OPC Parking ticket

[Bluebass86]

Hi

 

I got an OPC parking ticket back in December for blocking the road of a private estate (back of a shopping centre that has flats on the top) I was annoyed but in the end I decided it was my fault so I payed the £50.

 

In February i was parked in the same private parking area only this time in one of the bays provided (I would also like to point out that i used to park in this place everyday for 3 years when i worked in the shopping centre and never got a ticket) and I got another ticket! i looked around and no other cars parked like me or the ones blocking the street had tickets. I looked around for the OPC sign and it was opposite the exit road so I never saw it until i went looking.

 

I decided to ignore this ticket after reading some forums and legal pages. This morning i found a letter from them demanding payment of £100 immediately or they will take legal action!

 

Should I bite the bullet and pay this as I do not have money to cover any additional legal costs they are threatening?

 

Thanks

[dpick]

Hi standard advise is to ignore, I have had one of these so call parking tickets from Parking EYE a similar set of ******** as OPC I just got a total of 6 begging letters then peace and quiet.

 

dpick

[SURFBOY]

Just ignore it.

[BankFodder]

Keep all documents and take pictures of the car park and the signage.

 

In particular take pictures of the entrance showing that there is no sign there

[Tony P]

They cannot issue Fines - only Courts can do that.

They cannot issue Penalties - only Police and Local Authorities can do that.

 

So, what can they do?

 

They could try to claim breach of contract or trespass.

For that thay can only claim their actual Losses. Anything above that will be construed as a Penalty and the Court will reject that. A claim that increases if you delay payment further confirms it is purely a Penalty, which they cannot impose!

So they can only be awarded their losses. Their losses from your car being in a free car park is, errr... NIL!

 

Their other major difficulty is knowing who to Claim from - this can only be the Driver. There is no legal obligation of the Registered Keeper to tell anyone who was the Driver except to the Police and Local Authorities.

 

Despite all the above they will issue many treats of everything up to public flogging to try to frighten you into paying them. Red ink too!

I G N O R E.

 

Come back here for a pep talk if weakening.

[Bluebass86]

Well it has been 4 months and I thought that OPC had forgotten about me as I followed the forums advice and ignored them, but i now have a 2nd letter. Which actually says they have sent "repeated requests" but this is only the 2nd letter.

 

I have now received a final warning and they have forwarded the matter onto their "Legal Department" and I have 7 days to pay or they will issue a "County Court Action" against me.

 

This letter has got me pretty rattled as my luck has not been great as of late and I just feel like this could be the next thing.

 

Should I call them and tell them to go away of what?

Not greatly confident on my legal position here.

 

Thanks

 

BB86

[DBC]

"legal department" = next desk along in the wooden hut. Just the usual and meaningless scare tactics. Keep ignoring.

[havinastella]

Are you sure it says 'WILL' and not 'may'

 

Anyway ignore!

[SURFBOY]

Eh, post back in 7 days and tell us what the court claim says!:roll:

I bet you dont get any court claim!

Anyone care to take that bet ?

[Bluebass86]

It says "Will"

 

"We will have no alternative but to issue county court action against you to recover the above, together with accrued interest and court costs"

[SURFBOY]

If i sent you a letter asking for £50 , would you pay me ?

If i said i WILL take you to court in 7 days, would you pay me ?

If you would can i have your address?

If you wouldnt , can you tell me why?

[pixie94]

If i sent you a letter asking for £50 , would you pay me ?

If i said i WILL take you to court in 7 days, would you pay me ?

If you would can i have your address?

If you wouldnt , can you tell me why?

 

how did this case end - or has it. My partner has today recieved a fine letter from OPC . We are not sure wether to ignore it or not. Our firt reaction was to ignore?

[DBC]

For a start it's not a FINE, and I imagine OPC took no further action.

[Sillywizard]

For a start it's not a FINE, and I imagine OPC took no further action.

 

Maybe Pixie was complimenting the quality of the letter

 

There have been hundreds of thousands of these invoices/begging letters/Santa notes left on cars and I was under the genuine impression that no one falls for it any more until my eyes were opened a bit by CAG. I do remember trawling a few years ago for court cases and finding 1 (to avoid any doubt, I found a single case) where the parking company had successfully pursued an action in Newcastle but I've since learned that the prevailing theory in relation to this case was that the defendant was a possible shill.

 

Years ago I used to get into arguments and send off letters to DVLA, Trading Standards, OFT, CEOs and anyone else I could think of when I got any of these, but the day I learned that one of the larger company's acting solicitor firms, Graham White solicitors, only had one solicitor who was a retired housing lawyer from (I believe) Hackney council, I stopped taking anything they said or wrote seriously and started having fun with them instead. My favourite pastime was to let them phone me and then repeat the last word of every sentence they said until they got annoyed and hung up but sometimes I just enjoyed general chat as well. Happy days..

 

Anyway, if you're not looking for any harmless hobby to while away the hours it's safe to ignore the letters. There is no fine, there is no penalty, there are some bits of paper which a company is trying to sell you for £50.00. You can get more for your money elsewhere, would be my view.

[Bluebass86]

Got a final warning latter saying they were going to take me to court if i didn't pay £100 in the next 7 days.

Ignored it

a few months later got another letter sating I could pay £90 and that it was a last chance offer.

have ignored it again and not heard anything for the last month or so.

 

So technically it is still ongoing but I will let people here know if I do end up going to court but it does look very unlikely.

[ericsbrother]

This thread is from before the enactment of the PoFA in Oct 2012 so do not rely on the advice given in it. The law is very different in what can be done.

[dx100uk]

Closed as requested