Greater Anglia 2019 - What could possibly go wrong?

[HH]

They absolutely would but went ahead with it anyway. I imagine the enforcement officer is commissioned, he's there every day without fail now so must earn a fair amount of fines. There will be laws about it, but only about appealing fines. Depends how far you want to take it.

Actually the (railway bye-) law is very clear. These firms cannot enforce fines - only the Station Operator is able to legally do so for Car Parks on Railway land. Just refuse to pay NCP and they will (eventually) go away.

P.S. The Money Saving Expert Forums are very knowledgeable about Car Parking Fines in general. If you ever need help fighting a fine take a look at them.

 

[dk1]

Actually the (railway bye-) law is very clear. These firms cannot enforce fines - only the Station Operator is able to legally do so for Car Parks on Railway land. Just refuse to pay NCP and they will (eventually) go away.

P.S. The Money Saving Expert Forums are very knowledgeable about Car Parking Fines in general. If you ever need help fighting a fine take a look at them.

We have had instances where traincrew have struggled to park at Norwich when the multi-storey has been full as have any emergency staff parking at the station. On these occasions permission has been given to park in the short stay and the company will pay any NCP fines.

 

[samuelmorris]

Actually the (railway bye-) law is very clear. These firms cannot enforce fines - only the Station Operator is able to legally do so for Car Parks on Railway land. Just refuse to pay NCP and they will (eventually) go away.

P.S. The Money Saving Expert Forums are very knowledgeable about Car Parking Fines in general. If you ever need help fighting a fine take a look at them.

Yes initially that's exactly what I did, though general consensus was I couldn't ignore it as I had already started the appeal process. In any case, it's not something I'll be likely to stand for again!

 

[F Great Eastern]

Abellio said now to be going after the Department for Transport in the comings weeks because of a flawed mechanism in their franchise that they were talking about last year which has resulted in a further deterioration of the companies financial position.

Apparently, according to reports in the business press and some of the broadsheets, recently the hit to the companies finance has increased and Nederlandse Spoorwegen are now locked in talks with the DfT in order to resolve matters in order to make the franchise sustainable over the longer term.

I am sure that the recent delay repay and rail replacement bill wouldn't have helped the companies finances, although I don't expect Abellio to reveal the cost of that anytime soon, but it cannot come cheap.

 

[HH]

Delay Repay - DR15 is financed by DfT separately (i.e. not part of the franchise payment).

 

[Carlisle]

Yes initially that's exactly what I did, though general consensus was I couldn't ignore it as I had already started the appeal process. In any case, it's not something I'll be likely to stand for again!

Faulty parking payment machines appear to be a grey area, a year ago I tried to use one (non railway) that wouldn’t allow me to insert any coins into the slot, but given the appeals system may as well be non existent, I’m still waiting for them to take me to court

 

[F Great Eastern]

Greater Anglia accounts are in
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07861414/filing-history

Show that fleet reliability fell from approx 24,500 MTIN to approx 20,500.

 

[jon0844]

Actually the (railway bye-) law is very clear. These firms cannot enforce fines - only the Station Operator is able to legally do so for Car Parks on Railway land. Just refuse to pay NCP and they will (eventually) go away.

P.S. The Money Saving Expert Forums are very knowledgeable about Car Parking Fines in general. If you ever need help fighting a fine take a look at them.

Is that still the case? At least one operator states that under the railway byelaws it has the legal power to clamp vehicles (which it only does for repeat offenders). Private operators aren't even allowed to use clamps anymore are they?

The advice to ignore is often bad these days, as more firms are taking action where they might once have given up and only relied on income from those who didn't want any bother. I guess as more people refused to pay, under advice from various forums, they decided to actually bother.

In this case, however, if there's some screw up and the penalties were issued in error, the car park company/TOC should instantly drop any claims and refund those who paid up.

 

[Carlisle]

however, if there's some screw up and the penalties were issued in error, the car park company/TOC should instantly drop any claims and refund those who paid up.

Ideally yes, but I think you’ll find virtually everyone whose attempted to appeal any fines issued by these private parking companies has discovered that’s just not how they operate in reality .