received a fine when parking permit flipped over in wind - where do i stand?

[t3rm3y]

i parked in sussex house car park in crawley (where the old bowling alley used to be) i brought a ticket, checked it was postioned correctly when shut door as was a windy day, my partner then opened her door to get handbag and i suspect the ticket flipped over in the wind (sods law)

came back to car to find a £100 fine, or £75 if pay witin 7 days.

 

I believe its a private car park. i will try to attach the fine notice.

 

Where do i stand though? i read of people ignoring private fines and all i good, others try to challenge and makes the car park owner become more persistant and chase more - if i ignore it and it goes to court will i 100% get out of any costs due to having the correct ticket?(the fine does state the ticket was "incorrectly displayed" - is this their way of covering themselves and saying i received the fine due to not displaying a valid ticket correctly? (i can appreciaete that some may try this tactic on old tickets)

should i just send a copy in and challenge the fine?

should i dump my girlfriend and make her pay?

[DBC]

If it is a private company then you don't have to pay. By the way, this is not a "fine", it's an invoice. Could you tell us the name of the parking company. That would be very helpful.

Edited June 19, 2012 by DBC

[Conniff]

You have already received all the information you require in your other parking ticket threads, read through them again - all the information you need is here in thousands of forums.

[t3rm3y]

conniff, i have read a number of threads, i did belive this was the case, i just wanted to confirm, its all good reading a generalised thread, but for peace of mind i wanted to confirm mine was a private car park, i wouldnt have wanted to receive a court summons, or biger fine for ignoring a council issued fine..

 

the company is premier parking solutions, (PPS)

i cant attached the photo as its on my phone, but if you guys are sure all can be ignored, please feel free to confirm and delete this thread.

[Conniff]

If you put Premier Parking Solutions into the search box top right, you will get a couple of pages of threads about them.

[sailor sam]

I can confirm that Premier Parking Solutions have no more legal powers than you or I do. They have issued you with a charge which can be argued that in fact is a penalty for not displaying your ticket. No private concern can issue penalties and recover them via legal proceedings under current laws. If they took you to court, it would get thrown out at the first hearing.

 

However, what they can claim is 'losses or damages'. But as you have paid and can provide proof, they have no losses to claim. So we are left with a contractual agreement which you have broken by not displaying the ticket correctly. The 'invoice' (charge notice) can only be issued to the person entering the contract (the driver). Seeing as they have no way of knowing who that is (not necessarily the RK) and you have no legal obligation to tell them who was driving, how are they going to proceed?

 

Up the creek without any paddles spring to mind. All they can hope for is that you cave in to their intimidating letters.

[t3rm3y]

ok, brilliant, thanks guys, and conniff, sorry i should have searched the forum for Premier Parking Solutions first. I will ignore buy keep all the letters safe.

[Conniff]

No problem, always keep all letters and receipts from anyone for at least 12 months.

[micheller1967]

Earlier this year I parked in the car park off Southerhay in Exeter & my ticket must have got caught by the wind & got stuck at the front of the dashboard - still visible though if you looked properly. I returned to the car to a £100 parking charge which I appealed against & sent a photocopy of the ticket & a photo of it on the dashboard. I received a letter back stating 'you were not displaying a valid pay & display ticket & I therefore uphold our operative's decision to issue this parking charge notice.' I took the advice given on this forum & ignored all further correspondence from them. So far I've had a further 4 letters - first offering to reduce the fine to £75 if I paid by a certain date, then putting it up to £130 & then threatening me with a visit from a debt collector & saying that they'll take me to court. I've continued to ignore them & haven't heard from them for a couple of months now. Hopefully that's the end of it but I will continue to ignore them if I hear from them again however threatening they get!