Please Help! Apologies if in wrong thread - Parking Tickets!

KirstyBee

Hi everyone.

Okay so here is the situation. I recently moved into a new Higgins Homes development, there is 1 parking bay per property within this development. The parking is managed by OPC - not the council/local authority. It is private parking.

Until recently we had 2 vehicles within our household and so I had an agreement with the people living in another flat where they have no vehicle so that as and when needed I would borrow their space and put their permit on my dashboard. The permits do not have registration details on them, they simply state which allocated bay you are permitted to park in. In my opinion, displaying the permit on my dashboard is clearly displaying it. The permit was not affixed to my windscreen because of course I did not use this space on a permanent basis.

Within 1 month I was issued with 2 parking tickets for being parked in the allocated bay for which I was displaying a valid permit. I appealed both tickets. I have just received a response from the OPC regarding the first ticket I appealed against. Over one month since the ticket was issued!!!

They state that I did not adhere to their terms and conditions which state "this area is private property and a controlled are. By remaining in the controlled area you agree to be bound by the terms set out below..."

They go on to state that the terms I did not adhere to were "failure to clearly display a valid permit for this area within the front WINDSCREEN" and "causing an obstruction to other users of the OPC are". I feel as though they are penalising me for displaying the permit on the dash rather than the windscreen!

I am fuming! They have been corresponding with me by writing letters to an address within the development so they know that I reside here. What can I do? I really don't want to have to pay £100 worth of parking tickets which have been unfairly issued!

Any advise greatly appreciated!!!

neiljc_2

HI Kirsty

welcome to MSE

first of all dont panic

this is not a parking ticket like those given out by the council or the police, it is an invoice which is considered to be unenforceable in law.

you need to get yourself across to https://www.pepipoo.com and post the details on the parking forum.

you will get knowledgable, extensive advice about how to deal with these unenforcable invoices.

just so you are aware these private parking companies have been known to (ahem) "misrepresent" their rights and your responsibilities in the paperwork they send out, so pop along to pepipoo wher you will get clear unbiased advice about all of this.

KirstyBee

Will get straight on to it!

Thank you ever so much for you help!

john_s_2

Scuse me for barging in but I'm curious. If these 'tickets' are unenforceable, what is the point of having private parking control?

More's the point, what would one do if someone was parking in one's bay without authority as they weren't deterred by the unenforceable deterrents?

Back to the OP's problem I think it might be an idea to fix the permit to the windscreen for the time being. It will save a lot of hassle.

geordie_joe

I agree with neiljc, fight these b*ggers with everything you have.

But just to clear up a point. I think they may try to defend "failure to clearly display a valid permit for this area within the front WINDSCREEN" with the argument that the permit didn't belong to the owner of the car. I'm pretty sure the permit will be to allow the owners of the property to park their car in the space, not anyone who happens to have the permit.

Not that it matters what reason they have, but that's the road they will probably go down, so best be prepared for it.

Crabman

Hi Kirsty, welcome to MSE. I've moved this to the Motoring Board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].