Coniston Visitor Centre Parking - Robbin' Baskets!

[Crazyfool]

We have just returned from our holiday in the Lakes and Scotland. On finally emptying the car and settling down to open the post at 10 o'clock last night, my first letter contained a parking fine!

The first day of our holiday we travelled cross country to Coniston, but the unforgiving bends took its toll on my youngest and he was sick all over the rear passenger side of the car...lovely. We sorted him out at the side of the road, but felt it was not really suitable stopping place because the road was very narrow. So after the pre-wash we arrived at Coniston car park to finish sorting the car out.T

he car park which is at Coniston Visitors Centre had signs up to indicated that there was cctv in operation. After spending some time trying to find a space, we duly paid and displayed before going off to do some sight seeing. We returned within minutes of the allotted time and left.

The gits have a cctv clocking vehicles entering and exiting right at the entrance and according to their charge notice we were 10 minutes over our time. I was unsure whether to contest the notice as it would increase from £60 to £90 on the 25th April, but then started thinking about the length of time it took to find a parking space and sort ourselves out. Luckily my second letter was a cancellation notice, but nevertheless that is really crafty.


Beware if you park at this car park which is on Ruskin Avenue!!!!

 

[fingermouse]

there all over the place like this, think one in wakefield is the same if you stop in it to drop someone off then you can get a ticket through the post the robbing gits

 

[jcs356]

Is this a car park where you have to enter your reg on the ticket? Is that how they can work out you were over?

All of these parking 'fines' are currently unenforceable in law. The only way they can get you is by them proving that you've broken the terms of the contract you have entered into by parking in their car park. Even if you have broken the terms of the contract, any compensation they are due is in line with the contract and should not be excessive. You can refer back to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which prevents disproportionately high sums in compensation being awarded for a minor breach. E.g. if there were other spaces in the car park when you left then you can argue you were not preventing the car park from earning extra revenue as there were still spaces for other cars to park.

General rule is to either:
1. Send a cheque for £5 in full and final settlement for a minor breach of contract; or
2. Ask them to take you to court at a court local to you (you have the right to do this, you don't have to go to them). You'll hear nothing further given that a parking company has never successfully enforced a £60 or £90 'fine' in this manner through the small claims court given the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 previously mentioned.

Oh, and you might want to also tell them that if they keep writing to you asking for money, consideration must be given to them committing the offence of harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

[s3dave]

^^correct^^

 

[rosscotdi]

The way I understood the law and Anne Robinson said this on watchdog the other week,
These company's send the registered owner the ticket but under current laws the only people the owner needs to tell who was driving is the police or local councils??

 

[Viking]

there all over the place like this, think one in wakefield is the same if you stop in it to drop someone off then you can get a ticket through the post the robbing gits

Not quite correct. What you actually receive through the post is an invoice (cunningly dressed up with black and white chequers round the outside and convincingly called a Parking Charge Notice which is not to be confused with a Council / Police issued Penalty Charge Notice). It's up to you whether you pay their purported charge or ignore it.

I've just been getting a similar one from Asda in Nottingham (long story) and they sent me a couple of letters stating I had to pay, then it went to a collections company who sent 3 more letters saying I had to pay, each one telling me that further action would be taken if I didn't. All of these went straight in the shredder.

They've stopped now.

 

[Crazyfool]

Is this a car park where you have to enter your reg on the ticket? Is that how they can work out you were over?

All of these parking 'fines' are currently unenforceable in law. The only way they can get you is by them proving that you've broken the terms of the contract you have entered into by parking in their car park. Even if you have broken the terms of the contract, any compensation they are due is in line with the contract and should not be excessive. You can refer back to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which prevents disproportionately high sums in compensation being awarded for a minor breach. E.g. if there were other spaces in the car park when you left then you can argue you were not preventing the car park from earning extra revenue as there were still spaces for other cars to park.

General rule is to either:
1. Send a cheque for £5 in full and final settlement for a minor breach of contract; or
2. Ask them to take you to court at a court local to you (you have the right to do this, you don't have to go to them). You'll hear nothing further given that a parking company has never successfully enforced a £60 or £90 'fine' in this manner through the small claims court given the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 previously mentioned.

Oh, and you might want to also tell them that if they keep writing to you asking for money, consideration must be given to them committing the offence of harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Yeah, the registration number is included on the P&D ticket which means you can't even pass it onto anyone else if there is still sufficient time left on it. Hate these types of car parks

Not quite correct. What you actually receive through the post is an invoice (cunningly dressed up with black and white chequers round the outside and convincingly called a Parking Charge Notice which is not to be confused with a Council / Police issued Penalty Charge Notice). It's up to you whether you pay their purported charge or ignore it.

I've just been getting a similar one from Asda in Nottingham (long story) and they sent me a couple of letters stating I had to pay, then it went to a collections company who sent 3 more letters saying I had to pay, each one telling me that further action would be taken if I didn't. All of these went straight in the shredder.

They've stopped now.

It's good to know this sort of stuff because the notice did look quite convincing even with the pretty pictures of my front and rear end. It would have looked nicer in colour!