Forum Topic

parking in Morrisons for too long.

Could anyone clarify if it is legal for ParkingEye to arrange for a debt collecting firm to make me pay a  £135 fine?I have ignored their letters up to now but am wondering if it worth paying to avoid further aggro.  I do confess I did overstay the two hours on a Saturday afternoon in November (long story about being late for a meeting due to circumstances beyond my control etc.).

Kathleen Chapple ● 4622d23 Comments

Keep ignoring it... They won't take you to court. There are lots of helpful websites.Essentially , a private contractor cannot enforce that sort of fine. Don't let them!

Sara Nathan ● 4622d

This keeps coming up.Do nothing they need a court order and they have never ever taken anyone to court.You will receive 3 letter then hear no more.Best not to answer any letters.

John McNamara ● 4622d

John is right - and I went through the same thing - also at Morrisons and it worked for me.

Sara Nathan ● 4622d

Kathleen,Obviously I would not encourage anyone to abuse Morrisons' car park but this fine is uncollectable I believe.  Essentially ParkingEye are asserting that you have formed a contract with them.  That contract is unenforceable because their charges are not reasonable.  They are not entitled to fine you under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.  All they can do is make a reasonable charge for services actually used.  So, they could take you to the small claims court and recover say £2 for two hours parking and and reasonable costs involved in chasing you for this and their court fees (£10s no more).  You might make an offer of say £20 in settlement if you wish.  If you ignore them they will go away.  A small claims court wouldn't give them much and if they did find against you all you have to do is pay a small sum and that is the end of it.

Phil Taylor ● 4622d

Phil I fully agree with you except on paying this firm any money.They use fear as a weapon knowing their threats have no legal backing . Pay them nothing and ignore all letters.

John McNamara ● 4622d

Kathleen use forum search enter ParkingEye there lots on this subject.

John McNamara ● 4622d

As there is all over the web...none of it flattering.The most surprising thing is that ParkingEye was taken over by Capita in October 2013....who I have always thought of as hopelessly inept but not wholly scruffy. They run BBC HR or maybe just payments for example and lots of outsourced services.The advice I've seen recently is to ignore correspondence  unless it comes from the County Court. Which it almost certainly won't ever do.

Sara Nathan ● 4622d

I am sure you are right, but I adopted the 'ignore' technique when pursued by another company who manage the parking for Waitrose in Beaconsfield and it was referred to the County Court.

Maire Lowe ● 4621d

Maire I assume once they mentioned CountY Court you paid up.If they did take you to court it would the first time ever.I would love to know the result.

John McNamara ● 4621d

Yu p and the fine was quite big by then too. I had a friend at the time who was ignoring a speeding fine sent her by an apparently private company who were monitoring hire cars coming out of Pisa airport and not noticing the speed restrictions. When the fine got to 2000 euro she caved too. It does seem a way of collecting money from the gullible I suppose.

Maire Lowe ● 4621d

Doesn't sound wholly comparable: speeding not parking and Pisa not London...oh and hire car - which complicates the driver's obligations.

Sara Nathan ● 4621d

This is a car park for those using Morrisons Supermarket.  It is extremely irritating that when trying to park there it is often full of white vans and cars who are obviously not shopping in Morrisons.So...perhaps those who are trying to shop are getting fed up and complaining to the Management?

Dee Cook ● 4621d

Why don't they use the same system as at Sainsbury in Chiswick where you have to get your parking validated in the shop to operate the exit barriers? There were certainly barriers there when they first opened.

Susan Kelly ● 4621d

Dee are you planning to slap me with a £100 fine for parking near your house?

Jeremy Thorpe-Woods ● 4620d

Too much like hard work for the staff?Or maybe they don't mind people using it for limited periods for town centre stuff.. or only got permission for a car park right there on that basis.

