District Enforcement and Parking on Private Land

Zhaine1989

Hi All,

I work for Staffordshire University and they introduced a permit scheme last year which cost £20 but this year they've upped the cost to £50 and I really begrudge paying that amount of money for parking.

I was wondering on the legality of parking on private land and if I could get away with not applying for a permit, continuing to park on the car park, and contesting any fines I should receive by not displaying a valid permit on my car.

I received an email from the University saying

Dear Colleague

We are aware of some confusion with regards to the application process for the car park permits, with some staff awaiting an email before applying. Due to a change in the system, there is a need for all applicants to register a new account using the following link:-

permits.district-enforcement.co.uk/su2014

The application process takes approximately 10 minutes and you will need your 5 digit payroll number along with your home postcode, which must be the same as that registered with Personnel Services. If you have moved address recently please check with Personnel before completing your application.

If you need help with your permit application at all please contact District Enforcement at:
0844 809 4522
01785 336784
permits@district-enforcement.co.uk

We apologise for any confusion regarding the application process.

I replied to the email asking if District Enforcement were going to retain my details from last year and got this response

We do still hold data relating to last year’s applications, although this has now effectively been archived pending deletion.

We will continue to hold it for a reasonable period in order for us to deal with any issues arising from the issue or use of last year’s permits, including the purposes for which it was stored. Full details of these purposes are contained within our company privacy policy which can be found here: district-enforcement.co.uk/regulation/privacy-policy.html.

We are not, however, using last year’s data in connection with this year’s applications and the system we have in place will therefore need to have all information entered from scratch.

These are the signs they have on the Staffordshire University Car Park: i.imgur.com/93eFCnQ.jpg

I can't post links as I have only just created this account

hoohoo

I cant condone deliberate misuse. If you don't want to pay, don't park, or move jobs, or ask for a £50 pay rise to cover parking.

Its a risky strategy. DE do court and have won in the past. You could end up paying £16,800 a year for parking.

Dee140157

Th aim of this forum is to help people who face unfair invoices on the odd occasion often through no real fault of their own. Not to allow people to abuse car parks. That's why these PPCs are brought into them in the first place.
I wish I could park for £1 a week. 20p per day. Suggest you go elsewhere for advice, as you will to get much support here.

Zhaine1989

I'm asking for advice because I don't think these tickets are legally enforceable, I don't feel myself or my colleagues should have to pay £50 to park on a car park where we are not guaranteed a space and having to pay a price increase of 150%, its alright saying don't park there but if you live 20 miles from your work, you enjoy your job and since the campus is out of town (I work at the Stafford Campus) there is no nearby alternative parking so I have no choice but to park here.

hoohoo

They have you over a barrel then. But since you are not guaranteed a space, I am interested in what happens when you cannot find one? As there is no alternate parking, I presume you have to go home.

On the other hand, if you have to double-park despite paying for parking, and that causes you to get a ticket, then I'm sure everyone on the forum would help fight that one.

Coupon-mad

Zhaine1989 wrote: »

I'm asking for advice because I don't think these tickets are legally enforceable, I don't feel myself or my colleagues should have to pay £50 to park on a car park where we are not guaranteed a space and having to pay a price increase of 150%, its alright saying don't park there but if you live 20 miles from your work, you enjoy your job and since the campus is out of town (I work at the Stafford Campus) there is no nearby alternative parking so I have no choice but to park here.

You & your colleagues (and students) will be sued by DE and you will most likely lose every case. Have you not realised the alleged 'monster' that Staffs Uni have let in (must just be a coincidence that Dyl Kurpil and Graeme McKie are Uni alumni...and there was no tender for the contract...). Those are facts in the public domain:

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/news/law-graduates-aim-to-clean-up-the-parking-industry-tcm4234703.jsp

I am currently helping 3 people defend DE claims and previously helped two others who were so scared they folded and paid despite the support they were getting.

HO87 is helping even more against DE. Mostly we have to help people scared witless by what they see as arrogant aggression at that flippin' Staffs Uni - do you know it's notorious on this forum? Horrible place to dare to park; posters have written shocking accounts of the treatment of employees and students when they get a 'ticket' and dare to appeal or challenge it. Every so often Linda Degg (who seems relatively close to DE) and Mark Hattersley send out emails but no-one addresses the underlying 'issue'.

