The work car parks have access via a swipe card barrier and are controlled/patrolled by a private parking company (UKPC Ltd). There is a mixture of areas of ‘normal’ parking and a multi-storey.

All over the car parks are UKPC signs stating that a valid permit is required to park there. The thing is, it’s not; no-one of the hundreds of cars parked there is issued with a permit. If your security pass works on the barrier then you’re in. Or so I thought.

It turns out that there is a small section of the car park where an actual permit is required. I know this because I’ve got a ticket from UKPC for parking there, despite having parked there for months without a problem. This, the lady on reception tells me, is apparently the “landlord’s section”, where the rules are different, despite the signs there being the same as on the rest of the car park, where they don’t apply.

So, in summary:

1) Signs all over car parks, hundreds of spaces, consisting of various sections, stating that a permit is required, and it isn’t
2) The same signs in one particular section (space for about ten cars), where it turns out they are

Now, I know the advice used to be ‘just ignore it’, but that seems to have changed:

Fighting parking tickets

What do the masses feel are the chances of an appeal on the grounds of inconsistency of signage/enforcement, i.e. I assumed that the signs were as inapplicable in that small section of the car park as in the rest of the car park?

Or, you’ve been getting away with it all this time whilst using the other spaces and as soon as you confess to illustrate your point, you’ll be done all over again…

HTH and a very Merry Christmas 🙂

I’d ignore it for a bit at least just to see how bothered they are!

There’s a really good flowchart on MSE to follow. Look that up, it’s been linked to before on here.

IIRC, its not enforecable by law anyway unless its the Police or local authority managing it.

Ignore it, don’t pay it, and ignore there revenue generating scare tactics. oh an P.S. if they threaten to send the bailiffs ignore that too, they’ll be acting illegally.

^ i thought this was no longer the case?

Have you tried speaking to them?

Txt you with what to do.
It’s a free carpark you don’t owe a penny.

It’s clearly not sufficiently well signed so you can’t have entered into a contract

Krypton I think the law change to close the loophole that used to make ignoring it a good tactic. It was to do with identifying the driver and the vehicle owner not being compelled to tell them. Pretty sure it’s been changed.

Is your security pass not also a permit to park ? Do the signs around the car-park say you need to ‘display’ said permit or just need one ?

Is the ‘landlords section’ definable in any away at all from where you should be able to legitimately park? Have you been given any instruction not to park in that area by your employer?

If not, I’d take it to your employer first making a case that their procedure for administering the staff car park is inadequate and see if you can get them to back your case.

If the part of the car park that is the landlords is obviously different to the rest and you still chose to use it (why, closer to the door?) I suspect you might need to suck it up. There is one thing ignoring parking fines and not going back to the car park again and another falling out in a big way with the operators of a car park you have to use every day.

Is your company a large tenant? Do you have much sway with your building manager? Is the l/l area well signed?
Get it bought up in the tenants meeting. Landlords and managing agents don’t like pissed off tenants; you are the customer after all.

Let me get this straight, big signs everywhere saying you MUST have a parking permit to park here.
You don’t have one and are surprised when you get a ticket?
It doesn’t matter what the law saythat it’s fine to ignore it, it will go away, whatever.
I would just pay the fine.
If you don’t I’m sure they’ll go after your employer if you don’t and you don’t need dishonesty going on your annual review.

Let me get this straight, big signs everywhere saying you MUST have a parking permit to park here.
You don’t have one and are surprised when you get a ticket

But he did have a permit (his security pass).

I was issued a parking ticket by a similar company, despite having a valid ticket on display. Whilst i wanted to kick up a fuss, the best thing was to just ignore it. The follow on letters varied in how much i should pay back, but they hinted at possible court action. It was all just bluff though. Tickets issued by the police, council or railways are not to be ignored though.

Krypton I think the law change to close the loophole that used to make ignoring it a good tactic.

Depends on the company who’s issuing the tickets.

I got a ticket from UKPC during the Spring/Summer. I was parked here…see where the van (not mine but google maps has served me a perfect comparison) is parked behind those big planters? I was working in that bottom apt with the pointy windows, and parked there as directed by the owners.

Notice also UKPC’s notice on the first planter? Yes, I saw it every day. 🙂

I managed a whole week but got a ticket on the Friday I was there. I checked pepipoo.com. This is worth doing as different parking cowboys employ different tactics. When I checked, the advice for UKPC issued tickets was to ignore as they don’t do court. It panned out exactly as I expected it which was (roughy) this:

Ticket on windscreen saying fine for £x but if I paid quickly, then something <£x.
Letter a few weeks later asking for original £x.
More letters incrementally increasing fine amount.
Final warnings threatening court.
(At which point mrs deadly started to crack and wanted me to pay 😆 I, on the other hand, would have happily gone to the local civil court and plead my case if it had ever come to it.)
Letters from Debt Collection Agencies (I think 2 or possibly 3 got involved) – usual guff asking for money with veiled threats of court, credit record being destroyed for the rest of my life, blah blah blah.
New set of letters offering to drop the whole thing if I paid original fine of £x.
Final letter asking me to pay the original discounted fine…meaning my family could eat at Christmas.
And that was it. I haven’t heard anything from them in months now.

