Hi there,
It turns out that I recently managed to miss a sign for restricted parking in the UK. It's a pretty annoying feeling when a nice letter comes through the door and you open it to see a photograph of your car in an apparently restricted zone and a demand for, what in this case, seems more like a ransom at a £100 (reduced to £60 if paid immediately). Apparently there's a 2 hour free parking limit in this car park, which I clearly exceeded by half an hour. Having parked there countless times before, I'm furious both at the apparent restriction and my obliviousness to its existence. It's a huge empty car park outside a Homebase far away from most local shops and attractions, which makes it scarcely used or full. I decided to park there and walk half an hour to the local shops for some extra exercise and because I thought it would be fine.
The private car park company G24 has sent me a "Contractual Parking Charge Notice" for £100 for this infraction and I was wondering if anybody around here had any insights into this kind of situation. I've heard and read that these kind of notices are not actually enforceable by law, but are merely considered invoices, since these are private companies as opposed to government owned. A government issued parking fine is a more serious matter and should not be ignored, since it's likely that you have caused a greater problem to local traffic and transport. My parking offence was a misdemeanour at best, given that I blocked no roads, schools, fire stations, or access points, but only parked in a vast, empty car park and have read several articles that suggest such a fine should be ignored since it's not enforceable. I'm hesitant to make such a move, but it seems so excessive for such a minor error. I mean, for the half an hour that I was parked apparently illegally in this car park, I can't believe that a £100 fine is justifiable. Maybe a £20 fine is justifiable, but even that stinks. Homebase will have lost no business for this error and I blocked no one in.
I suppose to be safe, paying the fine is the simplest thing to do, but is it reasonable to ignore this issue? I've even read articles in the Financial Times suggesting that these types of fines can sometimes be safely ignored, since any escalation would not be worth the while of the Private Car Park Company. Some of the articles I've found are about 3 years old though and there may have been some changes to the law since then...
It turns out that I recently managed to miss a sign for restricted parking in the UK. It's a pretty annoying feeling when a nice letter comes through the door and you open it to see a photograph of your car in an apparently restricted zone and a demand for, what in this case, seems more like a ransom at a £100 (reduced to £60 if paid immediately). Apparently there's a 2 hour free parking limit in this car park, which I clearly exceeded by half an hour. Having parked there countless times before, I'm furious both at the apparent restriction and my obliviousness to its existence. It's a huge empty car park outside a Homebase far away from most local shops and attractions, which makes it scarcely used or full. I decided to park there and walk half an hour to the local shops for some extra exercise and because I thought it would be fine.
The private car park company G24 has sent me a "Contractual Parking Charge Notice" for £100 for this infraction and I was wondering if anybody around here had any insights into this kind of situation. I've heard and read that these kind of notices are not actually enforceable by law, but are merely considered invoices, since these are private companies as opposed to government owned. A government issued parking fine is a more serious matter and should not be ignored, since it's likely that you have caused a greater problem to local traffic and transport. My parking offence was a misdemeanour at best, given that I blocked no roads, schools, fire stations, or access points, but only parked in a vast, empty car park and have read several articles that suggest such a fine should be ignored since it's not enforceable. I'm hesitant to make such a move, but it seems so excessive for such a minor error. I mean, for the half an hour that I was parked apparently illegally in this car park, I can't believe that a £100 fine is justifiable. Maybe a £20 fine is justifiable, but even that stinks. Homebase will have lost no business for this error and I blocked no one in.
I suppose to be safe, paying the fine is the simplest thing to do, but is it reasonable to ignore this issue? I've even read articles in the Financial Times suggesting that these types of fines can sometimes be safely ignored, since any escalation would not be worth the while of the Private Car Park Company. Some of the articles I've found are about 3 years old though and there may have been some changes to the law since then...
