parking ticket motorway services

anewman · 23 August 2010 at 1:45PM

sandiep wrote: »

They just say, if you're staying for more than 2 hours, please pay for parking.

That's fair enough of course, but the services don't make any money out of the charges. Plus the charges are legally unenforceable so it's cheaper to not pay to park and ignore the charge and subsequent letters. And of course they're hoping people accidentally overstay by 30 seconds etc so they can stick a charge on the windscreen, the vultures that they are.

And there is no clear rules for what happens when a car is broken down, many times on these forums the situation has popped up that someone has broken down at services, put a note on their windscreen as such and they've mercilessly had charges and clamps etc stuck to their car. A breakdown is unavoidable.

gazzebo69 · 23 August 2010 at 1:50PM

Coupon-mad wrote: »

If it was your vehicle I would smile and say just ignore the ticket as it's not a real fine. But because it's a leased car, you absolutely MUST check out your car hire t&cs asap! They will almost certainly not be savvy enough to ignore it and I think they could well just pay it, add an admin fee on top and pass the cost onto the hirer.

Whatever the wording of the t&cs I believe you must write straight to the hire co and tell them NOT to pay a ticket from this company as it is an unenforceable private ticket and not a real parking fine.

Print off this link in full to send to the Fleet Manager with your letter in case he is unaware of the scam that is the private parking industry:

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2009...s-urged/30698/

Follow up your letter with a phone call, or do it the other way round - call first to alert them to a spurious ticket which you absolutely do not agree to pay (their reaction on the phone should tell you if they understand the scam or would just fall for it!).

I think if you clearly DO NOT authorise them to make the payment then that clarifies your contract with the hire company from your point of view. Also reassure them that with private tickets, since any alleged contract can only be based on a contract with the driver or trespass by the driver, they are not responsible for the charge at all anyway (unlike with a Council ticket).

You must be proactive, we have another thread on here where the OP is going to have to take the hire co and the parking co to Small Claims to get his money back as they just went ahead & paid the first spurious notice about the alleged 'offence' that landed on their desk:

Read zebedee's posts from #1697 onwards

HTH, do everything in your power now not to end up in zebedee's position.

I believe that if the hirer writes NOW to the hire company then the contract t&cs are clarified from the hirer's point of view. This may prove useful in that the hirer could then insist on a card chargeback if the hire company subsequently deducted the fake fine plus admin fee (i.e. the CC company 'should' charge it back IMHO).

Great Advice.. .I think the hirer is ringing the hire company this week, but I`m going to make sure he does.

sandiep · 23 August 2010 at 2:08PM

lucylucky wrote: »

"They just say, if you're staying for more than 2 hours, please pay for parking."

No they don't say that at all.

They say if you stay over 2 hours we will try and steal your money

So, what you're saying is that there is no opportunity for anyone to just go and buy a parking ticket???
Or is it that they also try and steal money from people that have valid parking tickets????

lucylucky · 23 August 2010 at 6:40PM

sandiep wrote: »

So, what you're saying is that there is no opportunity for anyone to just go and buy a parking ticket???
Or is it that they also try and steal money from people that have valid parking tickets????

I have yet to see a means of buying a parking ticket in a Motorway Service area but then I have never looked for a means to do this.

trisontana · 23 August 2010 at 6:49PM

lucylucky wrote: »

I have yet to see a means of buying a parking ticket in a Motorway Service area but then I have never looked for a means to do this.

The only way I have seen is to pay via a mobile phone and a credit card. If you don't have either, then you are stuffed. There are no ticket machines on site.

sandiep · 23 August 2010 at 8:00PM

lucylucky wrote: »

I have yet to see a means of buying a parking ticket in a Motorway Service area but then I have never looked for a means to do this.

Gosh, I have no idea how all those lorry drivers, courier companies, and other HGV users manage it then.

I think you'll find that you walk into the shop, and ask for a ticket.

It must be pretty easy, I've got several thousand of them that my hubby's brought back from work.

trisontana · 23 August 2010 at 8:32PM

All I'm going by is my experience on a service area on the M6. There was a big notice saying that you had to pay via a mobile phone, but no mention at all about being able to buy a ticket in the building.

Paradigm · 23 August 2010 at 8:34PM

sandiep wrote: »

Thing is, thousands of people will happily use the services for free. Take a pee, have a sleep, stop to eat their sandwiches/picnics etc that they brought with them. And no probs with that.

However, as anyone that's ever stopped at a services will know, they take a lot of cleaning, and they're very busy places.

It is not particularly fair that people that are stopping to use the paying facilities, the resturants, the shops etc, that generate the profits to enable the services to continue in business can't do so because they can't park because of all the people parking for 3 or 4 hours for a kip.

So, they're not all bad. They don't ban people from bringing own food, they don't charge for the toilet, they don't charge an entrance fee, or charges for kids play facilities, they don't charge everyone on a P&D basis for every minute they're in the car park.

The thing everyone seems to be missing is that the company (Moto, Welcome Break or whoever) don't own the land... it is leased from the Govt (50 years per term I think but could be wrong).

Under the terms of the lease they have to provide free facilities 24/7 365 days a year & therefore cannot charge an entrance fee or prevent anyone parking & eating their own food or prevent use of toilets.

This explains why the cost of mostly everything at a m/way services is considerably more than your average store. The staffing/maintenance/cleaning all have to be paid for.

More crucially, under the terms of the lease, the company have to provide "free short term parking"!
The companies running the service areas were/are fully aware of what they agreed too.

Given the number of matrix signs flashing the message "Don't drive tired!" I wonder if imposing a 2 hour limit is actually breaking the conditions set down in the lease? After all, who defines "short term"?

Unilaterally deciding that anything over 2 hours becomes "long term" is beyond their remit methinks.

trisontana · 23 August 2010 at 8:41PM

And, of course, if you only plan to stay for a short time but are so tired you fall asleep for several hours, you are penalised for doing the right thing.

lucylucky · 23 August 2010 at 8:46PM

sandiep wrote: »

Gosh, I have no idea how all those lorry drivers, courier companies, and other HGV users manage it then.

I think you'll find that you walk into the shop, and ask for a ticket.

It must be pretty easy, I've got several thousand of them that my hubby's brought back from work.

Good for you.

I have never needed one nor would I buy one, even if I knew how to.

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parking ticket motorway services

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