n/a - Parking charge notice

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Wed 20 Nov 2013 13:15
n/a - Parking charge notice - Simon in Northants

My wife received a parking charge notice for parking in a free car park owned by a council. The fine is £85 from Brittania Parking.

The parking charge was for not displaying a valid ticket, she didn't realise that although parking is free she had to obtain a ticket. The parking fine states it is for parking for one minute without a valid ticket. She had been in the space for a couple of minutes while visiting the bank with a family member she had collected from a care home to visit the bank.

Is it normal for a council to use a private parking company to run their car park? Also the council are claiming it is a private car park because it is owned by them, surely that makes it a public car park and not private?

Is it worth appealing to the parking company as a fine of £85 seems excessive for parking in a free parking space, just because she didn't obtain a free ticket.

I contacted the council involved and they sent me this -

Further to your enquiry and the points raised.

The market place is private land. Wisbech Town Council, owner of the market place, has a management agreement with Britannia Parking to manage the car parking and to issue parking charge notices to vehicles which do not comply with the on site signage (to display a ticket for free, parking within the parking area).

The parking was introduced following a consultation with the public where it was 50:50 with calls for full traffic access and full pedestrianisation. The council has tried to accommodate all needs by introducing controlled parking. Previously issues had been indiscriminate parking in a no parking zone with little enforcement.

Wisbech Town Council has an agreement with Britannia Parking in order to enforce the parking allowed. This was seen as best value to Wisbech rather than employing enforcement staff as Britannia Parking have a similar arrangement with the Horsefair car park to enforce parking.

Britannia Parking have similar contracts with other local authorities.

I cannot comment on the fine. However, it is not for parking where free parking is allowed, it is for control of that parking.

Yours sincerely,

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Wed 20 Nov 2013 13:38
n/a - Parking charge notice - thunderbird

By not displaying a ticket (although it costs nothing) you have broken the car park T & C's.

There must have been ticket machines to dispense the free tickets, did you not see them.

Normally this type of car park has a time limit even though there is no fee, the display of a ticket is the only way the parking company can ascertain if the time limit has been exceeded.

You can appeal but I do not expect you to get anywhere, ignorance of the rules and/or failing to read the rules is no defense.

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Wed 20 Nov 2013 14:47
n/a - Parking charge notice - FP

Interesting case. To answer your questions:

"Is it normal for a council to use a private parking company to run their car park?" Certainly it happens, but I couldn't say how often. Your reply from the council says so, presumably truthfully.

"Also the council are claiming it is a private car park because it is owned by them, surely that makes it a public car park and not private?" You need someone with more specialised legal knowledge to answer that, but I don't see it has any bearing on your case, as the council has contracted out the running of the car park.

What concerns me is the use of the word "fine" in the council's reply. Possibly that is just sloppy phrasing, as you earlier refer to the "parking charge". I assume that is what you have got, and not a fine - only local authorities directly running their car parks can issue fines.

The standard advice is to decide if you want to fight it, and, if you do, to ignore all further communication on the matter until or unless you get a court summons, which is unlikely. If it does happen you must be prepared to argue your case.

Most people would feel a "charge" of £85 for one minute is excessive, and in this case no-one can claim they have lost revenue as a result of your wife's actions. Also, a court might well decide that the imposition of such a charge for failing to follow the correct procedure is in fact punitive, which would be illegal.

You could always offer to pay, say, £10, but I doubt that would work. You could also appeal, and you might feel you would lose nothing by so doing.

As always in these matters, www.pepipoo.com is your friend.

