Robbing Parking Companies

[johnny2007]

Reminds me of something happend a long time ago when mobile phones were rare as hens teeth, at Torquay harbour they had a clamping company but harbour employees had stickers for their vehicles, one day a chap took his wifes car as his was in for mot, put a handwriten note and told harbour office, but still clamped by the tw#t, so old boy spots clamper in his van doing paperwork , jumps into huge tele hoist for lifting boats, lifts clampers van and drives to edge of harbour, clamper can't get our as passenger door is up against the machine drivers door is up in space about 30 ft above the water, he was shouting for help, everyone just laughed, he was finally let down after he had dropped the clamp keys down so the dock employee could release his car, afaik nothing happend to the docker, Probably different today would be done for imprisonment or the like.

The good old days when disputes were settled amicably in a matter of minutes.

 

[Brigadier]

The good old days when disputes were settled amicably in a matter of minutes.

Under threat of severe violence

 

[JP_]

I got fined £100 for stopping in a KFC car park, to drop my son off to work at KFC.
I appealed twice, and lost.
Bastards.
The parking management companies and the companies that hire their services are all as bad as each other. All thieving scum.

 

[johnny2007]

I got fined £100 for stopping in a KFC car park, to drop my son off to work at KFC.
I appealed twice, and lost.
Bastards.
The parking management companies and the companies that hire their services are all as bad as each other. All thieving scum.

They're NOT fines.
They are speculative invoices.
You can ignore them completely.
You can ignore the parking cowboys debt collectors.
The only time you engage in any communication with them is if they send you a letter of claim, part of the pre-action protocol of civil disputes.

 

[robinbanks]

stopping in a KFC car park, to drop my son off to work at KFC.
I appealed twice, and lost.

100% that should have been a landowner cancellation, but seems some detail missing from that story because your movement behaviour would have been no different than anyone buying from KFC

 

[securespark]

I always attempt to fight my case, but if they refuse to play ball, I write inviting them to contest their case with me in front of a judge. To date, it hasn't happened.

 

[motorbiking]

It is really important to read the signs. Many are worded sloppily and don't form the contracts they intend.

e.g. "residents must display permit and park in the allocated bays. Failure to comply will be subject to a £100 penalty charge".

If you are not a resident it doesn't apply to you.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

When we used to do that, we'd often find stuff with short use by dates as picked by the pickers. I prefer to pick my own goods.

The same here, and no unwanted 'substitutions'. The only delivery we get, is from Iceland, and that's free. We only made use of it twice, we pick the goods, leave them with them paid for, they then deliver later the same day. Sod them picking what they want rid of....

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Reminds me of something happend a long time ago when mobile phones were rare as hens teeth, at Torquay harbour they had a clamping company but harbour employees had stickers for their vehicles, one day a chap took his wifes car as his was in for mot, put a handwriten note and told harbour office, but still clamped by the tw#t, so old boy spots clamper in his van doing paperwork , jumps into huge tele hoist for lifting boats, lifts clampers van and drives to edge of harbour, clamper can't get our as passenger door is up against the machine drivers door is up in space about 30 ft above the water, he was shouting for help, everyone just laughed, he was finally let down after he had dropped the clamp keys down so the dock employee could release his car, afaik nothing happend to the docker, Probably different today would be done for imprisonment or the like.

Working at one of the London hospitals, car was clamped, and they urgently needed me at another one to deal with a crucial issue. I just pointed out that I couldn't move because I was clamped, and waited.

 

[JP_]

100% that should have been a landowner cancellation, but seems some detail missing from that story because your movement behaviour would have been no different than anyone buying from KFC

No, they have a 60 minute rule for customers, which is between 9am and midnight (I think), and then no stopping at all between midnight and 9am (there might be an hour's grace somewhere).

The "restaurant" opens at 10am. Shift started at 9am. We got there at 8.50am - it was his first 9am shift and we didn't know what traffic would be like. So we waited in the empty car park for a few minutes.

3 months later, a demand for £100 or court etc. I appealed to KFC / parking company, then through POPPA, and all failed. Advice online is that if appeal fails through POPPA then this can go to court and you'd probably lose, as you breached the rules (rules that we didn't see and weren't told about).

