This is my first post here but felt i needed to vent my anger before i explode .
I have lived in my flat for about 5 years (rented) and have a Garage which i use for my car, but there are also parking bays which i tend to use when unloading shopping etc as the bay is nearer to my flat than my garage. In October 2007 the Managing agents Harrow Management Ltd took it upon themselves to contract BGS Services Ltd to patrol our road and control the parking. They started by dividing the small estate into zones then issuing One residence permit and one Visitors permit to each house hold, they then put up some signs which i must admit are not very big and in the hours of darkness could easily be missed. They do not clamp but issue a Tresspass Notice Penalty Charge and for those of you familiar with BGS you guessed it, It's a £200 charge.

Now the services that are carried out on the estate are charged to all the people living on it, cleaning, painting, grass cutting etc. But we did not get a say when it came to BGS.

I have still not actually seen anyone from BGS attend our road, and i should notice them because on their website it states that they attend in a sign written vehicle and that their staff all wear Uniforms !
But i have seen "tresspass notices issued" and i have seen a man in civillian clothes and in an unmarked vehicle.

Now what has really prompted this post is that i have replaced my car and have informed BGS so i can be issued a new permit with my new registration on it, i contacted them by email and received a reply from the Office Manager Ashley Eccles stating that i must pay them £25 for a new permit . When i asked why i am being asked for a fee of £25 the repsonse was this, "The reason there is a charge for the permit is because we are unable to print a single permit without incurring extra cost".

So there we have it, they rip off people who they deem to have tresspassed and they rip off the people whose lives they are meant to be making easier.

Any suggestions as to what steps i should take next would be very much appreciated.

You could just let them ticket you and ignore their crap afterwards.

It depends how often you intend to use the bays and how much tolerance you have for bullshit.

Id get on to the letting agents ASAP and rant like youve never ranted before. Why should you pay for their grand scheme of ripping you off? You have legitimate reason to park there, and unless this parking crap was mentioned in your let contract then I see no reason why you should have to pay it.

And its your letting agents you rant, and argue with. Explain that you are not prepared to put up with this, and if they persist in making you pay then you should pay them a visit and their office (if they are local enough to you).

Remember it is them who have control over BGS, and I believe they can force the issue of cancelling the charge for this rip off permit. If they cannot, then I'd be tempted to try and get the letting agents to pay. If they continue to refuse then just tell them you will move out (which is a shame in the current market where things are in favour of the consumer and over such a petty matter as parking).

In the mean time use your visitors permit on your own car all the time, and remember any "invoices" they send you are worthless and could never stand up in court (esppecially at £200 ) if they were daft enough to try that trick

get the residents together, beat up the management company. tell them to feck off (politely)
have you signed any agreement yourself that mentions parking control ?

get sight of the contract between BGS and 'whoever'.

odds are that this is a self ticketing operation so someone you know is dishing out the invoices.

revolt !

Indeed, also calling it a "penalty" would not go down well in court.
As it's specifically cited as "trespass" they could only claim representative damages - certainly not £200! If they went to court (they won't) they'd not be looked upon favourably.

If you have fire in your belly, fight the management company and try to get these fools booted out. If you want an easy life, just use your old permit and recycle any crap they send you.

Just write your new registration on your old permit.

Thanks very good point, when i moved here there was no parking management so nothing in my Tenancy agreement to that effect.



Thanks Dave

Im on it, am gonna leaflet the other tenants, they all are up for a fight, the ones i have spoken to are so fed up with this extortion.

That's a made up name, surely?

Where would i stand legally by doing that?? If i informed them that was what i was doing would that work??



I think so, i work within the security industry and it is very common to do that.

you need to join/form/reform a residents committee and get a lawyer to check
your leases

that said i dont think charging you a small fee for a permit change at your request is entrirely
unreasonable tho amount is a bit steep

was there a problem with non residents parking in residents parking spaces before the private parking enforcement was contracted?
if there was no problem then your arguement against this will be stronger as in why penalise everyone for only a few non resident parking cars.

