Parking Charge FOUR YEARS Later!!!!

[Maverick1949]

Hello, this concerns a parking charge at my local shopping area in Northampton. It was 20 Dec 2013 and we went out to collect fast food, it was cold and wet, and when I arrived in the car park there was a slot available. Within a matter of minutes I returned to the car as I had noticed it was 'Reserved' for Invalid badge holders, but too late a ticket had been put on my windscreen, and no parking attendant was in sight, as I look extensively, and was standing inside the window looking out at my car only a few yarsd away whilst my wife ordered the food.

I subsequently ignored all correspondence and the charge went up and up and eventually the letters stopped coming. Unfortunately I don't have any of the letters now as its over four years ago.

Today a letter come from DRP demanding payment of £90 for this incident over four year later!!, I telephoned them and the guy who answered just said there was no correspondence and was I going to pay?

The bottom line is that on a cold wet night the signs were not easily visible in the same area, and I did not agree with their terms and conditions just because I parked on this private retail park. At the time I made extensive research, and even rang the local traffic wardens office to find out more. The conclusion was that Disabled parking provision and enforcement was only a provision of the road traffic act on the public highway, and as this was private land, and there were no charges for a short stay at other areas ( but the car park was full so I didn't have a choice!) So I ignored all correspondence. In the mean time I moved out of the address, I still owned the property and had regular contact with the tenant, we had postal redirection for at least six months. Subsequently we sold the property and moved out of our next address, now as we bought a new how about a year ago, again we had postal redirection this time for 12 months. The new claim advises me that they had to utilise a tracing agency to find my current address four years later, and that I should check that the DVLC has my current address and details as I could be fines £1000 by DVLC. I can state categorically that my driving and car registration documentation has been accurate and up to date throughout. If they contest this then I am prepared to go to court. Please confirm that ignore - ignore is the correct action and that my conclusion about agreeing to a contract is invalid, and that the provision for disabled parking is a voluntary gesture and not enforceable. They did not stipulate if a badge needed to be displayed as I recall, and a few weeks after this incident all signage was removed from the same area, not that it was in good view anyway especially at night!
Thank you for any guidance, I also intend to contact the AA as I am a member.

[Maverick1949]

Re: Parking Charge FOUR YEARS Later!!!!

I found this on an earlier post:

Richard Talmage Completely ignore - the 'ticket' you have is whats legally known as a 'speculative invoice'. You need to have a SIGNED contract to be bound by their terms. The notices in the car park are invalid.

Ignore all correspondence. The letters will get passed from company to company (different name same address) making it look worse, saying they may pursue it further (notice the word - may, not will)

I have never paid for any 'ticket' and never will.

If on the extremely rare occasion you were to get a small claims court form from them, then even under the new laws in 2012, this defense nails it:

"I defend the whole amount, taking into account recent case in the Brentford county court on 23/10/2013 - case number QT62646 - ParkingEye Ltd - vs - Ms Anita Sharma
and for the following reasons which are also my defense; that :-
1) I have no civil contract with the claimant whatsoever
2) The amount claimed is not consistent with any losses actually incurred
3) The claimant does not own the land in question."
and this from another site:
I have just read the sign in a morrisons store stating the conditions under which they will charge a penalty 2 conditions stood out for me
!,Parking in disabled bays for disabled badge holders only or penalty
Did not say you had to display it or where
It is not necessary to see a disabled badge to know if the registered keeper of a vehicle is a person with disabilities - although the store's parking goons won't know how!


2 the term You agree to pay a penalty
since when can someone say what i agree to
If by saying you agree to on a sign can i put one on my path and if you come onto my property you agree to pay me money can i penalty charge you?
No.

[charitynjw]

Re: Parking Charge FOUR YEARS Later!!!!

Hi Maverick1949

To begin with, DRP are in all probability acting as debt collectors for the parking company/landowner.
If so, they (DRP) cannot take you to court or enforce the claim.

Secondly, the game changed a bit with the 2015 Beavis/ParkingEye Supreme Court judgment on pre-estimation of loss due to breach of contract, so that (quoted) post may no longer be applicable.

[Maverick1949]

Re: Parking Charge FOUR YEARS Later!!!!

Thank you for the update. I contacted an online legal service they quoted the same ruling, and that they have 6 years to collect. But I've no idea what the details are, and if it covers an issue that the road traffic act is applied in principle on private ground, what the signage said and if by not displaying the appropriate Disabled Badge they have ground to make the Claim? Anyway the incident was in 2013? The problem is that the signs have now been removed presumably they lost the contract for that area, so getting accurate information now 4 years later seems unlikely.

[charitynjw]

Re: Parking Charge FOUR YEARS Later!!!!

From what I've seen there is no hard & fast rule that Blue Badge facilities must be allowed for on private land, though of course there is a duty for service providers to give special consideration per the Equality Act.
However, it would be worth checking the Code of Practice for the parking co's trade assn. (If any).

More important is....do they have access to the signage that was on display at the material time?