Car parking penalty notice

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by griston64

Had two of these and completely ignored them ! They never take anyone to court as it's not worth it

A mate did this and ended up with a CCJ

[Fastpatsilents]

A different perspective. I used to manage a marina with associated restaurants, shops and cafes as tenants. We had limited parking for the 400 boat owners and cafe users, we also had Jo Bloggs who thought it was fine to park in a private car park and go and spend the day at the beach.

After years of having people ignore our signs and due to the layout of the site I reluctantly signed an agreement with a parking enforcement company. Such a deal doesn't make any money for the land owner but it does free up the car park for authorised users. They fitted a couple of cameras and motorists had to enter their registration in the cafe, restaurant etc. Boat owners had their details registered on a annual basis. Other visitors had to explain their reasons for using our car park at Marina reception and if legit (friends of boat owner etc) got to park for free.

Drivers passed the cameras on way in and out, all around the car park were signs that were visible from space explaining how things worked, if you drove in accidentally or were a taxi picking up a fare from the restaurant, you got 15 minutes free. After that you got £60 fine if paid quickly. When we first introduced it I almost got lynched, the number of people who insisted that they had "always parked here" and had historic rights, I took a weeks holiday and by the time I got back it had all settled down.

It worked for the parking company too as they wanted to renew at the end of the term. And yes they did follow it up with court action if you chose to ignore the initial invoice.

[T5R92011]

Personally I don't pay these.

[rowdy]

Originally Posted by Fastpatsilents

A different perspective. I used to manage a marina with associated restaurants, shops and cafes as tenants. We had limited parking for the 400 boat owners and cafe users, we also had Jo Bloggs who thought it was fine to park in a private car park and go and spend the day at the beach.

After years of having people ignore our signs and due to the layout of the site I reluctantly signed an agreement with a parking enforcement company. Such a deal doesn't make any money for the land owner but it does free up the car park for authorised users. They fitted a couple of cameras and motorists had to enter their registration in the cafe, restaurant etc. Boat owners had their details registered on a annual basis. Other visitors had to explain their reasons for using our car park at Marina reception and if legit (friends of boat owner etc) got to park for free.

Drivers passed the cameras on way in and out, all around the car park were signs that were visible from space explaining how things worked, if you drove in accidentally or were a taxi picking up a fare from the restaurant, you got 15 minutes free. After that you got £60 fine if paid quickly. When we first introduced it I almost got lynched, the number of people who insisted that they had "always parked here" and had historic rights, I took a weeks holiday and by the time I got back it had all settled down.

It worked for the parking company too as they wanted to renew at the end of the term. And yes they did follow it up with court action if you chose to ignore the initial invoice.

I have usually paid parking charges. As I mentioned earlier in the thread my son got one that was paid, and another came through a couple of weeks later. I don’t think my son is stupid enough to park there without paying again so soon after forking out for the last time, but investigating this particular company has shown that they do seem to try it on with charges after people have paid once, and I’ve read they even try to send pcn’s to people that are deceased.

[Fastpatsilents]

Originally Posted by rowdy

I have usually paid parking charges. As I mentioned earlier in the thread my son got one that was paid, and another came through a couple of weeks later. I don’t think my son is stupid enough to park there without paying again so soon after forking out for the last time, but investigating this particular company has shown that they do seem to try it on with charges after people have paid once, and I’ve read they even try to send pcn’s to people that are deceased.

I'm not saying that they are nice folks to deal with and their practices push the legal envelope, but as a land owner they become a necessary evil when Joe Public just ignores reasonable requests not to use your car park.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by T5R92011

Personally I don't pay these.

That’s fine. Your choice. They may not be be accredited with DVLA to obtain your details. Even then for whatever reason they may decide it’s not worth the hassle.

But if they are accredited and decide you are worth the hassle. And you continue to ignore them. Welcome to court - bailiffs - crown bailiffs - CCJs in that order and everything in between.

Ignore these matters at your peril. As I said my mate got a CCJ for ignoring it as did my mrs’ mate. After which she could not get a mortgage or even a mobile phone contract.

It’s a civil matter assuming it’s not police related. And like any other civil matter. If you ignore a claim made against you in good faith by them (whether you agree with that statement or not), then they can create a lot of hassle for you.

So I’ll say it again. Roll the dice and ignore these matters at your peril.

[SnineT]

This is where you have to take a long look at forum advice, I'm positively in agreement with Cull06, it's also fair to say some companies won't chase you but rest assured there's plenty that will, sometimes you just have to look at the overall picture, as Cull said he's got 2 friends both of who have destroyed their credit rating over something that would've been gone out of the mind a day after paying the fine,

Do you want to be the one to find out whether they will chase you or not, reminds me of a mate who was getting married and going on honeymoon to America, a simple little thing from years previously that gave him a black mark put paid to the honeymoon in America so they went to Cuba instead and came back saying how much more he'd enjoyed it so a bit of a silver lining in a way, divorced now lol.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Cull06

That’s fine. Your choice. They may not be be accredited with DVLA to obtain your details. Even then for whatever reason they may decide it’s not worth the hassle.

But if they are accredited and decide you are worth the hassle. And you continue to ignore them. Welcome to court - bailiffs - crown bailiffs - CCJs in that order and everything in between.

Ignore these matters at your peril. As I said my mate got a CCJ for ignoring it as did my mrs’ mate. After which she could not get a mortgage or even a mobile phone contract.

It’s a civil matter assuming it’s not police related. And like any other civil matter. If you ignore a claim made against you in good faith by them (whether you agree with that statement or not), then they can create a lot of hassle for you.

So I’ll say it again. Roll the dice and ignore these matters at your peril.

What sometimes happens if you don’t pay - they sell the debt to another recovery firm (who they likely have an interest in) and they will do the necessary… and they’re good at it because it’s all they do. If you’ve ever watch “Can’t pay we’ll take it away” it’s quite disturbing how many people have a £650 (iro) charge arising from a £60 parking ticket that they ignored.

[baggy798]

Don't ignore but appeal. Embellish your predicament a bit.

Had a parking charge letter from a Birmingham car park, appealed via POPLA, won.

Had a parking charge letter from Halfords car park (euro car parks), appealed, won.

A cool trick is to just blank your plates with something as you enter, or enter via the exit path.

[Forrest]

I am curious about whether either of these invoices stated how long the vehicle was allegedly "parked" in the car park. The ANPR system should record both an entry and exit time. APCOA is a member of the British Parking Association (BPA) whose code of practice, since 2015, provides for a ten minute grace period. This implies that a charge should not be incurred should a driver inadvertently enter the controlled zone and then leave again shortly afterwards without actually parking there.

Whilst the perceived wisdom is that once a private parking charge has been paid it can no longer be appealed there would be nothing to stop the registered keeper submitting a subject access request asking for the complete personal information held by the company including any relating to the registration number of a specified privately-owned vehicle. If this provided evidence that a paid parking invoice had been issued in error (contrary to the BPA Code of Practice or backed by insufficient data) then there would be a strong case to request a refund and make a complaint to the BPA should that not be forthcoming in a reasonable timeframe.