Parking issue

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
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Mon 25 Apr 2011 20:24
Parking issue - rowley

Sorry, I know this subject has been flogged to death, but I would appreciate any advice.

I parked in a local supermarket car park. I overstayed the 2 hour limit by 20 minutes. It was a Saturday lunchtime and the car park was half empty.

My wife, who is the registered owner / keeper of the vehicle received a Parking Contravention Enforcement Notice dated the following Tuesday. It does not state who owns the car park, it simply gives the address as "Car Park at Church Lane...." They are demanding £90, or £45 if paid within 14 days. It does not say who they are (except in small print at the bottom of the form it says Civil Enforcement Ltd with registered office in Liverpool) nor what right they have to demand payment.

Can they take action against her as she was not driving the vehicle and can prove that to be the case?

Is she obliged to reveal the identity of the driver?

So far, I've ignored it, and there has been no follow up yet, but it would help our peace of mind to know what our position is.

Thanking you in anticipation.

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Mon 25 Apr 2011 20:46
Parking issue - RT

Assuming it is a private car park and not a council one, just ignore it.

Currently they cannot take action against the registered keeper, only the driver and there's no requirement for the keeper to identify the driver - unlike Road Traffic Offences where failing to identify the driver is an offence in itself.

There are changes afoot to make the keeper legally responsible for all parking charges but it hasn't gone through yet.

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Tue 26 Apr 2011 02:56
Parking issue - Problem_Polo :-/

Regarding the proposed new legislation, would it be right to assume that this will only apply to any tickets issued after the date of its eventual introduction? So if you were to have a ticket land on the doormat tomorrow, and follow the usual advice to ignore it, would the robbing b@stards be in a position to come back to you following the new legislation and begin the chase?!

Edited by Problem_Polo :-/ on 26/04/2011 at 02:57

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Mon 25 Apr 2011 21:32
Parking issue - FP

Definitely ignore this and any other communication from the same source.

You may want to check this:

forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46975

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Mon 2 May 2011 13:21
Parking issue - concrete

Hello Rowley, check the paperwork carefully. These parasites try to make their paperwork look just like official penalty notices when in fact they are parking charge notices and as such are merely an invoice to you for 'damages' suffered by your breach of contract. It is virtually impossible to enforce their claim in civil law. The criminal law does not apply here. Just ignore all correspondence completely, stamps are cheap and so are threats, but they will soon get sick of flogging a dead horse and give up. However there is a vile, anti social piece of legislation being prepared which will give these parasites the power to enforce their ridiculous claims. Details are sketchy at present but the British Parking Association aka robbing b@stards are pushing for these powers for their members to enforce claims just the same as the police and local authorities do now. This will be a sorry day if this happens. Our own government allowing parasites to pursue its' own citizens for excessive amounts of money for a minor breach of contract. The biggest farce is the new legislation is called THE FREEDOM BILL. I am trying to get a website started in order to protest against this ANTI FREEDOM BILL. 30 million motorist, lots of votes at stake, we should have the clout to see off these parasites once and for all and tell our own government we want legislation that protects US from these parasites, not the other way round. Please write your MP and anyone else connected to this sham. Best of luck. Concrete

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Wed 4 May 2011 11:48
Parking issue - rowley

Thanks for all the replies. Most helpful.

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Thu 12 May 2011 15:29
Parking issue - rowley

We have just received a letter from the Enforcers threatening my wife with a Norwich Pharmacal Order to reveal the identity of the driver. Can they do this?

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Thu 12 May 2011 16:50
Parking issue - Collos25
no
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Fri 13 May 2011 06:21
Parking issue - LucyBC

They can apply for any order they want andt a "Norwich Pharmacal Order" which - if granted - would provide a court order to compel the keeper to reveal who was driving.

A Norwich Pharmacal Order would normally require the applicant to show that revealing the information or forcing it to be revealed was in the *public interest* - ie to the benefit of society - not the private interest of the parking company.

Furthermore the substantial costs of a Norwich Pharmacal Order must be paid by the applicant (ie the parking company) and while they are recoverable if granted the application for costs is subject to a further hearing.

To get one would require a full hearing of the court and considerable expense with little chance of either success or recovery.

So any mention of a Norwich Pharmacal in a parking case is likely to be another empty threat from the parking company's representatives.

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