Just a word of warning to all who use the above facility. Yesterday I received two parking charge notices from Viking Solutions UK, for parking in the same place I have for the last 5 years on match days. I even asked the safety steward if the car park was still part of the Park and Ride arrangements and he told me it was. The car park address is: Avalon House, St Catherine’s Court, Sunderland, SR5 3XJ. I don't know if any other car parks have been removed from match day Park and Ride, it's worth checking before you use it.
I picked that up on the SMB as well and have already sent it to RAWA. Can understand how frustrating it must be if you've parked there for years and all of a sudden you get parking tickets. It'll add to the city centre congestion if you can no longer park at the park and ride!
Yeah, it is very frustrating Becs, if they had sent the first parking charge out in the correct time frame, I wouldn’t have got the second one. I parked up for the West Ham game on the 16th August and asked the safety steward if it was still alright to park there. He said it was so I thought nothing more about it. I parked in exactly the same place for the Brentford game on the 30th August then got both parking charge notices through the post yesterday 6th September. I’m pleased I cried off the Huddersfield game or I would have ended up with three bloody parking charges
At the risk of being pernickety they won't be penalty charge notices because a private company doesn't have the power to issue penalties. They will be invoices from a private company (of course dressed up to appear to be penalty charge notices).
That's ^ important, too, because I've been told that they're not enforcable, or too expensive to take further . . . . they'll send you letters, but they can't/won't make you pay, apparently. A look online could help . . . . my daughter received at least two of them (possibly three) for parking at Asda a few years ago, they sent her letters, but she didn't pay them and the problems have 'gone away'
They can enforce them only if they choose to take you to court. They are unlikely to do this unless you rack up a pile of them as the associated costs would outweigh the payment. If you end up owing a few they would go that route.
The Magnum Hotel car park nearby is £5 for 24 hours. Do they have signs near to where you parked as you could appeal to the land owner and get the tickets cancelled.
Some of the private parking companies are very litigious. Some never do court. The thing to do it to do some research on Viking and see if they have previous for court action or not.
Is there a 14 day limit to issue a notice? Or am I thinking of a speeding fine? Might be worth checking on the off chance
From the industry Code of Practice - Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a driver entering controlled land that is or has been open for public parking, the parking operator must place additional (temporary) notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the change making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges. NOTE: Examples of material changes can include introduction of parking enforcement where none has previously applied, introduction of time-limited free parking, or reductions in the time limit within which free parking is available. Given the need to avoid confusion and clutter at entrances the test is whether the fact that a change has been made is clearly signalled to drivers on entering the land and the nature of the change is clearly displayed thereafter – it may also be necessary to install repeater notices depending on the scale of the premises. I bet they did none of that. Breaking their own Code of Practice would scupper any court claim. https://www.britishparking.co.uk/wr...gned Documents/sectorsingleCodeofPractice.pdf
Cheers RTB, unfortunately signage is there. I have appealed both charges on the grounds that the parking charges arrived outside of the time they should have. I will ring the landowner tomorrow to reason with them
They can issue their invoices in any time frame they want like any private company. But the 14 days is important. After 14 days they can't use the law to transfer liability from the driver to the keeper (the law being Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012) leaving them with no-one to sue.
Dangerous! I hope you haven't outed yourself as the driver. I agree with RTB that trying to get the landowner to call their dogs off is a good road to go down.
Apparently under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 they have to issue the parking charge within 14 days of the parking incident. I have used it to appeal both charges
I have mate, under new laws as the registered keeper I need to identify the driver within 28 days or the responsibility falls on me as the keeper which means I would miss out on the 40% discount. In addition part of my appeal included custom and practice and the safety steward telling me to park there. It's only money Dave
That's great Dave. They did have new signage at the entrance, that's what prompted me to speak to the safety steward. I need to re-think my appeal after this information, cheers mate
That's right Dave, it's a Parking Charge not a Penalty Charge on the letter. I have edited my post to get it right
