Forums Forums Wirral Information Law And Your Rights Rock retail car park fine

I went for a coffee the other night for a chat with my friend as his wife has just left him and he needed company. Today I woke up to a letter from some horse shit company intructed by the owners of the carpark to pay a fine of up to £75 for staying there at 10.30pm till midnight. This is so unfair and daylight robbery.

Clicky

I'm afraid this is the state we live in now. Everyone is a potential source of revenue (you don't think all these cameras are for our benefit do you?)
Any disgression (if it is one) minor or major will entail getting money from you in the way of fines
My youngest son was pulled up by the police for riding his bike with no lights (by the market well lit area) and quizzed if he had anything on him he shouldn't have then fined £30
It used to be you were let off with a warning and told to get lights which you did. Must be 1000's of mountain bikes now on Wirral which don't have lights
TC just walking along minding his own business pulled up and quizzed same

They put signs up about a year ago mate - they read...

"Private Car Park - Terms and Conditions Apply. Customer Parking Only. Parking only permitted for customers whilst shopping at the Rock Retail Park. 3 hrs Max Stay between 8am and 8pm. 1 hr Max at all other time, no return in 30 mins. £50 fine"

Must have since changed the fine amount - they also have cameras on the car park - think it was to stop all the bazzas on a tuesday night.

Not sure if you can get away with the fine - youll have to do some digging as to who is managing it and wether its legal for them to do that

Despite all the people that used to go down there, this is the first instance ive heard of someone getting a fine though

They get you coming in and out. I wonder if I can say I left via the back, came back in via the back then left out of the front. Im just so annoyed that even if your there using the place for proper reasons.....

there are people comming on the roger phillips show on radio merseyside. from what some people are saying, theyve got to prove it was you driving. you can go to the website and use the listen again it might be of some use.

Where are the terms and conditions, and where can you get them from, if they are not available at that time of night then you could (reasonably) argue that it is an unfair contract (and it is a contract you enter into when you park on private land) and therefore unenforceable.
If you decide to argue this I can give you a list of case-law to refer them to and see how they respond (usually with a "don't do it again" letter, last thing they want is for a case to be lost and everyone they have ever fined to appeal based upon it.
It is also of interest to note that as McDonalds is open at that time and the other shops close at 8pm then by changing the time limit at that time when a store is still open you are, as a McDonalds customer, being discrimiated against

Yes I know, I don't like parking companies though.

Oh, almost forgot, as it's an unmanned carpark and they do it all by cameras there are a LOT of rules about signs, data protection act, storage, who has access to the files, how long they are kept for etc etc that they have to follow, along with calibration and adjustment of the time-stamp on all the pictures, who does it, how, are they certified, etc etc You are entitled to ask these things before parting (if you have to) with any money.

Cheers guy, advice really appreciated and I will be appeling so anymore help would be very useful.

Sanch, i listened to a radio programme the other day on this private parking and the companies that operate them. It was a phone in as well and the majority of people who called in said they never paid the fine and never heard no more about it. The reason being and who ever hosted the show agreed with them. If you appeal you can only do it accompanied by the fine, so no one wins anyway and they have your money. If you don't pay the fine within a certain time they say it goes up. They went on to say that it is civil law and they have to take you to court and it costs them to much, so they don't bother, cant tell you what to do, but that was what the radio programme was about.

I tried to find that report on the radio but I couldn't, I just read this interesting blast from the past and i'll prob use the letter provided to send to them.

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/193227/2.html

the same thing happened to someone i know weeks ago, she still has'nt paid it yet as she is fighting it, she spoke to the manager in maccies about it and he said he would write a letter for her as well.

Lets hope the mafia don't own the car park, you haven't got a horse have you.

There was an Item on parking at McDonalds on Watchdog last week. It's still on iPlayer here.

its just mentioned it again now for tonights watchdog on bbc1 at 8pm

Just tell them you might like using the back door.

They'll either send someone round to f**k you or send someone round to f**k you.

I heard people dont pay the fines they get threatning letters but just ignore them cos it costs them too much in the small claims court cos there aprivate company then they dont hear nothing after a few months