Parking Ticket....
Discussion
Was at centertainment in sheffield. A place with a car park far too small for the amount of people that visit the complex. There was cars parked on double yellows, on grass verges, on kerbs all over the place (typical saturday night) and id been searching for a space for about 10 minutes.
There was a stretch of spaces all occupied, but in this stretch there was a small fenced off area that took up about 3/4 of 2 spaces side by side. The quarter of these two spaces left werent occupied, so i decided to park in it. Only having a small yaris it fitted easily. There were no 'dont park here signs' anywhere and from where i was, i couldnt see any sign that stated the parking rules or regulations so as far as i was concerned, i was okay.
Came back to find a f
king ticket on the windscreen.
Is there anything i can do? or do i have to just pay the extortionate £80.00 fine? Really feel i didnt park in a way that justified a fine.
There was a stretch of spaces all occupied, but in this stretch there was a small fenced off area that took up about 3/4 of 2 spaces side by side. The quarter of these two spaces left werent occupied, so i decided to park in it. Only having a small yaris it fitted easily. There were no 'dont park here signs' anywhere and from where i was, i couldnt see any sign that stated the parking rules or regulations so as far as i was concerned, i was okay.
Came back to find a f
king ticket on the windscreen. Is there anything i can do? or do i have to just pay the extortionate £80.00 fine? Really feel i didnt park in a way that justified a fine.
davepoth said:
Is the ticket from a council, or a private parking company? If it's a private parking company, stick it in a drawer and ignore any letters the company sends you. Private tickets have no basis in law.
Its from a limited company called vehicle control services. Doesnt say anything about the council on it. Is it worth sending them an email? or just completely ignoring it? Jandywa said:
davepoth said:
Is the ticket from a council, or a private parking company? If it's a private parking company, stick it in a drawer and ignore any letters the company sends you. Private tickets have no basis in law.
Its from a limited company called vehicle control services. Doesnt say anything about the council on it. Is it worth sending them an email? or just completely ignoring it? Apparently there's some info about this on Martin Lewis' website. Apparently their tickets are not completely legal so they will never take you to court for fear of creating a legal precedent against their way of working. You have several options: You can either
1. Ignore it;
2. send them a letter denying all knowlegdge of being there (someone could have borrowed your car - could have been anyone in the family/office!!);
3. Send them a 'nominal' fee of, say, £10 in final settlement to cover their 'reasonable costs', or:
4. Suggest they take you to court.
1. Ignore it;
2. send them a letter denying all knowlegdge of being there (someone could have borrowed your car - could have been anyone in the family/office!!);
3. Send them a 'nominal' fee of, say, £10 in final settlement to cover their 'reasonable costs', or:
4. Suggest they take you to court.
cpas said:
Apparently there's some info about this on Martin Lewis' website. Apparently their tickets are not completely legal so they will never take you to court for fear of creating a legal precedent against their way of working. You have several options: You can either
1. Ignore it;
2. send them a letter denying all knowlegdge of being there (someone could have borrowed your car - could have been anyone in the family/office!!);
3. Send them a 'nominal' fee of, say, £10 in final settlement to cover their 'reasonable costs', or:
4. Suggest they take you to court.
options 2,3 + 4 would be very very stupid.1. Ignore it;
2. send them a letter denying all knowlegdge of being there (someone could have borrowed your car - could have been anyone in the family/office!!);
3. Send them a 'nominal' fee of, say, £10 in final settlement to cover their 'reasonable costs', or:
4. Suggest they take you to court.
ignore.
