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Scam parking tickets at Forest match?


ciderage

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Returning to the car after yesterday's match I found a parking ticket on my windscreen. My mate who parks in the same area had one and i heard of another who parked somewhere else. Anyone else get one? We park on Spike Island near Vauxhall bridge where there's a council sign about needing a permit for Mon-Fri 9 to 5. Been parking here for at least 10+ years with no problems.

The ticket doesn't look legit, A4 sheet of paper with date, time, reg no and PCN no handwritten on it. Header on sheet is Baltic Wharf Management Co Ltd with details of bank account to pay it to.

I'll try to copy in Julie from A&S Police. It may be that local residents are fed up with us clogging their streets, which is understandable, but if you live near a major stadium you would probably have to live with this.

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From their website, sure you’ve found this already though.

“Parking

Every property at Baltic Wharf has one allocated off-street parking space. In addition, there are a number of visitor parking spaces within the estate.  Every vehicle must display a blue ‘Baltic Wharf Management Company Resident Permit’ when using these spaces in order to avoid parking charges. The roads and some of the pedestrian pathways within the estate are owned and maintained by the local authority. If you have more than one vehicle, you will need to obtain a Spike Island (SI) resident parking permit from Bristol City Council, which enables you to park on the roads within the estate at any time. Any vehicle parked on the roads within the estate without a SI resident permit during the operational hours of the city council’s Residents’ Parking Scheme may be ticketed by the council’s traffic wardens.”

 

Looks to me if you weren’t in a visitors or residents spot any ticket would have been a normal one, maybe someone trying it on?

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Unfortunately not the public highway, so if it's a legit ticket we'll have to think about paying. We have big doubts because it looks a bit Mickey Mouse and the ticket was nearly hidden under the wipers. Usually tickets are slap bang in the middle of the windscreen and stuck on fairly well. Quite a few City fans park in the visitor spots, so we couldn't argue with the ticket with the info from their website. Would be damn cheap (£45 ticket) for 15+ years parking. Better start looking for somewhere else to park, can't wait for MetroBus to solve our transport problems.

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1 minute ago, ciderage said:

Unfortunately not the public highway, so if it's a legit ticket we'll have to think about paying. We have big doubts because it looks a bit Mickey Mouse and the ticket was nearly hidden under the wipers. Usually tickets are slap bang in the middle of the windscreen and stuck on fairly well. Quite a few City fans park in the visitor spots, so we couldn't argue with the ticket with the info from their website. Would be damn cheap (£45 ticket) for 15+ years parking. Better start looking for somewhere else to park, can't wait for MetroBus to solve our transport problems.

Google private company parking charges and their enforcement successes and make your own call. 

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1 hour ago, 29AR said:

Google private company parking charges and their enforcement successes and make your own call. 

This. 

From memory, I’d read somewhere that these private parking tickets carry no legal weight, so just don’t pay it and there’s no way they can chase you up or charge you with non-payment. 

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3 minutes ago, Harry said:

This. 

From memory, I’d read somewhere that these private parking tickets carry no legal weight, so just don’t pay it and there’s no way they can chase you up or charge you with non-payment

That's old advice to be honest. The solution a few years back was to ignore any follow up notices because they eventually gave up. However their tactics changed and they started issuing CCJs - people ignored these, so the CCJs were accepted in court and people then had to pay the original fine + the parking companies legal fees.

What needs to be established is if the ticket has been given out by a private company or whether the council have given the tickets out.

If it's the council - These tickets are lawfully enforceable, and there's no getting out of it.

If it's a private parking company - They will have to be a registered with a parking association, that means you can appeal the ticket here - https://www.popla.co.uk/ - The appeal reason should just be 'The signage was unclear'. If the appeal gets accepted, then the parking company has to stand by it. If it's not upheld, then you could still take it to court I guess.

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27 minutes ago, Harry said:

This. 

