Parking fine - private land in Scotland. JustPark

Dtc506

Back in September I rented a parking space in Edinburgh for 24 hours off a girl who held a permit for the space. I booked it via Justpark. Since then I was told I'm being fined £60.
In the picture on the fine letter you can see my car and the permit can be seen in the window! The girl has sent me a picture of the permit and she says to not pay - the company (it is a company, not the council) have no power and are crooks.
I have still not paid the fine and so they have got Debt Recovery Plus to send me a letter saying I'm now being fined £130 (up from the original £60) and threatened me with court and a subsequent £1k fine.

Ive been in touch with justpark and they have reimbused me already for the original parking space rental payment of £19. They have now offered to pay me £60 to pay the fine.

Should I take the Justpark money and pay the £130 fine? I don't want this debt Recovery plus stuff to affect my credit rating and my ability to get a mortgage (I am a 23 year old young professional). I am reluctant to do so though since a) the company are apparently crooks; b) I saw a BBC watchdog clip on youtube about how you should just ignore fines like this; c) I haven't done anything wrong and so don't want to accept guilt.

However on the other hand I'm not definitely 100% sure the legitimacy of the girl's permit. This is because she has said the following about the permit picture she's sent me: "The other permit is the same permit , however this is a different bit paper as the pen rubbed of the other one since."

What do you think I should do?

DoaM

You can take their money if you want.

However ... if you've not responded to the parking company (who sent the invoice; it's not a fine) at all - then stay that way. Certainly do not pay them, and never contact them or any debt collector.

See the NEWBIES FAQ linked on the first page of this board for why; search that page for the word Scotland.

(I assume you also live in Scotland?)

Fruitcake

If the parking space is on private land, then it is not a fine.

In Scotland there is no keeper liability, so only the driver can be held liable. If the parking company does not know who the driver is, then they are stuffed, and you aren't going to tell them are you?

Clue, the answer is NO!

Debt collectors have no powers and can do absolutely nothing except send out poor quality bog paper.

Unless this was a lease/hire car you can safely ignore anything an everything you get. The scammers can do nothing to the keeper.

To be absolutely clear, it is only safe to ignore private parking tickets in Scotland or NI, or elsewhere if the keeper is from Scotland or NI.

If the event happened in E or W AND the keeper lives in E or W, then the advice to ignore is wrong, and has been since the law changed in 2012.

DoaM

Fruitcake wrote: »

In Scotland there is no keeper liability, so only the driver can be held liable.

Fixed .

twhitehousescat

a wierd situation here

firstly this is scotland (no POFa)
secondly you rented the space.

before you die if worrying , "even" if you were brought to court , it would be far less than £1k

just park seem to be accepting responsibility for you getting a ticket
tell them to pay it and any other costs you have incured , job done! (ps its now £130 not £60)

stop communicating with the PPC and debt collectors NOW!!

have you spoken to them already?

Fruitcake

DoaM wrote: »

Fixed .

Oops.

Thanks, corrected now. I must learn to preaf rood.

Fruitcake

twhitehousescat wrote: »

a wierd situation here

firstly this is scotland (no POFa)
secondly you rented the space.

before you die if worrying , "even" if you were brought to court , it would be far less than £1k

just park seem to be accepting responsibility for you getting a ticket
tell them to pay it and any other costs you have incured , job done! (ps its now £130 not £60)

stop communicating with the PPC and debt collectors NOW!!

have you spoken to them already?

NO, anyone paying the scammers just funds them further and allows them to scam more vulnerable people.

OP, tell just park that the vehicle keeper is dealing with this, and just park do not need to do anything as they are not liable.

Dtc506

I do live in Scotland yes. I have already contacted the original company months ago explaining that I rented the space off Justpark legitimately and here's the proof etc. I cant remember exsctly what I said to them (it was a form submission on their website, not an email). They never responded. They just got Debt Recovery Plus to demand a higher fine months later.

With hindsight contacting them was a BIG mistake but I had no prior experience of dealing with parking fines so was not aware of this. The girl only recently got in touch with me saying they are crooks etc

I think that my initial correspondence at the very least implied that I was the driver and so therefore I think I might be a bit stuffed

Fruitcake

Dtc506 wrote: »

I do live in Scotland yes. I have already contacted the original company months ago explaining that I rented the space off Justpark legitimately and here's the proof etc. I cant remember exsctly what I said to them (it was a form submission on their website, not an email). They never responded. They just got Debt Recovery Plus to demand a higher fine months later.

With hindsight contacting them was a BIG mistake but I had no prior experience of dealing with parking fines so was not aware of this. The girl only recently got in touch with me saying they are crooks etc

I think that my initial correspondence at the very least implied that I was the driver and so therefore I think I might be a bit stuffed

It still isn't a fine.

It is normally better not to reveal who was driving, but don't worry too much about it. Court cases about this sort of thing are extremely (fingers of one hand) rare, and usually involve the scammers being in the dock as it were.

What was the name of the original parking company?

twhitehousescat

why are justpark offering to pay? are they admitting that they rented you a parking space that according to PPC they were not allowed to ,

let justpark sort it , step sideways and let them argue it out , might result in a rest case

yup I know its scotland

Dtc506

UKPC is the Crooked company who originally are fining me.

Justpark have said "As a gesture of goodwill, we have decided to transfer you £60 to cover the initial cost of the parking ticket. This £60 in conjunction with the £19 refund you received adds up to more than the cost of the initial ticket.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to cover any more than that as the ticket was issued a long time before ever being submitted to us and this has caused us considerable difficulty with the parking enforcement company."

Debt Recovery Plus said I had 14 days from 4th Jan to cough up the £130 so if I'm going to pay I need to do it tonight.