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AIBU?

Parking fine

31 replies

AnnabellesMumXx · 01/12/2014 10:12

Sorry if this is the wrong place I'm not sure where to post.
My Dp received a fine whilst using our car which is registered to me.
The parking ticket is from a privately owned company. He aims you do not need to pay this company they are rip off merchants etc.
We have received letters for payments of Â£100 and now I'm being threatened with a CCJ. I'm so torn the info on the Internet seems contradictory. Some say yes you should pay and others say no they are bullies. The name of the company is SIP.
Anyone have experience of them? What would you do? Â£100 is a lot of money...

OP posts:

Report

DarkBlueEyes · 01/12/2014 10:14

This weekends Sunday times featured a company who promises to get you out of privately issued tickets. It's in the driving section, worth a look or a Google.

Arkkorox · 01/12/2014 10:14

We got one, we sent them a letter asking for photographic proof.... never heard from them again! That was about 4 years ago

MillyStar · 01/12/2014 10:15

I had one a few weeks ago from when I went to buy my dd's Christmas presents. It was a private company and I just paid the £60 straight away!

I know people who've ignored them and they stopped after about 10 letters and threats, it would stress me out too much though and I hate having stuff unresolved, especially over Christmas

I was really torn like you but decided to just get it out of the way so I could sleep properly. I suppose it depends how much you'd worry about it

OwlCapone · 01/12/2014 10:16

I thought the law around this had changed fairly recently and you did have to pay . I can't remember the exact details.

Personally, I think if the ticket was issued for a valid reason you should pay it and park within the rules next time.

Icimoi · 01/12/2014 10:30

Companies are increasingly going down the line of suing. If I were you I'd pay up and not take the risk.

ilovepowerhoop · 01/12/2014 10:31

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets - gives info on what to do

VivaLeBeaver · 01/12/2014 10:33

You shouldn't have ignored it. Advice now is to appeal through POPLA and they will find in your favour. You could have appealed that it was an unfair charge as they're only allowed to charge you what they're out of pocket by.

Saying that I had a fine recently where I wrote to the company saying I wanted to appeal and could I have a ref for POPLA. They never replied with a ref number. I got about another ten letter with the fine going up and threatening all sorts then they stopped.

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 01/12/2014 10:45

Have a look at pepipoo or Money Saving Expert.

The law has changed so you can be liable for these charges. But in a lot of cases you can appeal and get off, but it depends at what stage you are at. Or in a lot of cases ignoring will work, you just get a load of letters trying to scare you. To get a CCJ against you they would first need to take you to small claims court. If you receive a court summons DO NOT IGNORE IT!

It may well be bluster from the company. It will cost them more to take you to court than they would get from a fine, so they are trying to scare you into paying.

Here is a current thread on pepipoo regarding the company.

Nicknacky · 01/12/2014 10:47

Op, are you in Scotland or England/wales?

Andrewofgg · 01/12/2014 10:48

They will never follow court proceedings through if you defend them. They can't get the costs out of you. Not worth the money to them.

ALittleFaith · 01/12/2014 11:18

They do and have taken people to court more recently! There's some advice here. Current advice is to respond to the letters using the template from money supermarket to challenge the fine and say it's extortionate.

Vycount · 01/12/2014 12:12

Some advice on this thread is completely wrong. Go and look at Moneysavingexpert or pepipoo as advised above. You could well end up with a CCJ if you don't. Your husband's advice was right a few years ago, but not now. I ignored one of these 3 years ago and it went away, but I wouldn't risk it now.

jazzandh · 01/12/2014 12:31

You cannot get a CCJ unless you are taken to court, lose the case and still don't pay. You do not have credit arrangements with parking operators.

If you have stuck it out this long, personally, I would hang on and see what happens.Worst case you get a court summons and have to defend it - but I would gamble £100 on that not happening....

We ignored parking eye one not so long ago, their last letters came from "bailiffs" but offered a lower fine if we chose to pay.....nothing after that.

WillkommenBienvenue · 01/12/2014 12:37

DP is right that they can't do anything.

I can't remember why but as long as you make no contact with them at all you will be fine. You'll get letters for a year or so and then they will stop.

It's a legal loophole, these companies try to use the law wrongly to back up their claim but you haven't actually broken any laws, as I said I can't remember why.

prh47bridge · 01/12/2014 12:52

DP is right that they can't do anything.

