Private Parking Fine

Optimist

bambam69 wrote: »

Hi
The letter says I have to pay immediately or they will pass the matter to their soliciters to consider legal action. I am not a rich student being put through college by a rich mum and dad and really can't afford this. What shoyuld I do and what are they likely to do?

Help very appreciated! R

What should you do..My view is to bite the bullet and pay the fine.

What are they likely to do if you do not pay.. Not too sure about a university car park but if run along the same lines as a private car park they will put the debt collectors on to you which will be more hassle plus extra cost.

alanrowell

bambam69 wrote: »

I have never heard of a car park demmanding money on weekend evenings when there is no-one there, or sundays, or bank hols but this one does. Even council pay and displays are free when there is little demmand such as these examples.

I think you need to get out more. I know places where Sunday, Bank Holiday and even evening parking isn't free - even in council car parks

herbie-152

Hi

Let's not get too moralistic about this shall we. If you always keep your bank account in credit, you may not be too excited about the success that this site has had in reclaiming "illegal" charges, but I for one think it deserves applause.

If we can avoid being judgmental for a moment about the original case here, there are at least two very important points that we should consider:

1. Under what law are the private parking company dishing out a fine?

If you receive a fine for parking on the road then you are covered under the Road Traffic Act 1991, even if its is a private contractor, as long as the Council has a Special Parking Order in place. This does not apply however, to private car parks. In fact, the legal position of the operator is so tenuous, that they don't call it a fine or a penalty, but stick to words like "notice".

It would appear that the only legal positions that they have are to either prosecute you in a civil court for trespass - time consuming and patently ridiculous if you've been shopping in their client's store - or that they are relying on penalising you because they have notices up saying that they are going to do so. As we know from the bank charges campaign, any penalty charged under a contract in English law, must be proportional to the actual costs incurred. You cannot penalise someone just because you say you are going to or else the banks would not be giving millions back. I would question that £50 for 20 minutes parking is proportionate.

2. Can a private car parking firm get your details from DVLA?

Surprisingly, yes they can! The government has given private operators a loophole under the The Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 to request owners' details from DVLA if they have "reasonable cause" to receive it. Parking on private land is deemed to be a reasonable cause. The DVLA has ignored all comments regarding data protection legislation and has also decided that it is too onerous for them to write to owners to tell them that their details have been requested.

So before we all get too judgmental about where other people park - ask yourself whether you want to be "fined" by a private company who has no legal right to do so because they don't like what you've done: and, probably more scarily, are you happy with a private company being able to get your name and address from the DVLA? Just a thought.

anewman

herbie-152 wrote: »

As we know from the bank charges campaign, any penalty charged under a contract in English law, must be proportional to the actual costs incurred.

Parking somewhere incorrectly and keeping your bank in credit are two different things - and this argument is unlikely to bear out in a court of law. Besides, when you park somewhere there is no legal contract. If I come park in your drive there's no contract between me and you, but your drive is your private land.

Also fines are not for length of time parked. They will no doubt pay the parking enforcement officer's wage and the cost of administration and charges for DVLA searches and so on.

You can either park correctly or expect a fine. What would the world be like if we all just parked where we liked?

If it *really* is like you say then there will be caselaw of someone parking on private property, not paying the fine, the case going to court and them getting off without paying the fine. I doubt there are any cases and I doubt that isn't because everyone pays the fines, or that private parking companies are too lazy to take the cases to court. If people were successful in getting off with fines, everyone would park how they liked on private land and laugh off the notices throwing them on the ground. In fact private land would become the best the best haven for motorists to avoid penalty notices, and everyone would park in superstore car parks that charge to prevent people using the car park while not shopping there, and not pay..

Don't give the OP any false hope as they'll just land in a much bigger mess than they already are. Paying up now is the best approach unless you can provie firm evidence to the contrary that after parking incorrectly on private land and being given a notice, you can take the case to court and get off with it.

ckerrd

Perhaps it was not covered by English Law but Scots Law.

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/sc514.html

Conor_3

bambam69 wrote: »

I have never heard of a car park demmanding money on weekend evenings when there is no-one there, or sundays, or bank hols but this one does. Even council pay and displays are free when there is little demmand such as these examples.

Sorry but you're wrong. Around here, the Council Car Parks charge Sundays and Bank Hols and Disabled are NOT exempt. Only day they don't charge for is Xmas day.

bambam69

Thanks Herbie for being the only one who actually gave me the information I was asking for.

Everyone else, I'm not saying I was blameless but merely stating that I do not think the 'punishment' fits the crime. A minor fine or whatever, ok. But 70 quid each in a university car park is a bit much no? So that in mind I wanted to know where I stood legally, not morally( but even morally have my transgretions caused 140 quid of damage, or are they merely trying to make money out of people who can ill afford it?).

And Elle, I'm an independent student, I was driving my husbands car who earns little over minimum wage, I DO NOT have rich parents supporting me, I have struggled all year to keep 2 jobs and go to Uni, the campus is 8 miles from where I live. Anything else? I sympathise with life as a single parent, I take it you don't ever ask for help or support as you "brought it on yourself etc". If you are trying to say you were homeless once then I am sorry but your holier than thou attitude betrays you. I worked with homeless people for 3 months and I never ever met I self righteous one! Besides, sleeping rough is a crime. Surely you deserved punishment, you knew the rules right?

I was not saying that I was there at 3 am on christmas but merely making the point that if I was I would be expected to pay for a ticket even though there can be no grounds for charging at this time as there would be no one else there (the Uni say they have to charge as if they didn't everyone would park there all day etc. Fair enough, but why charge at off peak time when there is little demmand? The everyday charges pay for the carparks upkeep. Answer-They want to squeezed students dry...)

And I'm not trying to say I'm special or deserve special treatment, far from it, I don't think that ANYBODY should expect such improportionate 'fines'. If they were realistic for the offense I would pay them without quibble, but I refuse to pay whatever they ask for just because they have sent a few letters.

Altarf

bambam69 wrote: »

I don't think that ANYBODY should expect such improportionate 'fines'. If they were realistic for the offense I would pay them without quibble, but I refuse to pay whatever they ask for just because they have sent a few letters.

But the point of a fine is to stop somebody doing something. If the fine is 'affordable' then people will just ignore the restriction and pay the fine.

rikbar

Bambam

Which university are you at?

As I mentioned earlier, some DO hold onto your degree until you pay things like this, as such if yours is one that does, pay now while the cost is somewhat small. If they keep challenging you etc and incurring more expense are you really going to want to pay a huge bill to graduate just because of this.

Ignoring parking fines is OK unless you are relying on the person fining you for something else which they can use as a lever to make you pay. It may not seem right, but a lot of Unis do it and theres not much you can do about it.

Hope all comes good

Rikbar

anewman

Altarf wrote: »

But the point of a fine is to stop somebody doing something. If the fine is 'affordable' then people will just ignore the restriction and pay the fine.

Yep was a programme on TV recently about traffic wardens. One traffic warden described how a man in a really expensive car would park on double yellows like clockwork to go buy a coffee. The traffic warden would be there to put the ticket on the car and the traffic warden joked about how it must be the most expensive cup of coffee ever.