For anyone who gets a parking ticket from a supermarket, service station, private car park or on private land please be aware of the following:

If it’s not issued by the Council then YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY !

Watchdog

What’s more there’s nothing at all the private company can do about it apart from send you ever more threatening letters in red ink or perhaps a nasty phone call to try and scare you into paying.

Let’s fight back against these Parking Parasites who try to make a living by bullying the old and the vulnerable of society into paying extortionate parking charges that are totally unreasonable yet completely unenforceable.

The more people that are aware of this the better – hopefully it will gradually put an end to these Highwaymen.

Or, people could start thinking about where they park instead of abandoning vehicles left right and centre and assuming they have “the right”. What if I dump my car on your drive over night because it works for me?

Yes there are some bandit companies out there but how is a supermarket car park supposed to keep the car park clear for real customers if a bunch of lazy commuters park there all day every day?

I was given one in June up in that there Scotland (I don’t think anyone is mean enough to issue them down here) not even been sent a single letter.

About £18k in private parking tickets sitting in a bin bag in the loft. Never paid a penny.

(long running dispute with property factors/ private parking company and they’re ticketing my car on land I own, without permission)

Yes my missus had one of these from a shopping car park after 2 hours

checked it out on the web, we had a few debt collectors letters as expected but the key is NOT to reply to any of them and they disappear.

They dress it up like a fine but only the council can fine you these are just invoices

older friends of mine did pay up

Feckers

Yeti
mine was in the south – Woking to be precise

How about a service station on the m6 for parking in a disabled bay???

yeh, wot onzadog said

“you can” is not always the same as “you should”

What if I dump my car on your drive over night because it works for me?

Then I would call the police wouldn’t I to get it shifted. Or if the police were not interested I’d give it a nudge off the drive with my Landrover.

I wouldn’t slap a ticket (sorry, invoice) on it and then expect you to pay some extortionate and completely made up amount.

As above…they are just invoices, nothing else. A parking company cannot ‘fine’ you, no matter how they dress it up, and how do they think they can charge you for parking on a free car park ??

xcgb – how on earth is that helping me to negatively stereotype the people of Scotland?

They can however put a wheel clamp on. It is also illegal to remove the clamp. Unfortunately they then have you by the balls!

Yeti
Sorry yes it must have been a scottish company now i come to think of it!

What if I dump my car on your drive over night because it works for me?
Then I would call the police wouldn’t I to get it shifted. Or if the police were not interested I’d give it a nudge off the drive with my Landrover.

I wouldn’t slap a ticket (sorry, invoice) on it and then expect you to pay some extortionate and completely made up amount.

And its extortion in my view

Frodo – Member
They can however put a wheel clamp on.

And funnily enough, that was banned in Scotland in 1992 as it was deemed to be extortion.

They can however put a wheel clamp on. It is also illegal to remove the clamp. Unfortunately they then have you by the balls!

It might be an offence if they can prove it was you who damaged the clamp. However some action with an angle grinder and then the clamp dumped in the nearest canal/skip etc. How would they prove it was you who removed it? I’m talking proof beyond reasonable doubt – not just suspicion!

So it’s ok park wherever the hell you like, those nasty nasty people can’t get you for it anymore.

well done.

So it’s ok park wherever the hell you like, those nasty nasty people can’t get you for it anymore.

Exactly, and very soon wheel clamping (sorry extortion) will be illegal in England and Wales.

Don’t read the Daily Mail However

So it’s ok park wherever the hell you like, those nasty nasty people can’t get you for it anymore.
well done.

Of course not, there’s plenty of places where you can get done, but there are appeals processes that you can go through and get them overturned. I have and I did.
On the other hand people have gone to places for some shopping with the kids, spent money, gone to the café/restaurant for a meal, spent more money, then gone back to the car to find they’ve received a ticket for overstaying some allotted period of time. I’m bu99ered if, having spent a considerable amount of money in an establishment I’d roll over for extortion by some private company on their behalf.

It might be an offence if they can prove it was you who damaged the clamp. However some action with an angle grinder and then the clamp dumped in the nearest canal/skip etc. How would they prove it was you who removed it? I’m talking proof beyond reasonable doubt – not just suspicion

CCTV? I wouldn’t suggest you should change career to master criminal. 🙂

That’s also why our residents car park outside our home is full up with ***** who don’t want to park legally.

Perhaps now people can park in private car parks without fear of a fine I’ll need to employ a policy of headlight smashing and brake fluid pouring.

If it’s not issued by the Council then YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY !

Unless it’s issued by the Police, or Transport for London.

CCTV? I wouldn’t suggest you should change career to master criminal

Yes because there’s CCTV on every corner isn’t there – silly me.

I’d like to see if it’s worth the clampers taking you to court for the damage of a £10 padlock. Do you think it’s worth their time and effort especially with their glowing reputation for being ‘whiter than white’? Quite honestly I suspect the police or courts wouldn’t be remotely interested.

Please grow some balls and then learn how to use them 😆 . . . . you don’t have to bend over and get shafted by these crooks.

Is the OP right?

I thought recent case-law allowed land-owners to charge for parking? Seems fair enough to me.

That’s also why our residents car park outside our home is full up with ****ts who don’t want to park legally

Why not install some sort of barrier or remote gate? There’s always a solution that does not involve clamping or ticketing.

