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0 A Western Australian driver has told Aussies to ‘ignore’ penalties from private parking companies such as Wilson Parking, and only pay for fines that come from councils.
Connor Wright found a ticket from Parking Enforcement Services, run by Wilson Parking, on the windscreen of his car.
He ripped up the ticket and told Aussies they don’t need to pay penalties from private parking companies because it’s difficult for them to be enforced.
‘Make sure you read the fine print on these bad boys,’ Mr Wright said, holding the ticket,’ in a video posted to social media.
‘If you read on the back it says: “Important information, this is not a parking fine”.
‘Useless, throw it in the bin. Don’t pay that s**t.’
He further explained a good ‘rule of thumb’ for tickets, saying: ‘If you see ‘City of…’ pay that fine! If you see ‘parking enforcement’ read the fine print!
‘It literally says ‘this is not a fine’.’
James Clements from Sydney Criminal Lawyers said drivers enter a contract when they use a private parking company.
When drivers go against the contract, by staying for too long or parking outside of designated areas, companies will issue a ‘breach notice’.
Connor Wright told his followers to ‘ignore’ tickets from Parking Enforcement Services (example above)
‘They’re not fines, only a statutory body has the power to issue a fine,’ he told Yahoo News.
Mr Clements described the tickets as ‘bullying tactics’ to ‘effectively try scaring people into paying them,’
He says it’s difficult for parking companies to enforce the penalties due to ‘crackdowns’ by the government.
The government has recently adopted policies that prevent private companies from accessing driver information.
‘They have to be able to prove that you were the driver at the time, which can be difficult, as just because your car went there doesn’t mean that you’re the driver,’ he said.
‘RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) used to give them details of who a car was registered to but they’re not allowed to do that anymore, according to Section 279 of the NSW Road Transport Act.’
‘They also have to prove that they incurred a loss.
‘Ignore it,’ Mr Clements said. ‘Or write back and say, ‘I dispute this and do not intend to pay’.’
‘What you don’t want to do is write to them and say that you disclose you were the driver.’
Dozens Aussies said they never faced consequences for failing to pay penalties from private companies.
Mr Wright (above) explained the penalty notices from Wilsons Parking state ‘this is not a parking fine’ in the fine print
‘I got one in 2019 and never paid it, never heard from them either and saved $90,’ one wrote.
‘I’ve probably had 30 of these. Never paid them, never heard anything,’ another said.
To avoid tickets and possible court action, drivers are advised to read the terms and conditions of using a private car park before entering.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