No he isn't. As has been said up thread, the law has changed. Previously they could only take action against the driver. Since they generally had no way of identifying the driver that meant they were unlikely to succeed. They are now entitled to take action against the registered keeper for any unpaid parking fees or similar. However, they can only claim unpaid parking fees or other losses. The figure quoted here (£100) sounds like a penalty rather than a genuine estimate of their loss so their chances of getting that much are low.

wanttosqueezeyou · 01/12/2014 12:57

Your DP is wrong.

The rules changed recently. Go and check out the websites people have linked to.

The advice from Willkommenis outdated.

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 01/12/2014 13:02

Willkommen, please don't talk about stuff you don't know. You are wrong.
It is not a 'legal loophole'. There are no laws being broken if you park in a private car park without a ticket. Rather you may be in breach of contract, and there is a charge associated with said breach.

If you decline to pay such a charge, it is a civil matter, which is why it may end up in small claims court. The outcome of such cases is based on the interpretation of the contract said to exist between the car park operators and the driver.

Every time a thread comes on here we get people popping up saying "They can't do anything" when they can. I just hope people don't follow this advice and ignore a court summons, which could result in a CCJ.

Just to show I'm not making this up here is a case of someone who ignored it all and got taken to court, and as he didn't turn up the parking company won.

MillyStar · 01/12/2014 14:26

That's exactly where I got my fine whatsthat

19lottie82 · 01/12/2014 14:59

these are not FINES, they are parking CHARGES.......

they won't take you to court as they can't claim for any more than they have lost, by you parking there, which could be for example, the cost of a parking space in a multi story, for as long as you parked there, not the ridiculous "charge" they have presented you with.

I'd ignore it but if you don't want to, There's a template online which rejects their charge as it isn't in proportion to their loss. Use this to draft a letter, but DO NOT "appeal" it, as there is a 99% chance you won't get anywhere.

Icimoi · 01/12/2014 15:47

19lottie, as evidenced by the reports linked on this thread, the company can and will take people to court.

In calculating loss, they can put into account not just the cost of parking but also consideration of the sum it costs them to provide the parking facility and potential loss of profit. They presumably provide the car parking to attract people to the shop or whatever it is operating the car park, and if everyone ignored the time limits they would have totally wasted their investment and people would be put off visiting if they can't get parking spaces easily.

kittykathat · 01/12/2014 16:35

I have had four council parking tickets and never paid one, always won appeal
You ned to know gow to write letters that adresss the law n stuff on this

ALittleFaith · 01/12/2014 16:49

katy council ones are quite different to these 'parking fines' on private land. Appealing on the grounds of mitigating circumstances is often futile. I've written two letters recently appealing 'parking fines' - bad couple of weeks! Both basically saying it's their fault and the fine is unjust. That's the way to respond to these people.

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Tactleneck · 01/12/2014 17:16

The advice to ignore is wrong. When we got a private parking fine we appealed asking them to prove losses and asked for the POPLA ref number if they refused. They dismissed the fine. We also contacted the shop we spent money in and the land owner to explaining the mitigating circumstances. Not quite sure which action got them to dismiss. If you have got to the stage if ccj I think you have no choice to pay.

WillkommenBienvenue · 01/12/2014 17:38

It seems the laws have changed, I used to ignore fines on the basis that they couldn't prove who the driver was - that was the loophole, they had no way of finding out and you could say you didn't know - they knew this so couldn't take it any further.

From Moneysavingexpert -

Before October 2012, when on private land it was the driver who was liable for any parking charges from private parking firms, rather than the owner.

But now, parking operators in England and Wales are allowed to hold the vehicle's owner liable for unpaid charges if they don't know who the driver is and the keeper refuses, or is unable, to name the driver.

northernlurker · 01/12/2014 17:44

Yes the law changed TWO years ago. Tbh OP I would pay it - or at least come to some agreement with the company about the amount that you pay. You could get all het up and argue the toss about what their loss is etc (because the fines are extortionate) but I wouldn't have the energy. Dh had one about 18 months ago and he did contest it. We started getting letters from debt agency and he wrote saying he would not pay the amount they asked. He would pay if they could estimate their actual loss. So far we haven't heard anymore.
Generally companies are going to court more though.

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