Paying for parking on land that doesn't have planning permission to be a car park?

mummy2monsters

I don't know if anyone can help but I thought I would ask anyway!

I have been using a car park near work that sprung up after an old building was demolished after a fire. The parking fees are paid through a 3rd party (SIP). Recently the car park has been closed as they were declined planning permission in Nov 2014 after having having planning permission refused in July 2013. I had been parking on this land for over a year.

My question is: If they didn't have permission to run it as a car park can they legally charge for parking on the land?

Thanks in advance

enfield_freddy

yes , but they might be in trouble with the planning department , fire dept H+S dept , vat man tax man etc etc

Dr._Shoe

Please clarify, are they still charging you to park on the carpark now?

The impression I get from your post is that you were parking there until it closed in November 2014. I'm guessing that you are thinking about asking for your money back, am I right?

Do you think that's fair when you were happy to pay for the convenience that they were providing in the first place?

If I decided to open my garden to the public and people were quite happy to pay to come in and then the council declined permission to use it as a tourist attraction then whether I had a Legal Right to charge permission would be a moot point.

As long as they have not been convicted for running an illegal car park (unlikely) then they could yes. Even if a conviction was secured in some way then the only claim you could make would be for losses (if the police seized your car say) because no loss could be proven, especially if you felt it was financially beneficial to park there, you do not have a claim. Your admission that you'd been parking there for over a year reinforces the opinion that you found it to be financially advantageous.

mummy2monsters

Thank you for your reply Dr. Shoe. I didn't think we would be able to get any money back but as there are several of us from work who used the car park I said I would ask the question.

They closed the car park about a month ago so several months after they had the second planning application declined.

Umkomaas

I think there'd only be an issue for us to tackle if anyone received a £100 [STRIKE]penalty[/STRIKE] parking charge notice from them (and I'm sure there will have been some, even if not in your group of colleagues).