Private parking companies

[seen]

Hello everybody,

 

Hello to everybody, this is my first post, i would be grateful for any advice you can give.

 

last week my girlfriend park her car in a disabled bay, (she was with a disbabled passenger) put up the disabled badge. and came back to a parking ticket. see image.

 

 

After some digging i found that this is a private firm not council or police. my question is this.

 

should she pay this fine, and can these people enforce this, or are they just out to fleece the public.

 

the area she parked in does not have any on street parking and the car park is the only place to park safely.

 

thank you in advance.

[Steve__M]

I had problems seeing this image till I looked at the page source:

 

This works better for me:

 

1027131037_001.pdf - ImageHost.org

 

 

This looks blatantly fraudulent, and I do not normally use that word, even about PPCs.

 

It looks very like a PCN and even uses the term Civil Enforcement Officer.

[robin9342]

should she pay this fine, and can these people enforce this, or are they just out to fleece the public.

No, No, and Yes.

 

Have a read of the stickies.

[Vermillion]

Hi,

I was given what I thought was a genuine parking ticket but in fact was from a PPC and just a bill Not only that but the signage was meant to mislead and since researching the company I have found that theirs is a dodgy operation. Do some research on the company that did you. Are they in the BPA - British Parking Association? Is payment to a PO Box? - it shouldn't be. They will use all sorts of threatening language and mentioned debt collectors in their second letter to me. Do some spadework, take photos, collect advice here and from an online lawyer (free). Only you can decide what to do.

Good Luck.

[lamma]

I had problems seeing this image till I looked at the page source:

 

This works better for me:

 

1027131037_001.pdf - ImageHost.org

 

 

This looks blatantly fraudulent, and I do not normally use that word, even about PPCs.

 

It looks very like a PCN and even uses the term Civil Enforcement Officer.

 

I agree. plus other statutes/regs !!

[pin1onu]

Did some checking on the web.

 

These guys have a website (carparkingpartnership)

 

On it they claim the following

 

"The Car Parking Partnership is a trading name of Liberty Services. Car Parking Partnership operates under strict ISO 9002 regulations and the British Parking Association Code of Practice"

Liberty Services Ltd are on the list of approved operators at the BPA. They have the BPA logo displayed. They are claiming to use the BPA code of practice but I think that invoice proves they are just paying lip service. I'd definitely report them to Trading Standards and file a complaint with the BPA.

 

They are not complying with the Companies Act in that they have do not have the registered office of the company on the Invoice or on the website. Report them to the compliance section at Companies House.

Edited October 27, 2008 by pin1onu

[Al27]

should she pay this fine, and can these people enforce this, or are they just out to fleece the public.

 

They are out to fleece the public. All these tickets are merely invoices. Usually they say things like 'Parking Charge Notice'.

 

Yours is slightly different in that it's blatently fraudulent and clearly contravenes the 2006 Fraud Act by the use of such terms as 'Civil Enforcement Officer' and 'civil penalty'. It is merely a counterfeit council penalty charge designed to trick you into paying.

 

• do not pay

• do not contact them

• ignore any letters you receive, no matter how threatening

• they will give up and go away after 4 or 5

 

As yours is blatently fraudulent, it has the added bonus of being even safer to ignore than usual. Chances of court are virtually zero - they won't want to go anywhere near a small claims court with that bit of tat.

 

Feel free to forward a copy to your local constabulary or trading standards.

[lamma]

ditto the above(s). don't forget that you have cottoned on to them but many will be duped by this fraud and pay off these reprobates.

[seen]

Thanks everybody for your advice,

i'll let you know what happens.

 

Cheers.

[lamma]

great ! - lets us know what the responses say.

[seen]

Had no reply from trading standards as yet, but Companies house have contacted me asking me to confirm that Car Parking Partnership are a limited company. did some digging and found this,

 

Liberty Services

 

Looks like this parent company are very big in supplying the stuff for anyone to put tickets on your car.

 

will this have a bearing on paying or not?

 

one comment on this page

 

Liberty Services

 

"the likelihood that a notice will be paid unchallenged is increased"

 

Can i take it that their products are made to look as official as possible to get the public to pay without a challange?

[lamma]

"civil penalty" "CEO’s (Civil Enforcement Officers)" - all rubbish. They are BPA AOS members, report them to the DVLA and the BPA FAQs - PPCs - fighting back. The forces are aligned

[Vermillion]

Great pro-forma lamma. Will be sending my letter off to BPA, plus the photographic evidence. One online lawyer thought that if everyone went to their MP's surgeries about this sort of thing there would be a long queue. I told my MP this and said she would know something was wrong if consumers actually did take action by going along and complaining.

[Vermillion]

Had no reply from trading standards as yet, but Companies house have contacted me asking me to confirm that Car Parking Partnership are a limited company. did some digging and found this,

 

Liberty Services

 

Looks like this parent company are very big in supplying the stuff for anyone to put tickets on your car.

 

will this have a bearing on paying or not?

 

one comment on this page

 

Liberty Services

 

"the likelihood that a notice will be paid unchallenged is increased"

 

Can i take it that their products are made to look as official as possible to get the public to pay without a challange?

 

I reckon you can!

Most, if not all 'offenders' have their appeals rejected, I guess, cos you don't make money that way. But the appeal could start in the car park, especially if you have been approached by the 'officer'. In my case, there was no uniform, an ID tag but, I don't think, any ID photo, extremely dodgy signage and no liveried vehicle. If the officer had been 'trained' he might not have noted down that the make of the vehicle was a 'Polo'.

I now know that, if I receive a 'ticket' in the future, I would open it immediately (not after, in secret!), if possible, in front of the officer, and check it for legality, and challenge then, besides taking down HIS/HER (any gals doing this) details. Would certainly feel better and put the wind up them. Otherwise, I wouldn't even write, and then use lamma's proforma to DVLA if traced.

[lamma]

not my pro forma - I was pointed at it by someone else.

[seen]

Had a response from companies house, they are going to contact Liberty services limited regarding their non compliance.

[Vermillion]

Honest you are, lamma. Thanks to someone else!

Good ol' companies house. Will be interested in results.

Edited October 29, 2008 by Vermillion
Punctuation. Sad eh?

[pin1onu]

Good ol' companies house. Will be interested in results.

The normal response is to give them a warning about the need to comply.

Of course any future breaches will not be treated as leniently.

[seen]

Just had a response from companies house, they have made them change their Liberty Services website and put their registered address on it, carparking partnership website still the same though.

[emsgeorge]

Liberty are one of, if not the largest printing companies in the uk of paerking charge bits. They produce a huge amount of the councils tickets, and at least 30 of the police forces tickets, producers, stop forms and anpr forms.

 

Quite why they thought it would be a good idea to have a sideline as a ppc, I don't know !

 

Its like any other ppc, they supply the signs and tickets, as a landowner, you simply issue the tickets and send them. Off to liberty. They do the rest.

 

They not only print the tickets, but they offer a furfillment service - printing councils nto's for them, and mailing them out.

 

Wonder if the police forces and councils know what sideline they have ...