Forum Topic

Parking Fine enforcement    (Morrison's Car Park)

Someone I know parked their car at Morrisons for an excessive amount of time..(not sure if they were attending the adjacent Court building as well) and have received a hefty fine via the "outsourced" parking company.Today's TIMES mentions that a change of legislation is being considered in Parliament today to do with clampers etc and that those firms have access to DVLA records for finding out the identity of car owners. Their passion for issuing "official looking" summons was mentioned too,The Times also write that such fines are not currently enforceable. Is that so?

Jim Lawes ● 5289d3 Comments

That sounds very harsh Jim.I got involved with someone ticketed for parking in our local Health Centre because they weren't in a marked bay.It dragged on a bit because they replied in the first instance and so got letters from debt collectors and eventually a couple more from a solicitor.They have been dutifully ignored and now appear to have gone away completely. Hounslow Council isn't much better - they dismiss all challenges, I believe, in the hope that they will get paid out in return for the 2nd class stamp they risk on their correspondence.I'm fighting one at the moment for parking in Isleworth where a pay & display machine was out of order. The Civil Enforcement Officer (their glowing job title) lied and said the machine was in fact working..BUT we had date/time stamped photos of the machine clearly showing it was not working. I wait with baited breath to see if they will let this one go to the Parking Adjudicator.

Ian Silver ● 5288d

Thanks for that Ian.. I'll pass the information on.Am kicking myself for paying such a fine for a 4 hour sleep in my van on my way back from the North of Scotland some months ago.I was tired at 3am and went into an M73 Motorway Service station for a rest and kip..and got done. Next time I'll be wiser about how to deal with the correspondence. Thanks again.

Jim Lawes ● 5288d

Yes Jim. It is a private company and their parking tickets are not fines, they are invoices.Tell your friend to ignore them completely. They will send letters about debt collectors etc. but it is all bluff.They can ask DVLA to supply details of the owner of the vehicle but have no power whatsoever to make anyone disclose who was driving it at the time.I believe to date they have never taken anybody to the small claims court. Just ignore them completely and they will go away.

Ian Silver ● 5289d