Thetownend.com

Bunch o cunts.

So I parked at 6.30am the other Friday on a bit of waste ground by the Bournemouth International Centre.  We were loading in the Kaiser Chiefs which meant there were about 4 arctics in my way stopping me getting into the load in bay.  Moved it into the load in bay at 7.10am.

This morning I get a letter telling me I was parked illegally and I owe them £100.

I know there been a few people caught like this before and a fair few ignored it and it went away.

Any advice out there?

You can ignore it and see if they start court proceedings, then if they do, pay up.

It might be worth checking a few forums to help put together an appeal letter, if you can be bothered? They could always be less likely to start court proceedings against someone who seems like an argumentative bastards.

I saw this posted on FB recently. I didn't bother reading it myself as it's of no use to me, for obvious reasons, but it might be what you're looking for:

http://www.dorseteye.com/north/articles/private-parking-firms-cannot-fine-you

another resource + forums

http://www.pepipoo.com

Were you driving a car ?
If so, why feel the need to park in the "loading out area"
If employed , send the bill to your employers.  

The more recent guidance is that some penalty notices are recoverable, but they cannot claim anything that is deemed to be a Penalty - that does mean they can seek to recover more than the standard rate for the parking, but can't just arbitrarily charge 200 quid for 5 mins in an empty car park for example.

It's civil, unless covered by the Council, so most likely you can decide to resist if it's private, and certainly appeal if you fancy.  Firstly, if they didn't contact you within 14 days of the event, advise them someone else was driving the car and you won't give them the name and they missed their deadline.  I used this route with ACPOA and never heard from them again.  Ultimately they would need to take you to court for a CCJ, and you can defend yourself in that case anyway.  It's only if the courts enforce the debt that it becomes legally payable and a problem to you.  They'll often pull the old "being sent to a debt collector" trick as well.

I had one of these Parking Eye fines in a hotel car park in Northampton well over a year ago, I ignored it and they have not written back to me.

There has been a fuss up here about a couple of Car Parks in Morecambe recently, they have been bunging people through the small claims courts to get the cash back which apparently buggers up your credit rating so be very careful what you decide to do?

Interesting, the credit rating not being a problem for me as I have as close to a zero credit rating already for it to not affect me at all.

Might be worth considering but I do know that I never heard back from them in 14 months now.

If you think its worth the risk then choose wisely.

If I get a chance I will see if I can find the story?

It wouldn't surprise me at all, but it certainly wouldnt affect my credit rating :D

Firstly - If this is not issued by the police or the council it is not a fine, it is an invoice - the same as if a builder/plumber etc. did a job for you. Probably issued by UKPC or some other bullyboy private company.
So, whether you pay it or not, it is up to you, all they can do is try to take you through the courts, but in my experience if you fuck them about as much as you can they give up, they want the lightweights who hold up their hands and pay, they dont want hassle and you protesting and appealing is not what they want.
There should be an appeal procedure on the ticket, normally 28 days, wait until day 26 or 27 then appeal, if not successfull the details should also be there to apply to POPLA, this is an independant body and costs them around £27 if you do so, but costs you nothing, Did this recently and they didnt even reply to POPLA, so ticket was quashed.
Ticket probably says fee will double if not paid within 14 days, but does not apply if you appeal, even after 26/27 days. Stand up to them, give them shit, they will back down, and if, IF, they continue with their threats they still have to get the cash out of you, Don't make it easy for them,  I'm sure you will find they will back down if you persist - Good Luck - hate the Bastards.

I had a Parking Eye "fine" after passing through the Go Outdoors car park twice in four hours - wrote to them and challenged it and asked if they could actually find a picture of me parking in the car park.  Finished off by telling them I would seem them in court.  Got a very polite letter back stating that on review they were dropping it!!!

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

Got one of these for parking in the Halfords car park for the Poxford game the other month. Was running late and parked up at 11:55 (KO at 12) . Max stay is 2hrs so thought I'd just squeak it back in time. Of course, the match took a fucking age and then getting out from the back rows of the DRS in a hurry is a non starter without pushing a few dozen oldens out the way first.

Thought it wouldn't be too bad if I was just a few minutes over 2 hrs. Week later get a letter showing me staying there for 2hrs 13 mins. Bollocks.

Read about contesting it or ignoring it, but considering I'm just about to get a mortgage, I didn't fancy the extra hassle or the fine going up, so decided to bite the bullet. If my current circumstances were different I'd have probably dug my heels in.

Shit fine for a shit day.

I've had a couple of these in the past and totally ignored them.

If you respond,then they know they've got a fish on their hook.

My advice would be to ritually burn the letter and repeat the phrase "I will not get done for this" over and over again,out loud to yourself for at least 10 minutes,the longer the better,with real conviction.

They normally send about 3 or 4 letters in total threatening court action/bayliffs/credit rating damage etc but hold your nerve,repeat the mantra,and they will leave you alone.

Again I haven't got time to look, but recall that when it was being discussed to death up here someone pointed out that a legal test case recently has strengthened the hand of the parking companies somewhat?

They have successfully sought court orders to pay the outstanding debt on many occasions, but if your case never makes it that far then the debt is relatively unenforceable.  It will depend on the situation as they only tend to push the ones to court where it is clear and obvious that the charge isn't a Penalty designed to make them some money.  Lets say you park in a privately controlled piece of land that serves the ER of a hospital - you may well lose that one given the intention of the charge is discourage people causing life and death issues.

If you were pinged for having a half visible ticket that did in fact cover the parking period, well, they won't push that one to court because the judge will rightly suggest a 100 quid charge is indeed a penalty in this instance as they suffered loss of infringement.

There is some very specific wording around time period within which they must serve notice, specifically where the driver of the vehicle is not know (which is most cases as they go by the vehicle reg).  If they don't manage to achieve that, they have zero case at all.

Of course there is a trick to these ANPR parking systems... park your car,  unscrew your number plate and just carry your number plate passed the camera as you leave to do your shopping... the system automitally picks up your number plate, thinks you have left 2 minutes after you arrived... then, 6 hours later when your missus has spent all her money, drive your car out and reattach your number plate...

:)

Maybe best not to park in one of these places on a regular basis though, you might get away with the odd one but this woman thought these tickets were unenforceable and has just ended up with a £25k bill:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-39478203

Parking question. The car park at Halfords and the grange says customers can park for two hours. I assume they have number plate recognition to enforce / penalise.

Question is, if I park there, piss off to the gym round the corner for about 45 minutes to an hour, then come back and drive off - can I or will I get in trouble?? I'd have thought not, but waned to double check

I've gone into town from Halfords/Range car park with no issues.

Not sure they'd be able to tell where you went.

Yeah that's what I thought, just wanted a second opinion. Cheers dude

If you are worried, there's a number of 2 hour bays along Beckhampton street, unless you're going at peak hours they don't fill up.
If you are going peak hours, then at the moment there are no parking restrictions in that area after 6pm anyway. There are plans to change the restrictions soonish, but knowing the council it will probably take the council forever to change the signage.

Why not walk or cycle to the gym? A useful warm up and then warm down exercise.

Cheers si. I knew about the one hour slots, couldn't find the two hour ones

It would take me about an hour to walk to the gym. I can't be fucked with that

They're further down, near the York Road end so a bit more of a walk than Halfords. If you cross to Northampton street on the opposite side there are a few 2 hours bays at the top of there too.

There seems a certain irony in not being prepared to do exercise to do exercise...

Cheers Si

I see your point reg but I'm a busy cosmopolitan man and don't have two hours to spare each day walking to and from the gym