Charged for parking in Tesco at St Johnstone game

big_blue

big_blue

Well-Known Member
Just received a letter from Horizon parking saying I exceeded my time limit when I parked in Tesco car park up at St Johnstone.

£70 fine reduced to £30 if paid within 28 days.

Anyone else had a letter as the car park was full of bears?

It doesn’t say what the time limit was but it took well over 30 minutes to get out because it was that busy.
 
big_blue said:
Just received a letter from Horizon parking saying I exceeded my time limit when I parked in Tesco car park up at St Johnstone.

£70 fine reduced to £30 if paid within 28 days.

Anyone else had a letter as the car park was full of bears?

It doesn’t say what the time limit was but it took well over 30 minutes to get out because it was that busy.
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I'd be extremely surprised if there weren't signs up in the car park warning of this, it's common practice up and down the country, and being next to a football stadium pretty obvious don't you think?
 
The letter has photos timed and dated of me entering and leaving.

If I pay it or appeal I’ve to contact some Essex based company. It’s not even a Perthshire company who have issued the letter.
 
big_blue said:
Just received a letter from Horizon parking saying I exceeded my time limit when I parked in Tesco car park up at St Johnstone.

£70 fine reduced to £30 if paid within 28 days.

Anyone else had a letter as the car park was full of bears?

It doesn’t say what the time limit was but it took well over 30 minutes to get out because it was that busy.
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Better pay it mate.
 
WilCoBlue said:
Do not pay. There is no legal backing to these regardless of threats.

You will get follow up letters and even letters saying the "debt has been passed to a new debt collection company" etc.

As people say, do not contact them at all.
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You tend to find the “Debt Collection Agency” is part of the same company as the parking con artists.
 
TwoUpFront said:
Are these enforceable in Scotland? Sure I’ve read that it’s best to completely ignore them, don’t try and contact them or appeal either.
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They're not fines. Only the police and council can issue fines in Scotland. So they're not enforceable.

Unless you end up with enough of them that the company running the scheme decides to take you to court. It's essentially a charge for exceeding the terms of use of the car park that you're deemed to have accepted by parking your car there.

For most folk its never really an issue because it's not worth taking somebody to court for £70. If you get a few of them from the same firm then it starts to make financial sense.
 
They can send you threatening letters but can’t actually enforce anything. Usually they send 3 with the he final one being really strongly worded

Bin it
 
big_blue said:
Just received a letter from Horizon parking saying I exceeded my time limit when I parked in Tesco car park up at St Johnstone.

£70 fine reduced to £30 if paid within 28 days.

Anyone else had a letter as the car park was full of bears?

It doesn’t say what the time limit was but it took well over 30 minutes to get out because it was that busy.
Click to expand...
The best thing to do is go into the Tesco and say to the customer service desk that you got it when you were actually shopping in the store and they will take it off you and get it cancelled. Happened to me before (not this Tesco) and they took it off me no questions asked.
 
My mate never paid his hotel parking from a 3rd party company and ignored and ignored it and it became a CCJ and cost him K's. Not sure if this is in anyway the same though.
 
JD1872 said:
They can send you threatening letters but can’t actually enforce anything. Usually they send 3 with the he final one being really strongly worded

Bin it
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They can take you to court. It's a civil matter.

They're not taking somebody to court for £70. They do take people to court for several hundred. If somebody was routinely parking in the same car park and building up these charges then eventually there is a tipping point where the firm will take you to court.
 
iaatpies said:
They're not fines. Only the police and council can issue fines in Scotland. So they're not enforceable.

Unless you end up with enough of them that the company running the scheme decides to take you to court. It's essentially a charge for exceeding the terms of use of the car park that you're deemed to have accepted by parking your car there.

For most folk its never really an issue because it's not worth taking somebody to court for £70. If you get a few of them from the same firm then it starts to make financial sense.
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Correct.

The people saying they aren’t enforceable are wrong. They could take you to court and win, but unless you’re into them for £1000s, they won’t.

