Now I know our company will be getting a parking ticket for this but what is the situation regarding paying the fine if parked in services? Am I right in thinking just to not reply to any notices they send through the post ?
The situation was I was doing a 1am tip at Argos Motherwell this morning and I wouldn’t have enough driving hours to get back so our company said to get as far back as I could and sorted it for another driver to come out with the fitter in the van, the other driver take over and the fitter drive me back.
I rang our office up at 6:30 saying I could make Wetherby services and they said the other driver would be starting at 7am and I said that’s ok as I wouldn’t make Wetherby till about 7:25 and I can wait there for them to pick me up as I’ve got upto 2 hours free parking. Due to them having to take the van back because of engine problems and a shunt on the M1 they didn’t arrive until 9:15 leaving me and the other driver 10mins to Dort our stuff out, him chuck his tackle in bang the digi card in and ■■■■ off out of there 
he left at 9:35
Nobody rang me up to tell me the problems or else I would’ve bought a parking ticket for 20+ quid but obviously I thought they would be there within the hour from our yard in Barnsley. I’ve told them I’m not paying any fine as I wasn’t kept upto date on the situation and nobody rang me up to say how far off they were. I’ve told our office not to reply to any letters they send through or would they be better appealing it seen as though it was only 10mins over the 2 hour?
They could appeal the fine, but i certainly wouldnt answer any correspondence, there have been numerous arguments over paying parking tickets, but if the company wants to negotiate with them, fair enough, but i make you right in the fact you were not kept informed, and dont want to pay the fine and i dont blame you for that.
Our outfit are bar stewards for things like that, because they’re out to shaft you they’d probably present the fine to you, ask you to pay & if you refuse or challenge it then they’ll pay it & take it out of your wages, weather you like it or not…!:evil:
If they are going to pay it and charge you, tell them that is illegal. Get them to name you as the driver so you can appeal it yourself.
You are guaranteed to win with a properly worded appeal at POPLA (Independent appeals service) - See pepipoo forums
If you can’t be bothered to do the legwork, someone else will for £16, if they lose, they pay your ticket.
I will post link if you need it
I have been 15 mins over a couple of times (Toddington/Strensham). Never had a ticket.
Personally I wouldn’t worry about. You were acting on company orders.
I overstayed at Forton Svcs a couple of years ago, after driving back from France in the car.
I told the YTS embryo in the WH Smith concession all about my heinous crime and left my registration details, plus name & address, never heard a thing about it. 
You were acting on their instructions. Let them know there may be a ticket due and that under no circumstance will you be paying it for them. They agreed for you to go there and it’s not your fault they didn’t get there sooner.
Try Harry`s standard reply:
Dear sir or madam,
Charge notice reference No: ……………………………………
With reference to the above numbered Charge Notice, I hereby appeal on the following grounds:
- My driver / I did not agree to enter into any contract with you.
- The amount claimed is not a reasonable pre-estimate of any losses incurred.
Should this appeal be unsuccessful, please send the authorisation code required to lodge an appeal with POPLA
Yours Faithfully,
Delete info below before sending
Of course, they are entitled to send me the authorisation code, but if I appeal to POPLA then the appeal will cost them £27.50 and it won’t cost me anything. And POPLA will uphold my appeal because they are only entitled to claim for genuine losses, and not to issue £90 fines.
What Pierre said. And don’t think of it as a “fine” … they have no legal power to issue fines. What they’ll send you is a speculative invoice, which you choose whether or not you’re going to pay. Just like any other unsolicited demand for money, in fact.
not wanting to get into a legal argument here but…
- My driver / I did not agree to enter into any contract with you.
I think that the fact that he paid for parking, £20, shows that he did enter into a contract with them.
Even so, if I was the OP I wouldn’t be losing any sleep about this.
del949:
not wanting to get into a legal argument here but…I think that the fact that he paid for parking, £20, shows that he did enter into a contract with them.
He didn’t pay £20 for parking, otherwise he wouldn’t have posted this in the first place.
del949:
not wanting to get into a legal argument here but…
- My driver / I did not agree to enter into any contract with you.
I think that the fact that he paid for parking, £20, shows that he did enter into a contract with them.
Even so, if I was the OP I wouldn’t be losing any sleep about this.
I never paid for any parking as I was only waiting for another driver to take over and the fitter take me back to the yard
del949:
not wanting to get into a legal argument here but…
- My driver / I did not agree to enter into any contract with you.
I think that the fact that he paid for parking, £20, shows that he did enter into a contract with them.
Even so, if I was the OP I wouldn’t be losing any sleep about this.
He said that if he had been told of the delay he would of paid, not that he had paid. If he had paid then there would be no reason to send an invoice.
oops, misread that!
put it down to the afternoons birthday party I had been to!
Theres a few ways to handle this, I like Harry’s though
You could send them a letter with a £1 cheque as full and final settlement which based on the parking fee is more than a fair reimbursement for their losses in those 10 minutes.
Also don’t forget to thank them for the nice picture of your truck if they even send out a letter which is unlikely.
Make sure you make it clear that you are not admitting liability just that you want a quick conclusion to this and are making an offer that any reasonable person will accept.
The more advanced armchair solicitors on here will say use the phrase ‘without prejudice’ in the letter, googling this term first is worthwhile as writing it does not offer 100% protection but will allow you to make offers without admitting liability.
Sending a £1 cheque also begins another contract (ironically the parking company may not be aware of) and if they cash the cheque the matter is closed even if they try and pursue it further.
Dipper_Dave:
You could send them a letter with a £1 cheque as full and final settlement which based on the parking fee is more than a fair reimbursement for their losses in those 10 minutes.
You seem to be confusing this with a free car park.
The parking Charge for 2hrs 1 minute - 24 hours is in the region of £20 - Do you propose if someone only stays 9 hours, offer them half of the parking charge?
Also, the PPC will have lost £2.50 in getting the RK’s details from the DVLA, so how £1 covers it I have no idea.
Their overheads (costs) are not being claimed at this point, the offer of £1 is based on the cost of parking for 10 minutes over, rounded up to a £1 for good will.
The £1 offer is a true reflection of the parking companies (well land owners to be presise) losses based on what they charge for 24 hours, not their internal costs at this point.
The point of making an effort to resolve the dispute (albeit without prejudice) is to show you have made an early attempt to avoid wasting courts time on frivilous matters (10 minutes overstay in this case).
The parking company could come back with a counter offer say £10 but they wont because they will realise its a futile waste of their time when they could be pursuing more worthwhile habitual parkers.
If the £1 offer is rejected then ask for a Popla code which will cost the parking company around £30, although the true cost in wasted time is probably a lot more.
trubster:
The parking Charge for 2hrs 1 minute - 24 hours is in the region of £20 - Do you propose if someone only stays 9 hours, offer them half of the parking charge?
Yes, if faced with a huge and unrealistic ‘fine’.
The awards for civil contract breaches are damages, in this case the damages are the lost revenue so it could be argued that the parking space could have been taken over by 5 vehicles (2 hours free each) and the offer of half payment was not only a realistic and reasonable offer but also quite generous.
I think all this parking lot charges saying the driver didn’t agree to the terms to be honest … the point being if you don’t agree to their terms you have an option ,LEAVE,
just saying
The parking is one thing the fact that you continued your journey when you was out of hours is another the fact you was in a different vehicle makes no difference if it goes to court you will be admitting the offence which is far more serious than the parking one