Discussion
Chaps,
It transpires I visited a mate on the 7th November, parked in his alotted parking space with his permission.
This morning a parking contravention from UK Parking Control arrives showing a picture of the back of my car, how my parking was unauthorised and how I now must pay £170 to avoid debt collectors.
The enforcement notice is dated 30/11/2005 so a full 23 days after the alledged 'offence'.
Now they mentioned to my mate that there would be permits coming although they'd not sent them to him by the 7th and still havent to today. I was parked in his space with his authorisation. The picture doesnt show the dash, its taken at night and it barely shows the registration although I think it may if the original was larger.
So, I now want to have a bit of fun with these buggers.
Does the 14 day serving thing apply to commercially issued parking tickets?
Are UK Parking Control one of the known parking sharks?
If I dispute it and they disagree what happens next? Surely they cant just issue the bailiffs, its not like its the taxman...
Grrr
It transpires I visited a mate on the 7th November, parked in his alotted parking space with his permission.
This morning a parking contravention from UK Parking Control arrives showing a picture of the back of my car, how my parking was unauthorised and how I now must pay £170 to avoid debt collectors.
The enforcement notice is dated 30/11/2005 so a full 23 days after the alledged 'offence'.
Now they mentioned to my mate that there would be permits coming although they'd not sent them to him by the 7th and still havent to today. I was parked in his space with his authorisation. The picture doesnt show the dash, its taken at night and it barely shows the registration although I think it may if the original was larger.
So, I now want to have a bit of fun with these buggers.
Does the 14 day serving thing apply to commercially issued parking tickets?
Are UK Parking Control one of the known parking sharks?
If I dispute it and they disagree what happens next? Surely they cant just issue the bailiffs, its not like its the taxman...
Grrr
Sounds dodgy. Were there any signs about "permit only" parking? You say your mate hasn't had permits issued - why has he not been ticketed.
I would definately consider fighting it. Especially as the first you heard of it was the £170 fine. Where was the initial ticket for the standard parking fine? There is no way the standard fee is that much.
I'm fairly sure they can send in the bailifs though.
I would definately consider fighting it. Especially as the first you heard of it was the £170 fine. Where was the initial ticket for the standard parking fine? There is no way the standard fee is that much.
I'm fairly sure they can send in the bailifs though.
Plotloss said:
Have a Google on the bill of rights.
'Kin hellfire.
Is that done and dusted then, pre court fines are out of the window?
It's all a bit up in the air at the moment, but you'll notice the word fine is rapidly getting dropped from anything official. I have a feeling they'll try and pull a flanker and weasel out of it, but the legal arguement seems solid.
He doesnt have a car, hence the space is always free and I use it regularly.
I was NOT ticketed at the time, this is the first I have heard about it.
There is a wall board and he did recieve a letter saying that UK Parking Control were going to be issuing permits although to this day they have not arrived.
There is no address other than a PO Box, there is no regulatory information, you cannot contact them by phone other than an automated payment system.
The more I look at it, the more annoyed I become.
I was NOT ticketed at the time, this is the first I have heard about it.
There is a wall board and he did recieve a letter saying that UK Parking Control were going to be issuing permits although to this day they have not arrived.
There is no address other than a PO Box, there is no regulatory information, you cannot contact them by phone other than an automated payment system.
The more I look at it, the more annoyed I become.
Why not:
1. Get a letter from your friend pointing out that he fully authorised your parking in his allocated space and that no permits had been issued so one could not be displayed. Send this to them with the following.
2. Quote the appropriate section from the 'Bill of Rights'.
3. Tell them that unless you hear from them within 5 days that this matter is dropped you will proceed against them for 'Demanding Money With Menaces' (i.e. the threat of a bailiff).
If that does not put them back in their box, ask a solicitor to act for you and really go for them.
1. Get a letter from your friend pointing out that he fully authorised your parking in his allocated space and that no permits had been issued so one could not be displayed. Send this to them with the following.
2. Quote the appropriate section from the 'Bill of Rights'.
3. Tell them that unless you hear from them within 5 days that this matter is dropped you will proceed against them for 'Demanding Money With Menaces' (i.e. the threat of a bailiff).
If that does not put them back in their box, ask a solicitor to act for you and really go for them.
Why does the Bill of Rights apply? Surely all they are doing is enforcing the charge for parking on that bit of land?
Presumably there are 2 charging structures. If you are a resident or bona fide visitor then the parking charge is £0. For anyone else then the charge is £170.
In this case you are a bona fide visitor and therefore should just need to write to them confirming that resident so and so gave you permission to park in his allocated space.
The problem with all this row about this type of operation is that what happens in genuinue cases where illegal parkers are a pain in the arse.
I run a community hall which has its own car park. Customers and indeed mechanics from a nearby garage park their cars in it. This means bona fide users of my hall then complain as there are no spaces left for them. Locking the car park is not an option due to the number of different users who use the hall.
