Perhaps not strictly the right place for thsi rant, but noticed this morning that parking charges at Folkestone West had increased 50% from £2 to £3 - a small note on the machine said this while all the signposts still show the old price. Also weekend charges have been intrduced for the fist time (the signpost still says free). Obviously the ethics of such a draconian rise are one thing, but if all the signs state the lower price how are they allowed to charge something different? Is this legal? Has anyone else noticed this?
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Car park charges
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devon_metro
Established Member
Strikes me as cheap, my local station is £5 per day and only gets 2 trains per hour in each direction.
On the other point, I suspect you would have a case against a parking fine if the signs were not 100% consistent. Money Saving Expert has some useful info on this afaik.
On the other point, I suspect you would have a case against a parking fine if the signs were not 100% consistent. Money Saving Expert has some useful info on this afaik.
LondonLarry
Member
I'd probably ignore the note on the machine. If the offical posters say that the charge is £2, that is what you should pay. I wouldn't class a note stuck to the machine as being an offical list of parking tariffs. If the machine issues you a parking ticket for £2, you should be OK.
DaveNewcastle
Established Member
If you want to pay the lower price and are concerned that you might be issued with a penalty, you will need evidence to support your decision. Take a picture of the signs which advertise and support the price you pay. Ideally, get someone to witness you taking the picture and to confirm that the image on your camera is an accurate representation of the sign on that particular date.
(You might want to ask another driver to be your witness - if you take details of how you can contact them later to get their statement).
Most parking at railway stations is run by private companies, and not under railway byelaws.
Failure to comply with these only gives them a cause for civil action - and if you have paid the notified charge then they would have little to no hope of winning, or even starting a court case.
They are, however, quite likely to give you what they hope is an 'official' looking ticket, and then bombard you with threatening letters for some time afterwards.
If you get a ticket issued under railway byelaws, then you pretty much have to pay it - but those are quite rare these days (because the private companies don't get the money from these!). Although the private parking companies may well use the phrase 'railway byelaws' to try and convince you that it is a legitimate ticket.
Pepipoo is probably the best place to get information regarding parking tickets.
Failure to comply with these only gives them a cause for civil action - and if you have paid the notified charge then they would have little to no hope of winning, or even starting a court case.
They are, however, quite likely to give you what they hope is an 'official' looking ticket, and then bombard you with threatening letters for some time afterwards.
If you get a ticket issued under railway byelaws, then you pretty much have to pay it - but those are quite rare these days (because the private companies don't get the money from these!). Although the private parking companies may well use the phrase 'railway byelaws' to try and convince you that it is a legitimate ticket.
Pepipoo is probably the best place to get information regarding parking tickets.
theblackwatch
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It certainly is, on Saturdays the car park by the NRM is £2.50. When East Coast took over the operation of the main station car park, I wondered if they'd alter the price of parking there, after GNER and the NXEC hiked it up considerably. They did change it - by putting it up from £13 to £13.50!
moonrakerz
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The byelaw offence is parking
Railway has a pretty broad meaning. It is defined to mean railway asset which includes a station. The act they lifted that definition from defines station to include a car park. I have never been able to pin down exactly how far from the actual station proper you can get before it becomes just a car park, and it probably involves some other issues that I would be happy to go in to if you want.
You could argue that if you pay the amount on the majority of signs you have paid ' in accordance with instructions' but if there is a sign at the only place to pay instructing you to pay £3 you probably have to pay £3. You might be able to argue that as violating byelaw 14 is a criminal offence the court should interpret any ambigious area in the wording in your favour, but I don't think it's ambigious enough for that to work.
As to whether it is ethical to increase the charge a company makes for parking in its car park, I don't see any problem, especially as I paid £3.80 this morning for an offroad car park. 'Draconian' means imposing a death sentence for minor crimes and has grown to mean imposing a very severe penalty for a crime, not a large price rise.
. Authorised person includes 'an employee or agent of an Operator' and 'any other person authorised by an Operator'.
Railway has a pretty broad meaning. It is defined to mean railway asset which includes a station. The act they lifted that definition from defines station to include a car park. I have never been able to pin down exactly how far from the actual station proper you can get before it becomes just a car park, and it probably involves some other issues that I would be happy to go in to if you want.
You could argue that if you pay the amount on the majority of signs you have paid ' in accordance with instructions' but if there is a sign at the only place to pay instructing you to pay £3 you probably have to pay £3. You might be able to argue that as violating byelaw 14 is a criminal offence the court should interpret any ambigious area in the wording in your favour, but I don't think it's ambigious enough for that to work.
As to whether it is ethical to increase the charge a company makes for parking in its car park, I don't see any problem, especially as I paid £3.80 this morning for an offroad car park. 'Draconian' means imposing a death sentence for minor crimes and has grown to mean imposing a very severe penalty for a crime, not a large price rise.
royaloak
Established Member
Try parking at Southampton Airport Parkway, how does £10 a day grab you!
devon_metro
Established Member
Reading is £21.60 per day. Thats more expensive than a CDR to London!
Not disagreeing with any of that - but the point I was making is that they seem to rarely issue tickets under railway byelaws any more, although you won't actually find out for sure until it's too late!
You would be fined for it, but the money wouldn't go to the parking company. So, instead, they prefer to send out their own bills (called Parking Charge Notice or something similar to try and look official) and try and get people to pay them directly.
But, I don't really see a problem either, it's annoying when they hike up the prices but nobody is forced to park there.
They should update the prices on the signs - as I recall, displaying a misleading price indication is an offence under the consumer protection act - but there's no chance of confusion if the machines will only accept the new price.
My point was that even if they don't rely on the byelaws day to day, if you put up too great a fight they might resort to prosecuting you for the byelaw offence. You could end up avoiding a civil penalty and having to pay a bigger fine plus attend court.
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