Parking charge notice Scotland

FRAZEA

Hi there
Before anyone comments, I have read the newbies sticker but unfortunately, it does not apply to me directly as I have replied to the debt collector (i.e not ignored it as per the advice in that post)..

I have received a number of tickets from Horizon Parking which seems to monitor a car park at the back of a hotel which is bookable via the JustPark app. I have previously paid for tickets there before being told that they couldn't actually charge or pursue payment. However, I have now received a number of letters and after ignoring them; I have now heard from debt collectors.

I responded to the debt collector stating that i did not accept any liability for parking and asked them to confirm the legal basis on which they were trying to pursue this.

I realise that that was not the advice of the newbies stickie but i came to that post late and was worried about ignoring debt collector letters after hearing about a case in the last couple of years where the private parking operator won.

Any advice would be very welcome and again, i have seen the newbie sticker but having replied via email to the debt collection agency - the advice about ignoring doesn't apply. If i am wrong on any of this then i would be really grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

Thank you

Umkomaas

i have seen the newbie sticker but having replied via email to the debt collection agency - the advice about ignoring doesn't apply. If i am wrong on any of this then i would be really grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

Back to the sticky and the advice to ignore - from this point on. You seem to have done nothing 'fatal' in writing to the debt collectors.

There's not much you can do, although you could try to get the landowner to intervene and ask the PPC to cancel the tickets (best you don't tell him that having heard you could avoid paying in his car park you just didn't bother as there was nothing his parking agents could do about it!).

The only thing to watch for is a formal letter from the actual PPC or their solicitors threatening real court proceedings (the debt collectors can't initiate any court proceedings). Extremely rare in Scotland, but the more tickets you've racked up, the slightly more vulnerable you could be.

How many tickets exactly have you received?

FRAZEA

Thank you so much for responding.

I have four or five parking charge notices from the company.

I have never admitted to being the driver nor admitted to entering into any contract - verbal or otherwise with the car park owner /manager. But i received this response to my earlier email which does not seem like it is based on any real professional legal knowledge (other than sharing a couple of urls). I also, as i have said, did not admit to being the driver in my correspondence so i dont know if it is worth responding further to them to confirm that?

Any help is very welcome and i appreciate i perhaps should not have engaged with them in first place:

"Thank you for your email regarding your Parking Charge.

Scottish law only refrains us from holding the keeper liable (PoFA 2012), but as you have admitted you were driving it does not apply. It is like all other Parking Charges on private land which are payable. Please note that Scotland are not exempt from Parking Charge see below:

[bbc, citizen advice, thomspsons solicitors and moneysaving expert included here]

Many thanks

Enquiry Team
T: 03300 881206
P: 01772 281001
info@debtlogic.co.uk -
Mailbox 1, 390 Park Lane, Preesall FY6 0LU

---

From:
Sent: 14 March 2019 14:06
To: 'info@debtlogic.co.uk' <info@debtlogic.co.uk>
Subject: FW: Reference: ARDP0045710618 /ARDP0045704018

Dear whom it may concern,
Thank you for your email.
I confirm that I do not accept that I agreed to any terms and conditions.
I would be very grateful if you could please point out the legal basis - as it applies in Scotland - on which you seek to rely.
Many thanks,

---

From: <info@debtlogic.co.uk>
Date: 14 March 2019 at 12:28:06 GMT
To: "
Subject: RE: Reference: ARDP0045710618 /ARDP0045704018
Reply-To: <info@debtlogic.co.uk>
Thank you for contacting us regarding your Parking Charges.
When leaving your vehicle on site you agree to the Terms & Conditions of the
car park, which are clearly displayed on signage. If you did not agree you
should have not remained on site.
Please note that all correspondence has been sent to the address your
vehicle is registered to and was provided by DVLA. It is a legal requirement
to update DVLA with any changes to personal details.
The Parking Charges were issued correctly and will not be cancelled.
Many thanks
Enquiry Team

twhitehousescat

now google debt logic , and the owner , oh and other names he uses

KeithP

They said:

When leaving your vehicle on site you agree to the Terms & Conditions of the car park, which are clearly displayed on signage.

You replied:

I confirm that I do not accept that I agreed to any terms and conditions.

Could that be interpreted as you admitting to being the driver?

Always dangerous when writing unnecessarily.

D_P_Dance

Cause them a bit of aggro, complain to your MP.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem become so widespread that MPs agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. It received The Royal Assent today.

twhitehousescat

I seem to recall fairy recently that this guy convinced a court and got a default on a person , watch him , mathew wilde

FRAZEA

Thanks, I would agree but my original email i sent which i had not copied here said that i made no admission to being the driver; nor to accepting or entering into any other contract etc.

I was following advice that i had seen a year or two ago with Martin on tv (and unfortunately before I saw the stickie thread) that said not to ignore them but to respond saying that you didnt accept the charges. Unfortunately, i didnt realise that the advice in England and Scotland is different.

Its difficult to know what to do now - respond or not but perhaps i will take the advice and respond to them stating that i do not accept that i was driving and that i will contact my MP given the recent statements in parliament. I wondered if it was also worth asking for the details of the person i had supposedly contracted with i.e. the landowner? As surely there cannot be a contract with an unknown party?

thanks again for all the help - i really appreciate it

Umkomaas

I'd let sleeping dogs lie. The more you scratch at a sore, the more likely it is to turn septic.

What are you hoping to achieve by writing anything further?

twhitehousescat

you can shout and scream to your mp , they might write to the parking co , but chances are they will not even reply

changes are happening with new laws , hopefully that will cull a lot of them

FRAZEA

In short, I am just trying to find out whether there is a way to avoid paying the very expensive charges that I have received. The url's they have shared do not do much to explain the legal basis for which they are claiming I owe them and ahving read so much online about why these charges cannot be enforced, I just wondered if mine were also unenforceable. If i have to pay, then i will lick my wounds and learn my lesson that despite all that is said about these not being enforceable - they really are (for the time being at least)