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Legally, how does a shopping centre parking ticket hold up?


The Old Tolbooth

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The Old Tolbooth

I was at the Livingston designer outlet today with the family and parked the car in a space which I thought would be ok, it was for coaches but there wasn't a single coach in sight, and it was filled with cars, also it was around 4.20pm and I was thinking that the chances of any coach tours pulling up at that time of day would be extremely remote, although the car park was chocca block.

 

I came back to the car and some sad little jobsworth had slapped a ticket on all the cars windscreens in the part where I parked, and Linda said she reckoned that they couldn't uphold the fine which is ?20 within 7 days, and afterwards it doubles to ?40.

 

It clearly states on the ticket that failure to pay the fine will result in court proceedings against me, and that I will be liable for the court costs also, however I'm pretty sure they didn't take any pics of my car there and I'm thinking of pleading ignorance saying there was no ticket on my car at all, and someones at the wind up etc.

 

Anyone know if they can uphold this?

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I got one of these 15 month ago mate i parked in the coach park at the centre where matalan etc is.

 

I ignored it and have heard nothing since!

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The Old Tolbooth
I got one of these 15 month ago mate i parked in the coach park at the centre where matalan etc is.

 

I ignored it and have heard nothing since!

 

Cheers for that Denny, that makes my mind up for me :2thumbsup:

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Dont wanna sound like a pr*** but if it clearly says its for Coaches .... and your acknowledging the fact you knew this then surely you cant really argue at a ?20 fine.

 

but as 2nd poster says if he aint heard anything for 15 months then you should be okay.

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I was at the Livingston designer outlet today with the family and parked the car in a space which I thought would be ok, it was for coaches but there wasn't a single coach in sight, and it was filled with cars, also it was around 4.20pm and I was thinking that the chances of any coach tours pulling up at that time of day would be extremely remote, although the car park was chocca block.

 

I came back to the car and some sad little jobsworth had slapped a ticket on all the cars windscreens in the part where I parked, and Linda said she reckoned that they couldn't uphold the fine which is ?20 within 7 days, and afterwards it doubles to ?40.

 

It clearly states on the ticket that failure to pay the fine will result in court proceedings against me, and that I will be liable for the court costs also, however I'm pretty sure they didn't take any pics of my car there and I'm thinking of pleading ignorance saying there was no ticket on my car at all, and someones at the wind up etc.

 

Anyone know if they can uphold this?

 

they can't uphold it in Scotland.

 

a couple of points in your favour should they chase it and take you to court

 

they can only fine the driver of the car, not the owner. they probably don't even have access to the database that would give them your details from your car but if they have, they'd still have to prove it was YOU that parked there. i also don't believe you are under any obligation to tell them who did park it there either

 

also, they can only fine you for what it costs to park there. since it was free to park then they can only chase you for minimal costs (for issuing tickets or something!).

 

i stumbled across this on a forum (which i can't be ersed looking for) and it seems pretty decent info. i'm sure most of the advice is directed at england where there is a trespass law and non local authority clampers operate.

 

just ignore them as their wizz is blowing on their jeans

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If its ?20. Just pay it, if you ever get pulled up for anything else. And they see another unpaid ticket, it isnt really going to help your case.

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Dont wanna sound like a pr*** but if it clearly says its for Coaches .... and your acknowledging the fact you knew this then surely you cant really argue at a ?20 fine.

 

but as 2nd poster says if he aint heard anything for 15 months then you should be okay.

 

 

AT 4.20pm whats the likeliness of several coach loads of people arriving though, thats why we reckoned it was ok to park there at that time:50: and about 5 or 6 other cars were parked there too hence why we thought must be okay

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If its ?20. Just pay it, if you ever get pulled up for anything else. And they see another unpaid ticket, it isnt really going to help your case.

 

:nah:

its a civil matter and nothing to do with the police. its not going to show up on a pnc check!

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The Old Tolbooth
Dont wanna sound like a pr*** but if it clearly says its for Coaches .... and your acknowledging the fact you knew this then surely you cant really argue at a ?20 fine.

 

but as 2nd poster says if he aint heard anything for 15 months then you should be okay.

