Parking fine

A question about : Parking fine

Hi,

I got a parking charge notice two days ago and I'm wondering if I would be able to successfully appeal it.

Here's the details:

I parked in a car park that I thought belonged to a pub. It's actually private land and has nothing to do with the pub.

There were a couple of signs but it was unclear as to which bays were included and they were across the car park from where I was parked. Some of the other bays had numbers and a business name written there (I noticed this after I got the PCN!) but the bay I was in did not have any such indicator of ownership.

The parking ticket is issued by a private company. Has anyone heard of The Wheel Clamping Company? Is it legal?

There is no signature from the traffic warden on there - does this invalidate the ticket?

And if I appeal, am I definitely entitled to the discounted rate if I write to them within 7 days?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Hope you can help, thanks very much.

Best answers:

• Get yourself on to www.pepipoo.com and read all about this scam in the parking forums there.
  And whatever you do, don't pay it! You have NOT been fined.
  And do not contact them. Make them spend £2.50 getting your details from the DVLA.
• It's a civil matter. It's not a parking ticket as issued by a traffic warden/police etc but an invoice for parking where you weren't allowed to. You can choose to ignore it if you want and they can choose to haul you through County Court if they want if you don't pay it. It's up to you but county court rather than magistrates is where it can ultimately end up if it gets that far.
• You could safely ignore it, if they do take it to court (they won't) they'll lose because their alleged contract is with the driver at the time, not the registered keeper. You're not legally obliged to divulge that info to them.
• Have you read this thread
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=1181209
  Basically it's the same for you, you were lucky you were not clamped, but by the sounds of it you could have disputed the clamping, the signs have to be visible and readable to a person driving into the car park or next to and obvious to a person parking. They cannot be at the opposite end of the car park.
  In any event, it is just a scam, by a private company to get money from you. They don't know who the driver was and they can only find out who the registered keeper is. They have no contract with the RK and the RK has NO obligation to help them.
  So do as per the other thread and ignore everything you get from the company.
• Thanks very much for your advice!
  Erm, I'm a bit nervous that they might chase me through the courts if I don't pay it so do you think I should write to them and explain the legal side of this and that I don't intend to pay? Will I get any closure from this if they decide I'm right?
• qov, the following letter would suffice (after, of course, they write to you. Don't send them anything until they do):
  "Dear Sir or Madam
  I am in receipt of your invoice to the value of £x. I confirm that I am the Registered Keeper of the vehicle with Registration Mark XXXXXXX.
  I assume from your correspondence that at some point you entered into a contract with the driver of that vehicle. I would, therefore, advise you to pursue the driver of the vehicle at the time.
  Yours faithfully
  q.o.v."
• I would say absolutely do not write to them. It really is inadviseable to write to them, but I would say extremely inadvisable before they have written to the registered keeper.
  By writing to them now you are confirming that you have the ticket. The ticket is the responsibility of the driver not the registered keeper.
  If you really must write to them do not confirm that you were the driver, and wait until they contact the RK by letter, so that you have a 'letter' to reply to, to deny any knowledge and suggest that they contact the driver of the vehicle.
  No-one that I am aware of has ever lost in court against this type of scam. Of the very few people ( I am aware of 2 cases) -that the internet community are aware of- who have been to court, all won their cases. Court will not happen.
• Every time we got a post like this its the same response.
  The land was private, you should have had the owners permission to park there.
  Although they probably won't take you to court at least learn from it and don't park there again.
  How would you like it if someone parked on your drive, and there was nothing you could do about it?
• And then Conor, you will probably be taken to court for holding somebody against their will.
  Having scanned several of the posts on this subject (and created my own), you seem to be th eonly person who thinks such a case will go to court. Do you have any experience of such a thing or are you simply guessing?
• Have a word with the pub also, if i was the landlord i would be horrified if my customers were getting these tickets and some paying them