Efbe said:
cpas said:
Apparently there's some info about this on Martin Lewis' website. Apparently their tickets are not completely legal so they will never take you to court for fear of creating a legal precedent against their way of working. You have several options: You can either
1. Ignore it;
2. send them a letter denying all knowlegdge of being there (someone could have borrowed your car - could have been anyone in the family/office!!);
3. Send them a 'nominal' fee of, say, £10 in final settlement to cover their 'reasonable costs', or:
4. Suggest they take you to court.
options 2,3 + 4 would be very very stupid.1. Ignore it;
2. send them a letter denying all knowlegdge of being there (someone could have borrowed your car - could have been anyone in the family/office!!);
3. Send them a 'nominal' fee of, say, £10 in final settlement to cover their 'reasonable costs', or:
4. Suggest they take you to court.
ignore.
Some people don't have the nerve to just ignore it and would prefer to make some sort of feedback.
They do a good job of writing these things up in a way to show authority and look like a genuine legal thing, fortunately more people are becoming wiser to it now but theres still people out there who will panic and pay instantly. There's a chap i work with who is 15 years older than me who had no idea about this until the other day when he was mentioning some nearby car parks huge fines and i said 'its a private car park you dont have to pay it' and he didnt believe me and went off and looked it up on the internet.
What is quite funny is how an hours parking can be, lets say £5 or whatever, but a 15 minute overstay is £80. So thats 8.3pence a minute on normal rate to park there but £5.33 a minute if you overstay?
Thats a hike of 6430% the moment you run over your time
Even these short term loan shark type companies you see advertising on daytime telly would look at that and go 'fk...that!'
What is quite funny is how an hours parking can be, lets say £5 or whatever, but a 15 minute overstay is £80. So thats 8.3pence a minute on normal rate to park there but £5.33 a minute if you overstay?
Thats a hike of 6430% the moment you run over your time
Even these short term loan shark type companies you see advertising on daytime telly would look at that and go 'f
k...that!'cpas said:
Thanks - I love being called stupid!!!
Some people don't have the nerve to just ignore it and would prefer to make some sort of feedback.
apologies, I didn't mean you were stupid, just the suggestions Some people don't have the nerve to just ignore it and would prefer to make some sort of feedback.
really... if you enter into any correspondence whatsoever they in a court of law you ma well be admitting to being involved and so have just strengthened the case against you 10 fold.
along with this, it allows them to know they have your correct info/address so will keep on chasing you for the money.
Jandywa said:
Was at centertainment in sheffield. A place with a car park far too small for the amount of people that visit the complex. There was cars parked on double yellows, on grass verges, on kerbs all over the place (typical saturday night) and id been searching for a space for about 10 minutes.
There was a stretch of spaces all occupied, but in this stretch there was a small fenced off area that took up about 3/4 of 2 spaces side by side. The quarter of these two spaces left werent occupied, so i decided to park in it. Only having a small yaris it fitted easily. There were no 'dont park here signs' anywhere and from where i was, i couldnt see any sign that stated the parking rules or regulations so as far as i was concerned, i was okay.
Came back to find a fking ticket on the windscreen.
Is there anything i can do? or do i have to just pay the extortionate £80.00 fine? Really feel i didnt park in a way that justified a fine.
How did you manage to park there if it was fenced off?There was a stretch of spaces all occupied, but in this stretch there was a small fenced off area that took up about 3/4 of 2 spaces side by side. The quarter of these two spaces left werent occupied, so i decided to park in it. Only having a small yaris it fitted easily. There were no 'dont park here signs' anywhere and from where i was, i couldnt see any sign that stated the parking rules or regulations so as far as i was concerned, i was okay.
Came back to find a f
king ticket on the windscreen. Is there anything i can do? or do i have to just pay the extortionate £80.00 fine? Really feel i didnt park in a way that justified a fine.
herewego said:
How did you manage to park there if it was fenced off?
There was a fenced off 'area' that took over about 1/2 of the length of 2 spaces. the half left of the two i parked in lengthways. i assumed as there were still painted parking bay lines i could legitimately park there. Were no signs saying do not park here. I couldnt even see any signs informing me of the possible fines. i was only going to be an hour so thought i would be fine. I was not blocking access or anybody in. 
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