Parking On A University Campus, Permit Needed

[CW1]

A University worker is now parking on campus during hours when a permit is needed. There're signs everywhere saying a permit has to be displayed & the company they work for (not the Uni) send out forms to be completed with car details & authorisation to deduct the cost from their pay each month.

I've just heard that the tickets the Uni would issue if there wasn't a permit displayed in the car would be unenforceable. Does anyone know any more about this ?

[Psybbo]

The car may be clamped

[Mamyalynne]

Where I live is private land (Residents parking only, but no permits required) - we have all the signs re clamping/fines/towing etc but in 40 years no one has ever been on the receiving end of any of that.


Occasionally people get told to move.

[saxy_jag]

We have a similar thing at my place of work (a local authority works depot). At one time the council (or their contracted security/traffic management company) had the right to clamp cars not displaying a permit. However, the law has now changed and operators are no longer allowed to clamp in these circumstances. If we park without a permit then we could ultimately be issued with a fine and I guess it could ultimately be taken from our wages if we don't pay it.

Although at our place they don't/can't enforce it very strictly, I think they would be within their rights to issue fines. As it's private land then parking without permission constitutes trespass and can be dealt with using the appropriate set of laws.

[Buenchico]

>>> The car may be clamped

Wrong! The clamping of vehicles parked on private land has been illegal since the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 came into force.

The owners of private land are entitled to charge for parking. As long as they clearly display signs indicating the charges which will be incurred by the drivers of vehicles parked without permission, any drivers doing so will have entered into a legally enforceable contract to pay such charges.

So, yes, of course they're enforceable!

[CW1]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't think they clamp but I do know they issue fines. Think it highly unlikely they'd be able to deduct fines from pay as it's 2 separate companies. Not sure if the Uni could then fine the other company who would go on to deduct from pay though.

Oh, & charges aren't displayed, they're different depending what pay grade the car owner's on, then different again for the students, but the need for a permit IS clearly displayed.

It's just so frustrating, they've taken a pay cut by working during the day, AND they're collared for car parking charges which don't apply out of hours (which is when they used to work). And the charges they were told would apply last year have now gone up by over 260% (partly because it turned out they were told the wrong figure last year, only noticed when they queried the huge increase. That was upheld as it was the company's fault but doesn't alter the fact they're being clobbered every which way because they chose to work more sociable hours).

[Baldric]

Are they in the UK?

[fiction-factory]

They would have to be charges rather than fines but they are enforceable as long as they are not wholly unreasonable and are clearly set out. The employer would be well advised to include the charges in some sort of email/letter to all staff or some other way to make it part of the terms and conditions of employment. They would also need to have you agreement to charges being deducted.

[EDDIE51]

When as Bueunchico says , when they outlawed clamping on private car parks, they also made the parking charges enforceable in court. So now you can be taken to court for not paying a parking charge and the court will enforce it.
Last year there was a case where someone appealed all the way to the supreme court trying to get a parking charge overturned, but he lost his case. That set a precedent and the courts will now enforce payment of parking charges.

[CW1]

They are in the UK, & a letter was given out with last month's payslips, but was shocking to see it had gone up so much since last year. When this particular employee was weighing up the pros & cons of changing to day shifts (mainly for health reasons), the cost of the permit was something they obviously took into account, as well as the pay cut. They had no reason to think it would shoot up only a couple of months later ! Just as an aside, because it's shifts, the permit will only be used 10 working days in a month, with the opposite shift working the other 10, but that's not taken into account.

Looks like it'll just have to be accepted though "fine" is definitely the word used, not "charge" - for what *that's* worth !

Thanks again :)

[EDDIE51]

They are incorrect in calling it a 'Fine' but I do not know if it makes a difference in legal terms.