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Looking At It From Another Angle.

Whilst I have no time for these parking cowboys and would like to see these operators burn in hell there is another aspect to parking:

All of the OPs on this forum all start with the same sort of line:
"I drove onto Private Land unaware that parking restrictions applied" or words to that effect.

If someone parked in your driveway and then told you they weren't aware that they weren't allowed to park there, what would you say to them? Suppose they then went on to say that there was no signage saying that they weren't allowed to park there and so were going to anyway? Even with a "no Parking" sign, if you're not a member of the BPA or IAS you cannot enforce it, even if the signs are placed according to the guidelines set out by Popla. Next the owner of the vehicle takes you to court to enforce their right to allow anyone driving their car to park there, hopefully common sense prevails and the judge laughs it out of court but what if there is nothing in law to protect you?

My ex husband used to complain about people parking outside our house to visit a nearby park but then would park outside someone else's house without a second thought to go shopping, rather than pay to park in the shoppers' carpark.

This is what we do when we appeal parking tickets. Yes, there are times when the ticket was issued under outrageously fraudulent circumstances but now it seems that people are jumping on the appeal bandwagon and even appealing tickets that were issued appropriately, on the grounds that £100 is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss.

Now there are people complaining that the BPA is becoming unhelpful and siding with the PPCs. This is because many of the appeals should not have been launched in the first place.

What I do is comply to the letter when it comes to parking, I buy a ticket as I should and even with the pay before exit systems I return to my car by the most direct route and leave immediately. In PADs I pay for a unit of time more than I think I need because then I don't have to worry about getting back to my car in time if I'm in a beauty salon or lost track of time shopping. Of course I hope that I'm not going to be issued with a PCN in error or fraudulently but I know that I have an appeals process that is going to take my case seriously if I do. Frivolous appeals are not going to help.

Yes, I accept that there are times when tickets were issued fairly but the circumstances surrounding the infringement render it unfair, such as the old lady who collapses in the street and is rushed to hospital. She later returns to her car to find a parking ticket attached for overstaying. The appeals process should be protecting her too.
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Comments

  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    Dr._Shoe wrote: »
    ...I know that I have an appeals process that is going to take my case seriously if I do......
    No you don't.


    Have you read past the first line of every thread as you mention in your OP? (Though I don't think you have really read every thread!)
  • hoohoo
    hoohoo Posts: 1,717 Forumite
    Dr._Shoe wrote: »
    it seems that people are jumping on the appeal bandwagon and even appealing tickets that were issued appropriately, on the grounds that £100 is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss.

    That is a genuine reason for appealing, so why should it not be appealed on that basis? If the parking companies were not so greedy, this forum would not exist. In Scotland there is even a car park which charges £1,000.

    The Supreme Court has now added some caveats, so this will now not always be a winning appeal reason. However, the caveats work both ways, so where the Supreme Court conditions don't apply, appealing on the grounds that the charge is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss will be an appeal winner and supported by binding case law.
    Dedicated to driving up standards in parking
  • Half_way
    Half_way Posts: 7,022
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
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    In breif...
    A private drive is something completely different to a car park where the picnic are invited in to park.

    As for the BPA siding with the operators, that is what the BPA are for, the British Parking Association Limited[\b] are a private members trade association that exisrs to look after its members in the parking industry.
    From the Plain Language Commission:

    "The BPA has surely become one of the most socially dangerous organisations in the UK"
  • fisherjim
    fisherjim Posts: 5,963
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    ......the BPA is becoming unhelpful and siding with the PPCs.

    They have always sided with the PPC's, that's what the PPC's pay them to do!


    ....I know that I have an appeals process that is going to take my case seriously if I do.

    You have been deluded!


    ...such as the old lady who collapses in the street and is rushed to hospital. She later returns to her car to find a parking ticket attached for overstaying. The appeals process should be protecting her too.

    As above!




  • Half_way wrote: »
    A private drive is something completely different to a car park where the picnic are invited in to park.

    The perils of predictive text :)

    Nonetheless, Half_way's point is quite right.
  • Dr._Shoe wrote: »
    My ex husband used to complain about people parking outside our house to visit a nearby park but then would park outside someone else's house without a second thought to go shopping, rather than pay to park in the shoppers' carpark.
    Assuming that's on the public road, then tough on you. You don't own the parking spot on the road outside your house, you have no more right to park there than anyone else (Council permits aside).
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 130,105
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    "I drove onto Private Land unaware that parking restrictions applied" or words to that effect.
    Nope, they normally write that they were invited onto the site (e.g. for shopping or that they LIVE THERE). Nothing like a driveway scenario.

    Get real.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top of this/any page where it says:
    Forum Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
    First Post Combo Breaker
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    I understand the OP's point about private land and having rights over your own land. In fact, the parking on your driveway argument was one I used myself before I got to grips with the whole parking thing (and got clamped once pre-2012 !)

    Have a look at this thread here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5402856

    Here is someone who owns land trying to charge £200 per hour for parking outside his premises. That is clearly unreasonable. If he had asked for £1, would that be fair? I suggest it would.

    So somewhere in between £1 and £200 per hour is a fair price. But everyone has a different idea of what is fair. Their lordships in the SCC and appeal courts think £85/£100 is reasonable. WELL WE DON'T
    and that is why we give up time to try to stop motorists being swindled.

    So, whilst I can see your point about private land should be private and landowner having rights, the PPCs are taking liberties and we need to fight them and make them go through all the legitimate hoops to steal our money.
  • pappa_golf
    pappa_golf Posts: 8,895
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    I have only one word for the OP


    "Bollards"


    BollardsShallowS40.jpg
    Save a Rachael

    buy a share in crapita
  • If I had a multi million pound retail park in my back garden, I'd be happy for them to park on my driveway as long as they wish.
    Illegitimi non carborundum:)
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