I thought recent case-law allowed land-owners to charge for parking? Seems fair enough to me.

Yes in a private car park with barriers of course it’s legal. But an £80-£120 charge for overstaying in your supermarket car park be 10mins followed on by nasty and threatening letters and phone calls if you fail to pay up. Does that seem fair to you?

That’s also why our residents car park outside our home is full up with ****ts who don’t want to park legally.

Perhaps now people can park in private car parks without fear of a fine I’ll need to employ a policy of headlight smashing and brake fluid pouring.

We have had the same problem with a city centre works car park despite it saying it’s a private car park with enforcement notices all over the place. Can’t vandalise the car but we do find some creative ways to block the car in delaying the illegal parker for hours and one awkward sod overnight. We have had the police called and they usually just leave it they shouldn’t have parked there. This usually stops the illegal parkers from coming back.

We have gates but once found someone had rammed the gates to get their car out not only damaging the gate but also other peoples cars.

Problem with PPCs is that they’re all ****s. I’d have no problem with ticketing cars parked on peoples land if it was done in a proper, regulated way, but its not. They do what they please. They can charge whatever they want, set the terms at whatever they want. There is no real appeal process, as the people who review the appeal are the same people who get the money.

And the tactics they use to scare you into giving them money are disgusting, I had one shout down the phone at me, telling me there was no point running away, I’d parked illegally and they were coming round to my house in the next few days.

Yes in a private car park with barriers of course it’s legal. But an £80-£120 charge for overstaying in your supermarket car park be 10mins followed on by nasty and threatening letters and phone calls if you fail to pay up. Does that seem fair to you?

Ah so your OP is wrong?

Of course your extreme example is unfair – and would not be allowed. My point is that the answer is as ever not simple enough for one sentence, EVEN IF IT’S IN CAP LOCKS.

Only had it once, parked in an Aldi car park which was the only nearby option so had 1.5hours. Was in an interbiew that was 2 hours long and I ended up paying.

quote]They can however put a wheel clamp on. It is also illegal to remove the clamp. Unfortunately they then have you by the balls!

[/quote]

not true if its a private clamp. There is an arguement that a private company clamping you is actually a trespass against property or something like that

If you can get the wheel and track rods off then you can get the clamp off

Compulsive reading

Ah so your OP is wrong?

No it’s not wrong, and yes examples like mine do happen. I could show you the nasty letters if I hadn’t have binned them.

What the law does no allow is for a private company to ‘fine’ you for parking on private land. There is a difference – please pay attention next time!

I agree with the sentiments above- if you’re spending money then by and large you should be allowed to park for free. To reinforce the point I normally park in the parent and child spaces. They’re normally a bit further from the entrance to the supermarket than disabled spaces, but there are fewer of them, so you’re more likely to irritate people and/or get a ticket if you’ve no children with you- if there’s no spaces there then I’ll put up with a disabled space.

According to moneysaving expert, private companies are allowed to issue these tickets, but they are issued against the individual driving, not the vehicle’s owner, and you are under no obligation to reveal who was driving, so are essentially unenforceable.

Only had it once, parked in an Aldi car park which was the only nearby option so had 1.5hours. Was in an interbiew that was 2 hours long and I ended up paying.

I know that the horse has long since bolted so to speak, but you shouldn’t have paid them. There’s not a thing they could do about it.

( Speaking from first hand experience btw ).

So the lad who I was with who parked in the disabled bay needn’t have paid? He genuinely did it (and there were loads of disabled spots at the time) so we could keep an eye on the bikes on the back whilst we had a quick bite in the services.

OP are you on about the difference between a charge and a fine?

Or are you saying it’s only lawful on private land if there are barriers?

“They can however put a wheel clamp on. It is also illegal to remove the clamp. Unfortunately they then have you by the balls!”

Illegal to clamp on private land in Scotland already and there’s a bill going through at the moment that has already been passed by Parliament in february that will make it illegal to clamp a vehicle on private land. That law should come into force by the end of the year according to best estimates..

I know this because….

This was me..

And I got a full refund.

Home Office PR

I got one about two years ago for parking for 5 minutes on a piece of private land: Reason I was helping stop a fight in the shop owners premises. What actually annoyed me most was the fact that despite the fact their own trade organsiation prohibits them doing it, they clearly tried to pass the ticket off as a pucker parking ticket. It is not, its an invoice. From that point forth I’ve had no sympathy whatsoever and will not pay it under any circumstances. They still phone me and threaten me with a pox on my house and all sorts of dire retribution, presuambly when its a quiet day in the office, but nothing more has ever come of it. I am mulling over an action for harassment, but not sure if the fun of doing that is worth the hastle.

Firmly in the scum of the earth don’t give in to them camp.

It is also illegal to remove the clamp

Err…no it isn’t.

It may be a CIVIL matter if the clamp is damaged whilst removing it, but it can be removed by other means, i.e. dismantling your car suspension to remove it.

If I were clamped for something I considered unfair by a private company I’d angle grind the clamp off and take it to the nearest skip. Let them prove there was a clamp on there – photos are easily photoshopped and who’s to say they didn’t just rest the clamp on and then remove it and claim you damaged it?