Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Parking Fine - Enforceable?

We had a problem 14 months ago when met a colleague at a Motorway service station for a meeting in the Costa coffee. Her colleague had arrived 15 minutes earlier & when Jill went to leave she had a 'parking invoice' and the colleague who had been there longer hadn't. The vehicle was actually in my name.

I went on to Martin Lewis Moneysavingsexpert.com website for advice. Only the police and councils can legally enforce parking penalties. Otherwise the charge is actually a request for payment. If I recall correctly, they have to prove who the driver of the vehicle was at the time the incident took place and also prove what the 'economic loss' is for Jon payment. I wrote a letter to the parking company telling them that we would not be paying the charge as the drive of the vehicle was spending money on site. I did not disclose who the driver of the vehicle was although they wrote wanting confirmation. The total charge for parking outside the 2 hours was supposed to be £10 so if they took it to court the most they could successfully claim for would be £10 and the judge would also take into consideration that if the car park was very large and only ever half fill that really the parking company had no real financial loss.

I kept getting loads of debt collection letters and texts and having told them I would not contact them again after the first letter correspondence stopped about a couple of months ago. Other friends who have had similar car parks I have advised the same and not been pursued.

That's great - like it
hope it does the trick

Good call!

There is a company call park eye, they will send you 3 letters then drop it.

Never had a parking fine in 40 years. Always read the notice and do as requested.. Simple!

Make it clear you'll never shop there again an none of your friends and family will

Maybe this is how they under cut and continually bombard the TV with adverts!

Ie you pay for it in the long run.

I suggest that you have a look at the website of 'Honest John' who is the motoring correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. He has a section that deals with this problem.

From 'Honest John's" Website:

When dealing with "tickets" from private parking companies (PPCs) the advice is ignore them. For the following reasons, you should not enter into any correspondence with private parking companies:
There is a great deal of doubt about the legal enforceability of private parking invoices that are issued to motorists. Unlike parking tickets issued by local authorities, which are backed by statute, the enforcement of private parking is essentially a matter of contract law. A private parking company needs to overcome many significant legal hurdles in order to be successful, which include:
Establishing that any claim is under the law of contract, rather than the tort of trespass (see case of Excel Parking Services v Alan Matthews, Wrexham County Court, May 2009 where the parking company lost on this ground);
Establishing that all of the elements of a contract (offer, acceptance, consideration) are present; Establishing who the driver was on the relevant occasion, as any contract can only be enforced against the driver, who may or may not be the registered keeper of the vehicle;
Establishing the prominence and adequacy of any warning signage, and that the driver actually saw and understood the signage (Waltham Forest v Vine [CCRTF 98/1290/B2]);
Establishing that the amount claimed is not an unlawful “penalty”, including that there was no attempt to “frighten and intimidate" the driver (see well reported case of Excel Parking Services v Hetherington-Jakeman, Mansfield County Court, March 2008 where the parking company lost on this ground);
Establishing that any contract does not fail foul of the Unfair Contract Terms Act and associated regulations.
How do you know if your ticket is a PPC ticket or not? Well, legitimate council tickets will be called a "Penalty Charge Notice" or "Excess Charge Notice" and will have the council's address on them. A police ticket will be called a "Fixed Penalty Notice" and have either a police or HM Courts Service address on it. If it's not called one of the above and it's got a private address on it then the chances are that it's a PPC "ticket", and ought to be ignored.
It is extremely rare for any of these to go to court.

Well good for you. How does that self-righteous pronouncement help David who posted this thread?

Did you notice that everyone else has been supportive and helpful...

Thanks John

VERY useful stuff, esp in differentiating PPC from other "legitimate" tickets.

Cheers