Private Parking - Change in Legislation?

[Anubis1275]

Good morning, been a visitor to this site for some time as I handle all parking tickets issued against my company vehicles, thought I'd join in officially. 99% of private charges issued against us are for overstaying the free parking at McDonalds and motorway service stations.

 

Until now we have successfully batted off all private land parking charges using all methods outlined in various threads on this site, however, there was a change in legislation on 05 Oct giving the car park operators the right to chase the Registered Keeper for monies owed if we cannot or will not name the driver? As such can any one tell me where we, Registered Keepers, now stand legally - do these private charges now actually carry any weight. There is no way my company will pass on driver details but also have no intention of accepting the charges as an operational expense.

 

Thank you very much

Edited November 23, 2012 by Anubis1275
Spellling mistake

[DBC]

The new law changes nothing. The so-called charges still don't reflect the actual loss suffered by the landowner, and so can be regarded as illegal penalties. Even the BPA says that only a genuine pre-estimate of loss can be claimed. But they do say that it can "be up to £100". So most PPCs are taking that figure as the one they can claim, even though that's not the true loss.

[Anubis1275]

Thanks DBC, most appreciated. The company can get a bit twitchy over these things. We have just received our first letter from Graham White solicitors re one charge and a call from Debt Recovery Plus about another charge - I don't think they like us invoicing them for admin costs! Standing firm.

 

Regards

[lamma]

Read this carefully, parts of of it are subtle and demand attention. http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/guidance-unpaid-parking-charges/guidance-unpaid-parking-charges.pdf

[Anubis1275]

Many thanks lamma. My management/finance decision makers maintain that nothing has changed since the 01 Oct really. I have forwarded them a copy of the pdf for reference as it does need to be read carefully.

 

Thank you again.