This is seen as a cash cow so please do not lie about it. OK we are aware people should abide by the rules, however how many of these are from over staying by 5 mins or so?in error, how many are these are from wardens skulking around the back streets where in reality the person over staying the 40 minute rule has no real effect.
Having never been booked by one of these oiks but had the odd run in with one or two of them in the loading bays I have sympathy with the many who are booked.
This plus cost of parking etc is what is killing shrewsbury and I suggest the people who suffer ie business look toward the council to see who is ruining your business.

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We shouldn’t be surprised that Shropshire Council have collected £75,000 in 3 months, we should be surprised that they had to issue 3,000 tickets for parking regulation infringements. The figure would be a lot lower if people didn’t flout the rules, simple as that.

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@Redboy – I agree with your comments regarding parking legally thus avoiding a ticket.

However, I was issued a parking ticket ten minutes after returning to my car (according to the time the ticket was raised), I caught up with the traffic warden, his response, speak to the council.

I immediately contacted the Council, who advised that unless I could prove this the charge would stand and unless paid they would arrange bailiffs, debt collectors and make regular marks to my credit file. How could I prove that?

So it may be the case that private companies, (as per Brimondo’s comments), will not be able to go down this route. The council will.

I wonder how many other people have been in this situation and just paid up?

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I forgot to mention that private car park companies make use of a loophole in the law which allows them to PURCHASE your details from the DVLA. This makes it look even more official when the letter lands on your door mat.

Private parking companies (PPC’s) are not permitted to use the word “Fine” instead you’ll see the word “charge” instead. The charge they usually try and sting you for is about £80 usually doubling if not paid within 7- 14 days. This figure is completely obscene and plucked out of the air. Even if a PPC attempted to take you to court, they would firstly have to establish who was driving (not the registered keeper). As the matter is Civil & not criminal the court would only be able to award costs of the offence ( which based on a couple of hours parking would be a couple of pounds) – it would cost the PPC about £ 35 just to get the case on the court books, let alone solicitors fees.

They will not take you to court. Fact. The generally accepted advice of you receive any correspondence from these scammers is to ignore it. They will try all sorts of threats to scare you into paying but its just smoke and mirrors. Don’t be tempted to ring to “APPEAL” either, you’ll be wasting your time & it will just encourage them to harass you even more. They will send letters from so called debt collection agencies, solicitors & in some extreme cases, fake court papers! However some simple research on the internet will reveal that all these different companies are in fact the same people.

Be brave, just ignore them. They are patient and will leave you alone for months before trying again to catch you off guard.

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