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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think DS should just pay the parking charge?

52 replies

LarrytheCucumber · 21/01/2016 10:55

DS parked in a hotel car park when he was working overnight elsewhere.
Today he has had a demand from Parking Eye for £100 (£60 if paid within 14 working days).
He parked in the car park. He didn't buy a ticket. Surely he hasn't got an excuse.
He is adamant that he doesn't have to pay private 'charges' and has emailed them telling them he will pay the cost of the 4 hour stay.
We went down this route before with Napier Parking and they were just really unpleasant and we ended up paying anyway to avoid the stress (which is of course what they want).
This one is Parking Eye and they have shots of him going in and out.
He is convinced that these 'charges' don't have to be paid, but all I can find on the internet suggests that they do, and that pleading 'excessive charges' is unlikely to be successful, even though the charge is very high compared with the cost of buying a ticket in the first place.
He has very little money and the £60 wipes out everything he earnt that night. Forgot to mention that he has Aspergers and is very stubborn.
I know there have been threads about this before.
Anyone with accurate up to date knowledge?

OP posts:
RebootYourEngine · 21/01/2016 10:57

The rules changed a few months back. Before then you didmt need tompay it but now it is law. He needs to pay it.

Anotherusername1 · 21/01/2016 10:57

Yes there was a Supreme Court decision in November involving ParkingEye. Pay the £60 and put it down to experience.

MuttonDressedAsMutton · 21/01/2016 11:02

Well it's not The Law exactly but there is now precedent whereas before they'd either never bothered or never won a court case. I think the Money Saving Expert website has the best advice on this matter - there is a whole forum devoted to just this topic.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

BarbarianMum · 21/01/2016 11:05

This is the law as far as I can gather:

When you park in a private car park, you enter a contract with the owner (I will pay X for parking for X hours). So by not buying a ticket your ds has broken the contract he entered. He is therefore liable for the cost of parking overnight - whatever that is.

The police will not pursue him to make him pay, or take him to court.

The private company could take him to small claims court. If they do this for the cost of the parking they had, plus their (reasonable) costs in taking him to small claims, they are likely to win.

They are not allowed to slap a huge "fine" for non-payment on.

He doesn't have to pay anything until they take him to court.

If they do take him to court, he risks getting admin costs and court costs added on to the original cost of parking.

Personally, in his position, I'd pay the money owed (cost of parking) now, claim a mistake (I forgot to get a ticket) and then let them take me to court if they wanted to.

Arfarfanarf · 21/01/2016 11:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bambinho · 21/01/2016 11:10

Parking Eye are renowned for taking things all the way to court these days. Your son is relying on out of date advice, he should look on the Pepipoo private parking charge forums for information on how to proceed.

Anotherusername1 · 21/01/2016 11:26

Honestly don't let him have it his way. He'll end up with a CCJ on his record. £60. Pay it. Move on. Please.

If he lets it go to court it could be closer to £600.

BarbarianMum · 21/01/2016 11:41

I don't think the OP should pay. Learning to check your facts before running up debts and assuming you won't be pursued for them is a valuable lesson and if the OP's son is stubborn, one he needs to learn for himself.

NeedACleverNN · 21/01/2016 11:52

I know why he feels he doesn't have to pay

You put fb you have a fine and everyone says you don't have to pay as it's privately owned and no one can police it

Show him online the law that says you have to and stop beliving in fb

honeysucklejasmine · 21/01/2016 12:00

DB has a blue badge. In his county, all car parks are free for bb holders. However, he accidentally parked in a private car park without realising. Didn't realise, didn't buy a ticket, got a fine. He did appeal (its a wheelchair accessible vehicle so obviously in use by a disabled person) but it failed. He says "fairenough, rules are rules" and paid it.

It sucks sometimes, especially when it's a genuine mistake, but that's the way life is sometimes.

BlueJug · 21/01/2016 12:22

It is interesting when we get threads when someone has parked in an OP's driveway or on a private road or in an allocated parking space that OP has paid for and there is usually outrage. (I understand of it is a mistake or the notices are not clear). No different if the car park is owned by a block or a business really - it is theirs that they have paid for to use or generate income from.

I am glad that the law now allows for this to be enforced. I used to live in a lovely flat. Nice gardens and a car park space each, (on our deeds). The number of people who would just park there because it was handy for the shops and the doctor's surgery - and it was "only an hour" and there were "loads of spaces" - you wouldn't believe. We would come home from work or an evening out and have nowhere to park.

