Park Direct UK

Ange47

Hi guys, I have read the main NEWBIE post but I still have some questions.

Briefly, I live in a flat complex and have an allocated parking space. Apparently it's common knowledge between residents that people tend to park on other people's spaces. This was my case. My parking place was taken, so, in order not to cause someone else an inconvenience, I parked right next to my bay, where it says KEEP CLEAR. That is the reason of the fine from Park Direct UK.

I then appealed to them with no success, even though I added the picture of a car parked in my spot. I then appealed with IAS, who aswell, understand my circumstances but apparently I BROKE THE LAW so I still have to pay.

Question 1: I'm inclined to ignore this now. My question is, as for work/life reasons I keep relocating, will it be enough of me to change the car's address with the DVLA or would I need to notify anyone else?

Question 2: How long do they have to take me to court? Ticket was issued on the 26/10/2017. Have they got some deadline? I wouldn't want to still be worried about this in 5 years, although I probably will have forgotten.

Question 3: Has anyone ever been taken to court by Park Direct UK?

I will keep photographing people parked on my spot, as it happens regularly, and I mentioned this to them. While they try and be picky with me parking on the KEEP CLEAR sign, their sign also says NO AUTHORISED VEHICLE ALLOWED, and yet many non-authorised vehicles have parked on my spot so far...

Thank you for your help!

Quentin

If you have read the FAQ you will know that appeals to IAS are futile


So you are now in the debt collectors stage (covered in the FAQ!)


Creditors have 6 years to take legal action


If you get any court correspondence or a LBCCA come back for advice on defending at that time

Umkomaas

I then appealed with IAS, who aswell, understand my circumstances but apparently I BROKE THE LAW so I still have to pay.

Which ‘LAW’ did they say you ‘BROKE’?

Question 1: I'm inclined to ignore this now. My question is, as for work/life reasons I keep relocating, will it be enough of me to change the car's address with the DVLA or would I need to notify anyone else?

You must update the DVLA (two separate notifications for your V5C - log book - and your driver’s licence). Otherwise you chance a real fine of up to £1,000.

Notifying the DVLA of a change of address doesn’t update the PPC (or any agent acting on their behalf), so for your own peace of mind (and safety in terms of any court action) you must update all parties as and when, and continue doing so for any subsequent move for the next 6 years.

Question 2: How long do they have to take me to court?

Six years.

Question 3: Has anyone ever been taken to court by Park Direct UK?

Yes.

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/Park_Direct_UK.html

But you need to read that in the context of how many tickets they have issued in the same period.

nosferatu1001

ONly update the principal, not the debt collectors. You can ignore them entirely.

Ange47

The IAS basically said that since I parked outside of my parking bay and over the KEEP CLEAR sign, I agreed to the terms on the sign (which mentions to park only in parking spaces).

Not planning to move anytime soon and if I get any letters from debt collectors I'll look into them to make sure I can ignore them. (FAQ seem to say about Ireland and Scotland, and hire car at the debt collector stage bit?)

Question: When is it that I have to start worrying? Is it clear when the court has been involved and there's an ongoing small claim?

To be honest with you guys, I hate having to deal with this, it's just a waste of time, for a stupid unfair ticket. I considered paying for it but first of all, it's not the classic £25 ticket you get from the council, but it was 60, gone up to £100 now. which is a lot of money, just because these idiots from Park Direct can't look after the property they manage, causing non-allowed cars to steal people's spots and secondly, regardless whether I pay or not, people will keep steal other people's parking spots and if I paid and this were to happen to me again I'd probably go seriously crazy.

Quentin

Ignore everything now except s lbcca or Court correspondence

nosferatu1001

If theyre not performing their part of the service contract, i..e stopping unauthorised parking, then get them removed.

Ange47

Hi guys,

after the refusal from IAS to my appeal I have just received a letter from Park Direct UK. Saying that if I don't pay they will take court proceedings against me.

I am aware of the 38 court hearings out of the 16002 tickets issued. I'm wondering if even half of those were paid.

I will ignore this as again, asking £100 for parking somewhere else after these bunch of clowns allowed an un-authorised vehicle to park in my spot is not acceptable.

To sum it up I just need to worry if I get corrispondence from the court or LBCCA, right?

Also worst case scenario, if it went to court and I lost, how much do you think I'd end up paying? I mean how much are court costs and solicitors?

Thanks again in advance, your help is precious.

Redx

you need to deal with either an

LBC from PARK DIRECT or their sc@mmer solicitors like Gladrags

and/or

an MCOL from Northampton CCBC, the government office for issuing court claims

either or both could happen within 6 years

these need responding to, not debt collector letters or threats about court

a likely loss for one ticket could be say £175 , its called small claims court because it is for small claims and costs are capped

it could be less , depends on the judge , you might win, in which case you can claim up to say £95 in loss of earnings and time spent on the case, postage and paperwork costs etc

Coupon-mad

To sum it up I just need to worry if I get correspondence from the court or LBCCA, right?

Yes.

Also worst case scenario, if it went to court and I lost, how much do you think I'd end up paying? I mean how much are court costs and solicitors?

No solicitors' costs apply, as long as you don't act unreasonably, which defending a case is not. We only see about 1% of posters here lose (honestly) but if they lose there's NO effect on credit rating, and they pay between £150 and £200 all told.

I would not worry, these letters are to be expected. Come back of you need help with a defence.

Umkomaas

I am aware of the 38 court hearings out of the 16002 tickets issued. I'm wondering if even half of those were paid.

I think you need to take a bit of a wider-view picture of their court cases. A 3 year period is better than looking year-on-year, because I would suggest that not many of the 2017 issued tickets would manifest themselves into court cases - too early in the cycle.

So the figure you should be looking at is the 3-year figure of ~ 42,000 tickets issued, 42 court cases, which makes the prospects of a court case easy to calculate = 0.1%. To refine the calculation, it’s generally thought that around 60% of tickets are paid, leaving, in this case, 16,800 unpaid. So that makes it 0.25%.

Take the statistics for what they are, come back if you get a LBC or a real court claim. There’s nothing you can do now to alter whatever turn this may take.