Funny, as when we were waiting, somebody else turned up in a taxi and the taxi stopped on the road (busy road) and I even though, why not just pull into the car park, that's a bit lazy!

Bastards. Seemed less stressful to pay up than risk being dragged into court and forced to pay considerably more.

I'll get the money back by never buying KFC again, and my son won't be either.

 

[johnny2007]

Advice online is that if appeal fails through POPPA then this can go to court and you'd probably lose, as you breached the rules

Where did you read this???
Parking cowboys stay well clear of courts for one simple reason: their invoices are worth nothing.
Read real good advice on cag or pepipoo forums.
They advise to ignore all correspondence unless the cowboys start the legal process with a letter of claim.
By appealing you've given the cowboys information about who was driving, admission that their cctv footage was correct and somehow you entered in a contract with them.
Ignore them similarly to what you would do if I sent an invoice to your address for services you never asked for and I never delivered.

 

[JonathanM]

Parking cowboys stay well clear of courts for one simple reason: their invoices are worth nothing.
Read real good advice on cag or pepipoo forums.
They advise to ignore all correspondence unless the cowboys start the legal process with a letter of claim.
By appealing you've given the cowboys information about who was driving, admission that their cctv footage was correct and somehow you entered in a contract with them.
Ignore them similarly to what you would do if I sent an invoice to your address for services you never asked for and I never delivered.

When do the costs start mounting up? You sometimes hear of people ending up being told they owe hundreds of pounds for a £60 "invoice".

If the case actually did go to court and the parking company won, can they also claim these costs?

 

[robinbanks]

Parking cowboys stay well clear of courts

Not true; several of them are happy to use the bulk submissions service to send out thousands of claims for money in one fell swoop - it's an easy and cheap process for them

Read real good advice on cag or pepipoo forums.

That's good advice, but..

They advise to ignore all correspondence

..I do wish you'd stop trotting out this BS. Please have a read of recent threads on pepipoo and try and find one that tells the poster to ignore everything

When do the costs start mounting up?

As soon as they start writing letters, showing they have put admin time into recovering the debt

If the case actually did go to court and the parking company won, can they also claim these costs?

Certainly, which is why they make such a show of it, so they can prove to the court just how hard they've had to pursue you in line with the contract they're asserting you entered into .

Cease getting advice here that is inaccurate and out of date and head over to pepipoo so you can deal with people who answer threads on it day in, day out; you wouldn't ask them for help fixing a toilet, so consider that their advice on this very narrow aspect of the law is better than the general knowledge here

 

[JonathanM]

Cease getting advice here that is inaccurate and out of date and head over to pepipoo so you can deal with people who answer threads on it day in, day out; you wouldn't ask them for help fixing a toilet, so consider that their advice on this very narrow aspect of the law is better than the general knowledge here

I wasn't actually asking for advice, though, just trying to move the discussion forward a bit and hopefully clarify some information for others. (I have never had a Parking Charge Notice )

 

[johnny2007]

I do wish you'd stop trotting out this BS. Please have a read of recent threads on pepipoo and try and find one that tells the poster to ignore everything

Read the whole sentence, you can do it.
Ignore everything UNLESS you receive a letter of claim, that's what I keep saying.
I quote those 2 forums because very recently I have been the target of these cowboys and received many invoices.
The advice on cag and pepipoo is to ignore unless they send a letter of claim which is part of the pre action protocol for civil cases.
I followed this advice and so far I've not been taken to court.
First ticket was a year ago, last one in January.

When do the costs start mounting up? You sometimes hear of people ending up being told they owe hundreds of pounds for a £60 "invoice".

If the case actually did go to court and the parking company won, can they also claim these costs?

No.
They can't add random costs to their invoice.
If you look at it from a different perspective and pretend that they owe you money, how much costs can you ask for?
Sending a few template letters (£10 max).
And that's about it.
The fact that you decide to use debt collectors is at your financial risk and it's not recoverable because the correct procedure is to take them to court, obtain a ccj and instruct the court bailiffs.
People who end up paying hundreds simply have fallen fool of the cowboys trap and admitted they had z contract with them.
For more info, don't listen to me, but have a little read on cag or pepipoo forums and see for yourself.