 

Yeah I know it said coaches, but after I got the ticket there was nothing saying that cars couldn't park there too as I checked :10900:

 

Plus, there were quite a few other cars parked there so I thought it would be ok, especially at that time of day when no coach trip in their right mind would show up mate.

 

they can't uphold it in Scotland.

 

a couple of points in your favour should they chase it and take you to court

 

they can only fine the driver of the car, not the owner. they probably don't even have access to the database that would give them your details from your car but if they have, they'd still have to prove it was YOU that parked there. i also don't believe you are under any obligation to tell them who did park it there either

 

also, they can only fine you for what it costs to park there. since it was free to park then they can only chase you for minimal costs (for issuing tickets or something!).

 

i stumbled across this on a forum (which i can't be ersed looking for) and it seems pretty decent info. i'm sure most of the advice is directed at england where there is a trespass law and non local authority clampers operate.

 

just ignore them as their wizz is blowing on their jeans

 

Your an absolute star mate, I'm due you a pint! :2thumbsup:

 

If its ?20. Just pay it, if you ever get pulled up for anything else. And they see another unpaid ticket, it isnt really going to help your case.

 

Aye right, that's half a Sunday afternoon in the boozer ya radge :D

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AT 4.20pm whats the likeliness of several coach loads of people arriving though, thats why we reckoned it was ok to park there at that time:50: and about 5 or 6 other cars were parked there too hence why we thought must be okay

 

Foolish mentality, imo.

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Go here to this site

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

 

and read through it.

 

You should be fine, I think the just of it is that they have no legal method of claiming the money from you.

 

Also - they have to prove who parked the car not the legal owner. I woudl ignore it, if the write to you you could say "I am refusing to pay, i was not the driver on this date" etc etc..

 

Good luck.. but the site above is brilliant for this kind of thing. I would also get into their forums. Great advice about everything.

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Ah, I thought this was a council ticket. These privite companies wont do anything tbh.

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The Old Tolbooth
Go here to this site

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

 

and read through it.

 

You should be fine, I think the just of it is that they have no legal method of claiming the money from you.

 

Also - they have to prove who parked the car not the legal owner. I woudl ignore it, if the write to you you could say "I am refusing to pay, i was not the driver on this date" etc etc..

 

Good luck.. but the site above is brilliant for this kind of thing. I would also get into their forums. Great advice about everything.

 

Excellent, I've even saved templates for letters from the site depending what they come back with, if anything at all. Cheers for that BS :2thumbsup:

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this is the end of the first week of Land Securities imposing parking charges in Livi and I think it's probably just a scare tactic to try and get people to use the pay car parks.

As said above ignore it. They can't lodge a CCJ against you for it so there's nothing to lose.

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I P Knightley
Dont wanna sound like a pr*** but if it clearly says its for Coaches .... and your acknowledging the fact you knew this then surely you cant really argue at a ?20 fine.

 

John, couldn't you claim that you are the coach of the local 45s and over darts team or something?

 

If you're a coach, you're perfectly entitled to be there. After all, they haven't specified.

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southside1874
I was at the Livingston designer outlet today with the family and parked the car in a space which I thought would be ok, it was for coaches but there wasn't a single coach in sight, and it was filled with cars, also it was around 4.20pm and I was thinking that the chances of any coach tours pulling up at that time of day would be extremely remote, although the car park was chocca block.

 

I came back to the car and some sad little jobsworth had slapped a ticket on all the cars windscreens in the part where I parked, and Linda said she reckoned that they couldn't uphold the fine which is ?20 within 7 days, and afterwards it doubles to ?40.

 

It clearly states on the ticket that failure to pay the fine will result in court proceedings against me, and that I will be liable for the court costs also, however I'm pretty sure they didn't take any pics of my car there and I'm thinking of pleading ignorance saying there was no ticket on my car at all, and someones at the wind up etc.

 

Anyone know if they can uphold this?

 

Ignore it. I've had loads of them and was informed by my lawyer mate to ignore them. Never heard anymore about it.

 

Don't even respond or enter into any dialogue as they think they have you concerned and will send daft threatening letters that are of no relevance.

 

They don't have the authority to operate as a car park therefore can't charge.

