Parking Fines

Woo54

I am a registered disabled person with a blue badge for parking. I parked in a shopping complex and displayed my badge etc. when I returned to the car I had a ticket. It stated my blue badge was 1 day out of date!!! My tax says disabled. They didn't look at this. I have a certificate to prove I was entitled to a blue badge. Do I have to pay the "fine" ??? I have since renewed my blue badge. I would really appreciate any replies. Thanks.

Stroma

I gather this is not from a council, but somebody like ncp ? We need this confirmed first before advice can be given. Thanks

Woo54

I have just checked. I got the ticket a few days before Christmas. It looks like a police fine and is from ANPR Ltd. I have since had a letter from Progress Debt Recovery threatening to take me to court.

trisontana

I doubt if it's a police "fine", as this was on private property. So it's just a bog-standard private parking ticket .ANPR are well known on here. They have very strange signs which state that if you break their rules then they (ANPR) have to pay the landowner £100.

spacey2012

they are designed to look like official documents, hence why it is known as the impersonation of authority scam.
The ticket is a fake.

Stroma

It's not a police fine, it's from a private parking company and they have no authority like the police, but that doesn't stop them making it look like a police fixed penalty notice. Just ignore them from now on, it's highly unlikely these jokers will go anywhere near a court.

The owner of this ANPR is Trevor Whitehouse, I'm not allowed to say anything derogatory about anyone on here , but have a look on google for him to see what kind of person he is, and it reflects onto his company

Coupon-mad

Woo54 wrote: »

I have just checked. I got the ticket a few days before Christmas. It looks like a police fine and is from ANPR Ltd. I have since had a letter from Progress Debt Recovery threatening to take me to court.

You can just ignore ANPR Ltd. This is not a Police fine, it's a 'parking charge'. ANPR Ltd are a bunch of ex clampers called National Clamps who are fed up now the Government took their toys away!

This is NOT a real parking ticket at all, private parking tickets which impersonate real 'PCNs' (same acronym but without the word 'penalty') are a well-known con in Hospital, retail, supermarket, cinema, railway (indeed any private car parks) and the scam has already exposed by Watchdog loads of times.

Watch the Watchdog videos linked below and ignore the fake PCN and the letters from the debt collector (only ever take seriously actual Court papers which will never arrive). All the Watchdog videos are relevant except to say that in England and Wales you just can't rely on saying 'I wasn't the driver' any more.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=3164256

You have dodged a scam by posting here.

No private parking company (PPC) can actually issue a real fine or penalty on private land, such as hospital or retail car parks, etc. Nor can they affect your credit rating nor send a bailiff round without the small matter of winning a Small Claim in Court first! And that won't happen.

Please read the current forum and also show your family and friends so they also learn about this scam. Spread the word like we do! Just to be clear, we are NOT saying not to pay a fair Pay and Display fee nor do we ever condone selfish parking (in your case I know neither apply anyway).

A fake 'ticket' & letters from a PPC is much more like a phishing email scam than any 'PCN' and you wouldn't read a phishing email and believe it would you? Similar scam, impersonating authority and playing on some people's naivety. But not you because you are here now and can spread the word now you know the truth. Tell your friends & family never to pay a fake PCN.

The only other point I would add in your case is to tell you that in fact the PPC have breached the Equality Act 2010 by trying to charge and then harass by letter, a disabled person for using a disabled bay. You have an overriding right to use that bay because it's a 'reasonable adjustment' provided by the retail park for people like you who are disabled - not just for people with a Blue Badge/Blue Hat/Blue Car or whatever!

The disabled tax disc and the (just out of date) Blue Badge are MORE than enough of an indicator of your disability and the fact the Badge was one day expired does not take away your condition nor your need to use that bay!

If you want to complain about this, complain to your MP, Trading Standards and the Management of that Retail Park in writing. Tell them that to harass a disabled person is illegal and the PPC are the agents if the retail par s both are liable for this illegality.

The Blue Badge scheme doesn't even in fact apply on private land! If a PPC decides to 'use it' as ONE indicator of disability, then that's not unreasonable as such, BUT they cannot preclude other indicators of disability. Otherwise they are discriminating aganst visitors who have no Blue Badge but still have the 'protected characteristics' (term used in the Equality Act) and the need to use the bay.

Here's a thread where a poster complained to the retail park about a similar issue but with her mother who was the disabled person:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4244645

The complaint was worded as a threat of Court to both parties, and the retail park got the fake PCN cancelled within 48 hours flat!

Guys_Dad

In addition I would do the following

Letter to ANPR saying that

you are disabled
you had a 1 day out of date Blue Badge displayed (copy enclosed)
your road fund licence showed "Disabled" and zero road tax
that the BPA COP contains the following in the Disabled Motorists section

Disabled motorists
16.1 The Equality Act 2010 says that providers of services to
the public must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to remove
barriers which may discriminate against disabled people.

16.2 ‘Reasonable adjustments’ to prevent discrimination are
likely to include larger ‘disabled’ parking spaces near to the
entrance or amenities for disabled people whose mobility
is impaired. It also could include lowered payment
machines and other ways to pay if payment is required:
for example, paying by phone. You and your staff also
need to realise that some disabled people may take a
long time to get to the payment machine.

16.3 Operators of off-street car parks do not have to
recognise the Blue Badge scheme. But many choose to
do so to meet their obligations under the Equality Act.
Although a Blue Badge is not issued to all disabled people
it is issued to those with mobility problems. So it is a
good way for parking operators to identify people who
need special parking provision.

and that it is a requirement that their attendants are familiar with the relevant provisions of the Equality legislation and should have checked the disabled road fund licence, particularly as there was a blue badge on display.

Under these circumstances, you trust they will withdraw the PCN and you will not complain to the BPA or commence action under the legislation now that you have been made aware of the circumstances. Otherwise, look forward to seeing you in court.