Parking ticket when clearly displayed valid permit

Linaria

Something strange just happened to us. My boyfriend has been away for a couple of days and when he got home today, he found a parking ticket on his car.

We moved to this flat a month ago and the landlord gave us two parking permits, one for visitors and one for us. The normal one was clearly displayed in the windscreen, had not fallen down or was obstructed in any way, and it expires in May 2019. The reason given on the ticket was that we had no valid permit.
I find this extremely strange, and of course we are not going to pay it, but this causes us a lot of hassle when there was no reason for the ticket whatsoever.
It's a private parking company called Horizon Parking Ltd that manages our car park on behalf of the owners.

Should we just email them and say "we clearly displayed a valid permit and will not be paying this ticket"? Is there any point contacting them at all? Should we give them a call? Is this something we should be worried about in the future?

Coupon-mad

You need to read NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST, (the top thread) before posting, and WAIT TILL DAY 26 FROM THE PARKING EVENT, then use the template appeal* from there to get a POPLA code, without saying who was driving.




* no copying the appeal and putting it here & asking ''is it this one''? please...!

and no asking why wait till day 26 (please read the sticky thread!).

Linaria

Coupon-mad wrote: »

You need to read NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST, (the top thread) before posting, and use the template appeal* from there to get a POPLA code, without saying who was driving.




* no copying the appeal and putting it here & asking ''is it this one''? please...!

Thanks. That thread is huge though and we are both new to the UK and have no idea what any of the abbrevations mean or how anything works here. Is it really our job to spend hours on researching parking rules and send formal complaints letters etc. when they clearly made a mistake? Coming on this forum was quite disheartening really

Redx

yes it is your job to do this

because you are new to this you have asked on this forum and should trust the experts to guide you

although it seems simple, its not that simple and you risk it biting you back if you do not do exactly as we tell you

post #5 of that NEWBIES thread deals with abbreviations and also its easy enough for you to google them

your best bet is to use that template on day 26 as stated earlier, then if they fail to cancel you appeal to popla, based on various legal arguments

we know its complex, we dont like it being that way but you are stuck with our problems if you wish to live as we do

you are not unique, its happening all over this country and until our politicians do something about it, it wont change

Linaria

Redx wrote: »

yes it is your job to do this

because you are new to this you have asked on this forum and should trust the experts to guide you

although it seems simple, its not that simple and you risk it biting you back if you do not do exactly as we tell you

post #5 of that NEWBIES thread deals with abbreviations and also its easy enough for you to google them

your best bet is to use that template on day 26 as stated earlier, then if they fail to cancel you appeal to popla, based on various legal arguments

we know its complex, we dont like it being that way but you are stuck with our problems if you wish to live as we do

you are not unique, its happening all over this country and until our politicians do something about it, it wont change

Ok, I think I'll rather just pay this ticket. This is madness. There's no way we have time for this.
Sorry to disturb you all.

Edit: We won't pay the ticket, of course, and they can threaten or take us to court as much as they want. I know people here are fighting hard for their rights to not be scammed by these people, so no worries.

Coupon-mad

Ok, I think I'll rather just pay this ticket.

This is madness. There's no way we have time for this.
Sorry to disturb you all.

What, you can't just copy the words I've written for you, into an online box on day 26?

Horizon Parking use Gladstones to sue people who don't appeal.

That's what you want, is it?

Rather than copying & pasting some words I've gone to the trouble of putting in blue in the NEWBIES thread so newbies who are in a spin and have gone a bit word-blind, can pick out the appeal template easily?

The abbreviations are all in the 5th post of the sticky thread. Start with them and then go get the appeal from the 1st post, you don't even have to read it if you don't want to!

getmore4less

If you don't have time for this you need to move to a property without any parking companies involved.

given these scammers are everywhere you will have to be careful where you park as there is a good chance you will get caught again if you don't know the way this stuff works.

The reality is if you don't stop this now with a little effort you will spend a lot more time once you get more tickets and the threatening letters start.

Horizon tend to be one of the easier ones so a good introduction to the world of PPCs.

The_Deep

Is it really our job to spend hours on researching parking rules and send formal complaints letters etc. when they clearly made a mistake?

They have not made a mistake , their actions are deliberate. They are trying to scam you.

Be assured however that, if they are ill advised to take this to court they are likely to come a cropper as they have to prove to a judge that, on the balance of probabilities, you are lying. Write to your MP.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P.
for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the House of Commons recently

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41 recently.

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

fisherjim

As you have been told above this is a scam by greedy lowlife Muppets that have discovered a way to extort money from people by making up their own rules and scams.


It has gone on like this for a number of years, they used to clamp your car to get you to cough up until the government cottoned on to that one, but unfortunately with their haste, and bad thinking opened up other loopholes (well that's governments!).


The parking company will target you as a sucker if you pay up and you will get more of their invoices don't get intimidated by their scam!


It looks complicated and that's the way the PC's like it, hoping you fold, they have done this thousands of times and are experts at intimidation.


The newbies thread has it all, it's not all relevant to you you need to pick your way through it. Don't add anything that isn't advised, don't think you are dealing with reasonable people, explaining your situation won't be read or will be looked at with amusement while they choose the next template threat.


Come back here and the regulars will help, don't give in to scammers it makes them worse.

Linaria

Just want to let you know how this went. We told the building agency where we live, they contacted the parking company and it turned out that they had cancelled our landlord's parking permits for some random reason that made no sense (someone thought our landlord was renting flat out as airbnb, I think, and they cancelled their parking permits without telling them). The parking agency was informed of this, and we called them back. We were asked on the phone if we wanted to appeal the ticket, and we said no, because we were never supposed to get the ticket in the first place. We just wanted it cancelled.

So they just cancelled it, no need to wait 26 days or send any templates or POPLA codes.

Coupon-mad

Well done, and thanks for coming back to confirm that it was cancelled by Horizon.

Beware the parking firm though. Firms like this will issue PCNs under any excuse (as you found) and PPCs are - as cited by MPs in Parliament last year - pariahs in residential sites and your as residents do not need them at all, and no PPC provides any service to you or your landlord.

If I were you I would be lobbying or asking your LL to lobby for them to be removed and not replaced. And when you move, avoid any place with a parking firm. Not joking, they ruin some people's lives and peace of mind.