Company car / PCN Lidl car park

[cazpoppies]

I have a leased company car and have just received from my work a penalty charge notice forwarded from the lease company.
I parked in a Lidl car park for longer than the allowed 1 1/2 hours and have been charged £70 (£45 if paid within 14 days), my questions if anyone can help are-

1. Should I pay this when the PCN is made out to the RK (lease co.) and not me?

2. Is the charge excessive when this was a free car park anyway?

3. Should I pay the lease companies £20 admin fee? This is in my contract but is surely aimed at parking tickets that are ignored and forwarded to the lease company who then have to follow it up. There was nothing put on my car to indicate that I was being charged so I don't feel that any admin costs incurred bythe lease company have been directly caused by me.

Also, due to the xmas holidays I have only today found out about this and have until Friday 4th Jan to pay this before the higher amount applies so would welome any advice as a matter of urgency.

Thanks.

[pin1onu]

Originally Posted by cazpoppies

I have a leased company car and have just received from my work a penalty charge notice forwarded from the lease company.
I parked in a Lidl car park for longer than the allowed 1 1/2 hours and have been charged £70 (£45 if paid within 14 days), my questions if anyone can help are-

Is this a council issued PCN (Penalty Charge Notice)? Should mention Road Traffic Act 1991 as amended at the top. If this is the case then you should appeal it or pay it. Post a copy up with your details obscured so that it can be checked.

If this is a private parking company Parking Charge Notice (or similar) which I suspect it is then have a read of the following sticky at the top of this forum. Private Parking Companies/Charges - Advice Paper (everything you need to know)

Originally Posted by cazpoppies

1. Should I pay this when the PCN is made out to the RK (lease co.) and not me?

Absolutely not. The contract is with the driver not the RK. They have merely obtained the RK from DVLA for a fee. But see below.

Originally Posted by cazpoppies

2. Is the charge excessive when this was a free car park anyway?

Yes in fact it is a penalty charge given that it was a free car park. See the guide on this. You have grounds to deny the charge. Basically under trespass all they can claim is damages which in a free car park is nothing.
They cannot add a penalty for trespass.

Originally Posted by cazpoppies

3. Should I pay the lease companies £20 admin fee? This is in my contract but is surely aimed at parking tickets that are ignored and forwarded to the lease company who then have to follow it up. There was nothing put on my car to indicate that I was being charged so I don't feel that any admin costs incurred bythe lease company have been directly caused by me.

No. This is an unlawful charge and you should write to the lease company denying the charge. You may find post 20 of this thread useful. OPC Private Parking Tickets.

Originally Posted by cazpoppies

Also, due to the xmas holidays I have only today found out about this and have until Friday 4th Jan to pay this before the higher amount applies so would welome any advice as a matter of urgency.

Thanks.

Have a read of the template letters at the top of this forum. You should write back to the PPC to deny their charge.

Hope this helps

[cazpoppies]

Hi pin1onu,

Thanks very much for your quick and informative reply, I will be sending a letter denying the charge tomorrow.

It's definitely not a council issued PCN it's from TPS Parking Solutions.

[Sidewinder]

This could be a tricky one for you if your employer won't help!

This is a private ticket - virtually unenforceable and basically what you have received is an invoice inviting you to pay a sum of money. Their case relies on the fact that you supposedly read signs in the car park and agreed to a contract whereby any breach of their terms would result in you paying a sum of money (I don't think for one minute they would be claiming trespass). In normal circumstances the advice would be to tell them where to go as you obviously didn't have the terms explained sufficiently in order for the contract to have been agreed. As the car is leased however the leasing company have been written to as the RK and have then passed this to your employer. Your employer is likely now to get threatening letters and demands for increasingly large amounts of money.

Do not pay the fee demanded by the leasing company. As stated above this could be argued as an unlawful charge. They should have written to the parking company and refused on the grounds that any alleged contract would be with the driver. If your employer pays the fee on your behalf they have no legal right to recover the money through your wages, so much of what you do depends on the relationship which you have with your employer. Any term in your contract probably relates to 'fines' issued under legal statute, not civil cases such as this.

You have three likely options:-

1. Speak to your employer, explain that this is not a fine, but an invoice for an alleged breach of contract. Explain that you will not be paying the invoice and would welcome their assistance in responding to any letters with the 'you need to take this matter up with the driver' line. May be difficult when the Company Secretary is threatened with debt collectors turning up in the office.

2. Write to the parking company and acknowledge being the driver, and request that any communication is made directly to you. State however that as you did form any contract agreeing to pay this sum of money, they are wasting their time. They will most likely realise that you are not a pushover and will continue to write to your employer hoping that they bring pressure to bear in order to force payment.

3. Reluctantly pay up for a quiet life. This should be a last resort, for it just perpetuates the whole scam whereby companies have a licence to force people to pay through fear or ignorance.

I did manage to get the parking company preying on shoppers at our local Lidl to refund a colleague in full after she was charged for an overstay there. It took a lengthy letter quoting much of what is in the 'sticky' on the front page of this forum, and strongly worded letters to the branch and Head Office of Lidl, but there was no argument over the refund. As the landowner responsible for employing the parking company it may be that they did not want the adverse publicity of loss of custom.

Best of Luck!

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

As the car is leased however the leasing company have been written to as the RK and have then passed this to your employer. Your employer is likely now to get threatening letters and demands for increasingly large amounts of money.

Not unless the lease compamy have passed the emploter's address to the PPC. The only address the PPC have is the RK.

[pin1onu]

Thanks for the extra input Sidewinder.

Caz I hope this clarifies things for you.

[cazpoppies]

Guys,

I really appreciate your help and advice on this, I'm a bit ashamed to say that I paid the £45 this morning as I didn't wan't the hassle at work.
I think it's scandalous that they can get away with this though and I am looking into the possibility of claimimg this back through the small claim court if neccessary.

thanks...

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by cazpoppies

I think it's scandalous that they can get away with this though

They only 'get away with it' because people are willing to pay to avoid hassle (at work or otherwise).

If everybody challenged them, they would soon be out of business.