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cinnamon009
Beginner December 2014

Parking 'fines' for private car park

cinnamon009, 5 of November of 2014 at 17:43 Posted on Off Topic Posts 0 7
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A couple of months ago we parked in the St Albans rail station car park (which is owned and run by a private company - it isn't a council one) and phoned up to pay by phone as the meter wasn't accepting cards (cash only). All good - paid by card over the phone and got a text saying if we wanted to park in future to reply to the text with the reg of the car. We did, system reply followed saying thank you for your text, if you want to park in future text number of days followed by 3 number security no on the back of the card we had paid with.

So following day, we text as instructed and get a text back saying 'thankyou - you have paid £7.70 and can park up to 2am on xxxx'. All good. Get back to car after work and there is a parking ticket. As this is a private car park these are not criminal charges but fines according to the terms and conditions of the car park. OH phones them and they say oh its probably a system error we will have a look. OH checks his account and no payment has been deducted.

Company contact OH to say that his registration didn't log properly on their system therefore they did not deduct any payment. But there was no text to this effect. OH appealed against the fine, which was rejected. He then appealed to POPLA which is supposed to be an independent body for private car parks (but there are lots of comments online questioning how independent they are). POPLA has now rejected the appeal stating that no payment was made according to the terms and conditions of the car park and therefore the 'fine' is valid.

I have read various things online stating that we should now refuse to pay as the 'fine' is excessive (£85) and is not in accordance with the loss to the company and it will go to the small claims court. In addition, their comment that we had not paid in accordance with the terms and conditions is in fact incorrect as according to their text we had in fact 'paid' before we left the car park. How were we supposed to know that their system had failed? Why offer a pay by mobile service if your systems are not set up to cope with it properly?

Has anyone had any success claiming against private car park 'fines' as oppose to council or police issued parking tickets?

7 replies

Latest activity by kharv, 6 of November of 2014 at 17:07
  • Mrs Monkey
    Beginner July 2013
    Mrs Monkey ·
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    Do you still have the texts? If not, I don't know if you can get them from your mobile supplier. I think that's your best try - it's proof you had genuinly thought the payment had gone through. It's a pretty bad system if it doesn't let you know payment hasn't gone through.

    I hope it all gets sorted for you.

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  • *Pugsley*
    Beginner March 2014
    *Pugsley* ·
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    I'd fight it. They probably wouldn't take you to court & if they did I'd argue that given you'd had a confirmation text from them you wouldn't have had the need to check that money had left your account. Plus sometimes it can take up to 4 days to leave an account anyway.

    I use those text and park things and live in your area so that's worried me as it could happen to anyone and it's hassle no one needs!

    Hope you get it sorted out.

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  • cinnamon009
    Beginner December 2014
    cinnamon009 ·
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    Thanks both. Yes we have the text saying we had paid. We submitted a screen print of it with our appeal. But POPLA ignored it and just said we left the car park without making a valid payment as per the terms and conditions. even though we have a text receipt. I'm just worried a smalll claims court may not be experienced in the digital age of text parking and may not understand that we thought we had paid.

    I will fight it. I'm in a fighty mood.

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  • *Funky*
    Beginner January 2001
    *Funky* ·
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    I definitely would not pay and fight all the way to court if necessary.

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  • SillyWrong
    Beginner October 2014
    SillyWrong ·
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    Private car parks don't have a leg to stand on and never take people to court. My W has fought back a few times when they've tried to take her to court, just keeps responding to their letters to say she contests it, then never hears anything again.

    ... she isn't in the habit of not buying a ticket, it's usually misunderstandings or poor signage which doesn't make the parking terms clear.

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  • daisymoo86
    Beginner July 2016
    daisymoo86 ·
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    Agree with what other have said, keep contesting and they will give up. (Completely different to a council!!)

    Plus in the very small chance that it would actually get to court, you have actual evidence to prove that you left your vehicle parked with what you thought was a valid receipt. You had no reason to believe that you had not paid. It is their system error and therefore their fault!

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  • cymruangel
    Beginner December 2014
    cymruangel ·
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    Definitely this.

    My mother in law to be fought a supermarket car park (slightly different scenario but also a private company) and they not only backed off, they gave her goodwill shopping vouchers. The latter probably won't happen in this case, but still worth fighting.

    And to think the government wonders why more of us don't use the train...

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  • kharv
    Beginner March 2012
    kharv ·
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    I would offer to pay the actual parking charge of the £7 odd so that you can show you've been reasonable then I'd fight it all the way.

    MSE has some advice: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

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