Going half's with friend on parking fine ?

[lucylooey]

Me and a friend took our kids out for the day.
We parked in a supermarket and it did say 3 hours max.
She drove and I said it's 3 hours in here.
Anyway yesterday she got a £85 fine or £50 if paid in a week or so.
Would you go half's with your friend ?

who issues the ticket? Unless it is by the council, do not I repeat do not pay a penny to a private parking company. They have no legal rights and can do nothing, I am still getting threatening letters from them from 2015 over staying too long in Sainsburys, my lawyer brother informed me they had no lehal power and he was right,google it yourself. Pay nothing.

Lucy,

You did the right thing. Both of you enjoyed your day out, shit happens, and it's definitely not worth sweating the small stuff and losing a friend over 25 quid.

I'm proud of you.

I once accidentally got my car locked into a car park which closed surprisingly early. I was with a friend and we split the release fee 50/50. None of us had thought to check the time the car park closed; we had all assumed it would be open until 10pm. I guess technically as driver it was my fault for not checking, but we are both adults and it didn't cross either of our minds to look.

I would pay half, as you could have reminded her and got back for the 3 hour point.

Yeah I'd go halves definitely

I think you have done the right thing. A few years ago a friend who had very little spare cash drove me to an appointment two hours away. I paid for the petrol and bought her lunch. When she got a fine for speeding I insisted on paying it because she would not have been there if it had not been for me.

I personally would offer

I'd pay half.

I didn't pay half with a friend when we went through a toll checkpoint and I asked her if I could pay it then and there online and she said oh no, tinkly laugh, it will be fine. The toll was $2.60, she got a $50 fine and I was welp, nope. You were a visitor to my city, I knew it had to be paid and you insisted it was OK not to pay and wouldn't tell me your numberplate so I could pay for you.

Just transferred £25 over ..would feel too guilty on her not to do it and we were both to blame

I think that's the right choice, good for you

You did the right thing OP and you're a good friend.

OP - I think it was nice of you to pay half - and without her asking is even nicer still.

Strictly speaking it is the driver's responsibility but just a bit shitty not to offer. Strangely, also kind of shitty to ask for half. One of those situations where it is nice to offer, even better just to press the money on the friend.

In your situation, I wouldn't expect to be asked but I would definitely offer

I think you did the right thing to pay half.

Maybe the car park was for shoppers not for sunbathers.

a private parking company. They have no legal rights and can do nothing,

Totally untrue. They can sue you for the unpaid parking charge and courts have been willing to uphold such charges in some cases. Notably in ParkingEye v Beavis the car park allowed free parking for a certain time with a high charge for overstaying that time and the court upheld that charge. (The law may be different if you've paid for a certain duration of parking and overstay.)

I’d go halves in this situation

www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-motorist-fails-in-bid-to-have-22-fines-for-parking-on-private-land-overturned-in-court/

There have also been some recent cases in Scotland where fines were upheld.

How many private car firms actually make it to court???? If any a tiny fraction, even the president of it said publically when he retired they had little to none legal authority to fine people.

yes these cases are in the news for a reason, they are highly unusual, the vast vast majority of private car parking fines that go unpaid stay at that as it is not worth their while to take you to court, they do not have near the same power as councils.

I'd go halves.

Yeah you both had a lovely day and she was good enough to drive you. Like you say, you were aware of the time you had to be back but you were chilling and enjoying the weather. £25 was the right thing to do as it all comes back around

Many many of them do go to
Court as issued small claims cases. Please, do not listen to advice given on here to not pay - look at pepipoo and money saving expert for up to date (and make sure it is up to date - ie post the case of parking eye v beavis) advice.

Yes I would pay half.

doorframe
I have successfully resisted a private parking fine by following step by step the advice on MSE. By following the advice to the letter I pushed the company into an admin error that made the fine totally unenforceable in law. I am not saying people should rush to pay them if they are prepared to oppose them but ignoring the fine isn't the answer.

The fact she told you about the fine suggests she might have hoped you would at least offer. If she didn't want you to know about it, she wouldn't have told you.

I think it was the right thing to offer - it's not like a speeding ticket where an individual has chosen to do something and takes the hit, but you both knew the deadline, forgot and got fined - it's an expensive mistake but not so bad if split between 2. Yes to setting a timer in future.

Hey ho!

Friend may offer you the money back or just thank you - but either way you can rest in the knowledge you did the right thing.....and too often on MN people are looking to get away without doing the right thing and to be told it is fine...well, well done Op for doing the right thing even though it's cost you.

How many private car firms actually make it to court???? If any a tiny fraction, even the president of it said publically when he retired they had little to none legal authority to fine people

My son took the advice that he had a parking ticket from a private company, it wouldn't go to court, it wasn't enforcable etc etc.
He believed it despite us saying no, things have changed. Letters from solicitors came to our house ( funny enough the solicitors were closely related to the parking firm!) He kept ignoring, Letters from the court arrived but to be fair they looked fake.
Unbeknownst to him ( and a lot of other people in our area) he received a CCJ. It was eventually over turned but to cut a long story short it cost around £225 to sort out and get the CCJ removed. It took nearly 2 years to sort out.

Please take proper advice rather than thinking parking tickets are only enforceable if they have been issued by the council. Things have changed.