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I have received a parking fine of £50 for parking on on a supermarket car park between 9.00pm and 3.00am. The supermarket was closed and there were no more than 5 cars on a 300 bay car park. Any advice, surelythis cant be legal
I have received a parking fine of £50 for parking on on a supermarket car park between 9.00pm and 3.00am. The supermarket was closed and there were no more than 5 cars on a 300 bay car park. Any advice, surelythis cant be legal
As this will be private property,it will be 'enforcement' by a private company. Therefore it cannot be a 'fine'; they are attempting to levy a charge under a contract that the driver impliedly accepted by parking there. They wiil write to the registered keeper (who seems to morph into the owner in their eyes); the RK is under no obligation whatsoever to inform them of the driver's details
The 'invoice' is unenforceable unless they take you to the county court; where they would need to prove that you were the driver at the time and therefore liable, that any notices were both clearly visible and valid, that the driver impliedly accepted the contract by parking having seen and read the notices, that the charge is proportionate with any loss or reasonable cost and is not at all punitive.
AFAIK. none of these companies has actually gone as far as court - they rely on the same bullyig tactics as DCAs to get people to pay up.
1. prove I parked it there
2. prove your signs are clear so that whoever parked it there could agree to the terms in them
3. prove it's not a penalty, but a reasonably pre-estimate of the loss incurred by them
4. sue me.
How do these rules apply if it is your employer issuing the tickets? We have a large staff and student car park at the College I work at and it used to have clamping and the notices/signage to support that. Now the system has changed to tickets,but the notices have not,and tickets mean a £45 fine for parking on or over a white line in a bay. obviously our cars are all registered so the college knows whose car it is and whether you are in work. If a ticket is unpaid,what can they do?
How do these rules apply if it is your employer issuing the tickets? We have a large staff and student car park at the College I work at and it used to have clamping and the notices/signage to support that. Now the system has changed to tickets,but the notices have not,and tickets mean a £45 fine for parking on or over a white line in a bay. obviously our cars are all registered so the college knows whose car it is and whether you are in work. If a ticket is unpaid,what can they do?
They can take you to Court, if the signage is correct or take disciplinary action if its part of your terms of employment not to park on-site or breach parking rules.
Whatever the legal situation, it is generally not a good idea to fall out with your employer. From what you say, the signs do not actually reflect the current situation, therefore for signage reasons alone, the £45 "fine" would not be enforceable.
However, as stated previously, all this is academic, no one should want to hack off their employer [or employees] for no good reason. As long as they are sensibly marked out, parking within a bay is surely within the wit of man.
Ignore them completely, including the debt collection agency that will eventually contact you. LIDL recently dumped the Private carpark firm they used, because of hassle with customers. See posts on this site "Help--parking tickets in Scotland. There is a link to a news paper article in the Arbroath Herald about LIDL car parks.
• Do not pay
• Do not contact them
• Ignore any letters you receive, no matter how threatening
• They will go away after 4 or 5 letters
• Get on with your life
They can take you to Court, if the signage is correct or take disciplinary action if its part of your terms of employment not to park on-site or breach parking rules.
There would have to be some mention within your contract and would be a matter between the company and the employee. However, it doesn't change the fact that you do not have to pay a penalty charge regarding parking. You cannot have an illegal clause in a contract, so your company could not make you pay or dock your wages, whatever it said in your contract because the charge is still an unlawful penalty at the end of the day.
They couldn't take you to court, but they could sack you after making the situation clear. If they didn't do this properly, you would have to go to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.
Whatever happens, nobody can take you to court over the actual parking charge.
• Do not pay
• Do not contact them
• Ignore any letters you receive, no matter how threatening
• They will go away after 4 or 5 letters
• Get on with your life
There would have to be some mention within your contract and would be a matter between the company and the employee. However, it doesn't change the fact that you do not have to pay a penalty charge regarding parking. You cannot have an illegal clause in a contract, so your company could not make you pay or dock your wages, whatever it said in your contract because the charge is still an unlawful penalty at the end of the day.
They couldn't take you to court, but they could sack you after making the situation clear. If they didn't do this properly, you would have to go to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.
Whatever happens, nobody can take you to court over the actual parking charge.
You seemed to have overlooked the question was about EMPLOYERS issuing the tickets! Are you suggesting ignoring letters from your employer?
Even if you have a signed agreement, it doesn't make the contract legal. You can't have a clause in a contract saying "I agree to pay unlawful penalty charges!"
It depends how much of a faceless behemoth of a company you work for whether it would be in your best interests to go along and pay their illegal charge.
You seemed to have overlooked the question was about EMPLOYERS issuing the tickets! Are you suggesting ignoring letters from your employer?
Sorry - part 1 of that post referred to the original poster's situation.
Even if you have a signed agreement, it doesn't make the contract legal. You can't have a clause in a contract saying "I agree to pay unlawful penalty charges!"
It would still be down to a Court to decide the contract was not valid.
Private Parking Fine- Ldl car park
of £50 for parking on on a supermarket car park between 9.00pm and 3.00am. The supermarket was closed and there were no more than 5 cars on a 300 bay car park. Any advice, surelythis cant be legal
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Re: Private Parking Fine- Ldl car park
Originally Posted by andyw49
