Motorway Services Parking Charges

[MichelleButcher]

Has anyone ever been caught out by Service Station parking charges?
I know of friends who have recently been stung for £160.00 parking fines for not realising they had to pay for parking in services if their stay was longer than 2 hours. So after convincing my parents they needed to take a break on the long trip down to Newquay from Hull with car and caravan, my parents pulled into the Moto Service Station near Exeter approx 8.40pm, 23/09/11. They paid the £19.00 parking fee to the WH Smiths store in the services to park for the evening to get some rest before finishing their journey. The guy at the till took my parents car registration and informed them that there was no need for a receipt nor parking ticket and that it was all electronic recognition. Upon returning home they came back to an £80.00 parking fine from the service station. Upon calling the parking company (CP Plus Ltd) we were told that as we had no receipt but that we had a bank statement that this would count as proof of purchase and upon submitting copies of the statement they would review cancelling the charges. The parking fine was reduced to £20.00. After several more calls and emails they did agree in the end to cancel the charge. Luckily the charge was paid by card and they did accept in the end the bank statement as proof of purchase. What would have happened if the charge was paid by cash? How many other people have been caught out? Is this just a scam?

 

[Parksy]

Any transaction at a till should produce a receipt automatically. It looks as though the guy on the till was doing some fiddling and managed to con your parents into not insisting upon a receipt.

 

[Robtel]

My guess is that Parksy has got it right. I stopped overnight at services on the way to the tunnel this summer, paid at W.H.Smiths, girl asked for my registration details, explained it was all electronically recorded and that I didn't need to display any parking ticket but she still gave me a receipt. Think I've still got it stuck in a drawer in the caravan, kept it "just in case".

Robert

 

[Parksy]

The best thing to do with 'threatograms' from parking companies such as C P Plus is to ignore them even if you haven't paid the fee.
They may have your car registration details but how can they prove who it was who parked the car? Unless you are wheel clamped at the time and can't drive off don't pay them a penny. These parasite parking companies will send several computerised 'final demands' and threaten all sorts of 'legal action' but don't bother to reply or to acknowledge them in any way even if you get a letter from a debt collecting company, just ignore them completely and nothing will happen.
More on these motorway service area parking 'fines' which are in fact invoices inviting you to give private parking companies your money Here and from further links from Money Saving Expert

 

[starlightdj]

Hi as Parksy says, do not pay any fine issued by a private parking company for motorway service station parking over the alloted two hours.

The worst that can happen as this is a civil matter is, - After all the threats and letters, they can send you a county court summons.
you then have the right to defend such an action in your local county court.
On hearing such a defence no judge in his right mind will find in favour of a parking company trying to make a profit over the health and safety of drivers taking a long rest.

However again as mentioned, for the company to take such action, they will firstly have to prove whom they are taking the action against and not just the registered keeper, As this is a civil matter their is no requirement for the registered keeper to declare the drivers identity (unlike a Police speeding fine),Plus the costs of issuing such an action and then having to possibly defend the action would be so cost prohibitive they will probably never take the action that far.

Yes the letters do seam official and warn you of all sorts of extra penalties but again the chances of them being able to enforce is very very slim. They are simply playing on the belief and vunerability that people will automatically pay on receiving such a demand and a large majority actually do.

Please be aware that this only applies to parking fines through the post from private parking companies. Any police issued fine should be treated very differently.

Hope this helps
John

 

[Surfer]

As others have stated. You cannot get a fine on private land. Only a magistrate has the power to give you a fine. You can safely ignore as these so called tickets are only invoices which is why they are marked "Parking Charge Notice" and not "Penalty Charge Notice". They often dress up the invoice to look like the genuine thing. These parking companies will not take you to court because if you defend they need to demonstrate the losses that they incurred which is very difficult. The actual transgression is "trespass". A good site for looking this up is Pepipoo

 

[Whittakerr]

So, now people have decided to ignore rules and just do what suites them.
Car parking facilities at services stations, supermarkets etc. are provided by the owners for the convenience of their customers, and they are quite within their rights to impose and enforce any restrictions they want, as long as they are clearly visible to people using the facility.
I don’t see any difference in the people that choose to ignore these rules, and the people that do not keep their dogs on leads on sites where the rules clearly state dogs should be on leads at all times.
If everyone chooses to only obey rules that suite their particular needs where will it all end.

 

[Parksy]

So, now people have decided to ignore rules and just do what suites them.
Car parking facilities at services stations, supermarkets etc. are provided by the owners for the convenience of their customers, and they are quite within their rights to impose and enforce any restrictions they want, as long as they are clearly visible to people using the facility..............

From a legal standpoint this is debatable, private parking companies who try to 'fine' people wouldn't dare to go anywhere near a court to try to recover an unpaid 'fine'.

 

[Gafferbill]

……but Motorway service areas in the UK have had parking charges after the first 2 hours for many years.

It is true that many users do not know this and that it is very difficult for the franchisee to collect these charges from users that stay longer.
Most have a parking attendant that comes round in the evenings to check you have paid and have a ticket.
I do not envy them that job!
If there were no charges Tom, Dick and his mate Harry would be taking over these sites for all sorts of scams.

I would not pay a fine but I would pay the published charge.

 

[Parksy]

No problem whatsoever with paying the stated charge on any car park or motorway service area when necessary but I hate these parasite companies who have taken it upon themselves to shove us around and bully us using pseudo legal claptrap.
If I have a parking ticket from a traffic warden for illegally parking on a road I'd expect to pay the fine, I'm bang to rights.
These private parking companies should take the time, trouble and expense to dot all of the i's and cross all of the t's from a legal standpoint rather than to try to make a quick buck by taking shortcuts which involve making indiscriminate threats which they have absolutely no chance of backing up legally.
To me they are on a par with wheel clamping gangsters who should be horsewhipped, not allowed to operate in such a way that is outside the law of this country.
If they can't do things properly they fully deserve to go out of business and those who hold motorway service area franchises should make proper and adequate provision for drivers who need to rest and hgv drivers who have to take a legally enforced rest.
The motorway service area franchisee's make more than enough money out of the motorist with rip off food prices and sky high fuel charges, a small charge is ok but using parasite wide boy companies to threaten fines of £80 with vulnerable people involved, especially when the mistake was not theirs, is way beyond the pale.

 

[Gafferbill]

.....on the basis that knowledge is a good thing

This webpage tells the complete story.... even down to the use of ANPR cameras!

http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Parking