Parked in Staff Bay in error

Coupon-mad

Mistral001 wrote: »

You were fined for parking in a staff bay. If it says in the conditions that you get your parking fees refunded when a fine is incurred then you will get it your parking fee refunded. But is that really likely to be in the conditions?

Wow you really have stumbled into this forum a bit blinkered haven't you? Stick around, you may learn something that saves you or a friend some money. Who cares what was in some made-up t&cs written by a scam parking firm whose only agenda is to kid people into thinking they have to pay a 'parking ticket'.

Mistral001 wrote: »

Yes you are right. It is not a fine. It is actually a charge. Does not change the situation as far as the OP is concerned. It is a straight forward case of breach of contract, so the OP has to find out what the contract IS and not what he thinks it should be in his opinion.

I see you heavily edited your post but that's not the right advice either. It isn't 'breach of contract' although the PPCs want victims to think it is. NCP do not issue enforceable 'parking tickets' and I would be very surprised if they own this car park.

Best advice is simply to ignore NCP and tick off the threatograms one by one:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2329119

The OP certainly does not have to waste any time over this con. No need to look at the signs and worry about some 'contract' allegation. It's pants.

HTH

Mistral001

If this is a scam and fraud, why are the police not arresting some people.

Stroma

Mistral001 wrote: »

If this is a scam and fraud, why are the police not arresting some people.

Because it skirts a very grey area, and as its civil they will not get involved. But that is not to say the courts won't , just google VCS -v- HMRC 2012 this is an upper tax tribunal case , the outcome of this is binding on lower courts.

Also if you are looking for fraud and illegal activity have a look at apcoa who have been convicted of it.

BASFORDLAD

Mistral001 wrote: »

If this is a scam and fraud, why are the police not arresting some people.

Please read that court case before you make any more non informative judgement

Coupon-mad

Mistral001 wrote: »

If this is a scam and fraud, why are the police not arresting some people.

No-one said 'fraud'. :cool:

It is a scam though, sharp practice and impersonation of parking tickets but without the word 'penalty' (that's how these PPC scammers get away with it).

Stick around - maybe read pepipoo's explanation of the legalities as it's a clear summary:

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

Unless there is criminality involved, the Police do not arrest everyone connected to dodgy practices by companies outed on Watchdog. It is not a crime to send someone an invoice, anyone can. Would you like me to issue you with one for this reply? Would you take it seriously? See what we mean?

Mistral001

So what happens is someone not employed by the car park owners sees a car parked in the wrong place in a private car park and plumps a ticket on it demanding money. Is that the way this "scam" works?

It is a bit like those guys who ring you up pretending to be from Micosoft and offering to fix your computer and then send you an invoice for money. They have nothing to do with Microsoft and just trying it on.

BASFORDLAD

thats is mistral!!!

Mistral001

Hate to be a pain, but if that is the way this "scam" works, surely there is an element of deception involved and thus fraudulent.

BASFORDLAD

You will learn......

Coupon-mad

Mistral001 wrote: »

So what happens is someone not employed by the car park owners sees a car parked in the wrong place in a private car park and plumps a ticket on it demanding money. Is that the way this "scam" works?

It is a bit like those guys who ring you up pretending to be from Micosoft and offering to fix your computer and then send you an invoice for money. They have nothing to do with Microsoft and just trying it on.

Nope, you have got the first bit wrong because that would be illegal.

These firms do have to have permission from the car park owner/occupier. But they are not employed nor paid because their income comes from the protection racket they then run, pretending that it's car park management.

I posted only last week this explanation which was written specifically about PPCs infesting Supermarket car parks:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/59368225#Comment_59368225

Car park owner/occupiers only wake up and smell the coffee when they get complaints or lose business, but by then they are tied into a contract with the devil - as per the shocking 'Parking Eye v Somerfield' tail-wagging-the-dog judgment, as linked in that reply I gave before. Somerfield suffered enough to try to pull the plug on the contract they'd signed into, but too late they learned they could not even stop their agent from issuing misleading/unlawful threats to their own customers.

:mad:

Mistral001 wrote: »

Hate to be a pain, but if that is the way this "scam" works, surely there is an element of deception involved and thus fraudulent.

Yes there's a HUGE amount of deception and misleading the public, not least from using the same acronym 'PCN'.

Watchdog outed it several times, once with a lawyer showing people they can make a paper aeroplane out of fake PCNs (youtube clip of Watchdog already linked in my post #16 above) and again when Watchdog asked members of the public if they knew which was the 'real' parking ticket when shown a Council one and a private one. I think it was seven out of ten people (certainly the clear majority of those asked) thought the private one was the real one because it had a chequered border and 'looked official'. When asked to explain why their members deceived people like this when these are only rubbish invoices, the BPA said the smilarities were 'coincidental' and even intimated that maybe Councils were copying the private ones!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3164256 = that's a link to all the Watchdog programmes about this scam so far.

You couldn't make it up, how can this be legal? But they stay under the radar and the real fat cats of the industry have friends in VERY high places.