UK Parking Control Ltd - Any legal advice please - very worried

[theporkofpie]

I am after any help about this company and if they are legitimate or a scam.

My daughter recently took my car and went with her friends to Mcdonalds one evening last week. Today I received a parking fine that stated she had been in the car park for two hours and nine minutes. It showed two black and white photographs both with the number plate. One is of the car being driven into the car park and the other is, I presume, the car leaving, but it is very difficult to tell. The fine is for £50 if paid within the next week but £100 if after.

I cannot believe that she could be fined for going to Mcdonalds and parking her car there while she is inside the restaurant.

I have looked on various forums and it seems that they have quite a reputation and might be a scam, but I scared not to pay up due to the fact that the fine will double.

I would be grateful for any advice on this matter and, if I refuse to pay, what will happen.

[GypsyMoth]

There was a thread about this last week.... A Lidl or also car park iirc??

[WhyAlwaysBoris]

At my local McD's they have signs on the walls of the car park saying something along the lines of "for the benefit of all our customers you are entitled to 1hr 30 mins of free parking and if you overstay this time you will be fined x pounds. This will be enforced by CCTV"

Can you go back to yours and see if it has similar notices?

And if they do, it will have the name of the company who enforce the policy too, so you could check if it is the people who have sent you the form.

If they do stipulate a time limit, the signs are reasonably well displayed (eg are they still visible at night when your daughter still went there) and the company writing to you has been entrusted to enforce the policy, i'm afraid they're in the right.

Sorry

[DCSsunhill]

Scam.

They have sent you an invoice asking you to enter into a contract with them. Ignore them and they will go away.

Do not respond at all. They will realise they have a live one and hound you.

My boss is currently playing car parking invoice bingo with one company. Check out Moneysavingexpert as they show you all the letters that will be sent and you can simply tick them off mentally when they arrive.

Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.

[DCSsunhill]

They don't even have any proof that she was driving. Drivel.

[zipzap]

Also check out the honest John website - he has lots of good info on this.

If they were in mcD for all that time, might also be worth talking to the manager to see if they treat all their customers like this... Without giving name or car reg of course!

[hocuspontas]

Ignore! If they are the company that were after us you need nerves of steel to not pay up because they just keep on at you. We were threatened with court etc but just binned everything. Haven't heard anything for months now. I think they are legit and keep in business because enough people pay up! You can only be fined if you are the driver and they don't actually know who that was.

[TheMitfordsMaid]

How strange - I had one of these sent to me today for parking at a retail park for 3 hours and 11 minutes. it has a Sainsburys, Costa, Next, Next, New Look and a few other outlets and I think it is perfectly possible and reasonable to spend 3 hours there.

I will definitely challenge mine and will update on this thread.

[Ponders]

nooooooo, MitfordsMaid, don't answer it at all

the only legally enforceable parking tickets are from local authorities - anything else can be ignored

[Ponders]

\link{http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?autocom=ibwiki&cmd=article&id=56\Private Parking Companies}

"Private Parking Companies are not backed by any aspect of criminal law. Tickets from Traffic Wardens working for the police or local authorities or tickets issued by police officers are (this guide also excludes those tickets issues pursuant to the Transport Act 2000 governing tickets issued to vehicles on behalf of railtrack or rail operators). There are provisions for them in the Road Traffic Act 1991 and these provisions allow sanctions that the issuing authority can take.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR PRIVATE PARKING COMPANIES"

(what is most infuriating is that these companies are allowed to get registered keeper details from the DVLC )

[TheMitfordsMaid]

Thanks for the link. I shall file it away with the papers from a well known photo library who claimed that I'd nicked their photos for use on my website, even though we'd legitimately purchased them from a different photolibrary.

Scoundrels.

My parking notice is from parkingeye.co.uk

[Ponders]

\link{http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?155391-Parking-eye-charge-notice-reply-or-ignore-it\consumer action group thread on Parking Eye}

scoundrels indeed (great word! )

[sneezecakesmum]

Mitford...Parking (bastards) Eye also got me. The car parks had previously been free, but yes, notices and times limits so I paid up as too scared to ignore anything...watched too many episodes of Bailiffs to risk it

[sneezecakesmum]

£70...!! barstards scoundrels

[zipzap]

Also look into your local paper - there were some car parks locally that were sending out loads of nasty demands like this and they were running a campaign against them. More people that complained, more momentum the campaign got and they eventually got tried in court.

If they are being very ott and heavy handed there might be others that want to fight against them too.

[prh47bridge]

To repeat advice I gave on the last such thread...

As you were parked on private land this is not an official fixed penalty fine. It is a notice that they intend to take you to court for trespassing and are giving you a chance to settle out of court. There is no independent appeals process. However, if they do take you to court it is possible that the court will decide you don't have to pay if, for example, the rules weren't clear. If they don't take you to court they cannot force you to pay.

Parking Eye and UK Parking Control are members of the British Parking Association which means they have to follow that organisations code of practise. You can find them at www.britishparking.co.uk. You may also want to consider talking to Citizens Advice.

[janey122]

they are not an scam they are a big company but albeit be a dodgy company if u dont pay you will get strange letters through the post orit could go to court do not ignore the letters appeal the parking charge and try resolver or popla
www.mirror.co.uk/money/millions-parking-tickets-illegal---5199090

[prh47bridge]

Zombie thread. The law has changed in the 6.5 years since this thread was active.

[NGC2017]

A similar thing happen to me a month back but mine was with Parking Eye Ltd. I was sent a fine staying I had overstayed my time at the Aldi carpark with two photos; one of my entering and one of me leaving. This really annoyed me as that particular day the traffic lights were totally out of sequence and only on green for 1 second. Aldi workers saw the chaos in their carpark but did nothing. After 50 minutes of people screaming at each other, horns constantly sounding, and my car not even moving fully out of the parking space I had to call the highways agency to report the traffic lights. After about 15 minutes the lights were back to normal and the carpark was operating as it should. But imagine my surprise when I received this penalty when Aldi would have known what happened in their carpark that day. But then I suppose they are two different companies so I let them off there, lol.

I know my situation is different to yours, but I would hope the same rules apply. I had no dealings with Parking Eye and contacted Aldi’s Head Office, as there was no direct number to the store. They explained that the parking company shouldn’t be targeting customers but is there for people abusing the car park ‘free time’. I was asked for proof I had shopped there on that day. I didn’t have my receipt anymore but luckily both me and my Mom had proof that we had paid on our bank card that day. I emailed proof over and within a few days it was agreed that they had cancelled the fine.
I know in many cases people may no longer have their receipt, in which case they go and speak to the store manager and express their feelings toward the unfair charge when they were actually customers in the shop/restaurant whilst their car was parked. The manager has more control than we do over getting these things overturned so I would say that is your best option.

Hope this helps in some way