Parking Eye

henauvin

Could someone please let me know what changed in Oct 2012 that affected the rights of a scam Parking Company to take legal action against drivers. I am trying to recover a charge made against me by a Car Hire Company for passing my details to Parking Eye, The Car Hire Co say that their charge is justified since the law changed in Oct giving these people the same rights as Police and Traffic wardens and warn me that they are quite likely to take action against me
Thanks for any thoughts

Stroma

This is something I posted earlier , the protection of freedoms act 2012 happened , but it doesn't make these tickets more enforceable than previously, parking eye are lying ignore them. Follow the advice below to deal with the hire company

Stroma wrote: »

Unless the T&Cs of enterprise specifically say that they charge for this, they can't legally take money out of you. Check the terms in the fines and penalties section, if its not there demand your money back as its not an authorised deduction. Also complain to your card provider and tell the charge by enterprise is not authorised.

The bvrla the trade body for hire/lease companies have specific instructions to their members, it tells them to fill in a form that the RK gets and post it back to the parking company with the hirer details, charging £35 for that is in itself is a penalty.

Once the parking company has a serviceable address they cannot go back to the hire company, and you can ignore the scam completely. The complication is that you live in France , did you use an address there for the hire ? If you did they may try and go back to the hire company, make sure you tell them that they must not pay this charge as its nothing to do with them. And tell your card company not to make further payments to enterprise .

And by the way please don't hijack threads, make a new one for any further advice.

Stroma

I see it was you I was replying to

ManxRed

The Car Hire Company are stupid and have clearly read a few misleading BPA-fuelled articles on the internet about it, but not the actual legislation itself it would seem.

The law does not make the tickets enforceable. Ask them to quote the bit that says it does.

I'm willing to bet the relevant clause(s) in their terms and conditions still only enable them to pay and reclaim in respect of fines and penalties issued by statutory authorities under traffic legislation.

Post up the relevant clause here.

henauvin

Yes Stroma, finally found out how to open new thread!!

The Hire Company T&C says.... "Traffic Violations are not permitted under the terms of the hire and are the responsibility of the hirer, A charge of up to £50 may be made to compensate us for incurred handling costs"


I had limited success engaging discussion on the difference between "a violation" and an "alleged violation" and they would not discuss the fairness of abstracting £35 from my acount for the act of passing my address to Parking Eye!!!

Small print also reuquires me to pay on demand " a reasonable admin fee for processing any fines or offences against the vehicle" but I guess that means something different!!

The credit Card Co has opened an investigation but was not encouraging given the Contract.
Hey ho !!

pogofish

henauvin wrote: »

Could someone please let me know what changed in Oct 2012 that affected the rights of a scam Parking Company to take legal action against drivers. I am trying to recover a charge made against me by a Car Hire Company for passing my details to Parking Eye, The Car Hire Co say that their charge is justified since the law changed in Oct giving these people the same rights as Police and Traffic wardens and warn me that they are quite likely to take action against me
Thanks for any thoughts

Nothing has changed, other than they can adress their empty threats to the registered keeper. The tickets and any "contract" are as worthless as ever.

Explained well here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4360185

ManxRed

Its certainly not issued under a 'Traffic Violation' in my opinion.

However, I notice that this term is capitalised. Is it capitalised in the Terms and Conditions? If so, then there will be a definition somewhere, probably at the beginning of the contract. Could you check and let us know?

Its definitely not a 'fine' nor an 'offence'.

henauvin

Actually the whole of the phrase is in caps! The contract is preprinted and this phrase, along with several other "rental-specific" elements, such as the dates, charge, fuel charge etc have the appearance of "typed on additions" if you see what I mean!!
Ah, but wait...
"I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT FOR THE PERIOD OF THE RENTAL I SHALL BE LIABLE AS THE OWNER OF THE VEHICLE FOR ANY FIXED PENALTY OFFENCE COMMITTED WITH RESPECT TO THE VEHICLE OR ANY PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE, ANY EXCESS CHARGE OR PENALTY CHARGE FOR PARKING OR BUS LANE CONTRAVENTIONS WHICH MAY BE INCURRED AND PENALTY CHARGES INCURRED UNDER A ROAD USER CHARGING SCHEME"

Does that, by any chance entitle them to "fine" me for invoices presented by any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry?

henauvin

Have also unearthed the following..."we will use reasonable endeavours to notify you before debiting from your credit and/or debit card charges which are finalised or come to light after the end of your Agreement"

For what its worth

ManxRed

OK, the ticket from Parking Eye does not even remotely come under any of that capitalised phrase above. It is a speculative invoice in respect of a contract breach, and does not fall under traffic legislation, nor is it a penalty, nor is it in respect of any contravention.

By charging you for processing this, the rental company have breached the contract with you and the charge IS an unauthorised payment which you can either write to them to demand it is refunded, or pursue as an unauthorised payment via your bank or card issuer.

If you get no joy with either of those you have a very strong case to sue the hire company via small claims.

The_Slithy_Tove

henauvin wrote: »

"I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT FOR THE PERIOD OF THE RENTAL I SHALL BE LIABLE AS THE OWNER OF THE VEHICLE FOR ANY FIXED PENALTY OFFENCE COMMITTED WITH RESPECT TO THE VEHICLE OR ANY PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE, ANY EXCESS CHARGE OR PENALTY CHARGE FOR PARKING OR BUS LANE CONTRAVENTIONS WHICH MAY BE INCURRED AND PENALTY CHARGES INCURRED UNDER A ROAD USER CHARGING SCHEME"

Does that, by any chance entitle them to "fine" me for invoices presented by any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry?

Not at all. These Ts&Cs are quite specific as quoted. You need to tell the hire company that what you have received is NONE OF THESE. Their earlier statement putting them on a par with police- and council-issued tickets is absolutely false; you need to tell them they are WRONG on this, and need to consult their legal department.

Hire companies really do take the p*** on these things. They should (and probably do) know better, but see it all as a nice little earlier when they slap their ridiculous admin fees on top.

When you reply to them, tell them that they are in breach of their own Ts&Cs. Make it a Letter Before Action, i.e. instruct them that if they do not refund your money, you will be taking legal action to recover it without further notice to them. You should include the credit card company in this (CC the letter to them), so, if you have to, you can jointly sue the rental company and credit card company. Might make them sit up and listen.