Parking Fine Advise...

[PaulRSCos]

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice.

My girlfriend lives in a flat which has a designated car parking space for her flat. When she moved in, because she doesn’t drive, she never really showed any interest in the space but of course it’s been perfect for me, and any visitors who do drive to just park there without leaving it out on the street. With that, I parked up last night, as normal, and left the car overnight. Came out this morning and some c**t had stuck a “fixed penalty notice” on my bastard window.

Thinking it was a wind up, because there are a few nobs who like to flick their cigarette butts on the car etc, I got in the car and gave it to her to read it. It’s a proper notice and had all the car’s details on it, and they’re demanding 30 sobs for parking in a reserved space.

The space belongs to her and she’s never received a fucking permit from the agency [or anyone else] for the car she allows to park there. What the fuck?

She’s going to give the agency a call but I’m really tempted to phone them myself because they always fob her off with some shit. I’m not paying for the agencies incompetence for not providing the particulars for residents parking. Wankers!

Do I have any legal or non-legal legs to stand on here?

Cheers,

Paul

[Simon T]

god knows on that one mate, as they've never issued a permit or asked for reg numbers of cars that may park there then you may be able to get it revoked?

[dougs]

sounds as if they dont know their a rs e from the elbow, would of thought if you were to send them a utiliy bill from from your girlfriends gaff and say you were visiting a resident they would revoke it and highlight to them that your partner has never recd any permitt, ask them to issue your partner a permit with your reg on it. so it doesnt happen again.

[sixaxles]

sounds as if they dont know their a rs e from the elbow, would of thought if you were to send them a utiliy bill from from your girlfriends gaff and say you were visiting a resident they would revoke it and highlight to them that your partner has never recd any permitt, ask them to issue your partner a permit with your reg on it. so it doesnt happen again.

yeah, i agree with this, make sure you write a nice (but not too snotty) letter explaining who you are and the whole situation and if it were my wife writing (as she sorts all our parking/trucking misdemeners,) i'm sure she would end it with something like "i'm sure you realise its just an administration error on your/there part and will be kind enough to cancel the fine". or something along those lines, you get the idea, make sure you keep copies of all correspondense, oh and then on the end add a little complaint about the dipshits that use your car as an ash tray -- i really hate that..... coward bastards

[COZZFATHER]

best advice i could possibly give is this...............

if someone is ticketing the area your chick lives in thay must have aurthority,probably from the people she has done the lease or agreement on the flat with.
i would say contact them and see what the crack is,they invited this company to patrol the flats so they should be accountable imo for answers.
failing a satisfactory answer from them i would contact citizens advice or a solicitor that offers free advice.
cheeRS

[PaulRSCos]

Thanks very much for the response, guys...it's appreciated.

My girlfriend phoned up the agency who let the apartments but she is abit of a pusswimp when it comes to getting things like this sorted - and would rather accept other people's account and let it be...so I gave them a call and spoke with them. They were mostly sympathetic and have endevoured to contact the security firm who this numpty works for.

She also said the geezer who issues these tickets actually lives on-site in one of the apartments and advised that I just go have a chat with him and let him know the score. I don't park there often and when I do it's only for short periods of time.

I have written confirmation that the parking space belongs to the flat and we are well within our rights and entitled to park there irrespective of displaying a permit of any kind - and that's written from the agency - so it's pretty much tied up from that end. Just need to square things up with the security guard (hopefully not his jaw!).

I've got visions of all common sense going out the window and him saying "well, it's all logged in the system now...you never displayed, therefore you pay". In which case that will ignite a fire.

And yes - it makes my blood boil when they kick shit on the car and put their cigarettes out on it over the fucking windows. It's not the Cosworth but the principle still remains - have abit of respect for other people's property.

CheeRS guys

Paul

[warrenpenalver]

its a private company issued ticket so for a start in legal terms it is nothing more than an invoice for parking there.

The only way they can make you pay it is to take you through the small claims court which 99% of the time they wont.

Most of these private companys make thier tickets look similar to council issued tickets (which are legally enforcable) and call them "parking charge notice" (councils call them penalty charge notices so similar) and rely on public stupidity and fear to pay up.

If your ticket has "fixed penalty notice" on then the moron who wrote it is even more stupid!!! A FPN is what the police issue for usually a minor offence and certainly not what youd get for parking in a controlled parking space!!! so for a start he needs to do his research!!

In summary theyve got pretty much no hope of legally getting any money out of you. But its worth sorting things out on the phone just to avoid future agro. But DONT pay!!

[PaulRSCos]

Thanks buddy.

I'm going to catch up with the agency again tomorrow and then I'm going to do the same with the geezer flashing these tickets about on the evening when I go around there.

CheeRS