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Malice a forecourt

My wife has just received a demand for £50 payment for parking on "our clients private property at Jempsons Store, Hawkhurst". The car is recorded by CCTV showing the correct vehicle date and time. Is she obliged to pay this?

Asked on 15 January 2010 by KJ, via email

Answered by Honest John
She has to pay something as she has clearly either trespassed on Jempsons property, depriving Jempsons of customer parking, or breached her contract for parking there. I suggest she sends a cheque for £10 "in full and final settlement for" (her) "minor breach of contract" stating she had not been made aware of any greater penalty. Tell them if they want more they will have to sue her for it in the small claims track of a county court convenient to her where they will have to prove that her parking deprived their client of £50 worth of business. More: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/parking-fines.
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