Vehicle control services ltd, millsands

[Agent Orange]

There are numerous signs along Millsands stating the conditions of parking. I know of at two, one next to Coode House and the other further down the road, in front of the Q-Park.

[sally_sheff]

The numerous signs on that road are alongside parking bays and car parks, not making it clear that the ROAD is private - it just looks like any other road. There is no sign on entering the road itself stating it is a private road. I had entered a car parkon that road, seen that the bays were reserved spaces and by the signage that it was private land. I therefore came out of the car park, albeit parking on a single yellow line, could not see any sign as to the restrictions and given that most street parking single yellow lines have restrictions up until 6.30pm and it was almost 7pm, thought I would be okay. Upon seeing the ticket, HAD it been a council ticket which would have been for £35 then I would have queried the restrictions and if in the wrong, accepted that and paid up. However seeing it was a private company wwho I feel have placed signs in places led to mislead, and it is for £80, I am prepared to fight all the way! The signs are difficult to read in daylight and would have been impossible in the evening, and so I still don't even know what the restrictions on the single yellow lines are!

[alchresearch]

An interesting observation - are road markings painted on private roads and car parks enforceable?

[scottf]

ignore it, only the crown has the power to issue you with a fine- its just a glorified invoice.

[Agent Orange]

The numerous signs on that road are alongside parking bays and car parks, not making it clear that the ROAD is private - it just looks like any other road. There is no sign on entering the road itself stating it is a private road. I had entered a car parkon that road, seen that the bays were reserved spaces and by the signage that it was private land. I therefore came out of the car park, albeit parking on a single yellow line, could not see any sign as to the restrictions and given that most street parking single yellow lines have restrictions up until 6.30pm and it was almost 7pm, thought I would be okay. Upon seeing the ticket, HAD it been a council ticket which would have been for £35 then I would have queried the restrictions and if in the wrong, accepted that and paid up. However seeing it was a private company wwho I feel have placed signs in places led to mislead, and it is for £80, I am prepared to fight all the way! The signs are difficult to read in daylight and would have been impossible in the evening, and so I still don't even know what the restrictions on the single yellow lines are!

 

There are the signs next to the disable bays and there are the signs, which I referred to earlier, at various points along the road. All of which, state the road is private property. Furthermore, the road has double and single yellows. Not sure about you, but if I attempt to park on a single yellow, I tend to locate the nearest sign and double check what enforcement rules are in place (as they differ in some cases).

 

The signs are quite visible in the day, but not sure at night. I am walking past there shortly so will get back to you

[GrannyGranny]

There aren't any signs to inform you what the restrictions are because its a private road. The single/double yellow lines are meaningless.

Ignore the "fine", it is not enforecable.

[scoop]

Ignore it, look here for further info:

 

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46975

 

When dealing with "tickets" from private parking companies (PPCs) our advice is ignore them. For the following reasons, you should not enter into any correspondence with private parking companies.

 

This link will take you to a You Tube video of a BBC Watchdog piece on PPCs.

 

There is a great deal of doubt about the legal enforceability of private parking invoices that are issued to motorists. Unlike parking tickets issued by local authorities, which are backed by statute, the enforcement of private parking is essentially a matter of contract law. A private parking company needs to overcome many significant legal hurdles in order to be successful, which include:

 

* Establishing that any claim is under the law of contract, rather than the tort of trespass (see case of Excel Parking Services v Alan Matthews, Wrexham County Court, May 2009 where the parking company lost on this ground);

* Establishing that all of the elements of a contract (offer, acceptance, consideration) are present;

* Establishing who the driver was on the relevant occasion, as any contract can only be enforced against the driver, who may or may not be the registered keeper of the vehicle;

* Establishing the prominence and adequacy of any warning signage, and that the driver actually saw and understood the signage (Waltham Forest v Vine [CCRTF 98/1290/B2]);

* Establishing that the amount claimed is not an unlawful “penalty”, including that there was no attempt to “frighten and intimidate” the driver (see well reported case of Excel Parking Services v Hetherington-Jakeman, Mansfield County Court, March 2008 where the parking company lost on this ground);

* Establishing that any contract does not fail foul of the Unfair Contract Terms Act and associated regulations.

 

How do you know if your ticket is a PPC ticket or not? Well, legitimate council tickets will be called a "Penalty Charge Notice" or "Excess Charge Notice" and will have the council's address on them. A police ticket will be called a "Fixed Penalty Notice" and have either a police or HM Courts Service address on it. If it's not called one of the above and it's got a private address on it then the chances are that it's a PPC "ticket", and ought to be ignored.