Parking Charges off Hadfield road

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else had the same issue and what they are planning to do about it or have done about it in the past;

Parked on an off road to Hadfield Road yesterday up on one of the grass verges. came back after the game to find a ticket for parking charges from Eurpocar!!! what's more it was at 5:01, so obviously knowing it was footy traffice they waited until the last minute to post it on everyone's car to make sure we got them. As far as I could see I parked on a public road, outside of any fences or gates. Once I got the notice I then saw a small measley sign about parking on the yellow lines or the grass verges. The way I see it though there is no notice to the entrance to the street to say that you are entering private property and nothing to indicate you are doing so.

The fee is £50 if I pay beofre a certain date and £70 afterwards adn they threaten to pass the debt onto an agency if they are unable to revoer it directly. all seems a bit of a scare tactic to me.

Did you park by the entrance to the back of asda and the other stores? I used to park there before they put the signs and yellow lines. Unfortunately mate if there was a sign saying no parking then your screwed, especially with a private company. I had a run in with one of these companys 2 years ago, u could argue the sign was to small and also the sign has to be within x amount of meters of where you parked. The police will tell you more, but i think its gonna cost u a 50.

yep, that was the place. don't usually park there but did just this once!

The only parking tickets you have to pay are those issued by the council or the police.

Just ignore it.

just found this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclai ... ng-tickets

WOO HOO!!!

There was something about private parking fines on watchdog the other week, and unfortunately they were saying people are unstuck and have to pay them.

Cant remember all the details but im sure if you have a look on the watchdog website you might get some more info.

Apparently there are lots of grey areas in the law with these fines. You may be lucky?

found this too:

http://www.ticketfighter.co.uk/private.htm

If you read my post on the bottom of this thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16402&start=0, then you may find some good advice there!

Cheers Over the moon.

The signage is still only at the entrance to the yard itself and not at the entrance to the slip road. You don't think to check it before hand as you have not crossed the line to enter what you would perceive to be their property. To me it would make it seem like somebody giving you a meal without any indication of wanting payment and then charging you afterwards. The sign does also now mention the grass verge, but again, you don't think to check as it is only posted on the immediate entrance to their actual site.

I'm just going to ignore them for now and see what happens, but will look to your latters probably if I do start getting hassle

Cheers Over the moon.

The signage is still only at the entrance to the yard itself and not at the entrance to the slip road. You don't think to check it before hand as you have not crossed the line to enter what you would perceive to be their property. To me it would make it seem like somebody giving you a meal without any indication of wanting payment and then charging you afterwards. The sign does also now mention the grass verge, but again, you don't think to check as it is only posted on the immediate entrance to their actual site.

I'm just going to ignore them for now and see what happens, but will look to your latters probably if I do start getting hassle

No probs mate, but are you sure that there are no signs at the entrance to the service road, as after I pointed out that their original signs were ambiguous and not clearly displayed, they put 3 new signs up from just outside Topps Tiles, to the entrance of the service yard area, indicating that you would get fined for parking on the grass as well?

I had a very good case at the time of my ticket, but Europarks have gone to the DVLA to obtain registered keepers details of late and if they go that far, then they usually mean business, as they would have had to pay for the information! Other people on this message board have also received letters from debt collection agencies and the fine(s) or penalties, went up to more than £300!

If they do go to the DVLA, the onus is still on them to prove who was driving the vehicle at the time, but I think you should have a look at the area again, check out the signage, video the signage and area if you think they haven't put out adequate signs or lighting, but also check whether there is CCTV around the area, as they may be clearly able to use this footage, to identify the driver!

DO NOT PAY.

These are unenforceable for several reasons. Best advice can be found on www pepipoo.com, go to their forum pages and look for the parking section.

These are invoices NOT parking tickets and , since you have not entered into a contract, are uneforceable. The fact they have gone to the DVLA means nothing (other than the fact the DVLA have acted in a questionable fashion but thats another argument).

The Watchdog programme referred to above also absolutely advised people not to pay.

These people play a numbers game. Isuue enough, look like you are acting within the law, come on all heavy wth official notices of enforcement etc. but they have NO foundation in law.

