Park Direct UK - Help and advice needed.

[Aled]

Hi there

 

I recently had a parking ticket from Park Direct UK. I had parked outside a private block of flats in London to drop my disabled mother in law at her friends. I was only inside for ten mins helping her to the door. We had displayed her disabled badge, and were not causing an obstruction.

 

I ignored the first letter from Park Direct on the advice of a friend, but they have now sent a second letter threatening court action or the use of a debt recovery company.

 

Should I continue to ignore them or appeal based on my mother in law's disability?

 

Any help or advice will be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks

Aled.

[ericsbrother]

OK, date of event, who owns the flats and when exactly did the first letter arrive and have you still got it?

the blue badge means nothing on private land apart form Scotland and then it means nothing unless the landowner agrees to hand over BB scheme spaces to local authority.

This is all about making money so the morals of the company cannot be considered, they dont have any, so it is then down to whether they have followed the correct protocols.

[Aled]

Date of the event was 13/03/2016, the first letter arrived on the 17/03/2016. I have the original letter. I don't know who owns the flats but i will try and find out from my mother in law's friend. Thanks for your help.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

Park direct are tiny in comparison to other car park management companies and they have taken no court action in the past two years (as far as I can find) so the chances of them acting against you are slim to none.

 

What is more likely is that they pass this on to a debt collector who has as much power over you as I have.

 

In the highly unlikely event it did come to court, you would (IMO) win as they have not allowed a grace period and if they are notified of the disability issue beforehand they would get a slap for that too.

Members of the BPA and supposedly the IPC must allow a grace period of 10 minutes

[Aled]

Thanks both. The flats are owned by One Housing Group.

 

I'm tempted to just ignore it completely, but my wife wants to pay. I think we will appeal initially on the blue badge and on that we were there under 10 mins, and if need be appeal that to POPLA.

[ericsbrother]

Dont pay, why should you? They havent shown a cause for action , just vandalised your car so far. Why would you pay someone who deposits litter on private property.

 

Dont appeal on the blue badge as there is no such thing on private land. What you can do if they want to push their luck is clobber them under the Equalities Act later down the line but I wouldnt waste in on it at the moment because they arent going to listen.

 

Yopu havent told us the date of the event yet, this is crucial as the parking co has to follow certain protocols and they have to do that in very specific time scales. Dont contact them until they write to you as the keeper of the vehicle. When this arrives let us know EXACTLY what it says and we will offer advice on how to deal with it. This may include complaining to their ATA about the lack of a (minimum10 minute) grace period so abuse of process.

 

There are plenty of reasons why their claim will be defeated so dont give up but accept that it will take 2-3 months to see this off. Keep the screen ticket safe, you will need it in the future.

Edited April 20, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras.