Parking Fine at Motorway Services

vwalan said:
hi , not all but most service stations are leased not actually bought . they are part of the infastructure. it gets alot more involved than just owning and charging . they can charge but cant fine . fines have to be through a court . penalties are are what we pay if parked on yellow lines etc there are several pieces on the way to deal with courts . ie give them the birth certificate and tell them you dont accept their court . spend a few hours on the inter net and it .s all there . each one of us must find our own way through this lot of unlawfull unjustice , try it, do it at your own pace . there is no begining and no end . cheers alan.
we register a birth . we appear in a dock. it all relates to a distant past of admiralty law.
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Alan, If what you say is true, that the Govt: leases the property, don't we the motorist feel it is wrong to make us pay through our taxes for the building of services stations and then leasing them out, to then me charged to use the same facilities. What comes to mind is that we pay a tax to use the road, then pay again to park on an area we have already paid. The mind, my mind boggles.
 
David & Ann said:
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Alan, If what you say is true, that the Govt: leases the property, don't we the motorist feel it is wrong to make us pay through our taxes for the building of services stations and then leasing them out, to then me charged to use the same facilities. What comes to mind is that we pay a tax to use the road, then pay again to park on an area we have already paid. The mind, my mind boggles.
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Not forgetting that the wages that you pay with have also been taxed, and so it all goes round ad infinitum
 
do a bit of homework .i have no reason to lie. they very often put it out to tender as well. just like the petrol stations on motorways . remember we live in a corupt society . unfortunately its not been the right thing in the past to disclose the wrong doings of our leaders . many of us have had enough and now stand our ground and say why should i be abused by the authority we should be trusting. we have it here in cornwall . the county council issue blue badges for disabled parking but dont allow disabled people to use a car that asnt got disabled tax in the window. your disability doesnt get better depending on the car you drive, the badge is for the person not the car. i have had a penalty dropped by them when i queried their logic. i call it theft. there as also been an audit here and they have found it costs more to police the parking than the revenue it gets back from the policing. there as been an article in our local paper about this . bad managment yet again. cheers alan.
 
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dont pay anything....and dont communicate with the letter sender..just throw them away in the bin..
 
The consensus seems to be ignore it as they can't enforce it. £80 is too much. Being a Private Company they have no more right to send you an £80 fine, than you have to send them an £80 fine if you didn't like their food. I understand that. (Not that I always condone parking on someone else's land without paying as some drivers take the piss)

But what I don't understand is if they wheelclamp you and charge you far more, why can't you get this money back?
 
carry a genny and an angle grinder or a big pair of bot croppers . soon get rid of that. or if your camper as plenty of room a small portapack of oxy /acet bit like being trapped in some carparks cut the lock into loads of bits. or cut the chain into wrist bands . works for me. cheers alan.
 
vwalan said:
carry a genny and an angle grinder or a big pair of bot croppers . soon get rid of that. or if your camper as plenty of room a small portapack of oxy /acet bit like being trapped in some carparks cut the lock into loads of bits. or cut the chain into wrist bands . works for me. cheers alan.
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Try a clay pot of Thermite (as seen on top gear) it really does burn well above the melting point of steel and there are recipes on the net to make it. Just rust and Ali. Plus you get fireworks. I would not recommend it being used too close to your van:D
 
Well if the Motorway Service Area operators did wheelclamp you so you were trapped on their premises, you could make good use of your time by staging a demonstration against their rip off charges. If you did it right, driving customers away, they would tire of it before you would. I guess thats why Motorway Service Operators are more reluctant to wheelclamp you that the wheelclamp companies that don't depend on a reasonable public image to attract customers?

Not so effective staging a demonstration when they clamp somebody on an industrial estate (and demand £1000+ ) A working man with a vanload of urgent parcels, instead of a motorhome and plenty of time to spare. What I don't understand is, if a court won't enforce an £80 parking charge, why can't people go to court and get these £1,000+ charges back from the wheelclamp cowboys?
 
its very simple .if you have read the previous posts . once you send or pay the penalty you have accepted the contract. if you then try to go to court you cant win as you accepted it. thats why . its just a matter of following a set pattern. try following the correct patern. there is loads of info on the web, and its all very basic instructions . there is nothing special about the people that make laws .they are highly educated but may not be highly intelligent, just highly educated .there is a difference. its always up to the people to change things but most just follow the wrong pattern tip their hat and open their purse and hand out big wadds of cash to the unlawfull element.
cheers alan.
 
just ignore it its an invoice they have no right to demand the name of the driver from the registered keeper and any alleged or implied contract is with the driver they will sent lots of letters demands court threats etc but ignore them they will go away have a look at martin lewiss moneysavingexpert site
 
Careful if you dont pay up and revisit the site, or any other sites that the company own. I recently read a notice on the M11 Stanstead service station that you 'could' be clamped for a previous outstanding payment. This really shook me as I have an outstanding payment at the M1 Toddington services, not likely to revisit there but if I visit one of the companys other sites. Thankfully wheel clamping will soon be made illegal. Anyone know when this will be please?

I quote the sign... "Vehicles with unpaid Parking Charges may be immobilised on return to any Welcome Break site (Parking Charge fee and clamp fee to be paid before release)"
 
My advice is to ignore it. It is not a fine just an invoice for staying over. This situation is rediculous,there are signs stating that tiredness kills-take a break,when we do we are penalised.
I received one early in June when travelling back from Portsmouth,it was at about 2am in the morning and we were the only ones on the parking area, I doubt if our presence prevented anyone else from parking.
Come to think of it I wonder if it was their attitude that stops people parking there. I am waiting for a reminder which I will also ignore
All I can say is 'How dare they?'. Could you imagine if this came to court I think they would be laughed out of court apart from their costs exceeding the original invoice.
Do not aknowledge it in anyway.
 
Why aren't we all getting together and making an exhibition of these organisations who rip us off in this way - unlike France and even Germany!?

Have you seen the wonderful You Tube video where a singer got his guitar broken by one of the US Airlines? He made a video where he sang a song of his poor experience, with them not paying up having ruined one of his expensive guitars. It has had some HUGE number of eye-balls watching it and there is egg all over the face of the Airline. Really bad press for them................. that's the sort of thing we should be doing, not rolling over and giving in to these extortionists :p
 
Firefox said:
The thing though, is they may prosecute some as warnings. They don't have to take it to court it's up to them to recover the debt or write it off.

But your expectation on ignoring is probably hugely positive.

Say £80 if you pay up.


Or £80+ court costs = £200-300(?)+ (x chance of successful prosecution) (1 in 10?) = probably only £20 or £30

Just plead guilty by proxy if they have photographic evidence which will stand up.
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My friend is currently setting up a company to undertake this type of action upon waste land parking or abuse of private facilities using automated systems, i am the tech guy, in reality we are reliant upon you responding to the snotty letters as it is extremely difficult to enforce such charges as they are a civil action taken by a private individual against another. As far as i am aware no prosecution has ever succeeded under these cirumstances but faith in our judicial system is not necessaily a good idea. just ignore it unless it becomes official!
 
sasquatch said:
My advice is to ignore it. It is not a fine just an invoice for staying over. This situation is rediculous,there are signs stating that tiredness kills-take a break,when we do we are penalised.
I received one early in June when travelling back from Portsmouth,it was at about 2am in the morning and we were the only ones on the parking area, I doubt if our presence prevented anyone else from parking.
Come to think of it I wonder if it was their attitude that stops people parking there. I am waiting for a reminder which I will also ignore
All I can say is 'How dare they?'. Could you imagine if this came to court I think they would be laughed out of court apart from their costs exceeding the original invoice.
Do not aknowledge it in anyway.
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there are two schools of thought:

they need to pay for the maintenance and overheads of the land (hgvs cause alot of tarmac wear wich is not cheap) therefore it is fair to expect payment

or

they earn enough from the facilities - is is not necessarily true as the premises are usually divided then sub let to separate enterprises with low margins on the communal areas

what would you think if you owned the land or if your customers could not park as people have parked in your car park then buggered off, i can speak through experience.
 
Just found this thread, having missed it the first time round - too busy enjoying myself in Portugal!

It has developed into a very long thread but, as always, the best thing to do is keep it simple, so my advice to the OP would be this:

1. Cut through all the rest of the crap and follow the excellent advice on Martin Lewis' moneysavingexpert website, as has been suggeted above.

2. Ignore all the stuff about "freemen" and the difference between "real" people and "legal fictions" - and certainly don't waste your time going to the "cout de jure". It may be an interesting debating point but if you consult any reputable legal source you will find out that none of this stuff has any legal basis. And why go down that road when the answer is so simple?

And, Bernard, the RSPB, National Trust etc are private landowners for this purpose, so it would be civil not criminal. Happy travels.
 
We had a similar thing a year or so ago after our car broke down en route to a holiday. We had to get a hire car. The AA were due to collect the car not long after we left it in the car park - they actually didn't collect it until the following morning.

There is alsorts of legal stuff to do with these services tickets.

If you search the 'moneysavingexpert' website for parking charges, it will give you a lot of information, including where you stand legally. We found it most useful. We ignored all correspondence as directed, eventually got letters with red threats all over them. They eventually stopped, also as we were told they would from the advice on the above website. This was nearly 2 years ago and we've heard nothing since.
 
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