No not a problem really the road is a dead end so only people visiting or live here would actually be driving in to it. And even i do not park overnight in the parking bays, i am just annoyed that just because i have changed cars that they want £25 for a silly bit of paper which clearly does not coat £25 to print!

If it is not in your lease and the parking areas to which you refer form part of your lease, it constitutes a derogation from the grant, IMHO. I forget the leading case on this topic but, if memory serves me correctly, it dates from 17th or 18th century. It's the one about drying sheds and is very old, established case law. Can an eagle refresh my memory?

If I am correct you have a common law breach. Put together a residents group and see a good lawyer. It looks slam dunk to me, prima facie.

Well they wouldn't agree to it, no. Remember, this isn't about providing a service, it's about them lining their grubby pockets.

As long as you permanently change the permit (i.e, so you couldn't use the same permit in two vehicles), then if it were ever to go to court (this is entirely theoretical as they will not go to court) i would think the amended permit would be a strong point in your favour. You have paid for a permit, you have notified the parking goons, and you have parked perfectly lawfully.

You'd be surprised. If they're sending a one-off to print, it'll be expensive (unit costs etc).

Check your lease about permits, but ignore the BGS clowns. Put a notice on your building's notice board if there is one, just telling people to ignore BGS's joke invoices.

the derogation case was aldin vs latimer clark, muirhead and co in 1894

Scan the permit onto the computer and use a bit of photoshop on it to change the regi-plate.

And if theres any fancy hologram crapolia on it then an art shop will have the stuff you need.

It may be hastle but at least you won't be giving those scumbags your money

Mickey Mouse holographic stickers:

http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p3969-Disney-H...nie-Mouse-.html

Ideal for the job!!

Seeing as they havent got a chance at £200 a time "penalite (myu arse)" then you may as well (out of protest) just start buliding up a collection of these charges- after all theres no mention of anything in your lease about parking. I don't see any way they could possibly try and take you to court, never mind any way they could win

Yes, that's the one. I'll dig it out and have a read to refresh my memory. Thank you.

Is my suggestion valid or am I barking up the wrong tree?

As I understand it the OP is a tenant of the leaseholder most likely under an assured shorthold tenancy (AST)agreement. Whilst there is unlikely to be anything in the AST re parking as there was no parking management at the time the AST commenced, the AST is subsidiary to the lease held by the leaseholder (OP's landlord) and issued by the owner of the freehold (the leaseholder's landlord).

This lease may or may not contain provision for parking management or possibly delegate authority to the management company to introduce this. It would also confirm if a parking space is allocated to the OP's flat and is included in the lease, but the OP's landlord would also have to have passed that entitlement on in the AST. If leasehold of the flat includes an allocated parking space and that space is included in the AST then it should be impossible for the management company to introduce changes to the terms and conditions of that space without a deed of variation to the original lease and they would need the consent of the leaseholder in order to do that.The OP should try and get hold of a copy of the lease, perhaps from a leasehold owner occupier of another flat, together with details of how management company is set up and run. For example it may be run by some of the leaseholders or they may have to hold some type of vote in order to introduce such a scheme. Either way I do not think relying solely on the AST is likely to be of any use. The rental agent managing the AST for the OP's landlord is only acting for the OP's landlord and will have no influence over the freeholder or the management company. They could only influence the OP's landlord to contact his landlord or the management company in order to try and do something.

.. if all their signs were to mysteriously disappear or get defaced overnight they may start to get the message...

Just a quick update, since complaining to the Managing Agent i have received a letter stating that BGS as of the 2nd March will clamp vehicles rather that ticket them, obviously they wernt making enough money. Can anyone confirm or deny as to weather BGS have an SIA license, i cant find them on the SIA site and trying to call the SIA is a task in it self.

It's the clamper that needs the licence, not the company i'm afaid.

have the residents agreed to this change ?
have you signed anything that allows the management company to do this ?

revolution time.