Airport Parking Companies

[secsee1]

As you probably know the only people who can legally issue parking tickets are traffic wardens and the police, private parking companies issue you with an invoice as an invitation to pay which is not enforcible by law, I have recently had one myself for £80. from Britannia Parking Ltd. and told them that I knew the law and also where to shove their invoice, needless to say they have never replied, my question is on BBC rip off britain a few days ago there were cases where people had "been fined" by various airport parking companies for just dropping people off at the terminal, in most cases the time was only about 30 to 50 seconds (they were caught on CCTV) but fines were in the region of £60 to £100 as aiports use private parking companies I assume that these fines to would be unenforcable by law, what do you think?

[ivor4781]

ncp will fine you as there are rules and regulations on entering the parks

[Bazile]

I don't want to hijack your thread , but i'm unclear as to what the law is now .
Didn't a bloke very recently lost his case over a parking ticket which went all the way to the high court ?

[ummmm]

I believe they are enforceable now.

[secsee1]

I have just looked this up and as far as I can see these parking notices are an invitation to pay, but they MUST be issued to the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offence and NOT the registered keeper if they are different, but they would have to prove in court who was driving so most companies don't bother as the cost of taking it to court far exceeds the fine

[ivor4781]

well im not going to put any of the big guys car parks to the test if i stop over ill pay the fine it would be my fault anyway

[Baldric]

///told them that I knew the law and also where to shove their invoice///

sounds as if you've acknowledged it which would work in their favour if they do chase it, there has been quite a lot in the press lately about the rules being tightened, not sure what present situation is, but suspect it's easily Googled

[Buenchico]

You appear to be reading a lot of out of date web links, Secsee1!

Where a private parking company (or, say, a church or community centre) clearly displays notices stating that users of their car park must pay a fee for parking (or for parking beyond a specified time), then any driver parking there automatically enters into a LEGALLY-BINDING (and fully enforceable) CONTRACT to pay such fees. That has been tested all of the way up to the highest court in the land:
http://www.legalcheek.com/2015/11/fish-chip-shop-owner-who-refused-to-accept-parking-fine-changes-contract-law/

At one time it was correct to say that only the driver of a vehicle could be pursued through the courts for non-payment of such a charge, and not the registered keeper. However when the Government announced plans to ban wheel-clamping, car park owners and operators pointed out that they would then be left powerless to deal with unauthorised parking. (e.g. a supermarket close to a football ground could find all of its spaces filled by supporters on match days, costing them vast amounts of money in lost trade because genuine customers had nowhere to park). So when the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 came into force, which banned wheel-clamping, it also gave car park operators the right to pursue the registered keepers of vehicles for unpaid car parking charges when the identity of the driver couldn't be established.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4/enacted

To be enforceable in law, parking charges must be 'not unreasonable'. The Penalty Charge levied for dropping off a passenger at an ordinary bus stop (marked with a solid yellow line, indicating 'No Stopping') is typically £70, so it's highly unlikely that the figures you quote would be regarded as 'unreasonable' by any court.