to consider not paying this parking charge notice?

[FreyaFridays]

I'm sure I've seen a similar thread on mumsnet before, I've read some stuff on some consumer action websites, but I just wanted to get a general consensus from some 'telligent folk before I do anything about this.

Yesterday, I overstayed my welcome in a supermarket car park by 20mins (this part is unreasonable of me, I know, I took too long), and when I arrived back at my car, I had a parking charge notice from a private parking firm.

I've read before that this is just an invoice, and that they legally have no right to charge me anything. Does anyone know if this is true? Would I BU to not pay?

It doesn't matter whether the car park owners suffer loss or not by someone overstaying. They are running a business where people expect to be able to park, therefore they need to enforce the rules or people will take the piss and leave their cars there for hours, putting off genuine customers, and that will cause the business substantial losses. They are entitled to impose fines, and those fines are fully enforceable by the courts.

Which company was it Freya? It makes a difference.

Some, like Euro car parks, give up eventually and don't take court action but others like Parking Eye do

It was Euro Car Parks, Nancy.

I'd be tempted to ignore it then.

I ignored one from them last year. They send a chain of letters all getting more and more threatening and then they give up after about 4-6 months.

Just wanted to mention that I got a private parking ticket and they took me to court. We settled and I had to pay them the £60 of the original fine. I know it's highly unusual to get taken to court, but t happened to me and it was very stressful!

If it were to happen again I don't think I'd pay, but there is a risk they will follow it up.