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PCN Number? - Private Parking Company


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Thanks all. I get the drift now. It's funny how we assume they hold the same power as the council do just because of their similar actions and approach. And what about the debt collectors (lol, what debt!?) letters, just ignore and burn as usual? Okay, why don't they ask the police for some assitance then? :o

 

I hear the deafing sound of the Ruble dropping! :)

 

Police are only interested in Law breakers.

Begging for money is not against the Law on private property.

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The idea of the notice board is that you read the terms and conditions and consent to them by parking. Thus, you have entered into a contract.

 

There are valid clauses in a contract, and there are invalid ones. For example, if it had a clause which said, "failure to display a ticket authorises us to shoot you" that would be invalid. Regardless of the contract, it would be against the law and the law takes precendence.

 

In this situation, it is against the law for any private person or company to issue penalty charges - which is just another word for fines. They have no right to do that, so that clause in the contract is invalid.

 

If you have genuinely breached contract, then their redress is to sue you for their financial losses resulting from the breach of contract - which, especially in a free car park, is nothing. They can sue you for nothing.

 

Hope that makes it clearer why you don't owe them, you never owed them, and they can't make you pay.

 

Thanks a bunch, that makes sense. I'm a total law-noob, sadly.

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I hear the deafing sound of the Ruble dropping! :)

 

Police are only interested in Law breakers.

Begging for money is not against the Law on private property.

 

You mean the Police charge for their 'services'? I was meaning, since RKs only need to reveal who the driver was to the authorities, why don't PPCs ask police for their help then.

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It's got nothing to do with the police. It's none of the police's business who was driving, and the fact that some company would like to know for their own benefit is also none of their business. You haven't broken the law - no-one has.

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You mean the Police charge for their 'services'? I was meaning, since RKs only need to reveal who the driver was to the authorities, why don't PPCs ask police for their help then.

?

The Police do not and will not provide personal information to others. They have no reason to even get the RK info as there has been no law breaking. It is all a 'Civil' matter between the parties involved - the PPC and the unknown Driver.

 

The begging I mentioned was what the PPC are doing.

I could suggest a number of far more worthy organisations to give your money to, if you really want to needlessly give some money away.

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In a recent (very rare) court case involving another PPC, the rep from that company tried to invoke various traffic laws in an effort to force the defendant to reveal the identity of the driver. That rep was given very short shrift by the judge, telling him those laws had nothing to do with a civil case.

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You can safely park there again. If you keep breaking the terms, they might do something more drastic - check if there are clamping signs up for instance. Or, they will hound you with letters and phone calls. Or they might try and take it to court just to try and deter you.

 

Don't worry - this was a single mistake - they won't even remember your car or reg number. Carry on parking there as usual.

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You can safely park there again. If you keep breaking the terms, they might do something more drastic - check if there are clamping signs up for instance. Or, they will hound you with letters and phone calls. Or they might try and take it to court just to try and deter you.

 

Don't worry - this was a single mistake - they won't even remember your car or reg number. Carry on parking there as usual.

 

Thanks for that. It's one of those signs that its only for the nearby store. What I got 'done for' was for leaving the car there and going to other shops down the road. So yeah, I basically skipped paying and displaying on the main road and used their car park. I do enter the store (mainly to show interest) then walk out - down the road. There is a 90 minute window but that was not the reason why the got me. It was simply for leaving the car there. :( So basically, from now on, I will have to do it the normal way and pay and display on a main road, with their ridiculously overpriced tickets (£1 for 20 mins!). Ah well. PS - didn't see any clamp signs, but then again, I didn't really read the main sign either. I'll have a look again.

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Also, can someone link me to a thread where someone successfully escaped PPC and their threats?

 

There are hundreds of threads on here and other websites where people have "escaped" the so-called "threats". Usually they just ignore the silly letters and the PPCs eventually give up. It's as simple as that.

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Also, can someone link me to a thread where someone successfully escaped PPC and their threats?

 

They never send a letter saying "OK. We give up - you are right. We won't chase you any more"

 

What PPCs do is make the wording on the series of Threat-0-grams get steadily bigger and redder, then they get some paper out of another box saying 'Debt Collector' and/or 'Graham White Solicitors' - all for increasing amounts, then some PPCs offer a huge discount just to try to get some of your money. Then it all just goes quiet.

 

Much like the old 'Jumping Jack' fireworks - you never know when it has finished so you just keep clear and ignore it.

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They never send a letter saying "OK. We give up - you are right. We won't chase you any more"

 

What PPCs do is make the wording on the series of Threat-0-grams get steadily bigger and redder, then they get some paper out of another box saying 'Debt Collector' and/or 'Graham White Solicitors' - all for increasing amounts, then some PPCs offer a huge discount just to try to get some of your money. Then it all just goes quiet.

