Fine for parking at motorway services

[Mr Taxpayer]

mehball said:

bad company said:

No. Private firms can't just clamp or tow any more -

http://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/news-and-events/bl...

Correct but debt collection companies and high court sheriffs can to recoup monies owed.

High COurt Sheriffs can tow, that's true. But they are also appointed by the High Court to recover court approved debts. So the OP would have had to have been successfully sued by the parking company AND not paid the debt to worry about that line.

IMHO, ignore all the CP Plus letters. Or do what I did with Parking Eye... I acknowledged being the vehicle keeper but explained that their parking contract was with the driver and that for me to identify the driver would involve them having to pay me a £75 admin fee. They initially told me they wouldn't do that but, when I pointed out that their continued communication with me constituted a legally binding contract as laid out in the T & C's of my original email to them, they STFU and left me alone.

[anonymous-user]

SnailTrail said:

megapixels83 said:

Shame clamping was stopped in my opinion. If you cannot read a sign and park in accordance with the landowners rules then tough luck. I fail to see an arguement.

I parked my car in the corner of a quiet car park at a motorway service station some private land which I (foolishly, I will admit) didn't realise had a maximum stay limit. But does that really deserve my car to be clamped/towed? I will have caused minimal disruption to anybody, if even any at all.
It's not as if I've commited a serious criminal offence or anything here, killed someone or something.

I suppose if people stay in a NCP car park with 15 minutes free parking and stay for 20 they may be charged.

It may not be a criminal offence, the parking charges are/were used to deter peetakers ? but the fallout catches others like commuters who leave their cars on MSA's whilst commuting for the day/going on holiday/changing a mates engine etc,etc

In the old days before Technology grew up, i'e ANPR these sort of places used to have a man in a van rightly or wrongly ticketing or clamping people.

People didn't like that so the law was changed, now people don't like that and the landowners less so ? So a lose/lose situation ??

[silverfoxcc]

To the OP

Register on Pepipoo.om
Put this in the private parking section
follow the advice to the letter ( Gan, Schoolrunmum, hcandersen) are the ones to listen to, amongst others you will get to know.
DO NOT contact the firm who wants you to pay what is in effect an invoice, it is NOT a fine
Do NOT tell them at all cost who wa driving UNLESS it is a firms car and th company will dock you money, or a hire or leae vehicle ditto, THEN DO contact them and tell the company/ hire etc not to pay anything to thee parking firm.By following this advice you will IN England and Wales WIN under the GPEOL route and force to firm to pay POPLA 27 pounds, if its your car sit tight and let the vermin pay another £2.50 to DVLA for your details
In Scotland just tell them to contct the driver and not bother you again, ?ANDalso you ar under no obligation legal or otherwise to give them that information.
These operate by smaoke and mirrors, whilst i agree with an overpayment charge ho they can justify £100.00 loss in a FREE car park beats me. If it was afiver i would pay up no probs

So Get onto pepipoo.com ASAP

[anonymous-user]

silverfoxcc said:

These operate by smaoke and mirrors, whilst i agree with an overpayment charge ho they can justify £100.00 loss in a FREE car park beats me. If it was afiver i would pay up no probs

It's not free http://www.roadchef.com/pdf/parking/parking-charge...

It's £12 to the OP, As to the "collection charge" who know's ??

[SeanyD]

Ignore it. You'll get half a dozen letters in the post for a few month - very kind - great for the kids to scribble on, followed by NOTHING.

[stuttgartmetal]

Im surprised no ones sugeested collecting dog turds in a padded envelope, and sending it to their return address.

So.......

Collect a load of dog turds, nice wet ones.
Put them in a padded envelope, the bigger the better.

Then post this to their return address.

You've no obligation to give a refernce number, or even leave your name, or attach correspondence if you follow this route.

[Targarama]

stuttgartmetal said:

Im surprised no ones sugeested collecting dog turds in a padded envelope, and sending it to their return address.

So.......

Collect a load of dog turds, nice wet ones.
Put them in a padded envelope, the bigger the better.

Then post this to their return address.

You've no obligation to give a refernce number, or even leave your name, or attach correspondence if you follow this route.

Don't lick the envelope...

[Red Devil]

mehball said:

No we don't have a clue how different Scotland is and none of us really care.

It is unusual for my ire to be provoked enough for me to make a riposte, but I'll make an exception in your case. Your 'Little Englander' attitude does you no credit. And since when did you become the self-appointed spokesperson for the entire readership of this forum?

mehball said:

The vast majority of posts on the page refer to England and the vast majority of posters are English.

So what? A slew of irrelevant posts because people can't be bothered to read means diddly squat. Even if they don't know where Bothwell services is, the M74 reference is a rather big clue. The OP was asking a question where the L in SP&L is of crucial relevance, therefore Scottish law is what matters. English ignorance thereof doesn't help him at all.

Lost soul said:

I know all about CP-Plus

Good for you. But your experience is of little relevance to the OP in a different country. And that's the bit that everyone forgets. The UK comprises four of them. A fair chunk of NI legislation also differs from that in E&W.

Some people need to wise up. PoFA 2012 RK liability applies only to E&W. There are 4 possible private parking scenarios in the UK (the OP is #2): for an understanding of the position, see here - http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/scotland-and-north...

Nobody in Ireland should be complacent. They should be aware that the BPA & IPA are jointly lobbying hard for RK liability to be introduced throughout the island - http://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/Li...