Impossible to catch the driver unless you sat by his car. Eventually we had to get an expensive enforcement company involved. No-one wanted it but we had no choice.

Hard for your son but as others have said a lesson to be learnt.

UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 21/01/2016 13:40

My son had a similar issue. He was late for work, so parked in a small car park (12 spaces) outside a small shop. Sign made it very clear that free parking was restricted to one hour only.

He got a ticket and tried to argue that it wasn't enforceable. We pointed out that, if all the parking was taken by people who went using the shop but left their car thee for several hours, real customers wouldn't be able to park. He grudgingly saw our point.

We ended up loaning him the money to pay the fine, which he had to pay back.

The problem for lots of businesses is that, without very heavy sanctions, people will just take the piss and abuse parking. Which results in lost business.

He should pay up.

Original poster
LarrytheCucumber · 21/01/2016 15:14

He has emailed them and offered to pay the cost of the four hours parking, but I am pretty sure that won't wash.
I should think the hotel have engaged a private parking company for the same reasons given by Bluejug;they are probably just tired of people taking advantage of their car park when they are not guests.

OP posts:
ComposHatComesBack · 21/01/2016 15:16

If this is in Scotland or NI. The advice remains to don't pay and ignore.

starfishmummy · 21/01/2016 16:29

From what I have read recently they are taking people to court to get payment and winning. I believe that the only defence is that the area did not have proper signs.

YakTriangle · 21/01/2016 16:49

It's annoying yes, but far better to pay£60 than £100 or being taken to court and it going up even more.

LurkingHusband · 21/01/2016 16:52

Eventually we had to get an expensive enforcement company involved

And that is the cost the parking company can claim for.

Original poster
LarrytheCucumber · 21/01/2016 17:57

You put fb you have a fine and everyone says you don't have to pay as it's privately owned and no one can police it that is precisely what happened and because he is autistic (and stubborn) it has been hard to make him see that things have changed.
Thanks for your replies ladies.

OP posts:
MariaTheNun · 22/01/2016 08:56

It depends where it happened. Laws in Scotland over this are different from England and Wales.

chelseabuns2013 · 22/01/2016 08:59

I got caught by them and although at the time you didn't have to pay by law I just paid cause I couldn't be arsed with the hassle. I sent many black feelings towards the managers of the company though and a little piece of me hopes they have a bad life with the extorted cash 👹👹👹👹👹 as they clearly have the morals of a used arse wipe.

Sounds like you best let your husband get on with his crusade though, cause they've caused you enough damage already without marital upset. They are just money grabbing bar stools.

GruntledOne · 22/01/2016 09:15

I'm sorry, BarbarianMother's advice is just wrong. The recent Supreme Court decision established that they are perfectly within their rights to impose a fine in addition to the parking charges, and contrary to what Mutton says, what the Supreme Court said represents what the law is. Since ParkingEye have the Supreme Court decision on their side they are now very happy to bring court proceedings - they are bound to win, and they will get costs and interest as well as payment of the full original fine. Your DH would have to be insane not to pay the £60.

If he's stubborn about it, tell him to look at the ParkingEye judgment - it's at www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2013-0280-judgment.pdf

GruntledOne · 22/01/2016 09:16

chelseabuns, there hasn't actually been a time when you didn't have to pay by law. There was simply a period when the law was uncertain.

Why do you say it is immoral for the owners of car parks not to take action to stop people using the facilities they pay for without permission?

Pistachiocray · 22/01/2016 09:23

I'll be on my own here, but I wouldn't pay it. I think its too high.

Then again for small figure fines less than 100 I've never paid if they are from a private company. They usually give up, if you just ignore them. They are a private company so if they aren't gettinf anywhere they will 99% of the time give up as will cost them more.

ReallyTired · 22/01/2016 09:35

If the op son thinks a parking charge is unfair then he can appeal to the parking company and if that fails then he can appeal to POPLA. From what the op has said, it really sounds as if he hadn't a leg to stand on.

The law has not changed and parking companies do have to explain their commercial justification. There are times when people do get unfair parking tickets and that is why POPLA exists. The recent Beavis v parking eye ruling is not a license to print money.

There are private firms who will appeal a parking charge for you for a smaller fee. A quick email will let your dh know if there is any chance of an appeal being sucessful.

GruntledOne · 22/01/2016 09:47

It's not true to say that private firms usually give up these days, and ParkingEye certainly doesn't. I can't see how they would have any problem in establishing the commercial justification for discouraging people from taking free parking for several hours in a hotel car park.

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