parking cowboys invited round to my place
Discussion
I live in a block of flats, one of 4 blocks on (mostly) private land.
Parking is not really a problem, busy sometimes but always possible. It's got busier recently as older people 'move out' and are replaced by couples with 2+ cars.
So, one of the residents has engaged the services of www.parkforce.com and erected these signs:
small text on sign: this land is strictly for the parking of motor vehicles when complying with the terms and conditions as indicated below...PERMIT HOLDERS ONLY
If you park on this land contravening the above terms and conditions you are contractually agreeing to pay a parking charge to the sum of £60 within 14 days. You will incur additional charges resulting in further action being taken against you if the fee remains unpaid
Apart from my inherent distrust of these companies I am annoyed because:
1. No one was consulted
2. There isn't really a parking problem.
3. No-one has been given parking permits yet, so in theory everyone could get ticketed (although their website seems to suggest that the residents do the ticketing)
4. What are you supposed to do about visitors?
5. Some of the road leading to the parking, is owned by the council. Well they re-lay the surface at least.
6. According to parkforce.com, the 'concerned resident' who goes round ticketing cars, get's £10 + vat a pop.
I wonder if anyone here has experience of parkforce.com, or similar systems, or any advice on the situation. I intend to have a chat with our concerned resident this week...
TIA
Nathan
>> Edited by Raify on Monday 5th September 15:44
Parking is not really a problem, busy sometimes but always possible. It's got busier recently as older people 'move out' and are replaced by couples with 2+ cars.
So, one of the residents has engaged the services of www.parkforce.com and erected these signs:
small text on sign: this land is strictly for the parking of motor vehicles when complying with the terms and conditions as indicated below...PERMIT HOLDERS ONLY
If you park on this land contravening the above terms and conditions you are contractually agreeing to pay a parking charge to the sum of £60 within 14 days. You will incur additional charges resulting in further action being taken against you if the fee remains unpaid
Apart from my inherent distrust of these companies I am annoyed because:
1. No one was consulted
2. There isn't really a parking problem.
3. No-one has been given parking permits yet, so in theory everyone could get ticketed (although their website seems to suggest that the residents do the ticketing)
4. What are you supposed to do about visitors?
5. Some of the road leading to the parking, is owned by the council. Well they re-lay the surface at least.
6. According to parkforce.com, the 'concerned resident' who goes round ticketing cars, get's £10 + vat a pop.
I wonder if anyone here has experience of parkforce.com, or similar systems, or any advice on the situation. I intend to have a chat with our concerned resident this week...
TIA
Nathan
>> Edited by Raify on Monday 5th September 15:44
I would suggest that a resident has no authority to invoke the system unless he is the owner of the land or has been approached by the owner to act as his agent.
From what stated and
www.parkforce.com/system.htm
it is the owner who should be approached and matter sorted. Note that Parkforce are not into clamping. If after issuing the final warning sticker the question is will they (with only 450 clients) go to the trouble and expense of taking a civil action for recovery of debt (the parking fine)?
dvd
From what stated and
www.parkforce.com/system.htm
it is the owner who should be approached and matter sorted. Note that Parkforce are not into clamping. If after issuing the final warning sticker the question is will they (with only 450 clients) go to the trouble and expense of taking a civil action for recovery of debt (the parking fine)?
dvd
thanks for the replies! I especially like the crowbar + bin suggestion. I am seriously tempted to rip them off the walls and bin them.
Interesting point, dvd, about only the land owner being able to invoke such a system. That means that the company ****** Properties Ltd (to whom we pay the ground rent) are the only people who could do this.
Is there a paragraph stating this law, which I can stick over the offending signs?
Cheers,
Nathan
Interesting point, dvd, about only the land owner being able to invoke such a system. That means that the company ****** Properties Ltd (to whom we pay the ground rent) are the only people who could do this.
Is there a paragraph stating this law, which I can stick over the offending signs?
Cheers,
Nathan
mybrainhurts said:
You forgot Prescott and Carsten....
and Monbiot, and Palin, and Monbiot, and Porritt, and Monbiot, and Darling, and Monbiot and that bloody Cliff Richard........
Doh how could I forget Monbigot?
Doesn't he just have the kind of face you could smack all day then come back the next and start againThe only person that can enter into that agreement is the landowner. In your case it is likely to be a seperate legal entity, the management company. This will be your freeholder. You as a tenant ie leaseholder (unless you sublet) may be a shareholder.
Without knowing the details I can't help but a single resident unless they are a director for the management company cannot just do this. They should be reported to the management company forthwith and the sign removed.
Without knowing the details I can't help but a single resident unless they are a director for the management company cannot just do this. They should be reported to the management company forthwith and the sign removed.
Cowboys ? are you sure? Whats happened to naming and shaming rules?
Sounds like you need to gather your facts before you start to call companies 'cowboys'.
