Parking ticket at service station

[S11Steve]

MikeGoodwin said:

Oh and FYI operators like Parking Eye do actually pursue this and take people to court all the time, they can if they want take you to court. So put some time into your appeal and defeat them through POPLA. Unless they are IPC/IAS then appeal and ignore once they have declined your appeal. Debt collector letters are all fake, all you need to look for is a letter before court.

Generally correct, however in Scotland & Northern Ireland the driver and keeper are quite safe to ignore these as long as they do not reveal who the driver was.

There have been a few cases in Scotland, but only where the parking company has proof of the driver, usually when they write in with an appeal and say something like "I only parked there for a few minutes".

I'm getting to the stage now with POPLA appeals that only a few PPC's will challenge me, most will just send a notice of cancellation. That said, Gladstones are earning a few quid from various IPC parking companies who want to challenge me in court. I let them issue the claim, but then either get the landowner to cancel or a submit a defence with a dozen points, each one enough to overturn the claim. I've received two notice of discontinuance in the last month.

This seems to suitably annoy the parking company and Gladstones will still be charging them for the various fees.

[simoncrowe]

A friend of mine successfully overturned one of these parking fines at a service station recently. He stayed longer than the 2 hours as he was tired so pulled over for a sleep. He is a pilot and had just returned from a trip to Heathrow. He then drove up to see his family in the north. He received the notice of the fine in the post. He wrote a letter of defence that as it was night time he hadn't seen the signs as they were not suitably lit. In his defence he also included the Oxford English Dictionary defenition of parking as stopping your vehicle and leaving it unattended. He claimed that as he hadn't left his car as he had slept in it then he had not 'parked' his car and cannot be fined for parking.

He received a letter stating that the fine had increased as he had not paid on time. He wrote a letter back stating that they must not have understood his previous letter and if they continue to send him letters he will charge them £25 for every reply. He then received a letter saying they were discontinuing the claim against him. Victory!

[BrownBottle]

Thanks for all the advice.

General consensus seems to be ok to ignore in Scotland. I spoke to a few friends today who suggested the same and some had done so themselves on more than one occasion.

[Steff1965]

MikeGoodwin said:

Is it a private parking firm - assuming it is. if so then who, and under what 'association' do they operate - itll either be BPA or IPC

If its BPA then appeal as you can go through POPLA using internet advice over on MSE parking fine forums. Ive defeated 20 through that (even though the new POPLA). They (the private parking company) will naturally decline your initial appeal but provide a POPLA code (so long as you asked for it) and then you can appeal through POPLA and easily get it overturned.

If its IPC then youll have to appeal through IAS but they will decline your appeal no matter what as they are a kangaroo court, be aware IAS/IPC is run by the operaters themselves. IMO its worth just appealing anyway and then ignoring any st from thereout.

Head over to MSE parking fine forums. Its a simple process to go through trust me.

POPLA doesn't apply in Scotland which is where the OP got the ticket

[Steff1965]

Neonblau said:

MikeGoodwin said:

Oh and FYI operators like Parking Eye do actually pursue this and take people to court all the time, they can if they want take you to court. So put some time into your appeal and defeat them through POPLA. Unless they are IPC/IAS then appeal and ignore once they have declined your appeal. Debt collector letters are all fake, all you need to look for is a letter before court.

In Scotland? Show me a successful court case.

I will even settle for an unsuccessful one by parking eye in Scotland