Sooo.... I got one of these plastered on my car.

I can't scan it (no scanner or camera), but I can tell you that it is MBC Parking Solutions, it is headed Parking Charge Notice. It says £42.50 if paid within 14 days, else it's £85.

Offence was: "You failed to pay and display/invalid permit"

This is true, I do have a valid (freely issued/free permit) for this car park (local paper prints a voucher), but I'd initially forgotten to display it, got out of the car, walked down the road and thought "Did I? Didn't I?" and went back to check but it was too late.

Is it correct that I should just ignore their letters, demands, etc and eventually they'll stop bothering? Is that it?

That's a very precise amount!

Ignore everything.

Ignore and do not correspond.

Thank you. I will ignore it, I will not respond to any communications... and each time I receive something and ignore it I'll update this thread as I need all the hugs/support I can get... dead scared.

Discounted to £42.50???

If it wasn't already obvious enough that these lot take the p#%$ it certainly is now

It's part of the heading.

MBC PARKING SOLUTIONS LTD
PARKING CHARGE NOTICE £85 inc vat
£42.50 inc vat If paid within 14 Days.

Then it goes into part 1 where they filled out the date/vehicle info
Then a nifty graphic of scissors, showing you where to cut
Then part 2 say "Instructions for payment of penalty charge by credit, debit card or cheque" and you fill this bit in with your name etc and the "penality notice no"

Overleaf it says:
Parking charges which are not paid within the given time will be passed to our debt recovery agent where you may incur additional charges.

And
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CONTACT THE D.V.L.A. IN ORDER TO OBTAIN VEHICLE KEEPER DETAILS IF THE TICKET REMAINS UNPAID.

And their VAT number and Company Number. And the BPA logo.

On the rear they also say:
*If payment is not received within 28 days an order for payment though (sic) the courts will be applied for
*You may also have to pay costs.
*MBC reserve the right to clamp or remove any vehicle not complying with the above parking restrictions if found to re-offend.

Tosh.



Unlawful.

Heh, so if I erect a sign outside my house that states "I reserve the right to shoot anyone who trespasses on my land/knocks on my door" would I be legally allowed to just because I say so?

Absolute nonsense and highly illegal. Who are the relevant authorities to complain to?

UPDATE/LATEST:

Hi

Just thought I'd update this thread as I've now received my first letter. I thought they'd gone away as it's been over four months.... but no. This one is headed from Parking Collection Services and big letters at the top saying NOTICE TO OWNER FINAL REMINDER.

Reading through the letter they say they've written as I'm the registered keeper and this ticket's not been paid. Price has now increased to £145 and if I don't pay up "Failure to pay the increased amount or make representation within 14 days of the date of this reminder will result in our client forwarding the outstanding amount to a Debt Recovery Agency where you may incur further costs".

I'm holding out though. Not responded to the 'ticket', not responding to this.

Looking at the actual words used though, nobody's saying I broke a law, nobody's saying I'm going to Court.... so I am trusting in the good people at Pepipoo and I'm standing strong (well, shaking, but strongish) ... and continuing to do absolutely nothing.

Send it to Trading Standards. Blatant attempt to pass this off as a Council ticket.

Right.... not been able to get back to update this.... but about 2-3 weeks ago I received two further communications a couple of days apart. Both were "collection" type letters.

Latest one is dated a fortnight ago and has a red stripe down the left hand side and is on headed paper from "Debt Recovery Plus Ltd"

NOTICE OF INTENDED LITIGATION

blah blah blah blah in order to prevent potential County Court proceedings being issued against you, payment must be sent to us in full within 7 days from the date of this letter blah blah blah. The outstanding amount is £145.

If you do not contact us following the receipt of this letter we will have no alternative other than to assume that you are avoiding making payment. In this situation our Solicitors may issue County Court proceedings against you

Please not that if the case reaches court and a County Court Judgment is obtained, the amount outstanding will increase. We will seek to recover:
- the principle sum shown above, plus
- Interest at the County Court rate of 8% per annum, plus
- Court costs, which may include: £30 court fee to issue, £50 Solicitors cost on claim £22 Solicitors cost on entry of judgment.

blah blah blah blah

You can view a selection of default CCJs that we have obtained against people who have ignored our correspondence on our website www.debtrecoveryplus.co.uk


*************************

As advised on Pepipoo, I have continued to ignore this completely and have done absolutely nothing whatsoever except shove it in a drawer with the rest.

bog standard spiel from them.

Had another letter, dated in the past week: REDUCED PAYMENT OFFER

blah blah blah ...

In order to prevent this, our client is prepared to accept a reduced payment of £116.00 in final settlement of the outstanding balance, provided this amount is paid within the next 7 days.

blah blah blah


I've stuck it in the drawer with the rest.

That looks like nearing the end of the letter chain.

Glad to see you're keeping them safe and not binning them.

Just an update.... never heard another thing. Hoping that posting this isn't tempting fate

But, nothing ....

Thanks for update

We assume that as predicted nothing happened when we don't hear from an OP for months.

It's always useful for newbies when there is positive information that in the end the letter chain dried up.

Well done for ignoring this lot and take particular satisfaction that you have not lined this guys' pockets

http://www.mbcparking.com/cornwallparkingsolutions.html

When visiting Cornwall or Devon, make a point of avoiding MBC controlled P&D car parks

And Armtrac

Hello
Sorry to highjack this thread, but I had a ticked from MBC last week at St Ives Cornwall for being 'parked in 2 bays'.
One of my rear wheels was over the line about 6" to enable me to open my rear door to get my child out of his carseat. This by no means caused any obstruction as the bay in question was a large triangular shaped corner plot bay.
First ticket - Am I right in thinking that if I ignore all their letters they will go away and that I shouldn't bother writing a letter of appeal?

Thanks
Mikes

Have you actually read the thread you've posted in?

It even has confirmation from the original poster that they gave up and left him alone.

Assuming this is just an ordinary MBC ticket and they're not running a council car park - ignore them

Unusual for a parking company to conceal its registered address (a PO Box) but publish the director's home address

Usually it's the other way round

Gan - Thanks for your reassurance, that is what I was hoping to hear.
Manxred - Yes reading threads is a fine art isnt it? My post was actually directed to First Ticket to ascertain whether he had heard anything since Dec. Thanks for your 'friendly' answer to my first post on this forum.

Apologies.

Yes, the redress open to a private parking operator acting under contract law, for breaching the contract, is the actual losses suffered. As no losses were suffered as a result of you parking slightly over a line then this 'offence' is legally meaningless. Unless the car park was full and you deprived another motorist of parking there. They would have to prove this though, and even then the only liability would be the cost of a parking ticket, certainly not the exorbitant amounts they usually demand.

Ignore the letters and they will eventually go away.

Thanks

I shall ignore all letters
By the way, the initial sum has gone up to £50 from £42.50 as per the original posters message.

Mikes