Ticketed while parking in my designated space.. please help!

tomgs

I've received a parking ticket this morning from Park Direct UK and, having read the advice here and on the main site, am not sure how to proceed.

I live on a small estate with numbered bays for each flat. I was correctly parked in my designated bay but forgot to display my residents pass. Obviously this was an error on my part but in mitigation I only purchased the car last night and got it home at 11pm. In all the excitement I genuinely forgot to put the pass on display. At 6am(!) this morning a ticket was issued.

I called the property management company (the ones who instructed Park Direct to enforce the parking on our estate) and they spoke to someone at Park Direct on my behalf. They said I could pay a £25 admin fee to have the ticket cancelled but I had to pay within 24 hours.

Is there anything I can do here? Having read through the advice I'm not really sure where this situation fits.. Obviously it's my error but I don't feel like I should be penalised for parking in my own space!!!

Ralph-y

Hi, and welcome to the forum .....

what does your lease / tenancy agreement say re parking ?

Ralph:cool:

ManxRed

Do you own the property or are you a tenant? How is the parking space associated with the property?

Don't pay this.

Park Direct are one of the seedier parking companies out there, and trust me, the benchmark isn't that high to start with.

The_Deep

Obviously it's my error...

That is most unlikely, what doers your lease/Ast say about parking? Precise wording please.


Do not pay these chancers a penny, neither they nor the landlord have suffered a loss.

Fruitcake

Park Direct UK are BPA members so as well as checking your lease you should read the Sticky thread for NEWBIES then appeal using the BPA template in blue as Keeper exactly as it is near the end of the 28 day appeal window.


On your lease you are looking for information about parking, parking permits, and quiet enjoyment.

yotmon

There has been a number of cases recently on here with similar circumstances to yours. Lots of info on how to proceed, so do a search of forum posts and 'fill your boots' on how to defend this.

tomgs

Wow, thanks for the quick responses!

This is the complete section from the lease that deals with parking:

2.19 Car Parking
2.19.1 To only park private vehicles at the Property
2.19.2 To park in any space allocated to the Property,
2.19.3 It is the Tenant's responsibility to verify whether they are eligible for any Residents' Park Scheme operated by the relevant local authority. The granting of this Tenancy does not imply a right to park or obtain a Resident's Permit
2.19.4 Not to store on the Property or any communal car park any boat, caravan or commercial vehicle without prior written consent of the Landlord or the Agent. Such consent not to be unreasonably withheld. The Landlord reserves the right to withdraw, and upon reasonable notice, any such consent previously given.
2.19.5 Not to repair or paint cars, motorcycles, vans or commercial vehicles at the Property apart from general maintenance and emergency repair, from time to time, to a vehicle of which the Tenant is the registered keeper.

And as also mentioned, quiet enjoyment..

3.3 Quiet Enjoyment
Not to interrupt or interfere with the Tenants lawful occupation, enjoyment or use of the Property other than in an emergency or in the normal and lawful process of exercising or implementing the Landlord's rights and obligations under this agreement and having provided at least a minimum of 24 hours prior notification.

We rent the flat from a private landlord via a property management company who basically just act on her behalf for rent and internal maintenance. There is a separate management company (CS2, who I called this morning) who are responsible for managing the buildings and parking (they are the ones who instructed Park Direct UK to handle enforcement). Hope this makes sense!

ManxRed

So, essentially, the management company have instructed a company to go out and breach your tenancy agreement with respect to your right to quiet enjoyment.

Also, nowhere does it state in your tenancy agreement that you are required to display a permit, so why does this company think they can charge you for not doing so?

Write to the Management Company, pointing out that your tenancy agreement, which prevails over any other paperwork or signage that some third party parking company issues, does NOT require you to display a permit, and that this company has no jurisdiction to make you display one.

Point out that the management company's agents actions are putting your landlord in breach of the tenancy agreement with regards to your rights to quiet enjoyment of the property and the action of ticketing your car amounts to tortious interference of your goods and property.

State that you hereby withdraw all implied access to the parking space to the management company, their agents, employees, and sub-contractors, and any further incursions onto your space may result in legal action being taken against the management company.


At the same time, stick an appeal in to Park Direct stating that they have no legal standing to issue parking charges on that particular space, and that your tenancy agreement, which legally prevails over their signs, places no requirement on you or any driver of the vehicle to display a permit.

Mention that the landholder (you, by the way) has suffered no financial loss as a result of the driver's actions.

Coupon-mad

Be careful not to imply who as driving in the appeal, of course. Read the NEWBIES FAQs thread.

Guys_Dad

Two "leases" appear to be concerned here. Your tenancy agreement with your landlord and theirs with the actual landowner who delegate to the management company CS2.

If there is no clause in your tenancy agreement that specifies parking permits and there is no "catch all" that says something like having to follow such rules and regulations that the management company bring in, then you have a gripe against your landlord.

If his lease with the landowner has a catch all clause allowing the landowner to vary any t&c in the interests of estate management, then he should have incorporated that in the tenancy agreement.

Being one step removed from the main lease complicates things and, despite what others may say here, if the lease has the catch all clause - and I have to say I have not seen one that does not - then you will need a technical argument to beat the PPC or be prepared to take action against your landlord if this got to court and you lose.

tomgs

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure the tenancy agreement will cover me here.. there's a section in there that basically says we have to adhere to all the rules laid down by the external management company (CS2).

When they brought in the residents parking passes we were notified in advance so I guess this falls under that category.

Having read through the newbies section my concern is that even if I do appeal, I don't think I really have any grounds to be successful. There are plenty of clear signs, presumably they have a photo of the lack of residents pass, etc.

I'm not really sure how to proceed.. Is my best option to just pay the £25 admin fee by tomorrow morning and see the end of it?