parking fine for hire car

**chocolate cake** · 5th February 2008 23:57

Hi, I haven't been on this site before but have read the excellent advice and FAQ article plus many other threads tonight which have given me hope. I wonder if anyone can give a word of advice:

My boyfriend and I both parked on a small road (which we now know was a private road) on a Saturday night and on the Sunday we had parking charge icon

Notices from Vehicle Control Services on our windscreens. The charge is £80 each - rising to £120 each in 7 days! Having read all the advice on this site I would choose to ignore the ticket, BUT, the car I was driving was a hire car which I use for work. The hire company contract says they charge £40 for admin icon

on parking fines. So if I ignore it I think the hire company would charge me anyway (not as much as the fine) but this does complicate it.

My defense would be that I had no idea I was entering into a contract (and neither did the other 6 cars that I saw with tickets on the same road that day - so surely that shows that the signs weren't clear). I didn't get photos of the other cars though (kicking myself now). I can't bring myself to pay it, or afford to pay it (if I do I am looking at £80 + £40 = £120!!!) but am not sure what the car hire company will do if they get demand for payment. I was the only person insured to drive the vehicle at the time (does that make me the keeper?)

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, or could offer some advice? Thanks - I don't know what to do next.

Similar Threads:

**Sidewinder** · 6th February 2008 00:23

The only way that you are going to avoid this is to phone the hire company as soon as possible to tell them that you have been [problem]med and that they will be receiving a parking charge icon

through the post but that it is not a 'fine' and has no legal foundation. Explain that if the money is paid on your behalf or you are charged for something which you do not legally have to accept then you intend to seek small claims action to recover the money plus costs. Authorise the hire company to name you as the driver and explain that as this is a private ticket, only you can be pursued - they cannot as they were not responsible for any alleged contractual agreement - the keeper is irrelevant as only the driver can agree a contract. IF they accept this (and I fear it is a big IF), then although you will have to admit to being the driver, but can use the 'no contract due to no visible signage' argument.

Personally I think Vehicle Control Services will ignore you as the driver and will continue to threaten the hire company as they know that the mere mention of debt collectors icon

and bailiffs icon

will make them easy prey. You may have a battle with this one so your best bet is to make a friend of somebody at the rental company.

**chocolate cake** · 8th February 2008 19:44

Thanks for the good advice Sidewinder. It really pains me to write this but I have had to pay the ba****ds. It turns out that the car hire company head office pay charges straight from the card you used to hire it - which is a work account so I have no control over it. If that happened, my work would charge it back off my salary, and it would be a nightmare to unravel / claim back / dispute anything. The bloke in the local office where I hired it from was great and said he would ignore requests from head office for the details of who had hired it, but that's just too risky to go on his word when if they had demanded it off him, I would have been charged the £120, plus £40 admin icon

fee from hire co.! I'm glad I found this site though and keep up the good work.

**Sidewinder** · 8th February 2008 23:56

You are not the first to have to admit defeat due to the involvement of hire/lease companies and employers who treat private tickets as 'fines' which must be paid regardless of whether they were lawfully issued.

Do read around the site though - it is a mine of information and you will find good sound advice on any subject which will help you and others in future. All the best.

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