Private Parking Tickets AKA Speculative Invoices

[cerberusalert]

Here you go guys, as the title says 'Speculative Invoices'.

 

If you would like to add comments about the legalities of them, the likelihood of them being enforced etc just add your comments here & then I'll make it into a sticky for newbies to refer to.

[Cardiff Devil]

Private parking companies 101;

 

PPCs use a form contractual law to fine vehicle keepers, which is unlawful and unenforcable. Private companies cannot issue penalties or fines.

 

They use forms and paperwork designed to imitate official council / local authority tickets.

 

They will pursue the registered keeper for the penalty, even though a civil claim can only be brought against the driver at the time of the alleged infringement.

 

If you receive a letter or phonecall from them, you should never reveal who the driver was. You are under no obligation whatsoever to provide them with any information at all. It is up to them to identify the driver themselves. Any claims that you are liable as the registered keeper of the vehicle are false. Also, they may claim that you are required by law to disclose the identity of the driver, this is also false.

 

Do not write to them under their appeals process, by doing this you will have identified the driver.

 

They use intimidating wording on their letters, such as threatening bailiffs, removal of property and CCJs, when they have no lawful ability to do any of these things.

 

If they file a civil claim, as previously mentioned it can only be filed against the driver. Furthermore, they can only claim for actual monetary losses. For example, if parking cost £1 per hour, you paid for 2 hours and parked for 4, you would owe them £2. Small rule infractions such as parking over a white line do not result in them losing any money, so they cannot claim hundreds of pounds of compensation for things like this.

 

Probably less than 0.1% of "tickets" issued are ever pursued through court. Any that are pursued never succeed in a county court against a properly submitted defence. Companies will cite legal victories, usually CPS vs Stephen Thomas, although the general consensus is that rare cases such as this are usually setups or "stooge" jobs.

 

They DO browse forums such as these, which it's why it's imperative that you do not post under your real name, do not reveal in an open forum if you were driving, and if you scan a copy of any correspondence, be sure to remove all personally identifiable information that the PPCs could use to trace back to you, such as names, addresses, barcodes, places, vehicle registration numbers, reference numbers etc.

 

Hope that helps

CD

Edited June 14, 2011 by Cardiff Devil
Added a few extra details

[Crocdoc]

In my view companies such as Athena ANPR mislead the recipient of such invoices by directing them to their website, which makes specific reference to OFFENCE ENFORCEMENT, thus giving the impression that they have some legal status. This directly contradicts the British Parking Assocociation's code of practice, rule 15.4 specifically states that members must not use terms which imply that they are working under statutory authority.

 

Other companies use misleading logos such as the scales of justice on the top right hand side of the paper.

 

Tactics such as these appear to go unnoticed by the BPA who claim to be using best endeavors to improve the image of this questionable industry and secure legislation to supprt their cause.

 

Having had dealings with a number of these companies , I would most certainly never consider payment or using their appeals procedure, which of course is considered by the same commercial company who issued the invoice.

 

Next comes the DREADED DEBT COLLECTOR who adds additional charges to try and force payment, from experience they are easily defeated as of course everyone has the right to defend any subsequent action. Intimation of intention to defend should force them to draw back , if this fails an complaint should be lodged to the OFT.

 

Time and time again attempts have been made to get these companies to take an action into court, which of course would be defended properly. To date they have failed to do so and it is little wonder, if you consider that Patrick Troy of the BPA has stated to a House of Commons Committee that such charges are virtually unenforceable.

 

Threfore their correspondence in my view should be filed under the heading B for Bucket

Edited June 14, 2011 by Crocdoc

[lamma]

and there are these things http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/164651-problems-ppcs-face.html?highlight=problems+ppc+face Plus Advertising Standards now cover website content. Ever seen a PPC website that is honest decent and tells the whole truth ? Or are they misleading ?

[hessey50]

Rule one:

Check if its a local authority or their contractor issuing the ticket under de-criminalised parking it will clearly say they are and will have details re appeals etc set out. Check their web site.They are up for legitimate challenge or just pleading a special case and at the end you have an independent adjudicator to put your case to. Get advice on this site. Never ignore these they dont go away and can end up with a very large amount in costs.

Rule two:

If its a private contractor ( google will soon bring it up or a quick search on this site) then IGNORE, when the the letters arrive claiming huge amounts IGNORE some more, when the its going to court unless you pay even more letter from the debt collectors (what proven debt?) IGNORE harder, when the solicitors give you 7days before court and selectively quote bits of legislation get reassurance by looking on this site then IGNORE harder still. If you ignore you cant be forced by them to admit to being the driver and its only the driver who could be in any supposed contract.

Rule three

If you feel threatened by the tone of the letters and feel that perhaps you should TALK to the companies to appeal immediately go onto this site and start reading IGNORE till the fit passes if you are worried post and support will arrive. Take pen to a copy of the letters and rule through any threat starting with a may ,can, will advise our client to etc Anything left?

Rule four:

If by any amazing piece of idiocy on behalf of the company they go to court all the advice you need to defend the "claim" is available on site.

Remember they know that they really have no claim but by intimidating they `hope to get money for nothing and their cheques for free

[Crocdoc]

As it stands at present these companies have no legal status and therefore if a citation was served and a proper defence lodged, it is almost certain that the retailer would be drawn into the debate. Such action would undoubtedly create a huge amount of press attention nationwide as we would see to that. Therfore, I cannot imagine major companies such as supermarket chains supporting their contractor in any such action as the publicity may adversely impact on the core business. More importantly, if the defender succeeded then such companies would most certainly leave themselves open to claims from people who have been misled into paying in the past.

