Was my cheque legally valid?

Half_way

I once paid a paring charge notice from a private company - like you at the time i thought it was legitimate, describing paying or your first interaction with private parking world as unwise/stupid/ignorant could be true - but only with hindsight, which is impossible to apply. as your first interaction your response is perfectly normal

The second time i received on of these parking charge notices i dug a little deeper, and felt annoyed that i had paid one in the first place, so started posting here to try and stop anyone else paying these scumbag companies.

  There is a huge amount of stuff to try and get your head around with private parking, the whole industry works on imitation, intimidation, threats, bullying and smoke and mirrors to try and persuade people like i did once into paying up

When you receive a parking ticket from a private company the golden rule is never attempt to name the driver, in a handful of cases this doesn't matter, but for most it can add a few extra hoops for the registered keeper of the vehicle to jump through.

So a few questions will help us to help you

You paid by cheque - how much?

How old is the cheque?

How long was the overstay? - we dont need the exact length if under an hour round it up to the nearest 10 minutes, if more than an hour just say more than 1 hour, if its significant ie over 2,4 or 8 hours then say so.

Who's car park was this ? private parking companies often operate on other peoples land, usually as their agents working for and on behalf of a landowner

 Signage in the car park, many parking companies signs are deficient in some way some significantly so

So dont worry too much, you have lots to learn

KeithP

Where exactly did this parking event take place?

Suefan2

Half_way Thank you! I knew not to name the driver.
The cheque was for £60.00. It was the first cheque in a new chequebook, date of issue is printed on all the cheques 31.12.2020.
Maybe I should have said it was unpaid parking on a retail park  the kind with supermarket, clothes shops etc, is that private land?
Permitted free parking of 180 minutes the driver stayed for 287 so a substantial overstay of almost 2 hrs, which is why I thought the parking charge was legit. They sent time/ date stamped photo`s of the car entering and leaving the retail park.
I think the signage is in a fairly prominent position, though to be honest I haven`t been to check - when I visit I tend to be there no longer than 2 hrs max.
Thank you very much for your reassurance

Suefan2

Blackdog2220 thanks for your reply at 1.16pm trying to cook dinner and can`t keep up with replies. Will check back in a while. Thanks to all that have helped so far x

Le_Kirk

Suefan2 said:

Thank you Blackdog2220. I have all the relevant paperwork. Any idea how things might go for me once I show paperwork to any debt collectors that may emerge? I still don`t know if the cheque was acceptable on that date!  lol

You don't need to show any paperwork or, come to that, anything at all, to debt collectors; they have no power.  You need to wait until/if you receive a formal letter of/before claim (LOC) from the Parking Company (not the debt collector) and then, having checked that it is  PROPER LOC, deal with it in line with the advice in the NEWBIE Sticky.  You can even see in the NEWBIE sticky how to tell if it is a proper LOC.  Meantime, calm down and enjoy your dinner!

blackdog2220

i am hitting my head agaist the wall here , how can someone spend almost 5 hrs in a retail patk on 29th Dec `20 when most of the country was in lockdown , admittedly at different tier levels , all pubs , cafes and I think non essensial shops were closed , 

fisherjim

It doesn't really make much difference when they received the cheque you were borderline and they are scammers who think they hold all the trump cards. They had you sucked in and they want the rest they are struggling at the moment as there are fewer people to scam.

Follow Le_kirks advice and don't engage with debt collectors they can't do anything, they won't visit you.

Fruitcake

There is nothing stopping you from cancelling the cheque. I do not believe you would be in a worse position if you did than you are in now.

Are you absolutely sure this wasn't two separate visits, not one long one?
This is a (deliberate) common fault with ANPR scamera systems. They pair the first entry with the last exit, then throw away anything in between so they can say, we have no record of the vehicle leaving and re-entering, now give us your money.
It's called double dipping, and is one of the reasons why the UK Government has banned the use of ANPR in council car parks, because it is not deemed fit for purpose.

blackdog2220

No fruitcake , you cannot just stop / cancel a cheque , and knowing this set of scammers they would press charges or start new legal action 
I did say do not cancel cheque , unless they instruct you to for a reason 

"It is very dangerous to stop a cheque unless the payer is absolutely sure it can prove the supplier or contractor is at fault and is not entitled to any of the amount shown on the cheque. This is because, technically, there is no defence to stopping a cheque. Once the cheque has been signed and handed over, then a legally binding contract has been entered into and the payer has to honour the debt.

When a cheque is issued as consideration for goods and/or services, a separate contract is entered into between the seller and purchaser to the contract that was previously entered into for the supply of the goods and/or services. Hence when a cheque is returned unpaid, the seller may elect to bring a claim either under the supply contract or, the separate contract entered into when the cheque was issued to the seller. If the seller elects to bring a claim under the cheque contract, this is referred to as the Cheque Rule.

The foundation for this cause of action is in the basis that cheques are a bill of exchange, being construed as the equivalent to instalments of cash, albeit deferred, and as such are unconditional promises to pay based upon the presentation of the cheque. If the cheque is stopped or is returned unpaid for whatever reason, a good cause of action arises.

The Cheque Rule applies to payments made by:

1. Direct debit
2. Cheques and bills of exchange
3. Letter of credit
4. Performance bonds.

yes , this is the UK , and yes its still law 
let them write or do what they want the OP has fulfilled there obligation , however the parking co have failed to bank said funding 
the op could reply to them and state , that the cheque was posted on "x" dated and recieved by them on "y" date , if they ask the OP to cancel the £60 cheque and send another then the OP is obliged to , 

untill they say they have lost it , nothing can be done 

Suefan2

I wasn`t the driver on the day this happened. I was at work. The driver shopped at the supermarket on site and then went elsewhere in town for items not catered by the supermarket, leaving the car where it was and yes, I know the driver shouldn`t have done that but they did and I`m trying to sort it out. Driver has reimbursed me the £60.00 although as I said the cheque I wrote is as yet uncashed. Driver was adhering to all the current rules re: Covid - only rule they broke was leaving the car, then overstaying....ear-bashing has taken place