Have you spoken with the managing agents?
Perhaps a director has authorised this?
Unfair to slag a company off for doing what they have been asked to do.
Are you sure they clamp cars?
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 13:16
Sounds like you need to gather your facts before you start to call companies 'cowboys'.
Have you spoken with the managing agents?
Perhaps a director has authorised this?
Unfair to slag a company off for doing what they have been asked to do.
Are you sure they clamp cars?
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 13:16
superlightr said:
Cowboys ? are you sure? Whats happened to naming and shaming rules?
Sounds like you need to gather your facts before you start to call companies 'cowboys'.
Have you spoken with the managing agents?
Perhaps a director has authorised this?
Unfair to slag a company off for doing what they have been asked to do.
Are you sure they clamp cars?
Apologies then, I'm sure they're very nice people, only interested in keeping traffic moving / easing parking for the greater good.
Oh wait, they don't keep traffic moving. They just take £60 from people, give £8 to the DVLA, £10+ vat to the concerned landowner. I'm sure they give the rest to charity, or to help fund public transport or something.
I wasn't trying to 'slag off' this company (I couldn't resist the profit making tw@ts jibe). I was bemoaning the fact that someone has engaged their services without consulting anybody.
And I have never said they clamp cars, read the post (and their website) properly. Sounds like you need to gather your facts too.
The freeholder/managing agents will have contacted the company and invited for the signs to be put up.
Presumable there has been a problem about unathorised parking? or perhaps a single abuser? Surley its a good thing that the correct parking for residents is enforced?
The managing agents/directors will put tickets on cars that should not be parked there or taking up residents parking spaces.
They do not clamp.
** Have you spoken to the managing agents/freeholder yet? **
Another poster talked about clamping after Raify's (your) original post subsequent to which you posted again and had the opportunity to correct, which you did not, implying that it was true.
It anoyes me when basic information is not provided before someone slaggs off any company when it is very easily obtained. Reputations of any company are hard earnt without mis-information being put about for a quick slagg off on PHeads.
Hence my displeasure and post.
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 14:49
Presumable there has been a problem about unathorised parking? or perhaps a single abuser? Surley its a good thing that the correct parking for residents is enforced?
The managing agents/directors will put tickets on cars that should not be parked there or taking up residents parking spaces.
They do not clamp.
** Have you spoken to the managing agents/freeholder yet? **
Another poster talked about clamping after Raify's (your) original post subsequent to which you posted again and had the opportunity to correct, which you did not, implying that it was true.
It anoyes me when basic information is not provided before someone slaggs off any company when it is very easily obtained. Reputations of any company are hard earnt without mis-information being put about for a quick slagg off on PHeads.
Hence my displeasure and post.
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 14:49
As far as I can tell (the signs only just went up, and I've only had a chance to speak to the resident's assoc. chairman) Parkforce have been invited by a private resident in one of the other blocks.
**No, I haven't had a chance to speak to the Land owning company**
From what I understand about this system (from the website) our concerned resident will be the one to slap the tickets on the cars. He sends the details off and gets £10+vat back for his trouble. The managing agents do not control it.
There isn't a real problem with parking. Even when it's busy, there's somewhere to park and this is with 95% of the garages being used to store cardboard
The residents assoc chairman did mention our concerned residents annoyance with a guy trading cars, who sometimes has 3 cars at a time. To be honest, even with that many, there still isn't a problem, and at least he uses one of the garages for a car! We're too far away from the station to get commmuters, and too well hidden to attract town centre shoppers.
I see your point about having a go at companies with no facts, but IMHO, these sort of companies have no "good name" to protect.
**No, I haven't had a chance to speak to the Land owning company**
From what I understand about this system (from the website) our concerned resident will be the one to slap the tickets on the cars. He sends the details off and gets £10+vat back for his trouble. The managing agents do not control it.
There isn't a real problem with parking. Even when it's busy, there's somewhere to park and this is with 95% of the garages being used to store cardboard
The residents assoc chairman did mention our concerned residents annoyance with a guy trading cars, who sometimes has 3 cars at a time. To be honest, even with that many, there still isn't a problem, and at least he uses one of the garages for a car! We're too far away from the station to get commmuters, and too well hidden to attract town centre shoppers.
I see your point about having a go at companies with no facts, but IMHO, these sort of companies have no "good name" to protect.
A flat we own is managed by a similar company. They are either a)ticketing anything that has not got a permit on instantly or
b)not seen for months
their sign has something along the lines of 'don't use these excuses, we've heard them....'
Each resident gets two+ permits, so you have to warn visitors and give them one of the permits
Parking has never been a problem before or since, but it seems increasingly that its here's a solution, where's the problem
b)not seen for months
their sign has something along the lines of 'don't use these excuses, we've heard them....'