[DBC]

Another aspect of the PPC business model that needs to be highlighted are the names they give themselves. To the average motorist these names must seem that they have some sort of official status. Here are just a few:-

 

Civil Enforcement Limited

Central Ticketing

Car Parking Partnership

MET

National Clamps

UKCPS (Crown Prosecution Service?)

UK Parking Patrol Office

Parkforce

Legal Parking Enforcers

Valid Parking

National Parking Management

County Parking Enforcement Agency

Plus two debt collectors:-

 

Court Proceedings Ltd

Judges Demand.

Edited June 15, 2011 by DBC

[dx100uk]

this thread is about comments on the legalities......

 

if you have a question regarding getting a speculative invoice and what to do about it........

 

 

START YOUR OWN THREAD, don't post here..........

 

dx

siteteam

[pcr1]

Of course, all of this is becoming legal under the Protection of Freedoms Bill,

and registered keepers will be liable, and it will be regulation by the BPA.

 

Parking in purple bays 10-12 £35,

green bays 9-6 £30,

yellow bays 7:30-7:45 £24,

all bays free at other times though vehicles parked in any bay at 10PM and midday will occur a one-off £50 charge each time.

 

Member of the BPA,

all legitimate, registered keeper is liable and you cannot question it except via an industry appeals system which will find the rules, which are different in every single car park, were broken and the ticketing company is correct.

 

This is going to be a right mess.

[dx100uk]

wont change a thing

BPA are not the law.

 

dx

[pcr1]

But they will be the industry regulator, enshrined in law to set the rules. I read the Bill at lunchtime and it's quite scary (Schedule 4). There will no longer be recourse through the courts because the private appeal service will take over.

[Nev Met]

Following the advice of a 'contact' I made the below formal complaint to the Oft (on 9th October 2011) I have since spoken to the Oft and followed up my initial complaint with further supporting documentation. At the present time the Oft is still considering my complaint.

 

I have been told that what would really help would be further formal complaints being independently submitted to the Oft (it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil) so if a few people could spare a few minutes to knock out a quick email to the Oft by clinking on the 'report a [problem]' link on this page here:- [edit, I can't seem to be able to post the link to the Oft's "report a [problem]" page??] or here:- Judy.Holden@oft.gsi.gov.uk.

 

Thanks

 

 

Dear Oft,

 

I wish to make a complaint against the Private Parking Companies as a whole over the level of charges that they levy for alleged breach of contract.

 

Those charges are excessive and cannot be justified, they are therefore unenforceable penalties.

 

I have attached a copy of a breakdown of the figures produced by [name of a private parking company] at a recent County Court case in an attempt to justify their initial £100 charge, discounted to £60 for early payment.

 

This is big business, in the year to January 2010 the DVLA released 997,549 registered keeper data to private parking companies alone. As it is estimated that approximately 50% of motorists pay the Parking Charge without the PPC needed to obtain details from the DVLA, then the actual number of consumers affected is probably in the region of 2 million per year.

 

In summary, I therefore require the Oft to investigate these unfair charges which are being imposed on consumers.

 

Regards

 

Nev Metson

Edited November 8, 2011 by Nev Met
the Oft link won't attach

[CRblogger]

Any moneys paid that were induced by false representations may be recoverable in misrep at any time up to six years later, so people might consider keeping letters and proofs of payment.

[CRblogger]

But they will be the industry regulator, enshrined in law to set the rules. I read the Bill at lunchtime and it's quite scary (Schedule 4). There will no longer be recourse through the courts because the private appeal service will take over.

Can you please supply a link?

 

EDIT: sorry, here it is.

 

No it's not, I'm not allowed to post links

Happily it doesn't appear to disturb contract law; it doesn't appear to disturb appeal processes; and the notion of "private appeal" appears to be an oxymoron.

Edited December 3, 2011 by CRblogger

[toycar]

Hi.

I have today been redaing alot on this site regarding my PPS Parking Charge which I received last week. I was unfortunately held up and returned to my car ten minutes late and had a ticket which was timed at 6 minutes over my due back time.

I have been reading that this is not an official charge. I am a very black and white person and see this as either something that I should or shouldn't pay as I am either legally or not legally required to pay it. Obviously I am stupid to get it, but neither am I in the greatest financial position to pay the £75 or £100's. My 7 days runs out on wednesday and I was today going to phone and pay as I would not want to get in to any more trouble, then I came across these threads.

My husband will be less than pleased if I don't pay and we get a hefty fee or court fees. I have read their website where they say that they have successfully acquired fees etc.

The car is registered to my husband. Is it really ok to ignore- it worries me.

Many thanks for your help, sorry if i am being a real 'girl' about this.

Best wishes.

- wrong thread????_

Edited December 5, 2011 by toycar
wrong thread

[seanamarts]

Hi and welcome to CAG toycar

 

It would help if you could start your own thread on this matter so that others can help you and your matter is not lost in this thread.

 

Thank you

[Cardiff Devil]

Any moneys paid that were induced by false representations may be recoverable in misrep at any time up to six years later, so people might consider keeping letters and proofs of payment.

 

I'd be very careful about advising people of this. It is generally true but like clamping firms, parking companies have a habit of ignoring court orders and CCJs. The best course of action is generally not to pay a penny in the first place.

[CRblogger]

I'd be very careful about advising people of this. It is generally true but like clamping firms, parking companies have a habit of ignoring court orders and CCJs. The best course of action is generally not to pay a penny in the first place.

Of course you're right. I should have emphasised the word "Any". Meaning IF there were false representations. That said, it's always a good idea to keep evidence, especially as law changes.

[dx100uk]

this thread is for REF only

 

please start a new thread if you have speculative invoice issues

 

dx

siteteam

thread closed