Slightly confused by these threads about penalty notices.

swingaloo

Please don't get me wrong, I am fully behind the advice given on these threads and find the whole site really useful.
But I'm slightly confused by all the 'don't pay it'. 'get it cancelled', 'ignore it' replies when it comes to parking tickets. 

If every ticket can be fought and not paid then what is the point of them in the first place. Why does anyone actually need to bother paying?

If we are saying that anyone who overstays and gets a ticket should fight it and not pay then are we not just saying that anyone can stay as long as they like anywhere and all rules should just be ignored?

I know many of these companies are rogues and fully understand not giving in to them with the excessive charges but if every ticket can be challenged then why pay in the first place.

I have just come back from a few days away with my sister and we were hurrying back to the car park as we knew we had paid for 3 hours. She was getting quite stressed about getting a penalty letter and I just said that they can be fought and told her about this site. She just replied 'So how are they supposed to control the time and parking spaces if someone who has paid for 2 hours stays for 6 and therefore parks for less than someone who has paid for 3 hours'. 
 

James_Poisson

For a start they are not penalty notices they are speculative invoices.

No regular on here agrees with people bilking, lying, or taking liberties with parking.

What this site is about is fighting scammers how is it right that any old company can set up and give a free service to a landowner for the benefit scamming motorists with silly charges and add on fees especially by using tricks and dodgy practices.

Half_way

Parking tickets issued by private companies rely heavily on what is known as, as smoke and mirrors.

@swingaloo has done by titling this topic "

Slightly confused by these threads about penalty notices" 

Private parking charges are not penalty notices, and once you get your head round that fact, they can be seen off and the victim can both gain some knowledge and save some money - and even better share that knowledge so others can save some money.

So from a PPCs perspective, why do it?

Simple, it makes money

if people think these are penalties, panic and pay at any stage then its easy money. If the process can be made complex and difficult by the parking companies and they can then start using the dreaded BIG BOLD RED  text then for very little effort people can be tricked into paying, all under the belief that these are fines or penalties and  again believing that if they don't pay it might go up

Car1980

If nobody paid all the companies would quickly go bust and cease to exist.

If the rules at every car park were as clear as they could possibly be, everything was fair and there were genuine appeals services, all the companies would slowly go bust and eventually cease to exist.

Saying everybody would overstay with no ticketing is like saying everybody would become shoplifters if Tesco got rid of all their security guards.