"Parking Charge" £70 Euro Car Parks?

[librarylover]

We have just managed to get a Euro Car Parks "Parking Charge Notice" demanding £70 after being 20 mins over our 2 hours in a private pay and display car park.

Does anyne have experience of how best to deal with Euro Car Parks? is it best to pay the reduced £50 for quick payment, or wait and see if they will take us to court?

Any advice welcome! Thanks.

[dw190]

Originally Posted by librarylover

We have just managed to get a Euro Car Parks "Parking Charge Notice" demanding £70 after being 20 mins over our 2 hours in a private pay and display car park.

Does anyne have experience of how best to deal with Euro Car Parks? is it best to pay the reduced £50 for quick payment, or wait and see if they will take us to court?

Any advice welcome! Thanks.

They would rely on the driver entering into a contract. If you ignore the PCN they will probably get the name and adress of the registered keeper and send a letter demanding the money. The RK is under no obligation to assist Euro Car Parks in identifying the driver.

[Rob S]

Am I right in thinking that in instances where private car park operators issue tickets, there is no obligation for the registered keeper to pay any charges, unlike it is with tickets issued by local authorities?

[dw190]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Am I right in thinking that in instances where private car park operators issue tickets, there is no obligation for the registered keeper to pay any charges, unlike it is with tickets issued by local authorities?

The doesn't appear to be any legislation in relation to private car parks other than "Contract Law". You will notice that a lot of private ones have a sign saying CONTRACT PARKING, the contract being that of paying for limited time to stay and you are given a ticket.

Any car park that doesn't issue a ticket and just has signs saying £*** if you stay more than two hours only implies you enter into contract by entering the car park having seen the signs or not.

Who on earth would enter into a contract to pay £70 for over staying by ten minutes.

The difference with council parking is that most councils have taken over parking enforcement from the police with the blessing of Parliament.

[kazzaw]

I too received a parking ticket from Euro Car Parks for overstaying. I usually have my elderly Mum with me when I park in this particular car park & she has a disabled parking badge which gives us free parking so I just forgot about the time limit.

I then forgot to pay the "fine" as I've been busy hospital visiting etc & I have now received a letter asking me for £60. If I don't pay within 14 days the matter will be referred to a debt collector & will incur a further admin charge of £25.

Can anyone tell me if this is enforceable?

[Rob S]

Was the charge a penalty for overstaying? If it was, perhaps you could ask them for a breakdown of their costs in your overstaying your permitted stay in the car park and indicate you would be willing to pay reasonable costs, but you regard the penalty as disproportionate to the actual contravention and are therefore not prepared to pay it. It works with the banks and their charges, is there any reason why it couldn't work with these greedy private car park companies?

[dw190]

Originally Posted by kazzaw

I too received a parking ticket from Euro Car Parks for overstaying. I usually have my elderly Mum with me when I park in this particular car park & she has a disabled parking badge which gives us free parking so I just forgot about the time limit.

I then forgot to pay the "fine" as I've been busy hospital visiting etc & I have now received a letter asking me for £60. If I don't pay within 14 days the matter will be referred to a debt collector & will incur a further admin charge of £25.

Can anyone tell me if this is enforceable?

I wonder if a claim could be made against them under the Disability Discrimination Act

[kazzaw]

Originally Posted by dw190

I wonder if a claim could be made against them under the Disability Discrimination Act

Unfortunately on this occasion I did not have my Mum with me.

[dw190]

Originally Posted by kazzaw

Unfortunately on this occasion I did not have my Mum with me.

Is your mum by any chance the Registered Keeper?

[kazzaw]

No. When I take Mum out I drive my parent's car but this time I was in my own.

I've looked at the Parking Charge Notice & it states that on 12/6/06 from 16.38 to 16.40 my vehicle was parked longer than the maximum period allowed!! By 2 b***dy minutes!!!!

[dw190]

Originally Posted by kazzaw

No. When I take Mum out I drive my parent's car but this time I was in my own.

