AIBU to appeal a private car park fine for leaving site?

If you go to Farmfoods, they may be able to get the fine cancelled for you if you say you made a purchase. Did you check your bank statement?

@Rosesandthorns66 Fight unfair private parking tickets

Follow the advice on the link⬆️⬆️

Was it explicitly written at the top of the sign? I'm just wondering why the photo appears to be cropped, as TBH, I'd possibly not have read the small print in detail either.

So you did visit a store at the location covered by the car park?

Im not asking if you bought anything.

Definitely try to get it cancelled by the shop first though. Did you pay in cash or do you have any kind of record of it leaving your bank? Problem with appealing is that the appeals system is also run by the same lot who run the scalping parking companies in the first place.

Just saw your earlier post with the sign. Did you visit any store there?

Because you could reasonably assume that you didn't know which store you needed to be a patron of. The wording needs to be exact to issue a charge to someone. If there were only one store in the park that you were obliged to be a patron of, then going into any other store wouldn't form a contract.

"Parking for patrons of ASDA only" is completely different to "parking for patrons of the retail park only". Whay does the signage actually say?

How could they prove that you didn't have a passenger who spent the whole time in the shops?

What this boils down to is whether the rules are

• you CANNOT leave the site while your car is parked in the car park
• you MUST shop at one or more stores in the site, but can then leave the site
• One of these but it's unclear which

@Rosesandthorns66 its the wording in the car park itself that is important.

Have you looked on Google Maps to see if you can see the sign?

Yes, I think there's a huge difference between people who use their land for parking without the remotest intention of using the shops, and people who are primarily there to shop there but also combine it with another small errand or two - especially if one of them is sorting banking before spending money in the shop.

I've also heard it from the opposite angle: whereby large supermarkets only allow 45 minutes and thus have fined disabled and elderly people who just cannot do all their shopping in that amount of time, even though they've been in the shop the whole time... and also ideal customers who have taken longer because they're just buying loads of their products!

Nevertheless, if they GENUINELY wanted to only keep the car park clear for actual customers, it would be the easiest thing ever to put up signs saying 'strictly customer parking only', put in a great big barrier that would only rise to let you exit by inserting a token and put up big signs in the shop(s) telling you to ask/press a button after making your purchase to get the token.

But they don't do this, because in spite of what they pretend, they want people to park there against the rules and make them loads of money. In fact, where it's an independent parking company, they quite possibly rent the land to the shops for free, on the condition that they can make their money from swooping for all the fines they can issue.

I think the issue is that often the car parks aren't run by the shops themselves.

If the signs in the car park say you can't use other shops, you are stuck. But if it's only a time limit then they are taking the mick. I'd also consider the size of the writing, too, you have to be able to see it easily from the car, not by standing right up close with a magnifying glass!

But she DID shop at the Farmfoods.

Why do you and others keep trying to put off people from appealing?

It doesn’t hurt to appeal. If the appeal is rejected, OP still has a grace period to pay the original charge of £60.

And Euro Parking Services are in it for the money like any other private car park. So not sure why you think their case study should stop people from appealing.

Parking for patrons of which store?

If there's more than one you may have a way around it.

Hello neighbour 😂

Yep, I read this and immediately thought "Wick Parade"

Quire a few variables here — where the signs were, how prominent they were, exactly what they said about “patrons only”….I don’t think it would be hard to make a plausible defence.

If you want proper advice, the MoneySavingExpert private parking forum is excellent. I’d post the notice there, with your personal details and registration number removed, together with photographs of the signs if possible.

Bear in mind that the parking company itself wants you to pay, so I wouldn’t place too much faith in the first-stage appeal process. If they reject an appeal, that certainly doesn’t mean they are legally right.

If it remains unpaid, the usual next stage is a series of increasingly demanding letters, sometimes from debt collectors. Debt collectors themselves don’t have any special enforcement powers — they can’t send bailiffs round or seize anything without the matter first going to court and the parking company obtaining a judgment.

Eventually they may threaten or actually issue a county court claim. Even then, you can defend it, and a judge will look at the evidence rather than simply accepting what the parking company says. It would them well over a year to get a court date.

If it did ultimately go to court and you lost, you would of course need to pay the amount ordered by the court. For a normal private parking case the total is usually around £300 hundred pounds.

What many people find is the parking company bombard you with letters, threaten court, issue proceedings and then abandon the case. Not all the time, but often.

I’d talk to the shop manager, not the car park management company

Had 6 private parking invoices over the years. No payments made. One went to court and they lost. Just take pics and follow the process if they pursue