 

Much like the old 'Jumping Jack' fireworks - you never know when it has finished so you just keep clear and ignore it.

 

Haha, that's reassuring. Now I'm mildly curious on how their offices work. Like, isn't it quite embarrassing for the people behind the computer screens to just say 'Oh, we sent this person six letters already, but to no avail. We shall now give up" ? I would've gotten it if it were all automated, but the fact some human involvement is required to even see what's next on their Threat-0-grams is quite sad. Buncha bullies!

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Except that if you read through the threads you regularly get comments from people saying they had the same, they ignored it, and nothing happened. So there is feedback in this respect if someone wanted to plough through all the threads and find them.

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Haha, that's reassuring. Now I'm mildly curious on how their offices work. Like, isn't it quite embarrassing for the people behind the computer screens to just say 'Oh, we sent this person six letters already, but to no avail. We shall now give up" ? I would've gotten it if it were all automated, but the fact some human involvement is required to even see what's next on their Threat-0-grams is quite sad. Buncha bullies!

 

It is automated. They have a series of letters - there are even websites where you can go and look at them. Their computer system generates letter 1, then letter 2 etc until the last one is sent out, and the computer stops generating any more letters.

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Haha, that's reassuring. Now I'm mildly curious on how their offices work. Like, isn't it quite embarrassing for the people behind the computer screens to just say 'Oh, we sent this person six letters already, but to no avail. We shall now give up" ? I would've gotten it if it were all automated, but the fact some human involvement is required to even see what's next on their Threat-0-grams is quite sad. Buncha bullies!

 

 

Unfortunately enough people(Between 30 and 50 percent) believe the rubbish letters sent out by PPCs and pay up. So it's worth their while to keep sending them out hoping that they while cave in and pay up, especially if they start mentioning such things as bailiffs, CCJs and debt collectors. All nonsense of course, but enough people get scared into paying up.

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To understand the business plan better -

 

Land owner get p1ssed off with abuse of their parking facilities at peak times.

PPC offers to patrol it - possibly providing barriers, markings, possibly even resurfacing, etc - all for free.

Land owner is seduced and has nothing to lose so signs agreement contract. (Look at PPC Websites from the point of view of being a land owner)

 

PPC gets all the money they can scare out of motorists using it at any time, by issuing what look like official fines then threatens them with everything short of public execution.

This offsets their set-up and operating costs and provides a good income.

 

It survives because an estimated 50% of these 'fines' are paid quickly by people who dont know better. A further number weaken and pay under the string of threats - and even pay the increased amounts for fear they will go even higher. All without any legal basis!

 

I wish I could make money like that AND sleep soundly at nights.

Edited by Tony P
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When you think about it the only way these companies can make a profit is from the "parking charge notices" they issue. For a start they don't usually charge a fee to the landowner for looking after the car-park, and they won't make enough money from P&D tickets ( even if they have them) . So it's in their interest to frighten people into paying up by sending out the scary-looking letters.

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To understand the business plan better -

 

Land owner get p1ssed off with abuse of their parking facilities at peak times.

PPC offers to patrol it - possibly providing barriers, markings, possibly even resurfacing, etc - all for free.

Land owner is seduced and has nothing to lose so signs agreement contract. (Look at PPC Websites from the point of view of being a land owner)

 

PPC gets all the money they can scare out of motorists using it at any time, by issuing what look like official fines then threatens them with everything short of public execution.

This offsets their set-up and operating costs and provides a good income.

 

It survives because an estimated 50% of these 'fines' are paid quickly by people who dont know better. A further number weaken and pay under the string of threats - and even pay the increased amounts for fear they will go even higher. All without any legal basis!

 

I wish I could make money like that AND sleep soundly at nights.

 

When you think about it the only way these companies can make a profit is from the "parking charge notices" they issue. For a start they don't usually charge a fee to the landowner for looking after the car-park, and they won't make enough money from P&D tickets ( even if they have them) . So it's in their interest to frighten people into paying up by sending out the scary-looking letters.

 

 

So the store don't even have to pay at all, usually?

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So the store don't even have to pay at all, usually?

 

Not usually. Sometimes on small car-parks (where the landowner actually "self tickets") the PPC even pays a £10 "finders fee" for each ticket issued.

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Not usually. Sometimes on small car-parks (where the landowner actually "self tickets") the PPC even pays a £10 "finders fee" for each ticket issued.

 

Oh, wow. I feel kinda guilty for these poor guys now. :(

 

Anyways, thanks for all the help you all. I'll get back to yas if I have any more concerns. I'll keep yous updated too.

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