I've looked at the Parking Charge Notice & it states that on 12/6/06 from 16.38 to 16.40 my vehicle was parked longer than the maximum period allowed!! By 2 b***dy minutes!!!!

I would still kick up a big fuss with the stores and tell them that a disabled person who needs longer to shop is being discriminated against.

[pcr1]

As has already been said, a contract cannot bind anyone that is not party to that contract.

Simply wait for a letter to the RK, and reply saying you weren't driving and you don't know who was, so kindly bugger awf. Totally unenforcable.

[Roadrally]

PCR1 is correct. These parasites bleed motorists who don't know what the law says. Take a look at the ticket. Do they use the word offence on there? Lots of them do, especially Excel parasites in Sheffield.

If so that in itself is a criminal offence. Administration of Justice Act 1970 says this:

Section 40 of the act provides that a person commits an offence if, with the object of coercing another person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt due under contract, he or she:

...

(d) utters a document falsely represented by him to have some official character or purporting to have some official character which he knows it has not.

Take a look at this

Private 'penalty' notices with a threat not to remove - FightBack Forums

In fact this site FightBack Forums (Powered by Invision Power Board) is a mine of information for anyone fighting tickets be they parasites like this or local authority tickets or speeding tickets.

Tell the ECP parasites to go away with a suitable reference to sex and travel.

[pcr1]

I don't think you should use the penalty charges argument here or in any parking case. They have a claim for trespass (in England and Wales at least). You can trespass if you:

• Park without permission
• Park for longer than you were given permission to park
• Park in an area where you weren't supposed to park (not in a bay, in a disabled bay etc.)

They can claim damages for trespass. Damages do not have to reflect any actual loss. This is how clampers work. (Technically clampers would trespass on your property by fitting the clamp; however you've agreed to this because of the signs, so they don't. If no signs then it's quits. If no signs and no clamp they can sue you for trespass.)

It's a bit of a mix between contract law and trespass as far as I can see. It'll depend on the individual case. If the penalty argument fails, they could technically then sue you for trespass.

You are far better not admitting anything.

Just say that you are not party to the contract. If they write to the RK and ask who was driving, write back and say "sorry chaps, no idea." Untouchable unless they have your face clearly on CCTV.

[falcon185]

Hi guys, one thing that really bugs me is the fact that they give you a time limit to pay the penalty charge levied against you, in thier letters they say if you dont pay within that time limit they increase it to almost double and threaten you with court action if you dont pay, surely this is an offence in itself by "Demanding Money with Menaces" which I might add is a CRIMINAL offence!!
Any thoughts on this??

[brechiner]

Originally Posted by falcon185

Hi guys, one thing that really bugs me is the fact that they give you a time limit to pay the penalty charge levied against you, in thier letters they say if you dont pay within that time limit they increase it to almost double and threaten you with court action if you dont pay, surely this is an offence in itself by "Demanding Money with Menaces" which I might add is a CRIMINAL offence!!
Any thoughts on this??

I overstayed in a Morrison's car park in Peckhan S London and received a fine of £40 if I paid within 14 days. I waited until I received a reminder then I wrote to the parking enforcement company (called parking eye). Stating that under constitutional law they are breaking the law by demanding money from me before any court conviction (bill of rights 1689) and any claim they had would be null and void as they had demanded monies from me.

As they had written to me twice I had to advise them of the terms and conditions of writing to me, which are thus:

I will accept two free letters but any third letter received; would trigger the acceptance of the fact that they would have to pay me an admin fee of £50 per letter, but the third letter would also be a free letter unless I received a fourth letter related to this matter. In which case I would have to charge for ALL four letters. I would invoice them and request payment within 7 days otherwise court action would follow on the 8th day. The terms are fair under the Unfair terms Act 1999 as this is for my time and expenses. Any fifth letter would trigger a harassment action under the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act, which I would be entitled to claim £5,000 in damages for mental anguish.

Funnily enough every time I get a ticket and a reminder, I NEVER receive a third letter, as they (parking agents/councils) are really concerned that I would go for it.

[falcon185]

WOW!! Good for you, keep the buggers thinking eh??