Don't pay unfair private parking tickets - a con?

anotheruser

I am still unclear on this whole matter of parking fines.

There is a supermarket near me that has signs stating I can park free for 2 hours. Anything over that I must pay or risk a fine. The signs are clear, while the font is a little small for some people, I can read it. The entrance also has a number plate reader which flashes so you know they know your car reg.

The car park is run by NCP (I will attempt to get a picture of the sign today).

How can MSE be bleating about "don't pay private car park fines" when it's clear what the regulations are? I suspect many car parks are the same, clear signage. I do agree there are a good number that aren't but I think it's a bit dubious running a story which suggests you can ignore these "invoices".

Nodding_Donkey

You won't hear anyone here call them fines.

I suggest you read the newbies thread which will explain why you shouldn't pay these speculative invoices.

And if you answer this post I will issue you with a PCN (post charge notice) of £100 which is what it will cost me to read your answer.**

** See how it works? I don't own this board, have no authority or legal standing to charge you anything and the charge is a completely made up figure. Now according to you that is reasonable.

Dee140157

At NO POINT does anyone here tell you to ignore invoices. You clearly have not read the Newbie thread about how to appeal these almost always unjust parking charges.

You may be blessed with a clear understanding of the terms and conditions and may be tall enough to read signs at eye height, but much of the world is not.

NCP are notorious for not following the rules accurately. Their signs are certainly not always compliant with the regulations.

No One denies that car parks need to be managed, but there are better ways to do it that slap vulnerable people who are the ones often caught by this with ridiculous invoices for extortionate sums of money.

Redx

clearly you havent read any recent threads or the NEWBIES sticky thread either

first , they are not fines, they are invoices

secondly, very few (if any) signs conform to the BPA code of practice

thirdly, these signs often break unfair contract laws, planning permission and can be too high up and in the incorrect fonts to be read properly , never mind some hidden in places hard to see in order to entrap motorists

fourth, there are no "regulations", they are "rules" usually dreamt up by illiterate people and designed to entrap, not inform , motorists

fifth, if you read the NEWBIES thread, nobody here tells you to IGNORE the invoices , not in england or wales, due to POFA 2012 which arrived almost 2 years ago

you need to read all the articles in the daily mail last week and this week to see how these issues have arisen, then try telling the government and the BBC "all is well in the PPC world" which seems strange given the recent tv programmes and publicity in the papers about all of this, never mind the parking pranksters blogs

if you also read parking pranksters blog about ANPR, he is quite specific about how it is used and the flaws in its design, including how it fails to register more than one visit or fails to register your VRN when exiting the car park causing people to get a PCN for no reason

in other words, a lot of flaws in the system, plus if you are doing your legitimate shopping in that business then it should not matter if you are in there 2 hours or 4 hours, even some businesses have no consistency over the time allowed, some being less than an hour (or even 10 minutes) whilst others being up to 4 hours

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2711396/Would-risk-Lidl-introduces-free-parking-trial-10-MINUTE-limit-incurs-90-penalty.html

and you havent even included hospitals which feature in todays daily mail article , where people get invoices for times they werent there, or appointments overrun due to no fault of their own (a tax on the sick and elderly)

the list goes on, so take the blinkers off and do some research and see why these "cowboys" are being exposed by this forum, the media and the newspapers

ps:- if you are correct in your assumptions, then why do POPLA and the courts rule in favour of the motorist most of the time when the cases are defended properly ?

and read what Citizens Advice had to say on the matter at the weekend after the government probe was announced

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_20140802

Northlakes

This weekend traffic was at a standstill in our local market town due to amongst things a pop festival and yes a pot festival (ceramic variety).
Even if you wanted to get out quickly of the car park of a local supermarket you couldn't. You were blocked in! The ANPR system would still be snapping away at vehicles that couldn't exit the car park even if they wanted to. Is this fair? No it's illegal!

kandatoo

The link to this thread seems to be broken as it just links to the original article.

It used to be the case that the speculative invoices issued by PPCs were themselves seen as unfair, particularly the amount of the "fine", which itself has frequently been viewed by courts as an unfair statement of loss by the PPCs yet there is no mention of this in the article. Have MSE been "got at" by the PPCs' lawyers?

Nodding_Donkey

kandatoo wrote: »

Have MSE been "got at" by the PPCs' lawyers?

Probably, MSE seem to roll over at the first sign of a PPC getting upset.

bazster

If you mean the link from the forum listing to here, it just worked for me.

MSE simply cannot get its act together on its main article about private parking tickets. It seems that they don't even bother to read this forum.

fisherjim

anotheruser wrote: »

I am still unclear on this whole matter of parking fines.

Obviously !

The_Deep

As a landowner myself, I sympathize with the plight of other landowners when people trespass on their property. However, most of their signs are ambiguous, and their demand for up to £100 is unlawful.

If PPCs asked for £10 I suspect that few would object, but they do not, they want a lot more than Councils and police, and in many cases they act against the interests of homeowners and tenants.

nobbysn*ts

The_Deep wrote: »

As a landowner myself, I sympathize with the plight of other landowners when people trespass on their property. However, most of their signs are ambiguous, and their demand for up to £100 is unlawful.

If PPCs asked for £10 I suspect that few would object, but they do not, they want a lot more than Councils and police, and in many cases they act against the interests of homeowners and tenants.

But trespass causes no damage to your land, when the driver moves off, you still have your land. So how do you justify the £10 invoice for nothing?