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this is the end of the first week of Land Securities imposing parking charges in Livi and I think it's probably just a scare tactic to try and get people to use the pay car parks.

As said above ignore it. They can't lodge a CCJ against you for it so there's nothing to lose.

 

They have actually postponed bringing in the Car Parking Charges at the centre until February 2011, this was an 11th hour U turn following complaints from the centres retailers about the damage these charges could do to their business under the current economic downturn.

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Better call Saul

Same rule must apply when folk park in disabled spaces and mother and toddlers

 

fcvk all can be done........its just courtesy not law

 

 

gerrit right right ye finport / parking attendent person

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The Old Tolbooth
John, couldn't you claim that you are the coach of the local 45s and over darts team or something?

 

If you're a coach, you're perfectly entitled to be there. After all, they haven't specified.

Ha ha, I like your thinking mate :10900:

Some people think that it is OK to park anywhere they like, the more fines for these people the better.

 

To be fair I agree with that, however at that time of day, when no coach tours are to be expected, and it's filled with cars, then you don't really foresee a problem when the rest of the car park is rammed full.

 

People parking in disabled spots and parent and child spots should be hung if they aren't valid, however the coach park part is the furthest part away in the car park, so it's not like I was trying to be cheeky and gain some sort of advantage, I could understand it if it was 9am or something, but not 4.20pm when there wasn't a coach in sight.

 

Am I the only one who thinks there's far too many disabled parking spaces at these places too? There's far more people with kids than there is disabled imo.

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Miller Jambo 60
Some people think that it is OK to park anywhere they like, the more fines for these people the better.

 

Easy to park your bike:smiley2:

 

Dougstar, FTH.

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blondejamtart
Am I the only one who thinks there's far too many disabled parking spaces at these places too? There's far more people with kids than there is disabled imo.

 

 

Seriously?? No way - having a child isn't a disability. It may be an inconvenience having to park in a non-parent and child parking space, but it hardly compares to being genuinely disabled, does it?

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ignore it John, i've had a couple just threw them away without even looking at them, they only do it to con the stupid and the old who would fall for this stuff, absolute leeches which imo is far worse than someone parking in a coach space

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having my own nightmare with one of these private parking companies at the mo. All sorts of nasty threatening letters (take me to court, get round the baliffs etc) - I google their solicitors name and they are a fake company!!! These private firms have no legal leg to stand on unless they can prove beyond all resonable doubt you were driving the car... luckily the car park at my flats dosent have any CCTV (not that I was driving anyways but hey!) - I would not grow tired of burning these leeches officies to the ground!

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Am I the only one who thinks there's far too many disabled parking spaces at these places too? There's far more people with kids than there is disabled imo.

 

There would be sufficient disabled parking spaces if inconsiderate mod edits who are able bodied didn't use them just because they are more convenient. It ****es me off to see folk who aren't disabled use them, which unfortunately happens way to often.

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The Old Tolbooth
Seriously?? No way - having a child isn't a disability. It may be an inconvenience having to park in a non-parent and child parking space, but it hardly compares to being genuinely disabled, does it?

I see your point, but it's not quite what I meant BJT, what I meant was some shops have rows and rows of disabled parking spaces that are never used, and my question was is there really any justification in having as many of them? I don't doubt for a minute the need for them and also the positioning of them, I just think that there are too many in some places, and because there are too many some of them are parking further away then normal spaces, which kind of defeats the purpose a bit. :wacko:

 

My own mothers disabled and has her badge, but even she thinks the same, however it pains me to see a young mother struggling with 3 or 4 kids and buggys etc, trying to dodge traffic in a car park which doesn't exactly adhere to speed limits most of the time (I say that because I witnessed a young ned doing about 40mph at least in the car park in his souped up Honda yesterday)

There would be sufficient disabled parking spaces if inconsiderate mod edits who are able bodied didn't use them just because they are more convenient. It ****es me off to see folk who aren't disabled use them, which unfortunately happens way to often.

 

I totally agree mate, but that wasn't my point :stuart:

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I was at the Livingston designer outlet today with the family and parked the car in a space which I thought would be ok, it was for coaches but there wasn't a single coach in sight, and it was filled with cars, also it was around 4.20pm and I was thinking that the chances of any coach tours pulling up at that time of day would be extremely remote, although the car park was chocca block.

