OT (and it's a long shot) : To the two people who got invoices in Portslade Aldi ..

[chimneys]

the loss if you didn't pay £2.50 is, well, £2.50.

1. No incentive for parker to pay then! May as well only pay if caught.
2. Aldi would presumably argue to the judge that the loss is actually the profit they would have made from the customer/s who could have parked where and for the period the overstayer/non payer did.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

1. No incentive for parker to pay then! May as well only pay if caught.
2. Aldi would presumably argue to the judge that the loss is actually the profit they would have made from the customer/s who could have parked where and for the period the overstayer/non payer did.

1. The incentive to pay is honesty ( bit like the Albion travel vouchers ). I'm not for one minute suggesting people shouldn't pay the applicable fee.
2. They would have to prove that loss - difficult unless the have someone permanently counting the number of free spaces. They would only make a loss if there wasn't any free spaces and how would they quantify that loss ?

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I know a couple of people that have tried to get some sort of reasonable response but the closest answer that have came back to being most likely is that the info does not come under the data protection act because the info that they are giving is already in the public domain,ie the electoral register,they only give name and address nothing more,no dob or such like info.

Interesting. I have watched a lot of the Leveson enquiry into media practises - it's quite entertaining, and I watch it while I work - but there have been several times when the aquisition of data by Journos has been questioned, along the lines of :

"How was this information gathered ?",
"Well, it could have been obtained by hacking, but the information was available by legal means, but would need a lot of extra leg-work, going through various sources and cross-checking to get the same data - it was easier to get it quickly from one place"
"That does not vindicate that it was actually gathered illegally."

 

[chimneys]

I did have an email discussion with Terry Duddy - CEO of Home Retail Group who own Homebase - when my car got an invoice from G24 over at Homlbush.

Out of interest, what were the circumstances of your invoice on this occassion?

 

[pseudonym]

Interesting. I have watched a lot of the Leveson enquiry into media practises - it's quite entertaining, and I watch it while I work - but there have been several times when the aquisition of data by Journos has been questioned, along the lines of :

"How was this information gathered ?",
"Well, it could have been obtained by hacking, but the information was available by legal means, but would need a lot of extra leg-work, going through various sources and cross-checking to get the same data - it was easier to get it quickly from one place"
"That does not vindicate that it was actually gathered illegally."

I agree obtaining lawful data by illegal means is unacceptable but it does happen and will continue to happen especially in the debt collection business don't get me started on that.

If you look at the ico website about the dvla releasing peoples details it explains why the dvla are allowed to provide your details.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/dvla.aspx

 

[moggy]

So, what about if they clamp you? Can you legally remove the clamp like picking the lock or grinding chain off?

 

[Superphil]

Parking companies only exist because the DVLA sell the personal data of the registered keeper making around 8.5 million a year from it, you get nowhere if you try challenging the DVLA about what right they have to sell your info without your permission, if they stopped supplying the info to these parking companies then they are dead in the water, but why would they when they are making that sort of dosh each year.

A thought then, seeing as you are entering private land (Aldi car park) what would stop you removing your number plates after you've parked and popping them in the boot till you finish your shopping? Then they wouldn't be able to get your personal data .

 

[happypig]

A thought then, seeing as you are entering private land (Aldi car park) what would stop you removing your number plates after you've parked and popping them in the boot till you finish your shopping? Then they wouldn't be able to get your personal data .

There's a difference between "private land" and "land to which the public normally has access" as far as the road traffic act is concerned. Whether OB would care about you removing the number plates is another matter...

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Out of interest, what were the circumstances of your invoice on this occassion?

My car has had two invoices.

Both times it was because the driver was visiting Waders swimming pool. I'm told that Homebase ( as was ) was only given planning permission because they agreed swimmers could use the car park.

The first time the driver didn't notice the new signs ( they weren't there the week before ). The second time the driver gave the registration number to reception as required. Both times invoices came to me as the registered keeper. Both times I've ignored them. Indeed I've reported G24 to both Nominet ( for breaking their contract around their domain name ) and HMRC ( for not charging or at least showing, VAT on their "invoices" ).

 

[Westdene Seagull]

A thought then, seeing as you are entering private land (Aldi car park) what would stop you removing your number plates after you've parked and popping them in the boot till you finish your shopping? Then they wouldn't be able to get your personal data .

I would have thought there was bugger all they could do ! I'll wait for Edna to suggest what the law says though.

 

[LadySeagull]

Great thread this, well done you! Westdene seagull.
Just out of interest, are these civil tickets still unenforceable even if they're given for a breach of parking, i.e. parking for longer than permitted?