Just ignore - but be prepared for all sorts of threats to come through your letterbox increasing the amount of the fine, threatening baliffs etc. Also be aware that if you reply (in writing or by phone) these people regard that as a sign you are worried and will act even more aggressively in the hope you will pay.

Further to the above, just cut this from pepipoo, hope it helps.

When dealing with "tickets" from private parking companies (PPCs) our advice is ignore them. For the following reasons, you should not enter into any correspondence with private parking companies.

This link will take you to a You Tube video of a BBC Watchdog piece on PPCs.

There is a great deal of doubt about the legal enforceability of private parking invoices that are issued to motorists. Unlike parking tickets issued by local authorities, which are backed by statute, the enforcement of private parking is essentially a matter of contract law. A private parking company needs to overcome many significant legal hurdles in order to be successful, which include:

Establishing that any claim is under the law of contract, rather than the tort of trespass (see case of Excel Parking Services v Alan Matthews, Wrexham County Court, May 2009 where the parking company lost on this ground);

Establishing that all of the elements of a contract (offer, acceptance, consideration) are present;

Establishing who the driver was on the relevant occasion, as any contract can only be enforced against the driver, who may or may not be the registered keeper of the vehicle;

Establishing the prominence and adequacy of any warning signage, and that the driver actually saw and understood the signage (Waltham Forest v Vine [CCRTF 98/1290/B2]);

Establishing that the amount claimed is not an unlawful “penalty”, including that there was no attempt to “frighten and intimidate” the driver (see well reported case of Excel Parking Services v Hetherington-Jakeman, Mansfield County Court, March 2008 where the parking company lost on this ground);

Establishing that any contract does not fail foul of the Unfair Contract Terms Act and associated regulations.

How do you know if your ticket is a PPC ticket or not? Well, legitimate council tickets will be called a "Penalty Charge Notice" or "Excess Charge Notice" and will have the council's address on them. A police ticket will be called a "Fixed Penalty Notice" and have either a police or HM Courts Service address on it. If it's not called one of the above and it's got a private address on it then the chances are that it's a PPC "ticket", and ought to be ignored.

ive been parking on the grass verge right on the roundabout for the past few weeks....aint had no problems as yet.....

Went past the area today and took a few pictures. There is a sign which is broken and on the floor which mentions no parking on road or soft verge close to the entrance to the street. There is one large sign still up saying not to park on the thoroughfare (which I didn't on as I didn't park on the road) and this is the largest sign of them all by a country mile. Then there are a few signs akin to the one broken on the floor on a number of the fences at the entrance to the property and one a bit further up the fence.

i like Barry's coment with regards to the parking charge as I wasn't actually parked in a bay, but then was I trespassing as I was outside of their property boundary which was marked by a fence. A lot of food for thought from a few people, enough grounds to fight it I believe. Didn't notice any CCTV either

Update:

Had a letter in the end from a debt recovery team claiming I now owed £99. Thought it had gone a bit far so I rang them up stating how they had been chasing the owner of the vehicle and that as they should be aware that under the terms of contract law (which applies in these scenarios) they should have not have been chasing the owner but rather the driver of the vehicle. I stated that this had now got a bit out of hand and never expected it to escalate to the situation it had as despite the threats that they were making no where down the line had I been presented with any evidence as to who was driving the vehicle at the time in question. I said that their case against me was a bit frivelous and without any strength and that until they could provide that evidence I would not be paying. The lady on the phone said that they would put the information that they had in the post and send it to me. I quizzed her as to when this would be and she sort of said within the next day or so. 2 months later and I've not heard a peep.

RESULT!!!!

Can't believe this... They're back!!!! 5 months later I've now received another request for payment saying that they've reviewed it and that I am liable for litigation. They say the amount i owe is around £100 but they will offer me a discount of £70. Shows I guess how strong they believe their case is.

Still not been provided with any evidence or anything at all!!!

Don't pay. Its just some mug on commission trying to steal a few quid.

Have a look at 'Honest John' website. He's the Motoring expert for the Daily Telegraph.

He has suggested in the past that you send £10 with covering note saying this is sufficient for the minor misdominor.
Important that the correct phrases are used so do as it says on his website.