I can see how some folk cave in though, given the barrage of shite they send you.

So my advice to the OP? Ignore them. Do not engage. They’ll go away after approx 5-6 months.

EDIT: I meant to take a pic at the time, but forgot…around the back of the apartments, where tenants/owners park, there’s a much larger UKPC sign advising of what arseholes they might be. However, it’s difficult to read as it’s half covered in the tickets they’ve issued in the yellow sticky envelopes. 😆

Ignore the advice about ignoring it. POFA 2102 means you can’t ignore it but it’s easily dealt with at POPLA. Go on the Pepipoo forum for real advice.

Is your security pass not also a permit to park

It’s my means of getting in to the car park, whether it’s my permit I don’t know.

Do the signs around the car-park say you need to ‘display’ said permit or just need one ?

Display

Is the ‘landlords section’ definable in any away at all from where you should be able to legitimately park?

Nope. I suppose it’s definable by area (it’s a small, discrete, piece of the car park) but there’s nothing to suggest that that area is under any different rules from the rest of the car park

Have you been given any instruction not to park in that area by your employer?

Nope. I might check the building rules leaflet that everyine gets issued with their pass.

Let me get this straight, big signs everywhere saying you MUST have a parking permit to park here.
You don’t have one and are surprised when you get a ticket?

No, you haven’t got it straight. There are signs everywhere, but they are incorrect; a permit is not needed despite what the signs say. Except, it seems, on this one section. I assumed that the signs on that section are as incorrect as on the rest of the car park. So yes, I was surprised when I got a ticket

Go round there with a baseball bat and f*** their s*** up. Motherf*****s.*

*this may not be the best advice on this thread

But he did have a permit (his security pass).

If your security pass works on the barrier then you’re in. Or so I thought.

Ignore the fine then, just don’t be surprised if your salary is a bit less next month as your employer will have paid. They need this car park so won’t upset the apple cart with the car park owners.

No, you haven’t got it straight. There are signs everywhere, but they are incorrect; a permit is not needed despite what the signs say. Except, it seems, on this one section. I assumed that the signs on that section are as incorrect as on the rest of the car park. So yes, I was surprised when I got a ticke

If that was your defence in a court of law do you believe you would get away with it?

thestabiliser – Member
Go round there with a baseball bat and f*** their s*** up. Motherf*****s.*

*this may not be the best advice on this thread

It’s not the worst:

Ignore the fine then, just don’t be surprised if your salary is a bit less next month as your employer will have paid. They need this car park so won’t upset the apple cart with the car park owners.

Ignore the advice about ignoring it. POFA 2102 means you can’t ignore it but it’s easily dealt with at POPLA. Go on the Pepipoo forum for real advice.

I did go to Pepipoo forum, see link here:

Mix of appeal or ignore. I went with ignore and it panned out exactly as deadlydarcy situation.

I can see it being a bit awkward seeing as your employer is a tenant though.

They need this car park so won’t upset the apple cart with the car park owners.

Perhaps…if the owners ever actually got to hear a thing about it, which (IMO) they never will. The invoice has been issued to the OP, not to his employers, so it’s up to the OP, not his employers how he deals with it. Check current advice wrt UKPC on pepipoo. And go from there.

Bloody hell, you said it was interesting!

If you want to challenge it go to http://www.parkingticketappeals.org.uk/

You pay 16 and they will either get it cancelled or pay your fine.

I used it a few weeks ago when the wife parked in morrissons for 3 hours getting her hair done, instead of the max 45 mins you were allowed.

They had anpr cameras so got a ticket in the post. Loads of signs in the car park so I thought any appeal would fail but they got our ticket cancelled for 16 quid instead of 85 quid fine!

If you want to challenge it go to http://www.parkingticketappeals.org.uk/

You pay 16 and they will either get it cancelled or pay your fine.

That’s almost as big a scam as the parking tickets themselves.

Sort it for free at: http://www.popla.org.uk/

Appeal on the basis that it’s not a genuine pre-estimate of loss.

Cost to you = zero, or at the very most a stamp and envelope

You pay 16 and they will either get it cancelled or pay your fine

You got bummed.

Royally.

They need this car park so won’t upset the apple cart with the car park owners.

The relationship between commercial landlords and tenants is VERY different from the residential market.
The tenants call the shots and pay for the car park as part of their lease agreement. There is so much commercial space empty, landlords are petrified (not an overstatement) of losing tenants. Getting a provider to drop a £60 fine or whatever to keep a tenant happy is a no-brainer.

Ignore the ticket and when they eventually contact you then challenge it. I had a similar thing at work. Apparently I parked in the ‘wrong’ staff carpark even though we are the sole occupiers of the building. I challenged it and after a bit of tooing and froing they went away.