Parking Ticket

[SquareDaff]

A friend of mine has just got a ticket through from a Private firm called "Care Parking" for "Unauthorised Parking". The letter shows two pictures of their car, neither of which shows the car in the same position. Both pictures show the car in an area marked with double yellow lines and the 2nd pictures shows a person alighting. Neither picture shows the driver of the car. Total time between the pictures was 22 seconds. The pictures were taken on 03-August. The notification came on 18th September.

This just seems extremely harsh to me - I'm sure 99.9% of us have done this type of drop off in this scenario before - a lot of forums suggest not paying. Has anyone had any similar experiences with this company or type of "offence"?

Do any of the official policeman out there have any opinions on this? Is it legal? Or is it just scaremongering?

 

[Theseus]

Most likely scaremongering.

There was a whole thread on moneysavingexpert about this sort of thing with advice on how to deal with it. Let me have adig about and see if I can find it.

 

[siadwell]

Was this on a public street? If so, parking is enforced by council parking officers and in some cases the police. Private companies have no jurisdiction.

If it was on private land, the landowner can engage a private company to manage parking. These companies can issue "tickets" for unauthorised use of the land - for example, our local supermarket allows 2 hours parking for customers, and my wife once collected a "ticket" for parking there for longer whilst going to other shops. These "tickets" have nothing to do with criminal law; they are in effect an invoice for loss of revenue. In most cases, people just pay up but (from reading various forums), if you refused to pay they would have to take you to court and make a case that by parking where you did, you have inflicted some kind of financial loss on the landowner.

By the way, some of these companies are skating on thin ice by making their "tickets" resemble those issued by the police and authorities, in that they could be seen to be impersonating someone with authority that they do not have. They could also open themselves up to accusations of harassment by some of their tactics.

In short, the case in the OP sounds like a scam.

IANAL and all that!

 

[benb]

If it's a private parking company and not the council, then they probably can't enforce this. If it were me I'd file it in the bin and ignore all future correspondence.

Post it here, and you should get some good advice (but, for the love of God, on no account look in the speeding and criminal section of that forum)

 

[SquareDaff]

Was this on a public street? If so, parking is enforced by council parking officers and in some cases the police. Private companies have no jurisdiction.

On a public street. Would the Private company not gain authority if the local council gave them permissions to "police" traffic offences? Or am I being naive? If not, is there any register where I could find out if this is the case and any limites to said authority?

 

[swee'pea99]

If it's a private parking company and not the council, then they probably can't enforce this. If it were me I'd file it in the bin and ignore all future correspondence.

Post it here, and you should get some good advice (but, for the love of God, on no account look in the speeding and criminal section of that forum)

" file it in the bin and ignore all future correspondence". A key quote. Do your homework first, to make sure you're on firm ground, but once you're sure you are, follow this advice. Do not respond, period.

Scumsucking companies like these play a numbers game. For every thousand they send out, 800 will disappear into a black hole and after a followup or three, they'll write them off. The 200 that respond - in any shape or form - immediately become of interest, and they will pursue, often increasingly cleverly and nastily, until they manage to get 100 to pay up, if only to get shot of them. Stay one of the 'lost ones', and eventually you slide off the radar.

 

[swee'pea99]

On a public street.

Go to citizens advice, if you can be arsed. Then sue the b******s for trying to extort money with threats.

 

[SquareDaff]

If it's a private parking company and not the council, then they probably can't enforce this. If it were me I'd file it in the bin and ignore all future correspondence.

Post it here, and you should get some good advice (but, for the love of God, on no account look in the speeding and criminal section of that forum)

Thanks for this

 

[siadwell]

On a public street. Would the Private company not gain authority if the local council gave them permissions to "police" traffic offences? Or am I being naive? If not, is there any register where I could find out if this is the case and any limites to said authority?

Their website makes no mention of their subcontracting to local authorities, although it does claim they are "ethical"!

Look on the local authority's website. That should state somewhere who is responsible for on-street parking enforcement. I know that our local council has its own civil enforcement officers in the council's uniform.

 

[Beebo]

this thread on moneysavingexpert should help you.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3618229

 

[Maz]

I got a £90 fine for not parking correctly in a marked-out area in a car park (front tyre was touching the painted line). Be wary of that next time you park up - make sure you don't park on the lines.

 

[tincaman]

Don't pay or even acknowledge the ticket, dont give them any of your details. They then have to pay to get them from the DVLA, after about 8 letters and forms it will all dry up. If it Council (PCN), pay, if its Private (PPC) don't.

 

[CopperCyclist]

If it's a private parking company and not the council, then they probably can't enforce this. If it were me I'd file it in the bin and ignore all future correspondence.

Post it here, and you should get some good advice (but, for the love of God, on no account look in the speeding and criminal section of that forum)

I'm afraid being a nosy copper, I couldn't resist going and looking in the speeding and criminal section of that site. It's a good laugh! Didn't find one post where I didn't think 'Yep, you're screwed!'

As for the parking, as others have said, if it's a local authority ticket then you have to take action, be that to pay it or try and contest it if you so wish. If its a private company it's unenforcable and you should bin and forget it.

 

[benb]

I'm afraid being a nosy copper, I couldn't resist going and looking in the speeding and criminal section of that site. It's a good laugh! Didn't find one post where I didn't think 'Yep, you're screwed!'

I find it funny and depressing in equal measure!

 

[Norm]

Parking is not the same as stopping to let someone out. Just as you can (in theory) be nicked for talking on a mobile when sitting in the car with the engine running, you cannot be done for parking when you haven't turned off the ignition (summarising hugely).

If it's a no parking zone, they are not only powerless but wrong. If it's a no stopping zone, they might be right but their relative lack of power probably still makes it pretty worthless.

IMO, at least.