Declaring war on private parking operators

Often these are completely invalid, and the best advice is ‘don’t pay ‘em’.

There are two types of parking tickets. The first are those from public bodies, like local councils and the police. These are totally legit, so if you get one and think it’s unfair, your only option is to appeal it (full guide and template letters at moneysavingexpert.com/parking )

My ire today is reserved for unfair tickets issued in private car parks or on private land, whether supermarkets or housing estates. Often these tickets, issued by private parking companies working for landowners, aren’t valid.

It’s time to stick on your hat and grab a lasso, because you’re entering the land of the cowboys.

Don’t fall for any disguises

Private parking tickets are often worded and designed so they look like police or council tickets. A favourite ploy is to call them PCNs, mimicking official council tickets’ penalty charge notice acronym.

However, if it’s an official police or council ticket, it will say so, and there's a completely different set of rules to deal with.

When to fight back

This is about unfair tickets. Landowners have a right to charge for and police proper parking. If you’ve broken those rules, and you think the ticket isn’t exorbitant, I’d urge you to pay up.

Yet private parking’s unruly and largely unregulated. Even legit companies often sub-contract the running of their parking to dodgy third parties. These tickets can be much costlier than local councils’. There’s unclear signage, and systems are designed to catch people for profit.

The British Parking Association (BPA) does have a code of practice for ticket issuing. It gives companies a lot of leeway, but still only 650 out of approximately 2,000 private parking firms are signed up.

They’ve no right to fine

The most important thing to understand is that these tickets are just invoices, a claim you broke a contract with the landowner. They have absolutely no right to fine you.

You may be asking “what contract?” Well, they argue it’s the one allowing you to park on their property. This assumes you’d agreed to accept it, and if the signage was unclear, for example, that’s unlikely.

Ultimately, the only way they can force you to pay is via a court, and that’s rare.

How to fight unfair tickets

Anecdotal reports suggest most people taking on unfair private company parking tickets win. There are lots of successes in my web forum. Beating the cowboys isn't an exact science, as there are no set regulations. Here are some top tips:

•Don’t respond to tickets on the windscreen. If you get one of these, don’t pay up, wait to see if they’ve legit access to the number plate database to get your address, and can thus follow up with a letter. If not, then you’ve no need to pay.

After all, let them do the chasing! Reclaiming cash already paid isn’t easy; far easier to dispute it by not paying.

• Do gather evidence. However, if you get one of these tickets, then gather evidence of the problem. Use your phone’s camera to record poor signage, road markings or that you did nothing wrong.

•Were you driving? Unlike official parking tickets, when on private land, it is the DRIVER, not the owner, who is liable. If you weren’t driving, you’re not liable, and you’ve no need to say who was.

So if it posts a ticket, simply write back stating that, as the owner, you're not liable for any costs. Don’t worry, you’re not under any obligation to state who was driving.

Hopefully, that'll get the message across, and they won’t contact you again. It’s best to do this in writing, so you have a record of what was said.

Don’t be tempted to lie. This could land you in serious trouble in the unlikely event the case ever went to court, and witness statements or CCTV proved the opposite.

How to respond to a ticket

In most cases, not paying the unfair ticket is the right tactic though, of course, there are no guarantees. Yet, if you get scared or nervous when letters demanding money or threatening court action come through the door, even though it’s mainly posturing, you may prefer to play it safe.

This means you simply pay the ticket and appeal the process. Yet be warned, doing this means you accede to the authority of the agency issuing the ticket, and once you've done that you are stuck within its protocols and systems.

For most people, not paying up is a better approach. There are two different approaches here: some advocate a militant, no contact with the parking company at all approach – not responding to any letters – though if it ever does get to court, many judges don’t like this.

My preferred option is, if you do get an invoice, write back and dispute the ticket. Don’t say that you are `appealing’as it gives unnecessary legitimacy to the ticket.

There are no hard or fast rules here; you need to make it realise you're going to be hard work to get the money from, and ultimately it’ll need to put in the time and expense of court action, which there are no guarantees of it winning.

Most simply won’t pursue it at this point, though their letters and tales may indicate otherwise, to try and scare you.

Overall, the aim is to ensure that, if the ticket’s unfair, it has to do the work to get the money – and often it won’t follow through. You may have to be a little thick skinned; some of the companies out there may call or write using pressure tactics.

For example, they may say if you don’t pay it’ll affect your credit rating. Well that’s not true; you have not borrowed from them, so it can’t go on your credit file. The only exception here would be if you had a court ruling against you, but without that, your credit is safe.