Yet another internet expert taken to task

Combined Parking Solutions yet again show another so called expert on parking matters and who gives advice to others that charges issued by Combined Parking Solutions are 100% enforceable.

What was this all about ?

The driver of a certain vehicle parked on our clients land on 3 separate occasions, did not bother purchasing a pay&display ticket so received 3 parking charges, her husband who gives advice to others on how to fight these charges presumably told her to ignore them and if it went to court the parking company would lose.

The defendant is married to an administrator of at least 1 internet group in which he gives advice to people on how to avoid paying for the charges.

The case was heard in West Cumbria County Court (Case Ref: B0QZ9G1P) on 11th April 2016 in which the defendants husband spoke on behalf of his wife and upon hearing all the evidence the judge decided that all the charges were issued correctly and 100% enforceable.

The judge ordered the defendant to pay a total of £720.50 (If they were paid within the initial 14days the cost would have been £180 or even worse if they initially purchased a pay & display ticket the cost would have been 30p ).

During the hearing it was obvious the defendant was way out of his depth and he quickly realised that life in the real world is totally different to hiding behind a computer screen and being a keyboard warrior.

the defendant clearly did not understand the court system, the process or anything actually to do with parking so its staggering that he advises others and even more scary they listen to his advice thinking he is qualified or actually knows what he is talking about !!

The judgement order after hearing.

How do you know he gives advice to others ?

A simple search on his name led us to his Facebook group “FIGHT YOUR PRIVATE PARKING INVOICE” where he is an administrator along with a few others including “Tony Taylor” and even “Barry Beavis”

Tony Taylor, previously a team leader of a major UK parking company but now runs a company in which he charges people to send letters of appeal.

Barry Beavis, well as most people know Barry Beavis has done more to ensure parking charges are enforceable than the rest of the industry combined and in our opinion all parking operators owe Mr Beavis a debt of gratitude – Mr Beavis originally received a charge and sought advice from internet forums and lost at court (the experts from the internet even represented him at court) – following his defeat we suspect persuaded by the internet bloggers and “legal experts” that all charges were unenforceable and to appeal it … well he did and it went all the way to the supreme court only to lose spectacularly and set in binding case law to ALL courts that the charges are in fact enforceable.

In fairness Mr Beavis enjoyed his 15minutes of fame, appearing on TV and we understand his chippy had the best year on record as people wanted to be associated with him – alas, this quickly changed when he lost and went back to frying fish and cutting kebabs.

NOTE: Although in reality the Beavis case settled most issues the internet forums will have you believe its a very specific judgement and only relevant in the exact same circumstances however county court judges (who in fairness are all legally qualified and have much more experience than internet bloggers on a forum) disagree.
It is even more strange that before the supreme court ruled against Mr Beavis the same forums were hailing the case as the final nail in the coffin for parking companies and proof from the highest court in the land charges were unenforceable – strange how their opinion changed once he lost.

The website to which they give advice.

Note: We are advised by the staff member who attended court that upon opening the judge advised the defendant that as a result of the Beavis case most of these parking related issues have been settled – ironic that one of the defendants friends ensured they were doomed to fail.

So what happened at the hearing ?

The defendant put many arguments forward, most of which were pretty standard and generic (didn’t see signage, not a pre estimation of loss, no right to issue charges) and even suggested someone followed his vehicle from the site for a few miles and then put a ticket on the car despite photographic evidence endorsed by the mobile phone operator network with date and time stamp clearly showing the ticket on the vehicle in the car park.

The case got even more bizarre when the defendant suggested to the court that the signature on the contract was made up and we had no right to take him to court, this was despite a representative from the client being in court to give evidence.

Legally the case was very simple, Combined Parking Solutions offer parking if the person does not have a permit for a set charge and they can either park and accept the charge or not.
The signage was present (although they claimed not to have seen it) and the law states if a sign is present and on a objective basis a reasonable person would see it then irrespective if they claim not to have seen it the court must conclude they should have and did.

It was fair to say that the defendant believed he was an expert and would win, he looked thoroughly shocked when the judge awarded judgement – a hard lesson and over a parking ticket and listening to an internet expert !!!!!

We suspect the defendant is in the habit of flouting private parking rules and getting these charges as the internet site shows he was involved in another case with Parking Eye in December 2015 .. You can see he loves his own notoriety as he is asking people to like the outcome.

If you look carefully Tony Taylor (the same tony taylor who runs a company which charges drivers for his advice) is in contact with the defendant on post 3 … we wonder if Tony Taylor worked with the defendant with this case ?? – unsure as we dont see any report of it on Mr Taylors website charging people for letter writing but not surprising as if people knew Mr Taylors own advice is bad maybe it wouldn’t be good for business.

Defendant wanting likes for another case.

Very strange though that he didn’t advertise on the website or forums that he went to court and lost – however we find that very often people who use forums and report back they have lost find their posts deleted or them being accused of lying or even being a stooge on behalf of the company and the moderators quickly delete the post.

It is not surprising that people who look at these forums are taken in by what they read with all the case wins and no losses, little do they know how many others have been lost and the posts deleted to match the agenda of the forum operators (or people who want to charge you for writing a letter in the false hope the charge will go away)

So what is the motto of the story ?

When dealing with people on internet forums and groups you have to remember that the chances are they have no legal experience and on many occasions you do not even know the persons background.

Other examples of people running these type of companies are Philip Ian Hilsden (although he used many aliases) a convicted sex offender … very worrying that you would send him your name, address and credit card details !! – although we are advised by Mr Taylor that Mr Hilsden is not involved with his particular company but as a word of caution to anyone dealing with internet based companies you should ask the question … what is happening behind the scenes and who are you really dealing with ??

If you receive a ticket and you need legal advice then goto a real solicitor or citizens advice.

If you feel it was issued incorrectly then you should appeal the ticket immediately without resorting to downloading irrelevant templates when you can just explain why you feel the ticket was issued incorrectly and send all the evidence in to support your appeal – you do not need to pay any company to send a template letter.

If your appeal is rejected then you can appeal free of charge to an independent appeals service – again without spending any money on companies to send template letters.

 

Combined Parking Solutions yet again shows that their charges are 100% enforceable – contact us today if you require assistance in resolving your car park issues with a system that is proven to be 100% effective, legally enforceable and free to implement.

For more information and details on how Combined Parking Solutions can resolve your parking issues then call now on 0871 288 4606 or you can email us..