The Student Room Group

Unenforceable Parking Tickets?

A few weeks ago I got a parking ticket on my university campus. I personally think it is ridiculous... mainly because I pay by the year to park on campus and there are NEVER any spaces! I regularly spend 45min looking for a space and trailing between several carparks.

My argument is that I am pretty much paying for a service that they are not providing :mad:

So on the day I got a ticket, I had a deadline for 12noon and I had been looking and waiting for a space for 40minutes and I couldn’t miss this deadline, so I parked on the end of a row. I wasn’t a hazard, I wasn’t obstructing anyone or anything.
30min later I get a ticket charging me £50 from the “Car Parking Partnership”.
I think £50 is a bit OTT considering I pay £50 for the YEAR to park on campus!!

I have done a fair bit of research on this company and apparently they are a private parking company- which are apparently unenforceable by law. There is a fair bit of advice on the internet to just ignore them. Some people have even posted scans of the threatening letters they will send but after 6 nasty letters they will just go away because they can’t do anything. Even thought they will threaten to send round bayliffs, ruin your credit rating and take you to court.

They say that the only tickets you have to pay attention to are tickets from the police and local council authorities.

Has anyone else got any experience of private parking companies?

Scroll to see replies

Yes.
They are allowed to invoice you for "loss of income". You can take a hard line because if several people have access to your car you can refuse to tell them who was driving. It is the driver who has committed the "offence" not the owner. So just say it wasn't you and that you are not going to tell them who was driving as they don't have the authority to ask. Despite the fact that there are no recorded cases of any of these companies ever going to court they could. If they won you would be liable for their costs. Because of this to be absolutely watertight the advice is to send them a cheque for £5 in full and final settlement of the invoice. They will say it isn't enough but they won't dare take you to court because a judge would side with you as acting reasonably.
As for the order of events they threaten they get it arse about face - it would be court - award against - refusal to pay - bailiffs. Not the other way around!

If you haven't already look at the pepipoo website. It's great for advice.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 2
I second the Pepipoo info.

Private companies cannot fine you. All they can do is seek recovery of any of their losses. I had the same thing with a company called Parking Eye. Best course of action is to just ignore it. They gave up after a few begging letters, because they knew their chance of winning in court was zero. For information, it was for supposedly overstaying in a free car park. Their photos were unclear, and I do allow someone else use of my car at times, therefore I've no idea who was driving.

If they did take it to court, they would have to prove their losses, not anything that would be considered a penalty. In a free car park, their loss would be £0. Hence the no-court thing, it would cost them more to pursue.

The private companies have done court, and shockingly have won cases. However, these are usually won by their claims not being defended against, or the person taken to court contradicting their evidence. These awards tended to be done by judges who unfortunately didn't understand, and were always overturned on appeal.
Reply 3
Original post by Taiko
I second the Pepipoo info.

Private companies cannot fine you. All they can do is seek recovery of any of their losses. I had the same thing with a company called Parking Eye. Best course of action is to just ignore it. They gave up after a few begging letters, because they knew their chance of winning in court was zero. For information, it was for supposedly overstaying in a free car park. Their photos were unclear, and I do allow someone else use of my car at times, therefore I've no idea who was driving.

If they did take it to court, they would have to prove their losses, not anything that would be considered a penalty. In a free car park, their loss would be £0. Hence the no-court thing, it would cost them more to pursue.

The private companies have done court, and shockingly have won cases. However, these are usually won by their claims not being defended against, or the person taken to court contradicting their evidence. These awards tended to be done by judges who unfortunately didn't understand, and were always overturned on appeal.


Thanks for your advice.

What would you say about my case? They are accusing me of not parking in an allocated space and for that they want £50. But surely they have no 'losses' seeing as I have paid for the year? So is it unlikely they would think they have a chance of winning in court?

I'm not sure whether I should be concerned and send them a £5 settlement cheque as advised by hypocriticaljap or should I just completely ignore them?

Thanks in advance :smile:
(edited 13 years ago)
When it happened to me I sent one final letter telling them I looked forward to seeing them in court and that any further threats would be reported to the police as harrassment. I never heard anything again. However on a BBC Watchdog show they recommended the £5 approach.
Reply 5
They also recommend making paper aeroplanes out of the tickets, and seeing how far you can fly them.

Don't contact them, just ignore everything. The only thing you shouldn't ignore are court papers that are sealed by the court.
Anyway - if they're a private company, there's no way they have your details is there?
Ignore it. And go with the advice others have posted.
But i would look into your uni though and the spaces thing- is there anyone you can complain to.
Original post by alexcs
Anyway - if they're a private company, there's no way they have your details is there?


Yes.
They can buy the details of the car ownership off DVLA. This is the only sticking point with this particular case, the OP appears to have admitted he was the driver.
I don't understand Taiko's rather stupid last post.
Reply 9
I say that, because there is one company, OPC, who seem to go for court. They've lost several times of late, if you read through Pepipoo. However, they also have a habit of sending out fake court papers as a means of trying to get people to pay.
Reply 10
Original post by hypocriticaljap
Yes.
They can buy the details of the car ownership off DVLA. This is the only sticking point with this particular case, the OP appears to have admitted he was the driver.
I don't understand Taiko's rather stupid last post.


Well I have only admitted it on TSR.
I have had no contact with the Car Parking Partnership and I don't think they have any evidence it was me driving. So surely that's not something they can use against me. :confused:

Also - if they buy my details off the DVLA is that considered as a 'financial loss' which they can hold me liable for? As 'proven financial loss' is the only thing they are techincally allowed to 'invoice' me for.

Another thing, why on earth does the data protection act not apply to DVLA?! :mad:

Edit: Thanks for everyone's reply and advice so far.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by secret_smile

I got 2 tickets recently from different London borough councils and both charges 60 so consider yourself lucky.
Reply 12
I had my car clamped a year ago by a private company, who left a note saying they were charging me £90 for removal. I drove back home with the clamps still on my wheels, smashed the clamps off with a lump hammer then sold them as scrap (made a nice little profit). I had four letters after which I received a phonecall threatening me, I told them I had no recollection of the offense or of stealing their clamps and that if they contact me again I'll have them charged with harassment.
Reply 13
Original post by LaughingBro
I got 2 tickets recently from different London borough councils and both charges 60 so consider yourself lucky.


Register on the forums that were mentioned earlier in the thread and post scans, they can probably get you off them.
Some idiots tried to get £700 from me for parking on the same private land 6 times about a year ago. A few months ago I received their final letter which said something like "further enforcement proceedings are about to commence".

"enforcement proceedings" = more letters, which eventually stop. don't worry if they switch to being from a debt collection agency, they're just as meaningless.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 15
Do not write to them. Do not send a cheque for £5 or any other amount. Edit your post to remove who is the driver. Just ignore and it will go away.
Reply 16
I have just received a parking ticket from Euro Car Parks because I stayed 33 mins over the free time of 90 mins at pizza hut , I never saw any signs detailing this which they say are clearly shown , should I pay??
Reply 17
This is terrible advice. Please don't follow it. By sending £5 you are acknowledging you have entered a contract. You've just given away your only defence.Pay it in full. Or don't pay it. Do not make a partial payment.
Hi, this can be very distressing- I have been through something similar. Taking you to court would cost them thousands unless they decide to request this money after a few years when the fine has multiplied with additional charges .I didn’t pay, the letters have stopped for the time being but not sure if they will start again in a year or two ....
Reply 19
Original post by Blooms01
Taking you to court would cost them thousands.


No it wouldnt. <£100 in court fees plus a barely qualified legal advisor for the day.

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