Parking fine - when you don't park

Hermione_Granger

stripeyfox wrote: »

In this case NCP charge you for the use of the car park. You can park or you can drive up and down the ramps for two hours if you want. I guess they don't mind - as long as you pay.

No, they charge for parking:
https://www.ncp.co.uk/help-centre/website-terms-and-conditions/car-park-terms-and-conditions/

5.4
By parking your vehicle in the Car Park you consent to us capturing, using and processing your VRM and personal details via CCTV and ANPR for enforcement purposes, to calculate the relevant parking tariff (if applicable) and to recover any outstanding Parking Charge. This includes our right to request and obtain the details of a vehicle’s registered keeper from the DVLA.

Their T&C's do state that their car parks are for parking only and action may be taken against people who do anything else but I would have thought this would need to be court action rather than the issuance of a parking penalty.

neilmcl

What's the betting the OP did "park" at some point, else what would be the point of going there in the first place. Parking doesn't mean you have to leave your vehicle.

waamo

Cetshwayo wrote: »

Anyway I don't see the parking company cutting them any slack whatsoever and if the OP decides to take this all the way it will in all probability become an expensive exercise.

That is up to the OP.

Depends what you mean by "all the way". Op should win at POPLA as NCP are pretty useless at appeals.

AdrianC

If we're getting picky about their Ts & Cs, then...

...you are not entitled to remain in your vehicle in the Car Park or elsewhere in the Car Park except for the purposes of parking or removing your vehicle.

Mercdriver

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

No, they charge for parking:
https://www.ncp.co.uk/help-centre/website-terms-and-conditions/car-park-terms-and-conditions/


Their T&C's do state that their car parks are for parking only and action may be taken against people who do anything else but I would have thought this would need to be court action rather than the issuance of a parking penalty.

Are those the Ts and Cs for that particular car park? I suspect not. This appears to be a parking place where there are no barriers and everything happens via ANPR cameras that see entry times and exit times. Ts and Cs on the site will almost certainly take account for this.

OP - I'm guessing you were practising bay parking. If you came to rest as you have to in the test, you parked. Better off using a shopping centre's parking spaces in a quiet part of the car park. Remember also that your daughter will still need to be insured to drive the car.

Herzlos

AdrianC wrote: »

If we're getting picky about their Ts & Cs, then...

So using the car park if not parking is forbidden. Which means they can't then contractually charge you for doing it. Ergo they can't charge you at all.


You could let them take it to court, knowing that you wouldn't have to pay much more than now, and rely on the fact that the signage wasn't clear enough to form a contract (or you wouldn't have gone in), and that it's not possible to contractually agree to do something that's not permitted to do.



You can always respond to them saying that you weren't parking and thus not liable, but are willing to pay them the 30 minutes parking charge + maybe £5 for their costs, in order to settle it. They'll decline, and you can use that to show them being unreasonable, later.

Mercdriver

Herzlos wrote: »

So using the car park if not parking is forbidden. Which means they can't then contractually charge you for doing it. Ergo they can't charge you at all.


You could let them take it to court, knowing that you wouldn't have to pay much more than now, and rely on the fact that the signage wasn't clear enough to form a contract (or you wouldn't have gone in), and that it's not possible to contractually agree to do something that's not permitted to do.



You can always respond to them saying that you weren't parking and thus not liable, but are willing to pay them the 30 minutes parking charge + maybe £5 for their costs, in order to settle it. They'll decline, and you can use that to show them being unreasonable, later.

It's pretty clear that the OP was doing parking practice with her daughter. If she spent 30 mins practising parking without parking, what's the point?

waamo

Why would anybody take it to court when you can kill it with a simple appeal to POPLA?

Much less time consuming and stressful than going to court.