MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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A friend of mine lives in one of these fancy gated new apartment builds, one where you have to get buzzed in through a main gate and is like a small village inside. Anyway, I went to see his new flat the other day and then for a night out but there were no visitor spaces available and so I parked my car in front of a generator building on a raised bit of pavement, that wasn’t used as pedestrian access I hasten to add.
The next day I've got a ticket from 'New Generation Parking Management Ltd' who I presume are employed to carry out security on the site. Anyway, the ticket is £65 if paid within 7 days but if not then it jumps to £75. If its not paid within 14 days it jumps to £115. If its not paid within 28 days it jumps to £150(!) and they will then request my details from the dvla and pass to debt recovery agency where I will incur further costs.
Can this company actually do what they are threatening and should I ignore them or should I just suck it up and pay the 65 quid? I don’t really fancy my credit rating being affected by an outstanding fine.
Was there a warning sign?
Ignore it
My guess is that you were on private land run buy a management company, and these guys act as their parking enforcers - Entirely legal, if not ethical.
It's not a fine, it's an invoice
The ticket states there were contractual warning signs erected on the land so I'm guessing there was warning. To be honest I didnt have much choice where to park, it was either in a residents space or st the side of the road as there were no free visitors spaces.
Cant help but think that they only provide about 4 visitor spaces for hundreds of residents in the hope that they'll rack up lots of money in fines.
woody2000 - MemberIt's not a fine, it's an invoice
Correct. Find out what it costs to park at the local council run car park and send them that amount of money for the time you parked there (should be about a fiver), stating that this is fair payment for you parking on their land.
[i]My guess is that you were on private land run buy a management company, and these guys act as their parking enforcers - Entirely legal, if not ethical.[/i]
Thats the part I was concerned about. If what they're doing is legal (if unethical and a total money making exercise) then I guess I'll suck up the fine, but if they're just a bunch of cowboys acting illegally I'm tempted to ignore them. The part about obtaining my details from the dvla worried me somewhat.
There was a program on TV not long ago, people who own private land and clamp cars. Maybe take some pictures of the place explaining there are insufficient visitor spaces, and the place you parked did not obstruct anything? I would pay it, but then try to claim it back somehow (if you go through TV programmes or so, they usually refund you since they dont want bad press). Might be a long shot, but worth a try?
It there was a sign they it is legal. However:
1) it would almost certainly not stand up in court (in terms of what they would get, you can only claim for a LOSS).
2) They won;t actually take you to court.
I have had loads, binned them all.
It's not legal for any private company to fine anyone - they can ask for recompense for loses incurred, that's all
Fining & punish people is the sole preserve of the courts
Whatever you do dont phone them or let them have your phone number or you will never get shot of them.
If they get your details from the DVLA that won't help them as their claim is against the driver of the car not the owner. They would need to prove it was you who parked the car. While it is probably legal, the whole privately monitored and enforced system seems to work only just inside the law.
If you ignore it expect letters through the post with increasing fines, followed by a couple of letters from bailiffs(who are probably part of the same parking company) they will threaten court action etc. If you keep ignoring them they will stop, as they seem to work on the principle that a high percentage of people will pay up with out question.
A lot of good advice here : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/
No, you are thinking of a criminal court, this is civil.
The idea of civil small claims court is to claim back one's consequential loss, on this instance they fine company claiming their £150.
The grey area comes in when they cannot prove a loss, and whilst there is a contract in place (which started when you parked there) they have not actually had a loss of £150. Indeed it is clear that the sum is disproportional to the parking violation, it is also very clearly immoral. Whilst they will get something, it will not be the £150.
It is very difficult for a private company to to fine and individual (see bank charges). Business to business is a little different when it comes to late invoices etc.
@uplink, sorry I have just wasted some minutes of my time as I read your post to say "it is not legal for any private company to fine anyone"
Do'h
ignore it ..head over to pepipoo it will tell you exactly how to deal with it..it all revolves round ontractual terms and as such that based on the fact they have a sign up
you as the ownered registered keeper have therefore according to them entered into some form of contractual agreement.
firstly they have to prove you were actually driving
they cannot ask for driver details at the time like the police can as they have no powers to do so and if they suggest they do this can then be reffered to the police
no proof = no contract + tell them to go take a running jump..in fact just put f off in 144 point helvetica on the letter to them
..ive had the same with parking enforcement ltd in sheffield who change their name regurlaly .they manage a property of a friend who lives in a...similar thing gated flats etc
It's also worth noting that you're not legally obliged to provide details of the driver who parked your car there.
Assuming it wasn't you 😉
Well, apparently I'm allowed to appeal but I also have to include payment which they'll first process and then decide whether my appeal is successful and I also have to provide a SAE otherwise they wont respond at all. Sounds bit suspect...
Apparetly they also have a photo of my car parked in allegded violation. I was going to write to them and appeal but it sounds as though I'm not obliged to?
Bin it
Before you get drawn into communicating with them
The appeal will fail.
Probably best not to respond, you could possibly plead ignorance further down the line - claim someone else was driving and you've never received the invoice.
I received one on my van around 18 months ago, I binned it. They sent me a letter (presumably after contacting the DVLA), so I binned that ****er too. never heard anything.
As compositepro has said, go to forums.pepipoo.com or as i did, google new generation parking fines. And don't pay it or get into any discussions with them.
Ignore it, I've always ignored these (Euro Car Parks are the normal culprits), never once been chased. Unenforceable, they rely on people panicking and paying up.
You dont know who the driver was.
Dont correspond with them.
Seems to be the norm just to ignore them.
bin the ****er, they count on you getting worried and paying up.
There is extensive case law on this!
Arkell V Pressdram 1971
As a matter of interest, with privacy laws etc, can we request the DVLA to withhold our info from anyone who is not a law enforcement officer?
I had one in a privately managed pay and display. As there was a scale of charges and I overstayed I sent them the amount for which I overstayed (GBP2.50) which is all they're entitled to. They hassled me for months but I ignored every single letter. They've now stopped.
In this case it's not clear what their losses are except they're no where near GBP150. Bin it and all the bulls**t letters they'll subsequently send about how your world will turn upside down if you don't pay.
ell tell park your car there again....and i will come and take a picture of your car ..its pretty much amount to the same as me saying you owe me money for your car being parked there..
they will send you letter after letter and like mentioned above they rely on people getting scared and not knowing where they stand with the law..
dont worry and definitely dont respond
no the DVLA can give your info to anyone who will pay...however there are some cases at the moment regarding human rights violation and car clamping
Well considering its not a pay and display car park their maximum charge of £150 does seem a bit steep as they would not have incurred any losses.
Does anyone know of someone who has ignnored all these threatening letters and sunsequently been taken to court and been fined heavily?
Does anyone know of someone who has ignnored all these threatening letters and sunsequently been taken to court and been fined heavily?
Just to save you waiting for something nobody's going to know of, it's not actually possible for that to happen. I know it's worrying, but you've been given lots of accurate advice already.
File it under "bin"
Then go ride your bike 😀
Seems like a general consensus here then 😀
So I'm guessing that I wasnt parked in a visitor space and with two wheels on a kerb doesn't matter in this instance?