Someone I know has been lumped with a £75 fine for overstaying in the car park for his local swimming pool, because the disabled swimming class closed the pool for an hour at midday.
www.paulobrien.net/what-0#comments
He was fuming about it on his blog (and rightly so!) and I was wondering out of idle curiosity if, being a private car park, you can tell them (the enforcement company) to get stuffed and ignore the penalty?
Edited by David Horn on 01/12/2007 at 20:49
|
I wouldn't pay it without a court order.
The car park's tactic will probably to scare the person into paying with threats of court summons or debt collection agents etc...
|
|
if it was me i'd tell them to go and jump in the deep end!!!
|
You should note that the Road Traffic Act makes provisions for the registered keeper to be forced by law to identify the driver to a police officer or council appointed official.
There is no such legal requirement for private companies..
|
I presume that the land on which parking is allowed is owned by the Swimming Pool and not subject to any statute in relation to parking on or off street.
If that is the case,in a nutshell, the driver who parked enters into a contract with the owners of the land to use the facility for an appropriate fee or will pay such a fee if time overstayed. Signs should be erected clearly visible at to what the terms of the contract are.
The question now is can they identify the driver? If so, and their demands are not exceptional, if fee not paid they can take debt recovery action through County Court against THE DRIVER if their demands are not paid. Many will not go this far and rely on bluff.
If the ticket has been sent to the Reg Keeper of the vehicle there is no obligation at law for him to disclose who the driver was, it is the other that who has to prove the driver. (LA street parking is different as there is an obligation to disclose even if they have contracted enforcement out to private company - S 112 RTRA 84).
Often they refer such debts to a Debt Collection Agency who start sending nasty letters and if they continue to demand payments without a judgement then they are entering into the realms of criminal law of harrassment over a debt. (S 40 Admin of Justice Act 1970).
dvd
|
In a similar vein my wife recently (last week) received a parking fine from a company called Parking Eye for overstaying in an Aldi car park. They claim to have photographic evidence.
Would I be correct in assuming that this fine is not enforcable in law?
-----------------------------------------
hurrying on- to a receding future
|
It isn't a fine - it is a penalty charge, and its enforcement is debatable, see earlier posts. Our resident Legal Eagle (DVD) has explained the situation!
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 02/12/2007 at 11:35
|
|
With regard to DVD's and AS's posts, would it be accurate to say that any Penalty Charge which was set at a high figure (and most are) could be challenged on the grounds that, even if it could be established that a contract had been entered into, the terms of such a contract were unfair and unreasonable?
|
It would indeed Chris.
The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, Schedule 1 - term which may be regarded as unfair:
e) requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately
high sum in compensation;
dvd
|
|
|
|
Excellent post DVD.
Can it go in the FAQ mods?
|
Decent advice and template letters here:
tinyurl.com/2zjfwv
|
|
|
|
I got sent one of these Civil Enforcement Notices from a private company monitoring another private companies forecourt and eatery at Gatwick Airport. I followed advice similar to yours: I stated I wasn't the driver and wouldn't be saying who was.
I never heard any more about it and this was probably around 9 months ago now.
If he has the courage to not pay (it can take a bit of courage when they start threatening to increase the fee, get debt collection agencies involved, etc) then he should be happy by the end of it all. They are only bothered with collecting money from those who they can intimidate in to paying, the "easy targets", they're generally not interested in chasing people who refuse to pay.
A lot of people don't want the hassle and just pay up. That's how they make their money.
|
|
|
|
![2021 Nissan Qashqai 1.3 DiG-T 160 [157] Acenta Premium 5dr DCT](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/vehicles/pictures/da990225dbcac5ecfadc85d8ad4e2654/690936625217cd1efba5c9cdd4bc42f1.jpg)