Believe me, your problem is NOT that hike in the permit price - that's NOTHING compared to what awaits you & your colleagues and by all accounts from posters I have heard from, it seems if you get a ticket, you won't be supported by the Uni.

DE aren't in the BPA so no POPLA = no likely win at appeal. They are IPC members and their IAS has been exposed here as...let's say... 'questionable' as an independent appeals system with some major discrepancies in decisions which are sometimes written in a way that comes across as condescending to the appellant, who still loses pretty often.

hoohoo wrote: »

They have you over a barrel then. But since you are not guaranteed a space, I am interested in what happens when you cannot find one? As there is no alternate parking, I presume you have to go home.

On the other hand, if you have to double-park despite paying for parking, and that causes you to get a ticket, then I'm sure everyone on the forum would help fight that one.

Zhaine1989, if you get a ticket you will lose any appeal despite what hoohoo rightly says (we would help you but this isn't what you seem to think it is). Bad luck, you work in the worst Uni for parking in the entire UK, IMHO. Not heard of a worse one and I would never ever consider my kids going there from what I have seen about the lack of help and concern for students and staff who get one of these poisonous tickets. If I worked there (and I do work in education) I would leave. Seriously.

Not only that, sooner or later even with a permit you WILL get a ticket because they don't sign the road markings at all, effectively relying on their confusing and carefully worded signs...almost leaving people to guess where it's OK to park (clue - it isn't OK on unmarked places but DE don't tell you that). And according to other posters, it seems there are not enough bays for the permit holders! Could that be...possibly... because DE 'let' anyone park (permit or not, as long as they pay the ransom). Did you realise this firm ALLOW anyone at all to park anywhere at all for their so-called 'parking charge' fee, even an able-bodied person parking all day in a disabled bay would be OK for £35, as would parking obstructively in front of a fire escape...''yep, fine, pay us £35''. That is their business model. They have admitted it to POPLA when they were in the BPA, that it was imperative that they deliberately left kerbs unmarked...

Don't say you haven't been warned - don't double park and don't park alongside a kerb out of a bay even in a perfectly wide area. If you or a colleague get a ticket and innocently tries to challenge it, your words will apparently be twisted and used against you. This won't be fun for you as there is a blame culture there. Do your colleagues in your Dept even know about all this? Did you see the emails? There are staff members & students with court cases hanging over them and some have already lost in court. Feels bad I expect, to be sued by your own workplace's agent for parking where it looks OK. Even worse, perhaps, to go through this terrible experience of being aggressively pursued in court, as a student - what a terrible way to treat students.

Shame on the University for allowing this despite all the complaints.

Final advice to you and our colleagues - IF YOU GET A TICKET, DO NOT APPEAL STRAIGHT AWAY. WAIT FOR THE NOTICE TO KEEPER IN THE POST - 100% DEFINITELY.

Half_way

Two choices, either pay the going rate (£50) or park elsewhere.
If you do chose to pay the £50 then beware as the Private parking company will use any opportunity to issue you with a parking charge notice, such as being parked slightly out of a bay ( even if the vehicle next to yours is as well - forcing you to park out of bay as well) permit not visable ( i know of one person who had a PCN for no visible ticket due to snow on windscreen ) and so on.

If you dont want to pay the standard £50 then park elsewhere, a good place to check would be parkopedia.

bazster

If I were anywhere near Stafford it would be worth paying £35 just once to park right across the main entrance to some building or car park such that no-one could get in or out. Be interesting to see what the "university" made of that!

Coupon-mad

Here's the notorious Linda Degg a year ago calling them 'penalty notices' giving away the intention behind the enforcement:

http://staffslive.co.uk/2013/10/21/staffordshire-university-staff-and-students-angry-over-parking-fines/

Everything is relative, Linda. Sussed.

HO87

+1 to C-M's comments.

I would not recommend and certainly do not condone in any way deliberately parking contrary to the systems in force anywhere - least of all at Staffs Uni.

In many respects I can't believe I am saying this but if you are determined not to buy a permit then there is only one choice that will leave you trouble-free and that is to use the pay-and-display car parks on campus.

We are well aware of the real reasons for the setting in place of the enforcement scheme and have the documents in support of that and are aiding those who have been caught up innocently in it. Choosing to deliberately kick over the traces is not a decision to take lightly at the moment.