????????? Now you must be joking!


Assuming this was in England/Wales (option b not being applicable in Scotland) you either:

a) Ignore for the easy life and tick off the junk mail (see 5th from top thread).

OR

b) Appeal and then appeal to POPLA (see second from top thread, this costs the scammers money!) and then if 'unsuccessful' then revert to a).


HTH

Sirdan

As far as i know the British Parking Association are an official regulator/government body in charge of parking laws in the UK

BPA official =no

BPA regulator = No

BPA government body =NO NO NO

The BPA is none of the above it is a paid up Parking Companies club aka a trade association.

As such it is wholly biased and only has the interests of its members i.e. parking companies in mind.

Private parking compnies have no statutory powers to "fine" or "penalise" anyone EVER.

Ignore this speculative invoice .

taffy056

Bloody hell the only official thing about the BPA is that officially they are the trade body of a bunch scamming scumbag parking companies.

Now don't ask down the pub as obviously they have a vested interest in getting people to pay scam invoices, I mean they get commission for each mug who pays up!

Instead listen to us who are independent and has no such interest, also why go to amateur lawyers in a pub, when you can get the expert opinion of a qualified solicitor who specialises in this area? Also the BBC and Watchdog are a little bit more qualified than dave down the pub

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3164256

Driver_29

Thanks for the replies as with most things of this nature i will also take as much advice on what to do, as this could have legal consequence's, i have/need a clean enhanced CRB and a good credit rating so i need to keep clean so to speak.

sometimes theres someone in the pub who works for a parking company (APCA ?) so i will ask him i dont think this is the same as the clamping company that patrols the pub car park from time to time.

As for payment I was going to pay the £50 online to get it out of the way, but the CP plus website says that it cant process tickets with a reference number starting with 04.

I will also take this up with CP plus via the telephone number provided,and see what they say having a quick read through here would it be worth recording the call? if so would there be any legal implications of doing so? and can any one recommend an android app for the purpose?.

Im still in a bit of a panick/worry over this, and i will research further, ive still got until the 21st of this month before the fine goes up to £90 - still seems steep when compared to council car park that charges £25 to get your car released after its locked at closing ( unless you leave it and wait until the next day )

Driver_29

additional - would it help if i got a photo of the parking fine/ticket or a scan ( can borrow a scanner / use a work scanner )

im of to the pub now, slightly worried i will see what the landlord says, and if i see him the bloke from APCA parking

taffy056

Forgive me for saying this, but are you actually reading any of the replies to you? If you simply coming here and ignoring all the advice given to you, what is the point in coming here to begin with?

And by the way clamping on private land is ILLEGAL in GB now, and its NOT a fine

Driver_29

Appologies, but im a bit worried,there appears to be a heck of a lot of information to digest and i need to make sure that i know for sure.

edit to the above the bloke in the pub works for APCOA and calls in after his shift, i dont think its the same as the car park authority at the pub with the clamping signs up in the car park, got to go i will report back on my findings later.

taffy056

Driver_29 wrote: »

Appologies, but im a bit worried,there appears to be a heck of a lot of information to digest and i need to make sure that i know for sure.

edit to the above the bloke in the pub works for APCOA and calls in after his shift, i dont think its the same as the car park authority at the pub with the clamping signs up in the car park, got to go i will report back on my findings later.

Listen, these are not authorities! This is not a fine! Asking for impartial advice from someone working in the parking industry is like asking a Nigerian king not to scam me.

honestly I give up!