Matalan Luton Parking Fine

NotBothered

I just dont get it. I dont mean to be inflammatory, but why do you think the charge is unjust when you blatantly didnt do what you were supposed to do - ie - PAY! I really do understand that the charge is high but if people did as they were supposed to and followed the rules they probably wouldnt need to make them so high. And yes, you are all going to come back on me about how they are scum, but its because people dont behave themselves that retailers find it necessary to get these people in to try and protect their car parks! What happened to good old-fashioned English decency. If you had paid and displayed, you wouldnt have to be on here getting advice!

bazster

OP, I hope you returned your purchases and demanded a refund whilst telling them you would never shop there again.

nigelbb

NotBothered wrote: »

I just dont get it. I dont mean to be inflammatory, but why do you think the charge is unjust when you blatantly didnt do what you were supposed to do - ie - PAY! I really do understand that the charge is high but if people did as they were supposed to and followed the rules they probably wouldnt need to make them so high. And yes, you are all going to come back on me about how they are scum, but its because people dont behave themselves that retailers find it necessary to get these people in to try and protect their car parks! What happened to good old-fashioned English decency. If you had paid and displayed, you wouldnt have to be on here getting advice!

The charge is unjust because they are demanding a 'fine' of £100 or so when the OP failed to pay £1 or so. The debt owed is £1 or so for the parking plus an admin charge for tracing the keeper & submitting the invoice so in total no more than about £10-15 no the fantasy figure that the PPC are demanding. If I left a restaurant & forgot to pay I would owe the cost of the meal plus an admin charge for tracing not 100X the cost of the meal as a penalty.

nigelbb

OP you say that you didn't realise that it was a pay & display car park but your POPLA appeal states that it is a free car park & that there was no initial loss. This argument is completely contradictory & your appeal will fail.

NotBothered

Not really! Because he had absolutely no intention of paying that £1 and costs have had to be incurred in order to make him pay! So you think the amount he is being charged is excessive (agreed) but he doesnt just owe £1! And in all of your stickies and things here you make it clear that no motorist should ever have to pay anything! I find it all a bit bizarre.

Does that mean at every Pay&Display car park I should just not pay and if they DO catch me i will just pay what I should have paid at the start? Thats really a bit like saying i am going to do a runner from this restaurant and "pretend" I forgot and then only pay if I get caught. No way should I be charged with THEFT!

bazster

NotBothered wrote: »

Not really! Because he had absolutely no intention of paying that £1

Where did he say that? What he said is he didn't realise it was P&D. Error, not crime.

NotBothered wrote: »

and costs have had to be incurred in order to make him pay!

Go on then, show me how it's cost them £100.

NotBothered wrote: »

So you think the amount he is being charged is excessive (agreed) but he doesnt just owe £1! And in all of your stickies and things here you make it clear that no motorist should ever have to pay anything! I find it all a bit bizarre.

I challenge you to find anything on this forum that says motorists shouldn't pay P&D charges. And I think you'll also find that most people here agree that if someone fails to do so it's reasonable to ask them to refund the cost of pursuing them for the £1 or whatever. BUT if a parasitic private parking company is going to take the p**s by demanding £100 for overlooking to pay £1 then certainly we will help that motorist to pay nothing at all.

NotBothered wrote: »

Does that mean at every Pay&Display car park I should just not pay and if they DO catch me i will just pay what I should have paid at the start? Thats really a bit like saying i am going to do a runner from this restaurant and "pretend" I forgot and then only pay if I get caught. No way should I be charged with THEFT!

Theft demands intent, not oversight. If you want to use P&D car parks without paying that's up to you but no-one here would ever advise such a thing.

Of course, if someone has a valuable resource they want to protect they really ought to consider investing in doing so e.g. exit barriers, just as I have locks fitted to my front door rather than simply rely on being able to sue a thief after he walks in and robs me blind.

nigelbb

bazster wrote: »

Of course, if someone has a valuable resource they want to protect they really ought to consider investing in doing so e.g. exit barriers, just as I have locks fitted to my front door rather than simply rely on being able to sue a thief after he walks in and robs me blind.

Trains & the Tube long ago abandoned their equivalent of pay & display & installed entry & exit barriers to reduce the numbers of fare dodgers & they have always used the option of prosecution to catch offenders.

neil.net

NotBothered wrote: »

Not really! Because he had absolutely no intention of paying that £1 and costs have had to be incurred in order to make him pay! So you think the amount he is being charged is excessive (agreed) but he doesnt just owe £1! And in all of your stickies and things here you make it clear that no motorist should ever have to pay anything! I find it all a bit bizarre.

Does that mean at every Pay&Display car park I should just not pay and if they DO catch me i will just pay what I should have paid at the start? Thats really a bit like saying i am going to do a runner from this restaurant and "pretend" I forgot and then only pay if I get caught. No way should I be charged with THEFT!

You may have read through some threads, but you haven't seen the full picture.


If you look properly you will discover the tactics used by the private parking companies (PPCs) to "persuade" people to pay - misdirection, deliberate targeting of certain groups, threats, lies, false and incorrect use of legal cases, deliberate attempts to manipulate appeals procedures, a so called "independent" appeals procedure. You'll also see that people pay or consider paying because they think (thanks to the PPC) that they have to, and we're not talking about "Jack the Lad", we're talking about OAP's, hospital patients, people visiting a doctors surgery in an emergency.


The whole sector is as shady as a 1980's timeshare offer. At least with a council penalty charge the fee raised will go into the public purse and not private company profits. If shops or restaurants treated customers the same (and as hotels have tried), they would go out of business, but PPCs do it clandestinely in an apparent "formal" manner.

NotBothered

Oh come on! P&D signs are large. And it really is YOUR responsibility to know where you are leaving your car! Ignorance is no defense. Sorry Officer I didnt see the 30mph speed limit so you should let me off because it was never my Intention to speed!

And why should they have a barrier method? They have a perfectly good P&D machine that you should use. And in the cases where shops offer you free parking for a certain amount of time, how can they ensure you are only in their store - what are they going to do - NOT raise the barrier? Even though they dont want to because you blatantly left the site to conduct other business and then made a token purchase with them to obtain your exit from the park?

And I already said that £100 was excessive, however the stolen £1 repaid is not enough! And yes, they should make the amount payable unattractive, otherwise people will just not pay or abuse the time limits in the HOPE they dont get caught but pay the "reasonable" sum if they do! How does this stop people from taking what is not theirs? IE - space on THEIR land. I think you would be pretty miffed if you were a shop that couldnt offer parking to its customers because some chancer had parked their all day and all he was going to get caught for was a couple of quid! Now look - you've made me cross! I have read loads of threads on here where you dont appear to care that motorist have blatantly admitted to doing the wrong thing you are just interested in making the Parking companies collapse. Do you know the best way to make that happen? Stop breaking the rules, park like an honest individual with integrity and decency and there would be no money to be made. And dont go off on a tangent about those individuals who have been charged because of a disability or something I am (at present) talking about the individuals who blatantly and deliberately park inappropriately.

Dublindel

If you can't see a big yellow bag attached to your windscreen then you should not be in charge of a motor vehicle as your observation skills are seriously lacking. That includes failing to see parking signs and meters. Buy a bicycle