Some final advice required before ignoring UKPC please

MissyS

Hi - I am after some after before ignoring a praking charge notice. Most of the info I have read refers to free car parks and the car park I parked in was a pay and display car park.

I did not pay for a ticket as I displayed my son's blue badge and did not think to check if I needed to pay.
On returning to the car I had a ticket.
I checked the pay and display information board and there was no reference to blue badge holders at all.

I appealed before I found this forum stating that in all other car parks in town blue badge holders do not pay and it did not specify that they should on the board. My appeal was rejected.

So do I pay the charge?
If not should I send payment of the parking ticket fee I should have paid (£2)?
Should I just pay the £54 so that I don't panic - my husband says to pay it as we do not want any credit problems, ccj's etc but what I have read seems to say don't.
Thanks for your time.

Stroma

Technically you owe the landowner that £2 , if you offer it to UKPC they will reject it out of hand. By all means offer it via email, if they reject it, its up to them.

Or you can simply ignore them completely, they will not take you to court because they don't go there. There won't be any CCJs as they can't get them unless they take you to court, you lose, and then don't pay the judgement within 28 days. There won't be any credit problems, because of what I just said.

Half_way

did the board say all vehicles must pay?

regardless of which the landowner is only entitled to claim for genuine losses caused by your car parking as trespass, and those losses will be substantialy lower than what the pakring company are asking.

Just out of interest was this a standalone car park, or one attached to a store, shopping centre, or retail park?

Ok heres what to do...

1: Ignore, nice and easy
2: Offer them the parking charge, that is the fee that you would have paid to park there in the first place and not the jumped up number out of a hat figure they are demanding, plus entirely at your own discretion as a good will gesture a little bit to cover costs as a full and final settlement.

HO87

An appeal rejected by a PPC. Now there's a novel thing. Not. If, as you say, there is no mention whatsoever of BB holders having to pay then you owe nothing. If by some chance you have actually missed the fact that they do then at worst you owe just £2. In an ideal world you would write to them and offer the £2, and if you were feeling generous, an extra £5 for their administrative expenses.

However, were you to do so - like any other form of response to PPC's - it will be seen as an indication that they have hooked a live fish and the amount of correspondence will be ramped up. Therefore the general advice would be to ignore them.

If, and it is a big "if", UKPC were to institute proceedings then were you to be able to demonstrate that you offered them the unpaid £2 at an early stage and it was refused this would go very much in your favour. Even iff you were to be taken to court in the first place (unlikely) and then, together with the assistance you'd get here, were to lose (even more unlikely) then you would only have a CCJ recorded against your name were you to be most unwise and not pay the amount ordered within 28 days. A CCJ cannot simply be applied for (as many companies suggest) they do actually have to go to court, win and then pay for the judgment to be registered after the 28 days and no payment. Simply declining to pay an unwarranted penalty (that is what the ticket is) is not going to damage your credit record.

Aside from this UKPC do not own the car parks on which they operate and it is highly doubtful that they have sufficient legal interest in the car parks to be able to offer a contract to park in the first place.

I have assumed that you were entitled to use your son's BB. We do not condone the misuse of BB's at any time.

MissyS

Thanks. So should I write and include a cheque for the £2 I should have paid or write offering it as final settlement?

SodG24

MissyS wrote: »

Thanks. So should I write and include a cheque for the £2 I should have paid or write offering it as final settlement?

Personally, having ignored other PPC demands, I'd just ignore them BUT if you really feel so inclined then write to them with a £2 cheque stating you weren't aware Blue Badge holders had to pay and that the £2 is in full and final settlement of their loses.

If they cash the cheque then game over, if they continue to write and demand money then ignore them.