From memory, I’d read somewhere that these private parking tickets carry no legal weight, so just don’t pay it and there’s no way they can chase you up or charge you with non-payment. 

They do have weight, it just turns on how much stomach they have to recoup it really nowadays. I would certainly review the ticket and make sure they've properly issued it in accordance with the law. I managed to escape one because they hadn't and when they followed up I said they did not issue proper notice and they were now too late to. I didn't hear back. 

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38 minutes ago, JammyOne said:

That's old advice to be honest. The solution a few years back was to ignore any follow up notices because they eventually gave up. However their tactics changed and they started issuing CCJs - people ignored these, so the CCJs were accepted in court and people then had to pay the original fine + the parking companies legal fees.

What needs to be established is if the ticket has been given out by a private company or whether the council have given the tickets out.

If it's the council - These tickets are lawfully enforceable, and there's no getting out of it.

If it's a private parking company - They will have to be a registered with a parking association, that means you can appeal the ticket here - https://www.popla.co.uk/ - The appeal reason should just be 'The signage was unclear'. If the appeal gets accepted, then the parking company has to stand by it. If it's not upheld, then you could still take it to court I guess.

Fair do’s Jammy. I thought I’d read something before but it’s probably old news. 

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I would take a photo of the sign from BCC and ask them if it is legal to park there on a Saturday afternoon without a permit. Don't admit parking there but just make a general enquiry.

Sounds to me as the Management Company taking a punt, unless of course the ticket has been issued by BCC.

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Sounds like people know more about this than me thank god!

if you need me to help any further then feel free to pm me, it does sound and look like a private company have done it, my advice as already stated is to speak to citizens advice it specialist lawyers for this type of thing . 

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If Private: It all depends on the signage which has to be unequivocally clear, in plain language, showing what the conditions are (especially timings,) what the potential penalties/actions might be plus a contact address for whoever administers the scheme. The scheme itself must be registered and have an appeals process. Penalties must also be commensurate with the cost of administering the scheme. In first instance I'd write acknowledging receipt, requesting detail establishing both validity of scheme and compliance of signage and 'for avoidance of doubt', inform that should such information not be forthcoming then any prosecution is to be considered 'malicious'.

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1 hour ago, Harry said:

This. 

From memory, I’d read somewhere that these private parking tickets carry no legal weight, so just don’t pay it and there’s no way they can chase you up or charge you with non-payment. 

From memory I think they do carry legal weight but the company’s have to take you via a civil court to get their money and it costs them far more to do that than what they will get back off you. I didn’t pay one in Yate car park and never got pursued, that was a long time ago though 

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2 hours ago, AshtonPark said:

Rules have changed now. It’s much easier to be taken to court 

No they haven't.  There is no difference in how easy it is for someone to take you to court.  There's no material change to the law or civil procedure rules in the last decade on this.

All there is, is a scare story related to one particular case where someone repeatedly parked outside their own house without paying for a permit and ignored tickets totalling five figures, which these private firms are using as propaganda as though it can be used as some sort of precedent.  It can't.

It's really simple - JammyOne has it right.

If it's a council or police ticket, (it will say it's a PENALTY) act on it.  Either pay or appeal but do not ignore it.

If it's a private company ticket, (it will say it's a CHARGE) ignore it.  If it becomes a summons which is very unlikely log into Money Claim Online and file an acknowledgement and then a defence (no contract, no signage, no evidence and so on - there is plenty online about this including form defence letters).  They will discontinue the claim as uneconomical.

 

 

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20 minutes ago, ciderage said:

They have part of the reg no wrong, so that may be another give away that it's a scam.

Scan.jpeg

If they`ve got the reg wrong then there`s no way they can get your details from DVLA. They`re only going to give them details for the number they provide. I`d just wait and see what happens - if your mate gets a follow up and you don`t then I reckon you`re in the clear.

Some poor bugger who`s never been to Bristol in his life is in for a nasty shock though!

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