Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:08 pm
#1877552
There must be clear signage - that is it must be clearly visible to anyone who stops - to say that if you park there, or park for longer than a certain time, you will be liable to a charge. And it must be clear as to where it applies. Such signs usually say something along the lines of you agreeing to the terms by parking there. It is not difficult for the company to pursue you since the law was changed to make clamping on private property unlawful when the quid pro quo was that private companies could pursue you through the courts. In terms of what amounts to reasonableness of the charge a decision of the Supreme Court a couple of years ago (I think) suggested in the circumstances of that case that a charge of £120 was reasonable (I cannot remember the actual details, but it was something like that). You may therefore decide that a charge of £60 is unlikely to be considered unreasonable.
When such charges are issued I am pretty sure they must inform you of the right of appeal to an independent adjudicator - so if you think the charge was incorrectly issued for whatever reason you can make a case to them. I have been involved in a handful of appeals in which there were in my view grounds for appeal and they have all been upheld, so the system does work. But you do need grounds for appeal rather than submit that it was unfair.
The bottom line is if the sign was there and it was clear that you would be charged for parking there, then it's best to pay up and learn from the experience. You could refuse to pay or ignore the demands but then if it goes to court you may well end up paying the full sum plus costs. However, if it does go to court you would not have a county court judgement entered against you if you decided to pay before the case comes up or before I think 30 days have expired after judgement is entered (I would strongly recommend finding out the exact details if you go down that route, though).
Good luck!
Mike
Beagle Pup G-BAKW at EGKR