Each resident gets two+ permits, so you have to warn visitors and give them one of the permits
Parking has never been a problem before or since, but it seems increasingly that its here's a solution, where's the problem
I'll expand a bit more.
We as a company use Parkforce on behalf of a few blocks of flats my company look after hence have experience of them. It a relativly new idea.
A director/company secretary/freeholder are the correct persons to ask this company to put up the signs. We act as managing agents on behalf of the freeholders.
The payment return is made out to the freeholder/company and should not be to a leaseholder. So im surprised that you say its going to a leaseholder.
Parkforce have been very good and effective in resolving parking issues for the companies that we look after.
We have researched other 'parking' companies and I would agree with the term 'cowboys' for clamping firms is not unfair but as parkforce is not......its not correct.
As part of our job we deal with unauthorised parking daily of all sorts of all types and all manner of problems.
We have used this company a few times because of a single breach of the lease regarding a single parking problem - Sure it may not have affected 99% of the residents but it will have upset someone who complains to the managing agents who then acts as best as possible and as efficently as possible.
This ticking solutions is cost effective to the residents and normally solves the problem. The freeholder is under a duty to enforce the lease/keep cost down.
Sadly there are very few other (legit/reputable)options open to freeholders to try and enforce the difficult area of parking for flats apart from clampers so hence parkforce is a good option.
Hope this helps !
ps The ticketing is normally done by either us or a chairman/director of the company (who is a resident) after we receive a valid complaint. Normally we will write and warn before ticketing.
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 15:35
We as a company use Parkforce on behalf of a few blocks of flats my company look after hence have experience of them. It a relativly new idea.
A director/company secretary/freeholder are the correct persons to ask this company to put up the signs. We act as managing agents on behalf of the freeholders.
The payment return is made out to the freeholder/company and should not be to a leaseholder. So im surprised that you say its going to a leaseholder.
Parkforce have been very good and effective in resolving parking issues for the companies that we look after.
We have researched other 'parking' companies and I would agree with the term 'cowboys' for clamping firms is not unfair but as parkforce is not......its not correct.
As part of our job we deal with unauthorised parking daily of all sorts of all types and all manner of problems.
We have used this company a few times because of a single breach of the lease regarding a single parking problem - Sure it may not have affected 99% of the residents but it will have upset someone who complains to the managing agents who then acts as best as possible and as efficently as possible.
This ticking solutions is cost effective to the residents and normally solves the problem. The freeholder is under a duty to enforce the lease/keep cost down.
Sadly there are very few other (legit/reputable)options open to freeholders to try and enforce the difficult area of parking for flats apart from clampers so hence parkforce is a good option.
Hope this helps !
ps The ticketing is normally done by either us or a chairman/director of the company (who is a resident) after we receive a valid complaint. Normally we will write and warn before ticketing.
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 15:35
why didn't you say that in the first place? I was asking for people's experiences of this company, and clearly you have a positive one.
Thanks for offering a "light at the end of the tunnel" If what you say is true, it seems that they are the exception that proves the rule in the 'parking enforcement industry'
Perhaps some friendly mod could change the thread title to "Parking company invited round to my place"
Thanks for offering a "light at the end of the tunnel" If what you say is true, it seems that they are the exception that proves the rule in the 'parking enforcement industry'
Perhaps some friendly mod could change the thread title to "Parking company invited round to my place"
Raify said:
why didn't you say that in the first place? I was asking for people's experiences of this company, and clearly you have a positive one.
Thanks for offering a "light at the end of the tunnel" If what you say is true, it seems that they are the exception that proves the rule in the 'parking enforcement industry'
Perhaps some friendly mod could change the thread title to "Parking company invited round to my place"
Calling any business 'cowboys' is not really complying with the naming and shaming rules which is the part that was annoying to me. Nor can that company defend itself. Company reputations are valuable.
Just by chance, we happend to have used this firm and know they are not Cowboys but to the general PH massive this would not have come across and imho did not reading the subsequent posts.
I was keen to see if you had spoken to your managing agents first to get more facts who are employed to resolve your questions before digging abigger hole. -
It would have been sensible for the managing agents to write a circular to the resident advising them of Parkforce and what they do. (we certainly do)
Perhaps you need us instead of your current managing agents !
although its driving me bonkers dealing with all the problems we get as it is
so perhaps dont call us, we will call you ! >> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 16:20
>> Edited by superlightr on Monday 5th September 16:22
You're absolutely right, sending a letter advising what they were planning to do was the least they should have done. The first I knew about it was arriving home late one evening to be confronted by dozens of signs. As far as I knew that evening, I'd just agreed to pay £60 for a parking fine at home.
And you're right about the thread title, it was a bit previous on my part. Can a mod change it please?? I'd hate to break the rules.
And you're right about the thread title, it was a bit previous on my part. Can a mod change it please?? I'd hate to break the rules.
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