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Wed 20 Nov 2013 19:31
n/a - Parking charge notice - elekie&a/c doctor
Sounds familiar.I had a recent experience in a retail park in Southampton where you "buy" 30 mins free parking.Never visited this park before as we are from London,warden from brittania parking issued a PCN,parking charge notice.I sent in an appeal on the grounds of very poor signage and the fact that the ticket machine was tucked away in the corner of the car park ,so you would not pass any machine as you drive in to the area,making it difficult to realise you were entering a pay and display park.The letter of appeal was sent off at the beginning of June ,recorded delivery and signed for by brittania.No response.I. Contacted BPA for advice,and sent brittania another letter,signed for,asking for any further action needed.As yet I have had no replies.hth
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Wed 20 Nov 2013 21:47
n/a - Parking charge notice - geoff1248
From my reading you were "parked" for 1 minute without a ticket. I would suggest that you inform them that it took more than 1 minute to read the terms and conditions of the parking contract you were required to enter into to permit you to park. Once you had read and understood the terms you decided you did not wish to enter into the contract and thus left the car park.
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Thu 21 Nov 2013 12:44
n/a - Parking charge notice - Bromptonaut

The OP is in a better position in this case under 'Parking on Private Land' than you would be if it were a public car park under Civil Enforcement by the Council.

Under PoPL you have the option to ignore and it'll probably go away. If you are summonsed then you've a wider choice of defences than before an Adjudicator under the Civil Enforcement provisions.

If you ignore the ticket there or lose at the Adjudication stage and fail to pay you WILL be visited by a bailiff and fees WILL escalate alarmingly.

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Thu 21 Nov 2013 13:38
n/a - Parking charge notice - slkfanboy

The legal definition is land that is not owned by "the goverment or dedicated to public use" so a area called a market would be public land?

So when you drive on to private land you enter into a contract with the land owner and accept the T&C as displayed. So yes if this really is private land then yes you have to pay up. Unless you can reasonably show the signs were unclear or confusioning by say free parking maybe. It would require them to take you to court as the offence is breaking of the contract i.e. the document sent is nothing more than an invoice for services provided.

If on the other hand it letter appears to be a PPC (offence under the road traffic act) the that would be an offence and they would not legally be able to persue it. so if it states anything about not paying is a criminal offence then aministration of justice act 1970 applies.

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Thu 21 Nov 2013 18:18
n/a - Parking charge notice - daveyjp
Definately one for Pepipoo. There was a similar tale of another set up like this with Bawtry Town Council and private company. It went all the way to Court and the private parking company were blown out of the water.

Edited by daveyjp on 21/11/2013 at 18:26

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Thu 21 Nov 2013 19:56
n/a - Parking charge notice - FP

"It would require them to take you to court as the offence is breaking of the contract..."the document sent is nothing more than an invoice for services provided."

The case would hinge on the alleged breaking of a supposed contract - yes; and there plenty of room for argument about whether a contract was entered into, the adequacy or otherwise of the signage being part of it.

But the breaking of a contract is of no significance unless one of the parties to it suffers a loss as a consequence. Proving that any kind of loss had resulted from someone parking incorrectly in a free car park would take some doing.

"...the document sent is nothing more than an invoice for services provided" - which were free.

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Fri 22 Nov 2013 10:22
n/a - Parking charge notice - slkfanboy

Regardless of win or loose. The Invoice amount of £85 is unreasonable as the parking is free.

For the componsation of breach of contract it can not be sucessfully argued that fee covers payment of warden etc.

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Fri 22 Nov 2013 10:44
n/a - Parking charge notice - daveyjp
Having now read some of the Bawtry case the OP could be in for the long haul if they wish to contest this.

They will need to do some serious leg work and information gathering to assess under what jurisdiction the ticket is being issued. After this they will be in a position to decide if the ticket is a penalty or an invoice.

At the moment and reading the letter from the Council (don't confuse the Council that have lots of legal powers with a Town Council which is little more than a voluntary talking shop for busy bodies) it is looking like an invoice.

This needs to be done in stages.

I would enter a very basic appeal to Britannia based on the time actually parked, as a minute between parking and issuing a ticket is against BPA guidelines. If they are minded to refuse request a POPLA code and see what happens. If a POPLA code is issued a much more robust defence can then be prepared which on all evidence so far will win.

If they don't plan B will need to be considered.

Edited by daveyjp on 22/11/2013 at 10:56

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