didcot.forum.Re: WJ Parking . Charge ticket

Re: WJ Parking . Charge ticket

Posted By: S Wilkins
Date: 11 Aug 2008 at 09:40

I have had a similar expereince in Fleet Hants where W.J. Parking run the car park opposite the main station.I received a ticket recently for parking in an'unallocated bay'. This was clearly not the case, my car was parked in a bay but directly on the white line due to flooding in the car park. I took photographs on my mobile of the bay and the flooded area which I sent with a letter outlining my case. They refused to conceed and have been sending me threatening letters to pay up(£130.00) or go to court and incure a county court judgment etc. I discovered the email adress for the 'Appeals Manager' and emailed him until he acknowledged my letter. He did this but stated that the case still stood and the payment due was now £100.00.
I am not sure how he arrived at this figure or how he can increase it when I was attenpting to appeal.I have until the 15th to pay and am obviosly concerened as to what to do next.SW

> Hi.
> We've been parking in the private car park opposite Didcot Parkway
> run by WJ Parking for a while. Recently, we've twice returned to our car
> at the end of the day to find a parking ticket for "not parked in
> allocated bay", and a demand for £80 (reduced to £40 if paid within 2
> weeks).
> Has anyone else experienced this? It seems something of a scam, as
> there are a limited number of marked bays in this car park, so the
> majority of cars park where there are no marked bays. The terms and
> conditions state that "where there are no marked bays vehicles must park
> so as not to cause an obstruction", and as we were not causing an
> obstruction I fail to see how they can give us a ticket.
> What makes it seem like a scam all the more is that there is always a
> parking attendant there who watches you park, and usually walks over to
> your car when you leave. If the car was parked incorrectly surely he
> should say so? Instead, it seems he waits for you to walk round the corner
> then calls his mate to give you a parking ticket!
> As it's a privately run car park, the ticket is for a "charge" not a
> fine, and even though the amount is shown on their signs, I don't really
> see how an £80 charge in a car park that charges just £5 for 24 hours
> parking can be justified, as it's not proptionate or reasonable.
> WJ parking themselves refuse to enter into correspondence unless you
> pay the charge first!
> We're thinking of taking this to trading standards covering Didcot,
> but wondered if anyone else had experienced this.