UKPC parkng charge

To understand the answer to this you have to look at a supreme court (yet another thing we have to thank Tony Blair and his money grabbing wife for) ruling in Parking Eye V Bevis. When you park on private land you are entering into a contract with the owner to park on there in their terms. If you park in breach of their terms you are in breach of that contract. Trouble for the parking companies is that you could (until the Supreme court waded in) only sue for what you had lost. So for eg. if you parked for 8 hours in a car park that charged £2 per hour for parking and didnt pay, you had cost them £16 which is the most they could claim. The supreme court invented the legal doctrine of "legitimate purpose" to say they could levy a reasonable cost to enforce the rules, hence, instead of £16 they could now sue for the £80 fee the parking enforcement company would now charge to enforce the rules. Big conspiracy theory that Barry Bevis was a stooge who parked day after day in a town centre supermarket car park to give the landowner and Parking Eye who enforced on their behalf an egregious example to run to court. Interestingly Parking Eye didnt seek costs against him.
Anyway, the ruling did not give the parking companies carte blanche (as they sometimes represent to their victims). They have to be reasonable and the defect in contract has to be something that has been sufficiently to their detriment to warrant "enforcement". The only enforcement they have is to obtain a CCJ through the county court where you have ample opportunity to contest it. If they lose they can not reclaim costs unless you have been unreasonable. I would say, if you straddled 2 parking spaces and took both up, you have cost them revenue from loss of the other parking space then fair enough. If you're a couple of inches over the line and hurt no-one, I would say there is no loss and no legitimate purpose in enforcing their rules. The court would side with you. I have found some proper push back meeting the stated case head on makes them back down sharpish (but be aware from my experience of helping mates, they will sell the debt on to a collection agency regardless and two years later you'll get a threatening letter - to which you say, so sue me). However, most people pay up. What I would also say which has worked in teh past is if you have some reason relating to a disability under the Equality Act 2010 (not the same as a blue badge) that contributed to your actions, then ask them for their statement on policy of compliance with that act. If they are deficient in policy (which they usually are) or that some disability contributed to your actions, then threaten to counter sue them under the Equality Act for failing to make reasonable adjustments for you. For eg, I need more space to swing out a damaged leg from my car than a standard space will allow and park where I like within reason to allow entry and exit so I can use their car park.

 

Apparently 90% of all contested parking fines are upheld......decent odds indeed!

 

It was many moons ago.

 

I had this at Meadowhall retail park, told the parking company to take me to court never heard anything then 6 months later got a letter from a debt collecting agency. It turned out the debt agency was the same company as the parking company!

 

Great post, very informative.

I actually straddled the space into a yellow hatched area which denoted the start of the disabled parking area. The reason why I was parked so far to the right is that the parking bays are absolutely tiny - measured it today, 2 metres. Had I parked within the lines my wife wouldn't have been able to exit the car. As soon as I saw that I was overhanging the yellow area, I moved the car. I must have been illegally parked for all of a minute. As well as the ridiculously small size of the bay, I also noticed today that the car park is in a pretty shoddy state, with a lot of the lines completely invisible. All photographed. I reckon I've got a reasonable chance of the independent body striking it off, but if not I might try my luck in court.

 

I don't see how Beavis could have been a stooge, it would make no sense for him to appeal the Court of Appeal judgment to the Supreme Court if he was.

 

You’ll appeal to parking company first, if they are part of POPLA you can then appeal to them failing at both them can lead to court.
https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2015/09...ws-the-whistle-on-shameful-ticketing-tactics/

 

I'd already said it was conspiracy theory, he'd already been indemnified for costs. The parking companies wanted a binding ruling and he represented the best case from their point of view. They didn't want a two inch over a line case setting a precedent, they wanted someone who'd took the p!ss out of car parking facilities to make it easier for the court to find in their favour. Plenty think he was in on it from the start so can't impute logic into his subsequent actions.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I've done. Sent off my initial appeal yesterday. Let's see what comes back!

 

You can appeal to popla or the other trade body, can't remember it's name. If the parking company isn't a member of either then the "ticket" isn't enforceable. Even if you lose you can still fight them in court, remember under English law the onus is on them to prove their case and they still have an issue that it might cost them more than they are seeking to claim to fight it. Unless you've been unreasonable you won't face costs in small claims up to £10k except the costs in preparing the claim (usually limited to £65).

 

Been through the process, went to court and won.

 

What was your supposed "offence"?

 

But given that the legal point in question was so fundamental, the specifics of the individual case were largely irrelevant. How do you know he had been indemnified for costs? Even if that were true surely the parking companies would have said "if you appeal this to the Supreme Court we're not covering you"?

 

Parking too long.
I’d met someone (on foot) there in morning and dropped them off in evening.

 

I had a similar experience in Nuremberg in 2015. I had inadvertently parked in a disabled space (and felt mortified when I found out), but there was not the big signage we have painted in the space itself in England- just a tiny little sign obscured by branches and leaves. It was the end of the day and I was in the middle of driving across Europe and as the only way to pay was at a local post office, I just drove on. Never heard anything after, although I don't think I've been to Germany since so maybe I'm an outlaw there... Hang on, I've been to Hamburg. Maybe I'm just wanted in Bavaria.

 

"der Kriminelle"