I parked at a shopping centre and was issued a $65 fine for exceeding parking time limit.
Do I have to pay this? Will they sell me to a debt collector, take me to court or suspend my licence? Or will nothing happen if I don't pay it.
I know the council parking fines need to be paid but I am unsure of the shopping centre ones, the company I need to pay to is pesau.com.au
Good info. So it seems that:
Contact centre management and tell them you're taking all the goods back to the shop because you cant afford to shop here anymore because the parking is too expensive.
Or tell them to install paid parking ticket booths/boom gates etc. But that would cost THEM too much.
Just tell them you'll never be back and prefer shopping online anyway.
i did call them, but they don't care because it's got nothing to do with them really. They just said the signs are there
I had one of these parking fines from the same company (which is actually Wilson Parking).
For a while they sent some threatening letters from some law firm which shared the same address as Wilson Parking but nothing came of it.
Had the same experience.
May I ask at which shopping centre u got the fine? I'm located in Perth too.
Woolworths Subiaco
This happened to me about 3 months ago, I was working in one of the shops and been driving and parking at that same spot for 6 months until they decided to check parking plates, I was slapped with a $60-80 fine (cant remember exact amount) and it stated if i dont pay the fine by a certain period it will increase by 25% more and if I dont pay the fine at all, next time they see my car (probably another 6 months before they check again) they will lock the whee.
So I went to the shopping centre management and explained that I work there, they said they dont control parking security and that its a contractor, Wilson Security, So I had no choice but to pay the fine, (Boss man was annoyed with it and gave me extra money next pay to cover the fine :D )
I suggest, if you think you'll shop there again, pay the fine and move on.
(PS on anyone else caught by Wilson, They really effort into taking photos of your car from different angles, I was surprised)
How do they get your name and address?
In QLD it is not so easy the get someone's details for a number plate from the transport department.
Some of these companies rely on you contacting them or writing to them regarding the fine to know your details.
they left a note on my windscreen with the link to my own Personal Parking fine page with pics and details.
Replacement standard licence plates are less than $30 in QLD. Plus you get the satisfaction of not giving Wilson your money!
Not that it may be the risk to find out, but do they have the legal right to clamp your wheel at a later date?
On whirlpool there is a topic on this, with the main question being how do they know you are the one that was driving at the time.
apparently so, I mean im parked in a shopping centre, it being a private property.
But if "someone else" was driving your car last time, what recourse do they have against you?
@TheMoDz: But they don't enter into a contract with a car.
I believe this is where private car park "fines" fall over. They can't charge the owner if they weren't driving it and the owner is under no obligation to give up the details of who was driving it. They would have to go to court to get an enforcement order, which wouldn't be worth it for the parking company.
I remember once I saw an old bomb station wagon with a clamped wheel in a car park. Two big builders looking guys came back to it. Opened the boot and while one was keeping watch the other one got out of the boot a battery operated angle grinder and cut the clamp. It took less than 2 minutes.
I thought it was quite funny.
Do not mess with them!!!
According to their website FAQs: "Yes, wheel clamping is permitted in Western Australian, South Australia, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory law provided that contractual agreement/informed consent is obtained. In Queensland we may tow vehicles from the car park"
they will lock the whee
As we know from Seinfeld, this could result in uromysitisis.
I'd be interested to find out where they stand if they put a wheel lock on a car bought from somebody they are claiming a parking fine from…
If I were you, I'd wait until a letter came in the mail.. It sorts out someone with some official capability vs an opportunistic scam.
Not sure what state you are in but this is for Victoria. Similar laws in each state though
I got one of these once when I overstayed. I looked up and saw that it's not enforceable but they'll send you lots of nasty letters etc so I ended up just paying it: they had some large 'discount' for actually paying it, so it cost me like $50 for peace of mind. I hadn't thought about it once since whereas if I hadn't have paid it I will be thinking/worrying about it all the time.
Personal choice.
Yep, and the parking companies know that the majority of people will pay it, even though those notices they give are totally unenforceable.
Do I have to pay this?
it depends. yes, for a penalty notice or an infringement notice. no, for a payment notice.
OP was this at gateways?
I had a fine from these guys due early March (not at a shopping centre) I have not paid it and nothing has happened.
The thing you have to be aware of is you go on their clamping list so if you park in any Wilsons car park in the future you will get clamped.
Just buy a battery angle grinder ;-)
Cheaper than the fine…
I read that you super glue the lock and then call them to get it removed :)
But the Wilson guys in Perth are all massive Maori dudes so yeh maybe not haha
Oh. You may have to buy a chainsaw too!
got one already, I must carry it in future. Don't forget an extra battery. You don't want to only cut half way through and have to wait for Wilson.
Or find a power point to recharge ?
" their clamping list"
How would these clowns be authorised to clamp a car without a court order? They can only access the number plate, have no authorisation to 'follow' who they believe is the infringing owners future vehicle purchases, and should not be privy to ownership data should the original driver have on-sold the vehicle.
I'd be calling the real police should they try a stunt like that on my vehicle.
