Major rant!! Help & Advice needed (legal)

[onthetrain]

Ok here's the scene, my wife parked our car on an empty industrial estate on a sunday morning whilst she paid a 15 min visit to the market. All the businesses were closed!

She returned to the car and came home. No ticket on the car, nothing. This morning I got a ticket and a letter threatening legal action etc from a company called AS Securi-T. They sent a photo of my car printed on a piece of ordinary printer paper. They are demanding £150!!!!

Basically I think this is a rip off. I don't dispute that my car was parked there, but I don't believe this ticket is legal. It's not issued by a statutory body.

I accept this is private land and she trespassed. I suspect they could sue me if they could prove damages, but no damage was caused and no inconvenience caused to anyone, but of course the security company do not own the land so probably could not sue. There were signs properly displayed with all of this info and they say action will be taken against the registered owner! I did not park the car there so can they pursue me legally? I'm minded to fight this case if they have the guts to take me to court.

I'm also amazed that DVLA will give out your registration details to cowboys like this!

I rang trading standards and they say they have a couple of complaints against the company for clamping disputes but nothing of this nature.

I believe that the Police have to have a surveillance authority to act in this way (ie to stake out an area for offences and gather evidence by video & Photograph), surely a private company cannot do so without such an authority.

I phoned them and politely asked them to disclose any evidence they might have against me, basically they were very aggressive on the phone and toldme they would only disclose it in court.

What do you think? Should I pay or shuld I tell them to sue me.

A very pi££ed off Alan

[Jim Shaw]

Originally Posted by onthetrain

What do you think? Should I pay or shuld I tell them to sue me.A very pi££ed off Alan

I'm not a lawyer, but I think that in the absense of a properly issued parking ticket, they are on sticky ground, if it was me i'd go along to the citizens advice and talk to them or phone the local council and get them to explain the rules of the authority of the company,

hope you get it sorted, these bloody companys are a law unto themselves

[T.D]

Dont pay! fight it all the way! they are trying it on seek advise from the police.

Hate these kind of conmen

[Mark Davies]

It's not that simple. It's not a parking ticket for an offence on the public road. That means it's got nothing to do with the council and there are no rules governing its issue.

You've been caught on private land, which pretty much means they can make up their own rules. As long as they are printed up on visible signs they can make whatever rules they like. You are effectively entering into a private agreement to pay the sum when you park the car. Don't think of it as a fine - it's your contractual obligation.

As such, it's not really my sphere of expertise, so I'm not best placed to advise. I have heard it is possible to go to court to argue whther or not the 'terms of the contract' are reasonable. There's also a school of thought that suggests if you don't pay it they won't bother trying to claim it, but it's pretty easy getting a decision from a small claims court now (it can all be done on the internet) so don't bank on it.

Get advice from a solicitor. (Of course, he'll rob you as well!)

[hopper]

Originally Posted by Mark Davies

Get advice from a solicitor. (Of course, he'll rob you as well!)

And there's the rub, it'll cost £150 for a solicitor to give you 'proper' legal advise.
Catch 22 and all that.

[Jim Shaw]

Originally Posted by hopper

And there's the rub, it'll cost £150 for a solicitor to give you 'proper' legal advise.
Catch 22 and all that.

The Citizens advise bureau is free

[ahar]

First thing is to go back to said industrial estate and check for the signs - as Mark said they have to be clear and visible. If they are NOT, then take photos of where they are and how big they are and tell them to F*** off and see them in court.

If, however, they are visable and clear you have a bit more of a problem.

If it was me, I'd see them in court and fight it every way I could - but then I'm the kind of belligerent bugger who'd spend £500 defending a £10 fine to prove I was right.

[Keith L]

IANAL! It's a good one, but as Mark says this is a purely civil dispute about contracts, if they want the cash then it's up to them to come and get it!

If it were me? Sorry gov - I didn't park it, it's up to YOU to prove otherwise. I have no legal contract with you, I can't remember who was driving that day, I am not under any legal obligation to disclose who was.

Be my guest and claim. I will of course counter-claim for my time, effort and distress citing harassment from a company known to Trading Standards (try and get details) for dubious practices with regards to parking.

The worst that can happen is that you would loose in a small claims court and end up paying up, although you could of course claim that the contract was totally unreasonable and try to get a smaller settlement. But my hunch is that they wont bother. They wont want to run the risk of it going against them, there's far more mugs who will just pay up.

Keith L

[up 4 it]

Hi Alan

I agree with Keith and almost with Mark, except for the bit about getting a decision over the internet. You can fill out a small claims court summons online, print it out and send it with payment. The defendant has then a right to disagree with the claim, after which it will go to the small claims court in front of a District Judge who will hear the evidence presented before him.

The summons would be issued against you personally, yet if you took a witness with you who said that you were at their house all day and nowhere near the area in question, the case would almost certainly dismissed. It is a civil matter and you would have no duty of disclosure as to who the real driver was and it would be up to them to take action against the driver, as it was the driver who would have inadvertently entered into a contract if one at all existed and that would depend upon the wording on the signage which I suggest you re-visit and photograph.

Do not pay them. The worst thing that could happen is that the case is found against you, and you would be liable for the amount plus a small amount of expenses (they can only charge for a solicitor filling in the claim form), which if you paid off within the given period would not affect your credit rating.

ATB Steve

[hopper]

Originally Posted by Keith L

I ANAL!

Who or what the F is I Anal?