Parking fine advice

[Tori]

On September 8th, my camera club met at McDonalds in Colchester. Apparently they have a 90 minute limit on parking. I had no idea of that, although it is signed.
I have a £100 charge notice from MET parking services for over staying by 19 minutes. I think they're taking the piss to be fair. Can I challenge it/ignore it etc? I know supermarkets have charged folk before, but you can avoid paying the fine.


If I'd been sat there overnight, or hours and hours, I would of understood it. But we were inside, using their facilities!


Not happy! 

[slimwilly]

If you were on their premises then a letter pleading for mercy will suffice,,lol




Just write one ,copy it and go see the store manager ,,get it sorted.

[Tori]

Hmm, might be one way to deal with it I guess. I'm thinking the parking firm are probably separate though and may not want to get involved.

[Skippernick]

I believe that as it was private property and a private company enforcing it, it is unenforceable, only the police and the council can enforce tickets.
Just ignore it.

[dazza]

Unless the driver is a known repeat offender of the terms and conditions of a car park, Secure and TMS will err on the side of cancelling a breach notice, where the driver can demonstrate that they were a valid user of the car park (e.g. a shopper at a shopping centre car park), they were unduly delayed in returning to the car park, through no fault

[paulkemp]

Its a private parking company.
IMO I wouldn't do anything.
Generally these companies rely in people panicking and paying.
Leave it and see uf you get summons. ..

[paulkemp]

They WILL follow with solicitors letters and debt agency letters.
These are FAKE it is used to frighten you.
DO NOT PAY AND DO NOT REPLY .......

[lew600fazer]

I had a parking fine when we parked at the The Leeds Armaments museum, 9 off us got done, think it was £80.00. Were we parked was signed but it was only pointed out to us after the tickets were issued. I think it was the same crowd MET. Most of us ignored it, I did. I received a letter threatening to take me to court and also they would apply for a CJO? I told them to take me to court and do what they wanted as I was still not paying. They threatened me again, I told them to do what they wanted to but I would still not pay. I went back to were we had parked and took a photograph of there sign and it was partly hidden. I sent them the photo and have heard nothing since.
That was two years ago.

[Tori]

I shall pop back when it is dark and see if the signs are well lit (It was dark when I parked) I'm not going to pay it. The worst of it, is my friend was in his works van behind me (He's allowed to use it for his own use, so that's not an issue) and the letters will all be going to his boss so he'll probably be asked to pay it, to make it go away.

[Grahamm]

I have a £100 charge notice from MET parking services for over staying by 19 minutes. I think they're taking the piss to be fair. Can I challenge it/ignore it etc?

Does it say "Penalty Charge Notice" or "Parking Charge Notice"?

If it's a Penalty Charge, that's legally enforceable (ie what a Traffic Warden will give you) and you have to pay or get taken to Court.

If it's a Parking Charge, it's just an invoice, not legally enforceable and you can most likely tell them to foc off or just ignore it.

See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets for more details.

[mickvp]

if its not from your local police, or the local council. rip it up. bin it. be happy.

do NOT open into any contact with the company, and eventually they will stop chasing for the money. I got one in last december for parking in an unmarked disabled space (they even sent me a picture of me on the unmarked space), totally ignored it and got a couple of scary looking letters afterwards threatening court proceedings (the "fine" also increased from £60 to £200), then in about end February/march i got a letter in offring me to pay a reduced "fine" of £120, ignored that too and heard nothign since.

They wont take you to court over 50 or 100 quid, they will just chase the next person who will pay it.

the guide from moneysupermarket linked above is good. its all about trying to charge you for a contract that, as long as you refrain from contacting them, you have never entered into. that was my understanding of it anyway.

[rustyrider]

I get roughly 1 Parking Charge Notice a fortnight in the works van.  I'm visiting tower blocks in London working on behalf of the owners but most will only issue a residents parking pass not a visitors or contractors pass.  We just ignore them and have never heard anything further.

[Tori]

It's a parking charge notice. Thanks everyone. I've emailed McDonalds to see what they have to say about it.

[Skippernick]

Go get em girl!

[Doddsie]

Yep, just ignore it. its not from the police or council therefore they have to prove who was driving the vehicle, not who owns it. They wont chase it up.

[dBfazer600]

I am with those who who say ignore it and where is where you can get help 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?88-Private-Land-Parking-Enforcement

Daz
 

[Lawrence]

I believe that as it was private property and a private company enforcing it, it is unenforceable, only the police and the council can enforce tickets.
Just ignore it.

   Ignore it and it'll go away.  You might get a couple of letters from them bust just bin them.

[Lazarus]

im in the same position Tori. Daughter parked up for a few hours and have I've had 4 PArking Charge letters, so called solicitors letters, etc

Not sure about England, but in Scotland they are almost unenforceable.

Dont have any contact with them - ignore completely.

[paulkemp]

If you contact them you automatically enter an agreement  ..
DO NOT CONTACT

[Stooby2]

Sorry to say this, but don't ignore it and get yourself over to the Money Saving Expert forum...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

That's their Parking Fine forum and the people on it know their stuff. Read through the forum first as Met parking come up a lot, but there's excellent advice and standard letters for replying to the company.

And McDonald's will probably have something to say about it if you were bringing them good money for the evening.

[VNA - BMW Wank]

McDonalds?  Yuck.

Anyway, ignore, ignore, ignore and they'll go away.

[mr self destruct]

It's a parking charge notice. Thanks everyone. I've emailed McDonalds to see what they have to say about it.

Oops! Does that constitute 'contacting' and therefore entering into the contract? You might have shot yourself in the foot there. 


I know McDonalds aren't MET Parking Services, but they are clients of theirs and I doubt will come in on your side.

[Tori]

I've heard nothing back as yet. I also need to go back and check out the signage.

VNA...yuck!

[maddog04]

I'm still unsure as to whether these are legal or not and would rather hear it from the Police or a brief (no offence to anyone here as I've took loads of info off the site in the past) so I know in my heart that bailiffs aint turning up at some point
 
having said all that, I had reason to query a similar occurrence with my lad. He parked up in asda to do a job at a bank near by (not a blag ) as there was no parking at the bank. He ultimately overstayed the asda limit and its picked up by remote cameras not wardens.........gets the same letter as Tori so I go down to asda.....they tell me that they get this problem all the time especially with old folk who park up, go into shop and end up going over the time limit
anyway, show them proof that lad was working at the bank and they ring the parking Co. who cancel the fine. I still don't know if they can enforce or whether to just ignore if it happens again 

[Tori]

I've had no reply and nor has my friend. I've had no contact with MET. I shall go to McDonalds and create a bit of a scene and see what happens ;-)