How to stop people parking on private land ?
If you are a business of any size, this could be from a shop with 1 space to a car park with thousands of spaces you are at risk of people deciding to use your land to park their vehicle whilst going elsewhere which could cost your business money and reputational damage.
The same can be said for residential areas – you may manage a residential complex or own a house with a parking space that suffers with illegal parking that leaves you unable to park.
We can help you prevent this from happening and within a matter of days you will have your parking area back.
How can you help ?
We get asked this question every day … how to stop people parking on private land – and we have the perfect answer.
Here at Combined Parking Solutions we will listen to you and fully understand the issues you are experiencing as every situation is unique.
We will then recommend signage wording and the locations for them to be erected so drivers can see the terms and conditions on display and we find that on many occasions this in itself is enough to deter people from parking.
In the event that people still continue to park you can issue a legally binding parking charge to the vehicle by simply taking a photograph and uploading it to our website (or send to us by email) and we will send a parking charge to the registered keeper for them to pay or pass onto the driver (if its a different person).
How to stop people parking on private land - what does it cost ?
We have a number of packages available and with some packages we can even setup from a £0 cost to yourselves.
Our legally robust system empowers you to issue private land parking tickets, earning £15–£25 per ticket whilst keeping your premises orderly.
Curious if private land parking tickets are legal? Absolutely, when executed properly.
How can you issue fines to people ?
We don’t issue private land parking fines; we issue parking charges related to unauthorised and irregular parking on private property. If you have any more questions, you’ll find the answers on our private land parking FAQ page.
Worried about enforcement? Our stress-free, fully compliant service has you covered.
So – you are asking, how to stop people parking on private land ? but how difficult is it really ?
We get asked this question often and have created a quick video to explain our services and the process for setting it up.
As you will see the process is very simple.
How to stop people parking on private land - what does the law say ?
Until 2012 the main deterrent to people parking on private land was the use of wheel clamping, but this was outlawed due to a handful of companies charging excessive amounts and often under duress, Scotland outlawed wheel clamping many years before but it took a few years for the law makers in England & Wales to catchup.
Issuing parking charges did exist before 2012 however a keeper of a vehicle could simply refuse to name the driver of the vehicle and this often resulted in the charge being unenforceable unless the parking company could prove who the driver was – a very difficult task even with CCTV you may have an image of the person but without a name & address the case would fail.
Luckily when lawmakers were considering the end of wheel clamping they had to balance the interests of landowners and this was the birth of Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 in which a framework was designed to ensure that a registered keeper could be held liable for the charge if they refused to supply the name and address of the driver – this is subject to the parking company having to be compliant with wording and there are strict time limits for the service of tickets and notices.
So was this the last time we were asked how to stop people parking on private land ?
This was not the end of the challenges faced by landowners as arguments were made that a private parking ticket was a “fine” or “penalty” and whilst Combined Parking Solutions was one of the few companies that made it clear their charges were not penalties but an offer to park, the rest of the industry faced a massive challenge and taking an unpaid parking ticket to court was a lottery.
This raised the question again, how to stop people parking on private land with any certainly of the tickets being enforced.
The world of internet forums and armchair lawyers decided to jump on this subject and championed a case progressing to the supreme court on the basis the supreme court would rule they were penalties and therefore allowing a free for all, leaving landowners asking how to stop people parking on private land and closing down any possibility for landowners to enforce parking restrictions – however this would come to be one of their biggest mistakes but hopefully the question how to stop people parking on private land would be finally answered.
Parking Eye took 2 cases to court the parking company won both, the defendants asked for an appeal this was granted and unusually allowed to leapfrog the circuit court and go direct to the court of appeal – The original defendant decided enough was enough but Mr Beavis supported by the armchair lawyers and loving his notoriety continued and the case was then heard in the court of appeal – Mr Beavis lost again and then a further appeal was granted to the UK Supreme court – a massive gamble by all but something that needed to happen to provide certainty.
The supreme court confirmed in the case of Beavis -V- Parking Eye that parking charges issued on private land were 100% enforceable, they were not penalties and therefore once and for all the final legal loophole was closed – a massive blow to the internet forums and armchair experts.
We are still asked the question how to stop people parking on private land, but now we can answer the questions confident that the law was 100% covered.
Are your tickets enforceable or will people just ignore them ?
We have been enforcing parking tickets long before the ruling of Parking Eye -v- Beavis and this was in part to the wording on our signage but people were still asking how to stop people parking on private land.
It was long established that other parking companies issued a charge for breaching a rule whereas we stated the terms and conditions for parking but offered parking for a set charge of £100 if someone still decided to park there – It met all the conditions for a contract to be entered into without any elements of it being penal.
We are also one of the few companies that have had our tickets tested at the court of appeal – the 2nd highest court in the land.
We ensure all our signage is compliant with the IPC Code of practice and all notices are complaint with Schedule 4, Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 therefore you are safe in the knowledge that should you have to issue a ticket to a vehicle it will be 100% enforceable – this adds as an extra deterrent to drivers not to take a chance and park elsewhere.
We hope this has answered your questions of how to stop people parking on private land, we understand its a complex issue but we are experts in this field and are confident that we can assist you in solving your unauthorised parking issues.