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I, as registered keeper of a vehicle, received a 'fine' from Euro Car Parks a few weeks back. I have replied denying that I owe them any amount as I can prove I was somewhere else at the time and also that any further correspondence would be considered harrassment under the 'Protection from Harrassment' act 1997. They have come back with another letter demanding payment.
Question is, who is the best 'authority' to complain to? Is it DVLA for giving my details to these cowboys or maybe the OFT? Has anyone found reporting PCP companies to achieve anything worthwhile?
Also latest advice on this forum seems to be to ignore everything rather than use the template letters.
On another web site, a lawyer said if you write to them and demand they issue court proceedings within 14 days or cease all correspondence that if they then continue to write demanding payment or threatening debt collectors etc., you would have a case for harrassment and could get the police involved. Any advice on this?
No - the DVLA actually explain who they disclose your details to. As it is not an official parking ticket, simply an Invoice, just keep their letters and resist all temptation to comment, respond or reply in any way to their contact.
Contacting a 'debtor' is not deemed harassment in this way - they have 'reasonable cause' to do so (in collecting a debt) the fact you dispute it is a matter for the courts, if they want to take you to one - which is most unlikely!
Thank you for your reply Buzby. It is less effort for me to just do nothing than complain; I was just thinking that if no-one complains then these PPC's will keep annoying/intimidating people with impunity. Do you not think that letters from so-called debt collectors threatening all sorts of things counts as harrassment that could be the basis for a complaint to the police or a counter action? It is certainly upsetting and stressful to be on the receiving end of it all as many posters here have said.
Also I was wondering if anyone has ever taken on one of these parking companies in court with a counter claim for harrasment/stress/false allegations etc. ?
As above, the DVLA is where PPC's get their driver information from so that would nulify that. I suppose you could inform Trading Standards but they seem to be notoriously slow on such matters, theres also the BPA (British Parking Association) but the usual response from them will be something similar to 'because of the lack of legislation in this area, we have no legal authority to control these activities'-although they will log the complaint for you. IMO, one of the best practices would be to write to the land owner and complain in the strongest of terms. A few peoople on CAG have written to the Managers of supermarkets where theyve parked for example and due to the high voulmes of complaints PPC's have had thier contracts terminated. In terms of taking PPC's to court i am unsure that many people have (although i stand to be corrected). My guess is is that even though what PPC's do is indeed offensive etc, when you have the knowledge that the invoices they send are generally worthless people just ignore, file any correspondance away and dont worry about it thus no need for court action.
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Giving an invoice and trying to make you pay up as 'harassment' would be a non-starter. Soend a day in court to see what true harassment really is. The prospect of complaining to landowners has limited appeal - for a start, if a supermarket, it does not follow that they are actually the landowner.
I got a ticket from my local Morrisons, I went in to the manager to complain, he said it was the store policy and there was nothing he could do. I did a Land Registry check and discovered the property company that owned the land, and asked them if they have given permission for the parking firm to ticket motorists. They explained they leased the car park with the supermarket space to Morrisons. I asked if there was anything in the lease that gave Morrisons the right to invoice customers for parking, and they said no.
So, you could have appealed this if it came to court that the Morrisons had no legal right to raise invoices for parking transgressions since they were only the tenant, not the owner.
However, life's too short - put it on the mantelpiece and the follow up letters, the more we do this and DON'T pay, the quicker this business model will not be profitable and they'll move on to something else.
OK points taken, do nothing. Though you do sometimes see people take companies to court for the most unlikely reasons and winning e.g. the coffee was too hot and I scolded myself or whatever. It would be nice to see someone take one of these PPC's to the county court for £5K for the stress and anxiety caused by their actions. I bet they would try to settle out of court for a few hundred.
Here is the article I referred to in my first post; its from 'Roadside lawyer'. I wonder if there is any merit in this approach i.e. demanding they issue proceedings within 14 days or cease contact? Anyone tried this?
Ticket from private parking company was allegedly issued at a time I was back at my car: what is the legal position?
Two days ago I received a ticket from Euro Car Parks for overstaying. The ticket they have issued me with says that I was parked between 7:15pm and 7:25pm with an expired ticket. I returned to my car at approximately 7:20pm and therefore the ticket is inaccurate. I park in this car park everyday. The car park holds in excess of 100 cars and at the time of my return there were just 2 cars in the car park (including mine). Is this 'parking charge notice' that they have issued me with enforceable? How likely would they be to start court proceedings if I refuse to pay and would they have to have proof such as a picture of my vehicle being parked on that day/time? I was under the impression that they are not enforceable and any parking charge (£60 in this case) would have to be reasonable and reflect any costs involved on their part (which must be minimal given the car park was practically empty!). Also by demanding more money if payment is not made within 7 days, is this pursuing 'money with menaces' and is in fact an offence in itself?
REPLY:
It's enforced through contract law which would mean they don't need to prove a loss so the issue of how many cars are parked there is irrelevant.
Basically you entered into a contract by parking there and they will allege you breached it by overstaying. The contract can only be enforced by bringing an action against you in the county court as no offence has been committed. The reality is that bringing such an action is expensive and most companies do not bother - although they threaten repeatedly to do so - stamps are cheap whereas litigation is expensive.
Our advice would be to write to them to strongly assert that you had not overstayed and inform them that you will rigorously defend any claim against you in the county court. Furthermore demand that they issue proceedings within 14 days or desist from any further contact. Send the letter recorded delivery and keep the receipts.
This will not stop further contact but may well freeze the amount that they can collect in "collection charges" by failing to issue proceedings.
Ultimately your best protection is the costs they are likely to incur by bringing a case against you, coupled with the risk of losing.
Euro Car Parks - Who to complain to?
etc., you would have a case for harrassment and could get the police involved. Any advice on this?
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