Can a contract be formed without the buyer knowing price?

[talksthetorque]

Parked in a hotel car park at 10pm, no prices visible on signs apart from £100 penalty charge and some stuff about not displaying a ticket.
The hotel said I should pay on exit using the console which again did not have prices on.
When I checked out I entered my reg and paid the £9 charge because I can’t be arsed and the company is paying.

But is this legal? Can a contract be formed if the buyer does not know the price?

[Muzzer79]

IANAL but I expect that by parking there, you are accepting the terms and conditions on the sign, therefore a contract is formed.

To my knowledge, there is no requirement for a price for services to be specified.

[APontus]

Muzzer79 said:

IANAL but I expect that by parking there, you are accepting the terms and conditions on the sign, therefore a contract is formed.

To my knowledge, there is no requirement for a price for services to be specified.

Do the unfair contract provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 apply?

Schedule 2 Part 1 (14) says a contract term may be unfair if "A term which has the object or effect of giving the trader the discretion to decide the price payable under the contract after the consumer has become bound by it, where no price or method of determining the price is agreed when the consumer becomes bound.".

[Jasandjules]

Consider the question in the context of cars. You take the car to the garage and they give you an estimate for the works to be done....... Then when the bill comes.......

[APontus]

The reception wasn't where the contract was formed. What if OP parked, contact is formed, then went to reception and they said "oh you've parked already, that's a minimum £25 now"?

Edited by APontus on Tuesday 15th June 21:29

[donkmeister]

Not sure why the OP had to pay at all, it's his parking space (sign says so).

[IJWS15]

A price is not required to form a contract.

AIUI parking there is an allowance of time to let the driver read the signs (or in this case visit reception) and ascertain the charges, if they then decide they don't want to park and leave no charges should be payable.

IANAL

[Durzel]

"Please see pay by mobile signage for more information"

What does that signage say? I find it hard to believe you can have literally no clue what the range of dynamic pricing is until you try to leave.

donkmeister said:

Not sure why the OP had to pay at all, it's his parking space (sign says so).

[HocusPocus]

Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1970] EWCA Civ 2

[BoRED S2upid]

where no price or method of determining the price


You ask reception. They say £100 an hour you say no thanks they let you out. Job done.

[APontus]

BoRED S2upid said:

where no price or method of determining the price


You ask reception. They say £100 an hour you say no thanks they let you out. Job done.

You park up, go into reception and wait 15 minutes to get to speak to someone. You decide to park elsewhere but in the meantime you've gone over an arbitrary leeway and on your exit the ANPR clocks you and generates the ticket. When you appeal to the hotel they say nothing to do with them, it's the parking company...

[Mojooo]

I would suggest its context specific so a car park charge and taking your car to a garage are different.

I would expect that signage is available to state cost and you should have an option to see it, read terms and agree before being bound

The BPA guidance states parking companies should give a certain amount of time - in reality or many people it would be impossible to read the entire terms and conditions in the allowed time but you could probably see the price - forgot how long it is - probably something like 10 minutes.

[voyds9]

Can a contract be formed without the buyer knowing price?

Happens nearly every time I go to the bar.

[talksthetorque]

voyds9 said:

Can a contract be formed without the buyer knowing price?

Happens nearly every time I go to the bar.

Tat will be the bar that legally has to display it's prices somewhere visible to the customers?

[Fonzo]

Muzzer79 said:

To my knowledge, there is no requirement for a price for services to be specified.

My basic understanding from my "introduction to contract law" module at university states that a contract is formed with an 'offer' and 'acceptance'.
That being said, I would be very surprised if the parking company don't have clever lawyers that have worked their way around this.

[Supercilious Sid]

Fonzo said:

Muzzer79 said:

To my knowledge, there is no requirement for a price for services to be specified.

My basic understanding from my "introduction to contract law" module at university states that a contract is formed with an 'offer' and 'acceptance'.
That being said, I would be very surprised if the parking company don't have clever lawyers that have worked their way around this.

Even my simple A Level in Law told me there are more than 2 elements to a contract.

[Chozza]

You know the price !
The price is £100 for parking if you don't meet the other conditions. With reductions of 40%.
It's clearly called a "Parking Charge"

You could also purchase a ticket - that might even entitle you to park at a reduced rate inline with the tariffs.

[sunbeam alpine]

Where was it?

£9 for overnight parking in London = not bad

£9 for overnight parking in Arse-end-of-nowhere = questionable.

[daveinhampshire]

Even simpler solution, don't go back. This sort of dynamic pricing is just a Poundland copy of Ubers surge pricing. I'd like to see someone enforce a ticket purely to see how the courts would handle it. I may take a visit to test.

[Fonzo]

Supercilious Sid said:

Even my simple A Level in Law told me there are more than 2 elements to a contract.

Well done you. Of course this is the absolute highest level description possible.