So I am very tempted to use one of these sort of companies, although more tempted by Parksure where a ticket is issued to the car when it is parked.
If it wasn't for idle skinflints who either can't be bothered to walk from an authorised car park, or pay to park in an authorised car park who are causing problems for the rest of us.
By parking illegally they are causing problems for the rest of us, and effectively encouraging the creation of these scam companies
Presumably there are 2 charging structures. If you are a resident or bona fide visitor then the parking charge is £0. For anyone else then the charge is £170.
In this case you are a bona fide visitor and therefore should just need to write to them confirming that resident so and so gave you permission to park in his allocated space.
The problem with all this row about this type of operation is that what happens in genuinue cases where illegal parkers are a pain in the arse.
I run a community hall which has its own car park. Customers and indeed mechanics from a nearby garage park their cars in it. This means bona fide users of my hall then complain as there are no spaces left for them. Locking the car park is not an option due to the number of different users who use the hall.
So I am very tempted to use one of these sort of companies, although more tempted by Parksure where a ticket is issued to the car when it is parked.
If it wasn't for idle skinflints who either can't be bothered to walk from an authorised car park, or pay to park in an authorised car park who are causing problems for the rest of us.
By parking illegally they are causing problems for the rest of us, and effectively encouraging the creation of these scam companies
There's been a few threads on this in the past - especially concerning the Apex Plaza building next to Reading Station.
The only thing they can do is drag you to the small claims court - but that's not even 100% guarenteed to bring them money.
Just have some fun with them and string them along
The only thing they can do is drag you to the small claims court - but that's not even 100% guarenteed to bring them money.
Just have some fun with them and string them along
chrisgr31 said:
I run a community hall which has its own car park. Customers and indeed mechanics from a nearby garage park their cars in it. This means bona fide users of my hall then complain as there are no spaces left for them. Locking the car park is not an option due to the number of different users who use the hall.
So I am very tempted to use one of these sort of companies, although more tempted by Parksure where a ticket is issued to the car when it is parked.
I feel your pain, but do the bona fide users of your hall have some kind of permit to display? If not, how would the parking nazis differentiate your punters from those of the garage?
pdV6 said:
I feel your pain, but do the bona fide users of your hall have some kind of permit to display? If not, how would the parking nazis differentiate your punters from those of the garage?
Thats the advantage of the Parksure system. The blank tickets are issued to me, and I or any user can issue them. So I can give them to the users who are affected by the problem, and they can issue them to the cars who have parked without authorisation.
I've seen a lot over the last year of various semi-legal (or at best questionable) private parking enforcement companies.
The operating practice appears to be to film or photograph a vehicle parked "illegally" and then send a fine through the post.
Watchdog did an article on one of these, which was also IIRC discussed on PH. Dodgy as hell, arguably legal, and they apparently never followed these "fines" up with court action as they were likely to lose.
Thats not to say that these apes wont hand the alleged dept over to private dept collection (the bailiffs) and then its one hell of a nightmare to try and get them off your case.
The operating practice appears to be to film or photograph a vehicle parked "illegally" and then send a fine through the post.
Watchdog did an article on one of these, which was also IIRC discussed on PH. Dodgy as hell, arguably legal, and they apparently never followed these "fines" up with court action as they were likely to lose.
Thats not to say that these apes wont hand the alleged dept over to private dept collection (the bailiffs) and then its one hell of a nightmare to try and get them off your case.
chrisgr31 said:
I feel your pain, but do the bona fide users of your hall have some kind of permit to display? If not, how would the parking nazis differentiate your punters from those of the garage?
Thats the advantage of the Parksure system. The blank tickets are issued to me, and I or any user can issue them. So I can give them to the users who are affected by the problem, and they can issue them to the cars who have parked without authorisation.
Hmmm. But what if auntie Mabel can't get a space and just slaps a ticket on an car she doesn't recognise that happens to be validly parked? Does Parksure then go chasing an innocent "victim" of the system?pdV6 said:
Probably although the "innocent" victim does have the opportunity to explain why they are innocent!
Having said that my guess is that this situation is unlikely to occur as the hall users do know each other.
Especially as there is only one organisation in there at one time.
Personally I'd rather not have to go through this, but it seems like the only option. I did on one occasion block a number of the cars in with my car. Returned 2 hours later to find some very indignant nechanics standing around and expalining it was the first time there cars had been there!
Class. chrisgr31 said:
If it wasn't for idle skinflints who either can't be bothered to walk from an authorised car park, or pay to park in an authorised car park who are causing problems for the rest of us.
By parking illegally they are causing problems for the rest of us, and effectively encouraging the creation of these scam companies
Yes, this is a wider issue than just parking in private car parks. There are still people like us who only park for 20 mins in a 20-min parking zone, etc, etc. But others are out for all they can get and parking is just one manifestation of that. Given it's unlikely that popular culture will return to being voluntarily law-abiding, what's the solution for private parking?
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