£150 fine for turning around in a car park and driving out

Umkomaas

zennor4 wrote: »

Hi,

No sorry for bad spelling, its 'Premier Park' and I think they are part of BPA.

OK, yep, on the BPA AOS.

You're already well down the 'ignore' route and there's no direct appeal route available now.

However, as they are seemingly chasing you as the RK under PoFA 2012, they have to meet certain strict criteria, especially as far as deadline dates are concerned and the detail contained in their correspondence to you.

So, first things first, you need to check dates and contents of paperwork received against the following checklist:

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/keeper-liability/

Find where they might have slipped up, then get back to us. Their first letter to you should have been sent within 14 days of the event - by the dates you've suggested, they look dodgy on that particular criterion. Have they clearly identified who the creditor is in this charge? There's another potential banana skin for them.

Just get back when you've (carefully) checked everything out.

edward123

Trethowans according to a search of this forum has done court but on behalf of the landowner. They have lost.
Its highly unlikely they would issue a small claims against you, considering you didnt even park! They would lose again and they know it. So its just part of the scare tactics I suspect.

Tilt

zennor4 wrote: »

To be honest, I didnt look at any signs, I was driving in to turn the vehicle around and drive out. There definately were no obvious signs as I drove in saying "you will be fined if you drive over this line".

Also, i dont know anything about court, what would it involve, would I have to say exactly what happened in front of everyone or will a statement be read out on my behalf?? Sorry for being so naive!!

IF it came to court, we would advise you. But as others have said, it's highly un-likely they will risk taking it to court because (from your info) they will most certainly loose.

Guys_Dad

Your defence is simple. You use the 'Grace' clause in the BPA COP.
I suggest that you have two choices.

1 Do nothing and see if they go to court.

2 Reply to the solicitors saying that you are not liable as you did not park and left well within the BPA guidelines on grace periods, and, should their client be foolish enough to take you to court, you would quote the guidelines to show that the PPC broke them.

fisherjim

I thought I read somewhere on the BPA website that a motorist should be allowed time to enter the car park, read the signs and decide if they want to accept the terms and conditions, and drive out if not.

Stroma

Yes it's on their code of practice

13.1 Your approach to parking management must allow a driver who enters your car park but decides not to park, to leave the car park within a reasonable period without having their vehicle issued with a parking charge notice.

1 or 2 minutes is not reasonable

fisherjim

Stroma wrote: »

Yes it's on their code of practice



1 or 2 minutes is not reasonable

Thanks I knew I had seen it, "must allow"makes it pretty definite I would say!;)

zennor4

Stroma wrote: »

Yes they are genuine and part of this scam, they cannot issue a small claim unless they are acting for basically the landowner, I bet my house on them saying they are acting for the parking company. They would be clinically insane to issue over this. And debt recovery plus and zenith collections are exactly the same company

Their letter starts "we are instructed by Premier Park Limited who manage the above car park. We are advised by our client that their car parking attendant observed a vehicle parked in the above location............", so yes you are right I dont think they are acting for the Landowner.

Coupon-mad

zennor4 wrote: »

Their letter starts "we are instructed by Premier Park Limited who manage the above car park. We are advised by our client that their car parking attendant observed a vehicle parked in the above location............", so yes you are right I dont think they are acting for the Landowner.

Stop worrying about it, if I were in your shoes and never even parked I would be laughing about the very idea of the idiots trying to put their evidence in front of a judge. You could claim your expenses for turning up and seeing the PPC lose (just keep your eyes open for real court papers, that's all; the letters are junk mail).

zennor4

Umkomaas wrote: »

OK, yep, on the BPA AOS.

You're already well down the 'ignore' route and there's no direct appeal route available now.

However, as they are seemingly chasing you as the RK under PoFA 2012, they have to meet certain strict criteria, especially as far as deadline dates are concerned and the detail contained in their correspondence to you.

So, first things first, you need to check dates and contents of paperwork received against the following checklist:



Find where they might have slipped up, then get back to us. Their first letter to you should have been sent within 14 days of the event - by the dates you've suggested, they look dodgy on that particular criterion. Have they clearly identified who the creditor is in this charge? There's another potential banana skin for them.

Just get back when you've (carefully) checked everything out.

Hi, when you say there are no more direct appeal opportunities available ,the letter does say at some point " .....alternatively if you have a dispute or complaint please contact us in writing within the 14 day period".
Am guessing I should still ignore?

As for the checklist, I have noticed the follow things (im not sure if I should give exact dates or not so wont for now):

1. The incident occurred at the beginning of June, I received my first 'Do not Ignore this notice' letter from Premier Park at the beginning of August. Therefore 2 months later.

2. It does not say the period the car was parked (only the 'time of issue').

3. It does say how the parking rules were broken but this is 'Unauthorised entry/Parking', however I didn't actually park (what is the definition of parking??) and surely unauthorised entry couldn't hold up as I could have potentially been visiting a resident in the care home and then realised Id forgot something at home etc etc.

4. I'm a bit skeptical about all the dates/times withing the 7 letters received to date. There seems to be:
Date of this notice - which i'm assuming is the letter date.
Date of issue - The date the offence occured.
Parking charge date - am assuming the same as 'issue;

The original letter from Premier Park gives a date of issue of early June and a time of issue in the afternoon, the later 3 letters from 'Debt Recovery Plus Ltd' give a 'parking charge date of early August' (but no time),The next letter from 'Zenneth Collections' gives a 'Parking charge issued' date of early August along with a large box entitled 'Contravention Details' saying 'Contravention date - early August. The latest letter from the solicitor that I received the other day gives a date of issue of early august also, and a time of issue in the morning??
The actual day the incident occurred was early June in the afternoon!!!
Do you think this is an error?

With reference to identifying who the creditor is, then yes, they do say they were 'instructed by Premier Park Limited who manage the car park'.

Do u think any of the above would invalidate this parking charge?

Thanks