Parking Ticket - Letter Before Claim - Gladstone Solicitors

olivery14

@D_P_Dance thanks thats actually super helpful to use if this goes to court and I need to argue the extra £70 they’ve added onto the £100 parking charge 

Redx

I think you should tell us how much the charges are, for say the 2 periods involved , what the total time on site was and if the 2 charges added together covered the full period of parking ? (plus what would the actual charge be from the initial start time to the departure time ?

so if say the first 3 hours is £3 for example , covering 1500 to 1800 , then the second period was from 1815 to ??? ( 2115 ? )

if so , did the vehicle leave at say 2115 ? or did it depart earlier ? at say 2100 instead ? , meaning that spurious 15 minutes was covered over the 2 payments IN FULL  ?

Show us pictures of the signs too, they formed the contract

and one PCN loss in court is typically around £200 , because all those spurious added charges like £70 + interest are objected to using the Wilkinson case and the Recorder Cohen judgment , leaving the core £100 pcn + legal and court fees only , typically £200 or less

olivery14

@Redx the charges are 80pence an hour so for the first period it was £2.40 and the next period was also £2.40 as it’s done in full hours only. 

Will find pics of the signs next time I’m in work and send, yes you’re right for the second period I paid the rate for 3hrs worth of parking but left by 9pm latest. 

Redx

Thank you , which means that the driver was on site for say 6 hours and paid for 6 hours in full , so full payment for the duration , plus I assume that it would be £4.80 for 6 hours if paid at the beginning , plus grace periods , so a strong argument in court ( de minimis ) , plus frustration of contract whilst paying the second payment due to issues paying

Le_Kirk

That extract you printed from the IPC is out of date as it is now called the International Parking Community.

olivery14

@Le_Kirk surely the same grace period rules apply though it seems pretty standard practice, let me know if you find anything that changes this 

Umkomaas

Both the IPC and the BPA have adjusted the Grace period(s) over the past two or three years. None of the changes, you'll be surprised to hear, ever favoured the motorist. 

Le_Kirk

Le_Kirk said:

That extract you printed from the IPC is out of date as it is now called the International Parking Community.

olivery14 said:

@Le_Kirk surely the same grace period rules apply though it seems pretty standard practice, let me know if you find anything that changes this 

The grace period(s) will be as shown in the code of practice current at the time of the event.  My point was that if you are going to use extracts from codes of practice you should use the correct one (and get the name right), especially if it is for POPLA appeal or a court hearing.

olivery14

@Le_Kirk or anyone else do I take this to court then or do I pay the £170 fee the Solcitors have sent me a letter about in the “letter before claim”

The fact is I can’t argue excessive charges due to “Beavis” case I believe it was called, regardless it sets precedent.

And the grace period from what you’re all
saying has been altered.

So if I came back to my car at 6.03 and at the time it wasn’t ticketed as I only paid till 6pm then what the hell can I argue in small claims court. The answer appears to be nothing, can’t argue about only being 3 mins late and can’t argue about excessive charge.

Therefore I am guaranteed to lose and it will cost me more money  than £170 when I factor in fine of £100 and court costs and loss of my time having to attend and inconvenience.

any hell from anyone would be appreciated, everyone seems to say go to court but who in their right mind would do that knowing they will lose.

@Redx

Coupon-mad

You are not guaranteed to lose.  We see wins 99% of the time here.

There is a minimum 10 minute grace period and you risk nothing by defending the case because the added £60 is spurious and the court fees aren’t much different.

No risk, no CCJ even if you did lose because you’d pay in full, less than £200 so there’s no advantage in giving up and paying the scam now.