Well, depending on which state you're in, they may have the right to clamp your vehicle.
Also, depending on which state you're in, the police won't GAF because it's legal.
Finally, you'll probably find they have the right to clamp you the both times, but now you're on the list they'll just go straight to the clamp
We are talking here about a vehicle I have purchased, for which the previous owner had received a ticket.
I would not be accepting that, and would be removing the clamp.
@terrys: they'd have the right to clamp you irrespective of if the previous owner had already incurred a fee.
It's like getting a ticket from a cop who (alledgedly) had previously warned you for the same offence. Even if it's mistaken identity with the warning, he still had the right to give you the ticket.
@Davo1111: A ticket is something I could dispute or argue in court. Clamping is depriving me of the use of my private property under the pretext of collecting money I do not owe for an action I did not perform.
@terrys: clamping is legal in some states, so tough luck
you can argue until youre blue in the face, but it wont get your car unclamped
Police will not get involved at all if your car is clamped in a shopping center car park. They will claim it is a civil matter (the "issue" happened on private property - their car park - not on a public road). There is no way on earth that the police will get involved.
Ignore it.
Even if they clamp it (whether legal or not), I would think they would still be required to return your property when you request it. They might try to demand you pay on the spot but if they refuse to give you possession of your car unless you pay then that is probably not legal. They could call a towing company and have your car removed though. Its a service not a right and if you want to continue to use it then you have to abide by their rules. Angle grinder option sounds good if your car gets clamped.
I was issued with a fine at a large shopping centre.
They can't enforce the fine, as they have to pay Vicroads ~$85 for each rego check, which for one offs, they don't bother with.
I've been back since, and have never had any issues.
All fines/debts are followed up with a reminder if not paid on time. So if you don't get a reminder, then they probably cant get access to your details, so don't pay
I doubt they can just randomly wheel clamp you somewhere. What if you sold the car? They would be in a lot of trouble.
No only in their carparks or private carparks with their signs up.
Buyer can check the car before purchase
http://www.pesau.com.au/go/clamp-list-search
Riiiiight - and they can then argue I had a legal obligation to check that before purchasing a car, so they are absolved of any criminal and/or civil claim I would bring against them?
they don't need to.
They have the right to clamp your car the first time you "breached contract" while parking on their site. Yet, they give a "fine"/warning/whatever.
Even if the fine isn't enforceable, the next time you park there against the contract, they will enforce it with a clamp.
@Davo1111: Any breach of contract in this case wouldn't be mine. The car itself cannot enter into a contract. The position they are claiming and you are describing is one where they will immobilize any car they don't like on the basis somebody not otherwise identified once parked it in a way they didn't like.
I have a few questions about legal definitions.
At my local shopping center there is a boom barrier with ticket system where you have to pay for your parking. They have signs up saying that exiting without a payed ticket is theft. Is this correct or are they just trying to scare people? I'm guessing that people have been getting their passenger to lift the boom.
What about if someone gets a new ticket from the entry and uses that to exit for free. Is that theft/fraud or neither?
It would be breach of contract, in which case they would need to persue you through courts (ie. Cops won't arrest you).
As far as I know, ticket machines have sensors and will only dispense a ticket if they can sense a car.
Can speak for Watergardens Shopping Centre, VIC. The sheriff does the rounds about once every 6 months and puts a wheel lock on everyone with outstanding fines. However that would probably be only people who have outstanding speeding fines etc and not those who haven't paid parking fines.
"The sheriff does the rounds"
Yep - but the O.P. is dealing with Wilson Security, who are a branch of rent-a-cop employed when even the Queensland police would hold there noses and refuse the job. They have no legitimacy or rights other than those exercised in the name of and stemming from their employer, so are basically joe public with a radio and a TAFE certificate in shouting " Oi, you can't park that there mate!" The Sherrif is an officer of the court - the Wilson security employees [in mainland Australia] is a representative of the land owner or lessee, with no more rights that that person themselves. [Noting that their employee in many case can be the Sheriff]
This happened to me a long time ago, when these things first started popping up, I felt that the signage was deceptive, it said "2 hours free" then in very small writing "ticket required" anyhow, I didn't get a ticket because I didn't think I had to.
I must have been in the Safeway store (Brunswick, Vic) all of 10 minutes when I came back there was a ticket on my car.
Anyhow, I saw an article on a current affair later that week advising people not to pay, so I didn't pay it.
A few months later I received a threatening letter in the mail stating the price had gone up and if I paid now they would let me just pay the original price.
I ignored this letter, over the next year they sent numerous other letters demanding even more money, eventually they referred the matter onto Dunn and Bradstreet, after they sent me a letter or two, I decided to ring up Dunn and Bradstreet and calmly tell them if they wanted to ever see a cent out of me they can take me to court, haven't heard anything since. End of story.
Always great hearing stories like this. I often pay it out of fear of losing any sort of legal battle and then having to pay double the original amount. Guess that's the psychology of it and why they have all of these 'early bird' prices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw3fWb61wgQ
its just about a year old.