Anyone Had A Ticket In Supermarket Car Park/Private Land?

[Whitespirit66]

It's my own fault. Went to my local Co Op yesterday, but the car park was full. There is a space that isn't marked as a space, but causes no obstruction to anything, so I parked there.

Went back 15 mins later to find a ticket from a company called Smart Parking, 'fining' me £90 (£45 if paid in 14 days) for not parking in a marked space.

Anyone had one of these supermarket/private land tickets? What's the best way to handle it, ignore, appeal, etc?

Won't pay a penny to these vultures.

 

[ellal]

ignore...

unenforceable...

end of...

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

This link may help
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

I had a similar experience and was not going to pay, but the missus is shivering shower of shyte when it comes to these things and made me pay but I pleaded poverty and got the penalty reduced.

 

[^woody^]

ignore...

unenforceable...

end of...

It is "enforceable" via the civil courts and they will be successful if there is proper signage, and the OP has breached the implied contract terms

Its not a fine or penalty though, its just a claim for compensation for breach of contract.

Many car parks have changed their signage and terms of parking recently to allow successful claims in the county court

 

[longdogs]

For starters, tell the manager of the co-op that you will never shop there again. Then find the jobsworth who issued it, cut his head off and sheet down his neck

 

[Deleted member 63160]

Don't listen to the scaremongers. Ignore it. It will go away. Expect 4 or 5 hilarious letters offering you one more chance to pay before further action.

 

[securespark]

WS66

Did you PAD?

 

[longdogs]

Next Christmas, the ol' car park attendant will be out directing drivers to park in these unmarked spaces because they just can't get enough people in the supermarket

 

[onecog]

ignore...

unenforceable...

end of...

It is "enforceable" via the civil courts and they will be successful if there is proper signage, and the OP has breached the implied contract terms

Its not a fine or penalty though, its just a claim for compensation for breach of contract.

Many car parks have changed their signage and terms of parking recently to allow successful claims in the county court

You can only claim for your losses under contract law and the loss in a free car park would be .Send them a cheque for £1 then you are covered or just ignore and after a few threatening letters they will go
away.

 

[hazetimesfive]

i got a ticket once in a waitrose car park. no vans apparently. dick heads

 

[securespark]

Next Christmas, the ol' car park attendant will be out directing drivers to park in these unmarked spaces because they just can't get enough people in the supermarket

Surely if the latter part of your statement is true, then there will be no need to do what you say in the former as there will be plenty of spaces?

 

[longdogs]

Next Christmas, the ol' car park attendant will be out directing drivers to park in these unmarked spaces because they just can't get enough people in the supermarket

Ok. Next Christmas the ol' car park attendant will be out directing drivers to park in these unmarked spaces because they want even more people in the supermarket.

They do it every year at our local Waitrose.

 

[securespark]

Ah, got you now!

 

[crank39]

It's my own fault. Went to my local Co Op yesterday, but the car park was full. There is a space that isn't marked as a space, but causes no obstruction to anything, so I parked there.

Went back 15 mins later to find a ticket from a company called Smart Parking, 'fining' me £90 (£45 if paid in 14 days) for not parking in a marked space.

Anyone had one of these supermarket/private land tickets? What's the best way to handle it, ignore, appeal, etc?

Won't pay a penny to these vultures.

Take a look on ticketfighter.co.uk for advice and template letters

 

[Whitespirit66]

Thanks for everyone's advice so far, as well as the links.

I may ignore the parking co, and try a bit of B S with Co-Op first. Not sure how successful this will be.

Looking around at some of the legal stuff on the links posted on this thread, there seem to be a number of ways to thwart the vultures.

The main two rely on the fact that the parking co (Smart Parking) will be relying on contract law, which only allows claims for losses, not fines to punish. As it's a free car park, and I wasn't taking an official space, then their losses are precisely zero. There is also another poss get-out about parking cos. and their lack of authority to act for the landowner.

However, I have spotted a few discrepancies;

1) The ticket misdescribes my van as a car and also has the colour as silver, when the reg. doc. says grey

2) The ticket accuses me of not parking in a marked bay. However, on their signs, this isn't specified as one of the 3 ticketable breachs of conditions; ie. (A) parking in a disabled bay, (B) Staying over 2 hours, (C) parking in an obstructive way. I did neither of these, and definitely caused no obstruction.

3) The signs in the car park state that TCP (Town & City Parking) control the car park. I had a ticket from Smart Parking, so do they have the right to issue tickets?

These points possibly are splitting hairs, but I suppose that's the sort of small detail that gets argued over in court every day.

Thanks again to all who have replied.