Sara Nathan ● 4620d

You can park for half an hour at Sainsbury in Chiswick without buying anything, or you can pay for longer parking if you don't want to shop there, so lots of options without the car park being full of commuters from dawn to dusk.When Safeway opened at the Acton site, there was a similar system in operation, unless my memory is very awry, so there can't be any planning implications.

Susan Kelly ● 4620d

Just settle the bill or risk your fine multiplying by a factor of ten... Ignore those who say don't pay ..They are not in your position !

Kirit ● 4620d

I was in this position with a PrivateEye fine.I researched the internet and realized they have no legal power.Once again ignore all letters and they will go away.

John McNamara ● 4620d

Dear Friends, Many thanks for all your help but I have to admit I have wimped it and paid the fine.  Partly because the car is registered in my husband's name and he was receiving all the scary letters, and partly I suppose because it was a fair cop!  I was late for a meeting and used the Morrison's car park as it was so convenient.  (Although I have to say I am a regular shopper.)  I took Kirit's advice and cut my losses.  Thank you so much for all your unput.

Kathleen Chapple ● 4620d

Saw this a bit late to be of any help to Kathleen I'm afraid, but I'll give some tips here for anyone else who  gets a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).First off the advise now is NOT TO IGNORE, the laws' view of these PCN's has changed as the infringement is seen as a breach of contract, and as such the parking company can pursue ignorers for up to SIX years.In fact ignoring may also work against you in any hearing as you have not taken reasonable steps to resolve before court So, if you get a ticket on your windscreen, (APNR camera notices are slightly different regarding timescales), do not ignore but do not contact the parking company, wait for a Notice To Keeper (NTK) to arrive on the doorstep.This should be no sooner than 28 days after the incident and no later than 56 days after it. Theses dates are very important, and you must retain all tickets and letters you receive. So, in the 28 days before the NTK turns up, speak to the manager of the shop and explain the circumstances and show receipts ( looks like this wouldn't apply to you Kathleen !) and see if they can recind the PCN. Then take some time to read the forums here http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30and herehttp://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163Thoroughly read the FAQ's of both and post your plight. With the moneysavingsexpert forum you wil receive a reply and sound advise very quickly.After that following any tips given on the above forums the general advise is to appeal through Parking On Private Lands Appeals.http://www.popla.org.uk/Parking Eye are especially very keen to threaten to take you to court,(they issue something like 50,000 PCN's a month) but remember these are NOT fines but speculative invoices for an apparent breach of contract.So, don't ignore, but certainly do not cave in and pay, hope this helps.Source: I've successfully beaten off claims from PESS and UKPC

Neil Owens ● 4615d

Why did it change, Neil? It used to be on the forums that the private companies would never take you to court for fear that their shaky legal position (especially if the parking was free for two hours and penalised afterwards at an extortionate rate) was unenforceable and they didn't want to risk it. what happened?

Sara Nathan ● 4615d

Some companies, particularly Parking Eye, were successful in taking people to court since the setup of POPLA because drivers weren't putting together a sound case for themselves.So the general consensus on the forums is to follow the procedures outlined in POPLA (they currently have a 60% success rate in favour of the motorist) and make all reasonable attempts to settle the matter. That way if Parking Eye decide to chance a court action in six years time, you can say that you have tried the appropriate channels. It's about covering you a*se.Secondly, it costs these companies to go to appeal, so if all the recipients of PCN's took Parking Eye to POPLA (50,000 a month) then it would put a big dent in their business plan.As you say, the whole thing is legally shaky at best and is reliant on people such as Kathleen getting frightened into paying an extortionate fee (NOT FINE). As I said, if you get one of these "invoices" look to the previously mentioned forums and take heed of their very good advice. In some cases it may be appropriate to ignore.50,000 x £135 a month maybe not so bad a business plan

Neil Owens ● 4615d

I ignored mine - having read all the assorted forum advice - and I got the three expected letters worded with increasing urgency - about 3 or 4 years ago now. And nothing else.The challenge is finding the up to date advice. A lot is from 2008 -2010.

Sara Nathan ● 4615d