 

I came back to the car and some sad little jobsworth had slapped a ticket on all the cars windscreens in the part where I parked, and Linda said she reckoned that they couldn't uphold the fine which is ?20 within 7 days, and afterwards it doubles to ?40.

 

It clearly states on the ticket that failure to pay the fine will result in court proceedings against me, and that I will be liable for the court costs also, however I'm pretty sure they didn't take any pics of my car there and I'm thinking of pleading ignorance saying there was no ticket on my car at all, and someones at the wind up etc.

 

Anyone know if they can uphold this?

 

Mate i work in the Mac Glen and all the security are just little idiots who think they actually have authority.

 

Ignore the ticket nothing will come of it and also i have just checked on the system there were no coaches expected yesterday so you werent stopping any coaches from parking there. Im having a look now cause i think those coach spaces are also over flow for when the car park is busy!!

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blondejamtart

Fair enough, john, maybe I took your earlier post in the wrong way. However, there are certainly far more parent and child spaces now than there used to be - when my kids were babies or toddlers, they were very few and far between, if they existed at all, and we seemed to cope okay. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not always easy coping with kids, buggies, etc, but at least parents have the choice of doing that - disabled people don't.

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The Old Tolbooth
Mate i work in the Mac Glen and all the security are just little idiots who think they actually have authority.

 

Ignore the ticket nothing will come of it and also i have just checked on the system there were no coaches expected yesterday so you werent stopping any coaches from parking there. Im having a look now cause i think those coach spaces are also over flow for when the car park is busy!!

Ha ha ha, that's totally laughable mate, thanks for that. I'm actually tempted to go over there one day and take one of them to task after reading up on legal rights surrounding the car parking, but I'm not that sort of person normally.

Fair enough, john, maybe I took your earlier post in the wrong way. However, there are certainly far more parent and child spaces now than there used to be - when my kids were babies or toddlers, they were very few and far between, if they existed at all, and we seemed to cope okay. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not always easy coping with kids, buggies, etc, but at least parents have the choice of doing that - disabled people don't.

 

I totally understand where your coming from hun, parent and child spaces are a relatively new thing, or the places that had them when our kids were younger only had 4 or 5 and everyone was fighting for them, those were the days eh? :D

 

I probably didn't explain my original point properly either BJT about the disabled spaces, I cant blame you for taking the stance you did :peepwall:

 

:10900:

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Ha ha ha, that's totally laughable mate, thanks for that. I'm actually tempted to go over there one day and take one of them to task after reading up on legal rights surrounding the car parking, but I'm not that sort of person normally.

 

Mate they are totally not worth it as they have the brain power of our Leith friends and would prob key your car or something stupid like that!! Honestly mate the rules in the car park are just the tip of the ice berg in terms of the Mac glens rules, it?s like working in the riech!! Ha!! You have to be blonde, over 5.6ft; slim, big breasts..........oh wait that?s just my recruitment policy!!

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Yeah I know it said coaches, but after I got the ticket there was nothing saying that cars couldn't park there too as I checked

 

Plus, there were quite a few other cars parked there so I thought it would be ok, especially at that time of day when no coach trip in their right mind would show up mate.

 

What a pathetic defence.. They should have clamped the lot of you parking in the coach spaces.

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What a pathetic defence.. They should have clamped the lot of you parking in the coach spaces.

 

you will find that clamping would be illegal and those responsible be charged for it

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Same rule must apply when folk park in disabled spaces and mother and toddlers

 

fcvk all can be done........its just courtesy not law

 

 

gerrit right right ye finport / parking attendent person

 

You'll find that Disabled Bay Enforcement was passed through the Scottish Executive and came into force on the 1st of October. They are currently talking about whether Local Authorities will patrol all the Disabled Bays, including supermarkets / retails parks etc, or if it will be outsourced to private companies.