Any private parking ticket is a scam because of the amount charged being a 'penalty' even though these PPCs no longer call it that. They change the acronym of a real PCN (Penalty Charge Notice from a Council) to Parking Charge Notice and hope no-one can tell the difference. And sadly lots of people can't, or just have more money than sense!

My car picked up a fake PCN in a Supermarket 4 years ago for overstaying. Yes it overstayed, the driver was shopping in the store at a busy time. Did I even think about paying it, no I laughed my head off when I saw the offending flyer on my windscreen. In fact it made my day that this pondlife firm - with absolutely no product or service to offer - had picked on the wrong person. And I would be more than happy to waste a PPC's time again in pointlessly writing to me. I don't park antisocially BTW, but if I am shopping in a Supermarket and spending over £100 I am not paying a third party protection racketeer if I happen to take a bit longer browsing, or in the cafe, than normal.

Just like Westdene Seagull, I have also put notes hidden behind fake PCNs on windscreens (twice in Waitrose Brighton car park) telling people to go to pepipoo for advice but that the PCN isn't a fine and should be ignored. I still carry in my handbag some small notes I printed out a while back, just for this purpose as I detest these scammers swindling clueless people into paying for nothing. See a solicitor's advice on Watchdog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA

and pepipoo private parking tickets forum which includes clamping cases as well where people sue for their money back:

FightBack Forums -> Private Parking Tickets Clamping

And MSE parking forum, also updated every day by people asking what to do with these pieces of rubbish:

Parking Tickets, Fines Parking - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

It's easy to tell the difference between a private one and a real one and then just refer to the MSE top thread there to get a preview of the templated debt collector 'threatograms' Nothing else happens. Small Claims Court claims by a PPC trying to enforce this rubbish is exceedingly rare - and wins even rarer! - but the threats these companies use are just ridiculous, solicitors letters the lot - all letters are shown in the MSE link on the top thread, well worth a look.

Never let a friend or relative think one of these fake PCNs is even worth replying to, let alone paying.

But always complain to the retailer or landlord/managing agent/hospital or whoever, for allowing this harassment of customers to tarnish their name.

 

[moggy]

So let's say for example, the furniture village in The old shore ham road in hove.
They have signs up saying clamping for unauthorised parking etc.
Can they do this?

Notice, one of the people have got in touch now

ATTENTION : To the two people who got invoices in Portslade Aldi ... - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

 

[happypig]

this is worth a read :
The Barrister Blog: A challenge to a private parking charge notice issued at the car park of The Aggi in Braunton

 

[pigbite]

One of my company's vans was slapped with a fake ticket in Sennan Cove last year. The driver had a ticket (which we still have) but it had dropped onto the seat so strictly speaking the driver was in breach of the contract - implicitly agreed to by parking in the field - by not displaying the ticket correctly.

I read up on these fake tickets and rather than try to appeal I have ignored every letter they keep sending. This is completely un-enforcable. The van is registered to my business and the letters are addressed to the business. To enforce the penalty they have to take the driver to court and you are under no legal obligation to tell them who the driver was.

I accept the argument that it's reasonable for owners of private land (e.g. supermarkets) to control the access and, indeed, might be part of planning regs but it would be far better to do that with some kind of access control rather than extortion. What really annoys me about Lidls in LA is that round the corner in the town and Pier Road there are loads of double yellow lines that people persist in parking on causing real congestion and danger yet the council does nothing preferring to slap tickets on cars parked in half empty car parks. Just to be clear I am not talking about Lidls car park as that is monitored by ANPR cameras but the council car parks - where the tickets are proper PCN ones and you either appeal or pay up.

Grrrr - now I'm off back to reading the Daily Mail and voting Tory.

 

[LadySeagull]

So let's say for example, the furniture village in The old shore ham road in hove.
They have signs up saying clamping for unauthorised parking etc.
Can they do this?

Do they? I thought they just had fake PCN signs (= ignore them and ignore any flyer on the car and ignore any debt collector rubbish letters).

If their signs do say there's a clamp release fee which is stated as a clear fair figure (not hundreds of pounds) and the risk clear on the signs at the entrance and around the site - then yes, they can still clamp vehicles at the moment until the Freedoms Act comes in later this year. As long as the operatives are SIA registered and theiy give you a proper receipt, etc. Most private clampings fail on one or more of these simple matters and therefore you can then sue Furniture Village and the clampers jointly, for your money back. Never sue a clamper alone, always include the organ grinder as well as the monkey. If it happens to anyone on here then get over to pepipoo forums (link already given above).

There's also a vets in Carlton Terrace - just up from the Aldi store - which is notorious for clamping cars even when people are about to visit the vets. They allow clampers to extort their money if their customers dare to cross the road to buy a paper (I know someone this happened to and it was in the Argus a couple of years ago).