nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Parking Ticket

rhino1

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had an issue regards forgetting to display a blue badge. I was notified by post re this 'offence' and issued with a £60 charge even though parking is free for all vehicles. It is a private car park within a cinema/restaurant complex and no ticket was attached to my vehicle. The contracted company is UKCCP and they have rejected my appeal even when I confirmed my BB details. They do not know who the driver of the vehicle was. Do I just pay up, i have to be so careful with my money and £60 seems to be wholly disproportionate to a free parking bay. Thanks for any input.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

CockneyRebel

Were you parked in a dedicated BB bay ?

exdvr

Hi @rhino1, From what you say it looks as though they are chancing it, but if parking is free for all vehicles why did they issue a ticket? As you've already committed the cardinal sin of contacting them you may have caused problems for yourself. NEVER communicate with these cowboys and also never say who the driver was. Please keep us up to speed with developments.

rhino1

Yeah it was a marked disable bay And the contact we have had was are appeal against the charge I'm not wanting to pay this charge just not sure if it went to court I would lose ps just seems really strange even after informing them with details of blue badge they didn't care less should I now ignore all communication from them

CockneyRebel

Is there a sign indicating that the bay is for BB parking only ?

Have you asked for photo evidence that no BB was being displayed ?

As a BB holder how would you react if all the dedicated bays were full and some cars not displying their BB ?

rhino1

Yeah you have a point and that does happen a lot just there's was plenty of normal parking next to the disabled bay I just made a mistake forgetting to put it on display as for photos there's photo evidence of the dash

curiousmom1996

In this case I would appeal.

rhino1

I've already appealled to the company who issued the charge
There reply was the ticket was issued correctly and said they will not communicate anymore. I've now contacted the landowner awaiting reply
Stating the issue to them

Markmywords

This happens quite often. In fact I expect most people have done it. On a public highway, there is no argument and the law is the law. However, private land is a totally different matter. The essence of this is obtaining money through intimidation

The salient points are;

- The parking company is using language in a manner so as to pass themselves off as a statutory authority.
- The Parking company cannot suffer a loss in this situation.
- The signage almost certainly stated only "Blue Badge Holders Only." You actually had one but they don't want to recognise this.
- As the parking was free and not time limited they cannot argue that penal damages are required as a discouragement.
- It is often the case that the Parking company will hide their address and refuse communications or pretend that they haven't received any. This is done to provoke an escalation of the matter.
- They will never, ever write to you but will only send payment demands.
- They may quote case law and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 but these do not apply to free, unlimited parking situations.

They will now claim that you are in debt to them solely "because they say so."

It is very unlikely that they can win a penny in court but UK courts don't always follow the law. Their claim would rise to anything up to £500 by then for unexplained reasons.

They would have to send a member of staff to you local court as that is the way civil claims work. They won't seek legal advice or send a Barrister.

So are you prepared to call their bluff, receive letters from a "debt" collector and potentially go to court?

I would be prepared to go to court but that's irrelevant.

This activity is effectively extortion against vulnerable people and one day parliament may act on these rogues as it did with clampers. This is something Scope should be aware of.

Benistmonk

Ignore them, they have no legal right to issue parking tickets. Certainly not for 60 quid which amounts to a fixed penalty. What is the real cost of parking in a free car park? 0.00

rhino1

Many thanks for the comments and advice I've decided to ignore them . I

One last question does personnel circumstances carry any weight in court for forgetfulness
A family bearvement within 3 days of this this was a meeting due to these issue after hospital visits that evening
Just seems so annoying to deal with this type of subjects when such a sad occasion is with us

axwy62

If you require specific advice on what to do (when) if you receive more demands for payment, then google 'private parking' or the name of the parking company and you will find several specialist forums dedicated to the issues where you will get help in defending it. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to recommend other forums, so I won't mention any by name.

Whilst it may be fine to ignore letters from the parking company or debt collectors, do not ignore anything marked 'Letter of Claim' or court papers or you will end up with a county court judgement.

These companies are the modern descendants of the outlawed clamping firms, they're not interested in allowing appeals because if they did, they wouldn't make any money. They're also not interested in actually managing car parks, only in issuing as many 'fines' as they can for any and every reason they can imagine.

I'm sorry for your loss, I know how you feel as I lost my Dad just after Christmas. If this ever got to Court, the reason for your forgetfulness isn't likely to be relevant as there will be many, many other much stronger reasons for their claim to fail.

Markmywords

I agree with axwy62. However, preventing you from discussing the matter through secrecy and anonymous, pre-printed demands with no return address will go very, very badly for them at court.

In the real world, if someone is wronged, they get a solicitor to act for them. Not happening with "Parking Sharks" is it?

What saddens me is that hospitals use these Parking Sharks. Their managers have turned on the patients.

Last Thursday, I abandoned my prescription at the hospital pharmacy out of concern for yet another parking confrontation. The local city newspaper has already run a piece on the affect they were having on my treatment !

rhino1

Cheers everybody Will have to trawl the net and read up about this issue. I'm very thankful for your advice thanks again

Benistmonk

It's a different kettle of fish when it comes to parking in NHS hospital car parks, they charge for parking so trying to get out of a ticket under those circumstances will not bode well for you. The swines will take you to court because the money raised from hospital car parks goes to saving lives, that's the excuse they give.

stephenjohn

Is it a parking fine or an invoice ? My brother got one and has had numerous letters threatening him with all sorts of things ......after 2 years they stopped and he has not heard a thing since ......ignore them ...a skurge on society

rhino1

It's a invoice I'm not paying it will appeal as and when And be prepared to go to court .If need be
Do agree these are people are the pits.

Wibbble3

Look on Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert. There are various forums to help you to fight against the various parking companies.The following links should hopefully help:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4816822
This is the most helpful

https://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/11/residential-parking.html
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5922587&highlight=parking+charges
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

if links don't work, in the forum section of money saving expert there is a whole section on parking fines.

You need to look very carefully on the wording of the notice.

Wibbble3

The 1st link also contains a template for your appeal

Component react.suggestedcontent had an error.

The value must be greater than or equal to 1.

Sign in or register for free

Get more out of your online community by signing in or registering