 

As mentioned earlier, if the ticket comes from a private company in normal circumstances, ie retail park, they ticket you as by parking there you have "read" the signs and consented to their terms and conditions under contract law. If you don't pay they will pass your details onto a debt collection agency who will then chase the debt. As this is Scotland, CCJ's do not exist so they will just keep bothering you. The parking company CAN take you to court over the parking ticket, however the charges for raising the court action is more than the maount they want so they will highly unlikely go down this route. If you are a serious repeat offender, they are withi their rights to take you to court for the cumulative fines. What the judge would award is a differnent matter.

 

If a ticket comes from a Local Authourity, or a Private Company enforcing Disabled Bays on their behalf, then this is a legal ticket and you cant get away with ignoring it and hoping it will go away...

 

Hope this helps... :hat2:

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You are on cctv, just a bit info......:21:

 

 

ps there is also a **** load of signs....:21:

 

 

but i would still get it right up them!:10900:

 

 

and pay nowt!:10900:

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The Old Tolbooth
What a pathetic defence.. They should have clamped the lot of you parking in the coach spaces.

 

Oh dear, moral high ground alert from a Mr Perfect :laugh:

 

:qqb017:

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  • 4 months later...
The Old Tolbooth

Some of you may remember this thread from last October, I didn't see a need to start a new one unless I couldn't find it.

 

I've just had more correspondence regarding the above parking ticket, a debt collection agency have been in touch demanding ?75 from me, so I phoned for some "proper" legal advice and it turns out they have a case after all. I literally have 2 choices now, I can pay up and say "its a fair cop" (even although its supposed to be ok to park there later in the day when no buses are ever there and the rest of the car park is full), or I can wait and see if they carry on with legal proceedings which would cost me around another ?30 on top of the ?75.

 

I'm tempted to just pay the damn thing as I cant be arsed with the hassle, however the solicitor I spoke said that it could just be a threatening tactic that most people will see and just panic and pay up, and its probably just a numbers game.

 

I've also got to consider that in my line of work I cant afford any CCJ's in my name as it reflects very poorly on me, so quite a lot to think about. :blink:

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Who did you phone for "proper" legal advice?

 

I have had several of these. One was chased up by a debt collecting agency. Threatening that they would be visiting my house to see what items they can take to cover the cost of the ticket!!!

 

At the bottom it had details of how i could pay the fine in order to prevent this so called debt collector coming to my door!

 

Total scare mongering! Old people or vulnerable people get the letter and think oh no i better pay!!

 

Get yourself on the various help forums on the net. They will be able to give you the best advice.

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The Old Tolbooth

Who did you phone for "proper" legal advice?

 

I have had several of these. One was chased up by a debt collecting agency. Threatening that they would be visiting my house to see what items they can take to cover the cost of the ticket!!!

 

At the bottom it had details of how i could pay the fine in order to prevent this so called debt collector coming to my door!

 

Total scare mongering! Old people or vulnerable people get the letter and think oh no i better pay!!

 

Get yourself on the various help forums on the net. They will be able to give you the best advice.

I used the legal expenses cover on my home insurance as it coves disputes involving consumer goods and services and stuff like that mate, however I've just twigged that the company is based in England and have probably advised me on English law.

 

I've done a letter of appeal to the car parking ticket company who I've since found out is (just in case anyone else needs to contact them)

 

APCOA

PO Box 1010

Uxbridge

Middlesex

UB8 9NT

Tel - 08453011151

 

The lass on the phone sounded sympathetic towards my plight and thought a short letter of appeal should sort things out, they were actually quite nice on the phone as I was expecting a right growler and a hard time.

 

I honestly think its just scaremongering tactics also, however I don't mind doing a wee letter seeing as I'm off work just now and nothing much better to do :wacko:

 

Boris, cheers for that link, its very interesting reading :thumbsup:

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I was advised not to correspond with the debt collectors because they had a reputation of pestering you non stop if you initiated contact!

 

I wouldn't pay it, but thats bcoz i'm tight whistling.gif

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I would speak to a Scottish solicitor and find out exactly your position. 75 quid is not a lot of money in the long run and if you need to have a good record in your job, having this against you will be more serious.

 

Anyway, what I don't get is why John Mitchell was so certain there would be no coaches in Livingston on a Friday afternoon: Livingston were playing Berwick Rangers the next day (1-1) and surely some of the Berwick lads would have wanted to make a weekend of it. Did you not think of that?

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