Anyone actually been taken to court by a private parking company?

[MrsPatrickDempsey]

I got a parking ticket from a private company back in November. The area concerned is a residential area directy opposite the main hospital so there are signs up regarding permits/fines etc. I am a community health care worker and displayed my permit when I visited a patient for about 45 mins. When I returned my permit had been dislodged as I left the car - it was face down by my car door - and I had a ticket. They have rejected appeals and keep escalating the fee. I accept I perhaps should have checked my permit but feel I have mitigating circumstances. Any thoughts. Will they take me to court? Do you know of anyone who has been in similar circumstances?

I would suggest you Google the name of the actual company & see how litigious they are. I was in a similar position and when I googled found out they were taking people to court for the most petty of reasons (accidentally inputting one digit of a vrm incorrectly into a prepay meter despite having paid the full parking amount etc etc).

I ended up paying up but I know a lot of other companies may not bother so it's worth finding out before making a decison.

There's a lot of expertise here: forums.pepipoo.com/index.php

However the first rule they tend to stick by is to never respond to them (and thus confirm the driver).

DP has had a couple, in my car so the letters are sent to me but they have never done anything apart from send letters, phone and threaten to take me to court.

Googling the company is a good idea. I got a ticket after parking on what turned out to be a private road, that had no indication apart from slightly different coloured tarmac that it wasn't just a continuation of the normal road that led to it.

I wrote and told them I wasn't paying due to this this and I never heard anything more - googling told me that this company didn't usually take things further if people didn't pay up straight away, but others obviously do.

But to be honest, in your circumstances, I would risk letting them take me to court, because I can't see what you've done wrong. For all you know, the permit could have fallen down if the car was bumped or passed closely by a lorry after you had left it?

You had a permit and were working (and hence using your permit) in the area, but it had fallen down, so technically wasn't correctly displayed, but you still had it and you explained that to them, and they have rejected it, which doesn't sound very reasonable and the court people (magistrates?) would probably agree as long as you explain yourself clearly and have all the evidence - you are also a low paid worker doing an important job, so they should treat you fairly and sympathetically.