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At the risk of upseting Imagos, I would like some info ref private parking enforcement companies. On Saturday we visited our son in Leeds city centre where he rents a flat.A new block with some allocated parking bays but plenty of space to park without inconveniencing others. We have done this for the past year without a problem, and always leave a note of which flat we are in. This Saturday at 19.25pm we were issued a ticket demanding £80.00p for not displaying a valid ticket or permit. Upon looking around we did notice new signs refering to parking and a long and complicated spiel of do's and don'ts. The ticket was issued by a private limited company. Does anyone know if it is legally enforcable? Can they get my personal details from the DVLA? We do abide by the law and fair play and would not park in a position that would upset residents. We park close to our son's flat because my wife cannot walk very far. Also the car had been there all day so what possible made it such a problem at 19.25pm on a Saturday night well away from the road? Help. Concrete.
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If your son rents one of the flats doesn't he have the use or right to use a parking space? If new rules for parking were introduced surely all residents (car owners or not) should have been informed in writing of the changes. What is written into his tenancy agreement or short term assured leasehold or whatever it is called this week? SFAIK the charge is not enforceable as it will refer to a breach of a contract, which you did not sign and/or are not party to but I am not sure about this last point.
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Lots of info on Pepipoo on this subject. Search BP parking Gatwick or something similar. Difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff though.
Yas, they probably can get your name and address from DVLA. Personally I wouldn't send them any money. If they write to you, reply with a very businlike letter to the effect that you were not aware of any contract, you did not enter into any contract, if they persist with their claim, you will counter-claim for etc, etc.
It is of course possible that they could take you to the County Court, they might win and you might lose!
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Thanks for your help so far. My son rents a flat but the parking bays are limited and are very expensive to reserve, and as he does not drive he does not bother. I take your point about residents being informed about parking regulations and will check this out. I am loathe to pay these people because it stinks of revenue gathering rather than enforcing rules. Especially as my car was not obstructing anyone and it was after 7pm at night.
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My son rents a flatbut the parking bays are limited and are very expensive to reserve, and as he does not drive he does not bother.
>>Also the car had been there all day so what possible made it such a problem at 19.25pm on a Saturday night well away from the road?
So if the residents have to pay for a bay, why do you think you should be able to park there all day for free?
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You might also want to check if any of the spaces are reserved for visitors. The flat I had a few years ago had 4 out of 40 spaces that were visitors spaces, we had a friend clamped there whilst visiting us and I had a hell of a job convincing the parasites that he was allowed to park there as he was "visiting" us - but they were clearly shown on our deeds - might be worth telling them that and just blagging it - can't see them being able to check too easily.
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I feel sorry for your mistake but you parked on private property, regardless of whether your son lives there or not. You admit you saw the notices.
There is no argument to be made about not wanting to pay as this is just 'revenue gathering'!!! You are talking about private property on which you have no right to park and which yur son has actively chosen not to purchase a right to park.
If the property management company wanted to hire out their land as a public car park you would have to pay to use the space.
Whether you choose to pay or dispute the matter is your look out - but you know you broke the rules.
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I got a letter threatening CCJ action over the weekend.
I got a ticket at work and sent them an e-mail stating that I thought unfair and for them to reconsider. They apparently e-mailed me back saying no but I nvere received it (3 months ago) and that they had no other way of contacting me (yet strange how they can post the threat of a CCJ to me).
They are breaking all the laws from the Companies Act in the fact that none of their paperwork has a registered address, comapny regisrtation number or VAT number. They do have a PO Box somewhere in north London.
Do I have grounds to not pay this? I offered to meet them half way but they want to play hard ball and stick for the full amount.
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You don't have 'grounds' not to pay it. You were already prepared to pay half - so they know that you know you don't have grounds not to pay it.
I'd be interested to know which 'laws' they're breaking - good luck to you if you're trying to use that as a lever to get them to back down.
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OP said that he didn't see the notice (new to him) until after he had parked and got a ticket. No penalty they have issued is enforceable in law, he has entered into no contract and so cannot be in breach of one SFAIK
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If notices are displayed on site and not hidden away then they are entitled to make the charge which has to be reasonable (undefined).
Yes, DVLA do disclose owner ship to such companies, in order that they can pursue transgressors.
IF Notice also threatens clamping then the firm and operators have to be licensed under Security Industry Act.
Non payment and they can take civil action invoke County Court and in comes the Baliffs at a greater cost.
Looks as if he is stuffed.
dvd
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As this took place at 19-25 I assume that it was dark. Did the parking notices have lights on them to alert you of the restrictions, if not then you are away free... if however they were illuminated then you were warned
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If a sign is meant to be seen and complied with 24 hours a day it should be illuminated 24 hours a day.
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If you have a bill from them through the post return it too them with this message: " Thank you for your letter dated **/**/****. Any contract you may, or may not have had regarding parking, was with the driver of the car, please forward all correspondence to them." You are not obliged to tell them who was driving the car. If they insist it was you driving ask for the photographic evidence. Good Luck.
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>>we were issued a ticket demanding £80.00p for not displaying a valid ticket or permit
Could you explain this comment concrete. It sounds as though you can park using a valid permit or having a valid ticket. What is a valid ticket? Can you buy one or does a resident have to provide one like a visitors permit?
The flat you son rents, is it privately run or a housing association? Has he contacted the letting agent on your behalf about this penalty? Is there a residents association or something similar that he can contact. If no one complains many others might get caught.
Have you checked that the private limited company that issued the penalty is registered at Companies House. You can also see who the directors are, interesting to check this against who owns the freehold of the flats.
If your wife cannot walk too far, do you have a Blue Badge? If not, why not? If you do you should point this out to the ticketing company and mention disability rights.
Hope this helps in deciding your next actions.
--
Roger
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
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In my opinion the best way to deal with this sort of thing is to ask for evidence that you were actually parked there as it's some time ago and you don't recall being there. Perhaps too late in this case as you've already contacted them but worth bearing in mind for all future times you park on private land.
Of course car cloning is also very common these days, I'm sure it's possible that someone may have cloned your car.........................
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The OP's son lives in this block of flats.
Presumably, they may want to park there again in the future? Do you think?
Just pay up and ignore all the fine dodgers. You have no ethical route out of this situation. You'll feel better and you wpn't do it again.
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Don't give in to illegal and unenforceable attempted extortion by money grubbing scum!
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You could look at it that way -
I've lived in a block of flats near a town centre - we had a little car park with a couple of spare spaces for visitors
we found that most of the time our visitors couldn't get in because the spaces had been trespassed upon by shoppers
so we (the management company) employed a firm to monitor the spaces and impose reasonable fines on people who shouldn't have bee there - it worked
and we were no longer troubled by naughty people who wouldn't pay £2 to use the local NCP
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we found that most of the time our visitors couldn't get in because the spaces had been trespassed upon by shoppers
And how did you know they weren't visiting other people in the block of flats?
How's Gengis?
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