People have been taken to court by them, but these morons were parking there every day for their work etc.
 
Its a charge in line with a contract, entered into upon entering the car park with terms displayed.

However the legality of that contract may be questionable and as registered keeper that doesnt automatically make you liable for it - hence why when a car is caught by a speed camera, under law you are asked to identiy the driver, I dont think the parking companies can do that.

What I would say is a few test cases have been around and the companes have won on occasion.

Its unlikely they would physically take you to court over £70, but if you ran up multiple charges they might. I've seen CCJs for parking charges awarded for sub £500 now.

Someone parking the same car at Asda for Ibrox for example all the time over a full season or two is taking a bit of a chance.
 
These are only enforceable through claims court. They rely on people shiteing it cause its si.omy not worth taking you to court for. Only time they'd bother to take you to court is if you've racked up a load of these and it would be worth more than legal costs.
 
Unlike police/council the parking co have no powers to compel the registered keeper to reveal who was driving. They therefore lack the small matter of proof. If you don't wrote to them revealing you were driving they have no case. They'd also have to take you to small claims to recover the £30.

Bin bin bin.
 
Leopold said:
Nope, just wondering why someone was getting on their high horse about someone else committing the heinous crime of misusing a supermarket car park to attend a Rangers game.
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I'm not getting on my high horse,
Tesco are directly opposite the stadium, it's not rocket science expecting them to keep their car park accessible for their customers is it?
 
WilCoBlue said:
Do not pay. There is no legal backing to these regardless of threats.

You will get follow up letters and even letters saying the "debt has been passed to a new debt collection company" etc.

As people say, do not contact them at all.
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This - ignore it.
they try to make it sound like a local authority letter - which it’s not.
 
Mr Meeseeks said:
The best thing to do is go into the Tesco and say to the customer service desk that you got it when you were actually shopping in the store and they will take it off you and get it cancelled. Happened to me before (not this Tesco) and they took it off me no questions asked.
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I think the cctv may tell a different story....?
 
Got one the 2/2 game in February 2020.



Because my van is leased they sent bill to them and they added charge onto my monthly payment.
 
Milger72 said:
My mate never paid his hotel parking from a 3rd party company and ignored and ignored it and it became a CCJ and cost him K's. Not sure if this is in anyway the same though.
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Can I ask, was this in Scotland?

That said, I've dealt with a couple I got in England, 1 re a hotel car park and 1 remarkably for a m-way service station (now that's a real scam).

Anyways I kicked up absolute feck with the companies both times and never heard from them again.

The Scots version is not, as other posters rightly have pointed out, enforceable (technically).

It's a scare tactic which sadly some people fall for and pony up.
 
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Leopold said:
Correct.

The people saying they aren’t enforceable are wrong. They could take you to court and win, but unless you’re into them for £1000s, they won’t.

People have been taken to court by them, but these morons were parking there every day for their work etc.
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They would have to be able to identify the person driving.
The only relevant response to the OP is, bin it.
 
I got a fine from Horizon for parking in Asda Falkirk.

Had a lease car at the time so the fine came through them. There was a clause in the lease agreement about parking fines so I paid it.

Might be different if you own the car.
 
Tim Hunter said:
They would have to be able to identify the person driving.
The only relevant response to the OP is, bin it.
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And how do you suppose they managed that in the previous successful cases?

The relevant response to the OP is, bin it but don’t rack them up with the same company.

In the couple of cases I’ve read about, the people who racked up the charges claimed they were told they weren’t legally enforceable so thought it was fine, just as the OP is being wrongly told in this thread.
 
As has been said, it's enforceable but a civil matter.

The reality is that they would need to escalate, and for the amount most companies don't bother. But willing to bet they'll randomly pick a couple a year to chase up just to keep up pretence.
 
Ive had a two of these now, both binned after a futher 3-4 letters getting more and more threatening again binned.

The only ones you must pay are police/council. Yes they could technically take you to court but they never do this unless you are due one specific company various different charges.
 
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