Lost soul said:

Calm down luv , he may well be in Scotland but if the landowners employ CP+ to police their land , fine my all means ignore the fine get a CCJ or what ever , its his credit rating not mine

Luv? Steady on now, I'm not your toy boy.

Sheesh, you really aren't getting it are you? CP Plus can only recover from the driver in Scotland because there is no RK liability. If he doesn't engage and give up a name what are CP Plus going to do? It's simply not economic to pursue when there are plenty of the ill informed who will happily respond to (idle) threats.

And what is this bs about the fine? Only a court can impose one. As you have acknowledged by referring to a CCJ, a PPC ticket is a civil matter and CP Plus would be seeking to collect a debt. Given the absence of RK liability, I would be interested in your explanation of how it could succeed in a claim against the OP. Even if in the unlikely event of it taking him to court and winning, the OP would be plain daft if he then refused to pay thus risking enforcement action. So the chances of judgement would be remote.

Btw, no such thing as a CCJ in Scotland because there are no County Courts there - http://www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/Upload/Images...
The action would be heard in a Sheriff Court and what follows is a Decree - http://business.scotland.gov.uk/view/guide/sheriff...
It is entered on a separate Register from that in E&W - http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/frequen...

Mr Taxpayer said:

mehball said:

bad company said:

No. Private firms can't just clamp or tow any more -

http://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/news-and-events/bl...

Correct but debt collection companies and high court sheriffs can to recoup monies owed.

High COurt Sheriffs can tow, that's true. But they are also appointed by the High Court to recover court approved debts. So the OP would have had to have been successfully sued by the parking company AND not paid the debt to worry about that line.

Quite, but the chances of that happening are minuscule. Even if he were, a HCEO (Sheriff is a colloquial misnomer here) would NOT be involved. As the name implies, a HCEO is an officer of the High Court in England & Wales. No power to act against the OP in Scotland.

Mr Taxpayer said:

IMHO, ignore all the CP Plus letters. Or do what I did with Parking Eye... I acknowledged being the vehicle keeper but explained that their parking contract was with the driver and that for me to identify the driver would involve them having to pay me a £75 admin fee. They initially told me they wouldn't do that but, when I pointed out that their continued communication with me constituted a legally binding contract as laid out in the T & C's of my original email to them, they STFU and left me alone.

silverfoxcc said:

In Scotland just tell them to contact the driver and not bother you again

It's a judgement call for the OP whether or not to engage. If so, then the above is the correct Foxtrot Oscar response.

It's like herding cats at times on this board. Thread drift is a real problem and can be a headache for posters asking for answers, especially on issues of law in SP&L. I expect those who want to continue the debate about tickets received in E&W will carry on posting stuff which is irrelevant to the OP's query.

[George111]

Black_S3 said:

Hate to sound like the boring scare monger but for the sake of £50 I'd just pay it. I imagine the company that has the contract for this service station also has the contract for others. While there may be fk all they can do to collect this £50 from you they may well have a policy along the lines of on the spot towing of cars with outstanding debts to them from any of the service stations they manage. If the worst was to happen you can guarantee it wouldn't be at a convenient time.

Do you work for said company ?

They can't do that, it's all bks, chancers out for a quick buck.

[Black_S3]

hornetrider said:

Yeah I may be completely wrong - you seam to know your stuff but it's still worth pointing out that there is a chance just ignoring it will cause you more grief than it's worth for the sake of £50.

[A57 HSV]

I'd follow the advice on Pepipoo, as already suggested. There's also the option of paying £16 to have the invoice cancelled, with the majority of the work done for you:
http://www.parkingticketappeals.org.uk

Haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if this has already been suggested.

[numtumfutunch]

Lost soul said:

Fast forward to last week and a debt collection agency onto me for payment + added costs , phoned them and the muppet then checked CP-plus website and saw they had made a mistake , received email once again telling me how sorry they are for the mistake , now I await a CCJ through the post

No expert on these matters but this does seem to follow the usual pattern and the debt collector is often registered at the same address as the parking company, although they may have got a bit smarter these days.............

What interests me is when driving through the night the matrix signs often tell me that tiredness kills and to take a break, a rigidly enforced 2h at the services in the middle of the night does not support this course of action

[Lost soul]

numtumfutunch said:

What interests me is when driving through the night the matrix signs often tell me that tiredness kills and to take a break, a rigidly enforced 2h at the services in the middle of the night does not support this course of action

[Mr Taxpayer]

SAw this earlier. A Law graduate is trying to start a case to challenge the 1.5 million of these invoices issued as they do not represent a true loss to the business. Could be the biggest class action in UK legal history.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance...

www.challengethefine.com

[anonymous-user]

Lost soul said:

numtumfutunch said:

What interests me is when driving through the night the matrix signs often tell me that tiredness kills and to take a break, a rigidly enforced 2h at the services in the middle of the night does not support this course of action

You missed the bit how does a 15 minute break last over 2 hours ?
http://think.direct.gov.uk/fatigue.html

You keep reading on here and elsewhere "i drove 400 miles and was tired so pulled over and fell asleep" usually about 2 miles from home and after having driven past dozens of service area's or other places to park.

Anyway as the OP states he wasn't using the service area for it's intended purpose more of a 2because it's convenient for me" type approach.