Hi, i too was caught out there (actually it ws my wife) but i rang up the manager at homebase to complain/tell him how unimpressed i was, but he said it was out of his hands. It was just a simple mistake and the amount they were looking for made me very angry. I was just going to pay the fine when i came across this forum. Thanks mainly to the people here i've had enough willpower to stick at it and not give in. In fact i didnt get any more letters or anything apart from the first one - which i simply ignored hopefully everyone will do the same.

Time runs out for rogue parking wardens - Times Online very interesting... " Rogue parking companies that issue tickets to drivers who have parked on private land are to be barred from obtaining details of the vehicle’s registered keeper from the DVLA unless they comply with a new code." dated april 07 The code of practice — Maximum standard charge: £75 (maximum charge if unpaid £150). Parking company’s name, address and phone number must be displayed in car park and on ticket — Parking rules must be clearly displayed — Phone number must connect with a person, not an automated payments system (that doesnt happen) — Ten minutes’ grace for drivers who paid but overstayed — Staff to wear uniform and carry ID. They must not escort drivers to cash machines — Firms may telephone or write if tickets are unpaid but may not visit drivers’ homes — Companies must offer a “proper route of appeal and dispute process” (you must be joking!)

If it came to court (which i hope not) do i still have a case do you think? 1. I wasnt the driver. 2. The carpark is a free carpark (for 2 hours) so no loses are incurred by the landlord. In other words its not a pay and display - you are just fined. 3. The carpark USED to be free all the time, up until a couple of months ago. we didnt have a clue it changed. Plus it was very early morning so quite dark and my wife parked in the corner of the carpark which is always deserted. I checked at the weekend there are no signs in that entire area visible. There was one sign at the entrance to the carpark but as the entrance is just off a busy roundabout you dont even notice it as you are usually watching for oncoming traffic. Stupid place to put it. I am on the brink of convincing my wife to hold out and not give them our hard earned money. I would have probably paid up if it was even remotely reasonable but £75 is a lot of money, to us anyway. One other final thing guys. Would the fact that it is a fairly hefty amount of cabbage at stake here, (going up to £150 if not paid within a week - which it wont be), would it make them even more keen to take this all the way? Thanks again for your help!

Shovel, do you mean they AND whoever they appoint on their behalf etc cannot take us to court? Or do they just hire a baliff outfit to do the dirty work? I cant imagine they dont have any teeth and all they do is write treatening letters? not saying I dont believe you.. just wanting clarification. Thanks

Thanks for the advice guys. Still trying to be strong but my wifes resolve isn't so good. She is wanting to pay just to get rid of the prospect of having this hanging over us for the next year or so. I dont want to do it out of principle. Is there anything else i can say or do to convince her? She's already looked at these boards but that isnt enough. she is wondering about all the people who have been taken to court etc and never been on this forum. i can see her point to a certain extent. Even if they prosecute 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 we are still not 100% safe from these money grabbing ****. By the way, just read yesterday in the Daily mail (it was free in my gym) an article saying how the DVLA is selling our information to unscruplious companies - tell us something we dont know!!

Hi There, I just thought I'd see if anyone could help. I too have recieved a letter demanding money from CEL. Which was rather unexpected to say the least. I was prepared to accept it and just pay up until i came across this site! This morning i recieved a fine from CEL after my wife parked the car at Homebase carpark in Godalming last Saturday. The carpark used to be free - up until 3 months ago. I know this now as I just rang the manager at Homebase and he told me. Normally my wife walks into work but that morning she was running late and took the car. I was planning on picking it up in a couple of hours anyway as I had to go to Homebase so it wasnt a big deal. But because something came up at home (had to help out my neighbour with plumbing work) i never made it in to pick up the car until late that day when my wife had finished work. Never mind i thought, its free to park there. Or so i thought. The Homebase manager said there were signs put up but I guess my wife was more interested in getting to work on time rather that looking around for any new signs that might have appeared since we last parked there - which was obviously well over 3 months ago! I was told by the manager that the company they employ to 'look after' the car park is called 'Creative Car Park'. What a nice name. But anyway the fine/letter is from our old friends CEL. So can I dispute this £150 (or £75 if paid within 10 days) fine? Would the fact that my wife was driving it make any difference when the letter was addressed to me being the registered car owner? I did meet my wife in the end (when the damage was done) to pick up the car and do some shopping togther. So I did technically drive out of there. They say they have the photograpic eveidenvce. I really dont want to hand over £75 for a simple mistake. If we had known that it wasnt free to pak there all day like it used to be then we wouldnt have parked there at all. And definitley not for not as long as we did. Many thanks for any help. Mike