My last blog addressed excessive legislation in the United States. This one’s about a huge gap in parking laws in the United Kingdom. According to the shropshirestar.com, a Mr. Michael Green is representing a group of 15,000 people who believe they have been cited wrongly by private parking firms. Mr. Green argues that parking fines issued by civil enforcement entities are illegitimate and illegal.
“The only people with the power to fine you for parking offences are the police or the local authority,” he says.
“These are not official fines. At best they are claims for breach of contract that can only be pursued in a civil court. And almost all of them are simply unlawful.
I’m trying to think of the equivalent in the United States, and it might just be a matter of word choice. In the U.S. a parking ticket or fine comes from an actual police or parking enforcement officer. Any other parking charges are just parking charges. A parking lot or structure might penalize monthly parkers who overstay, but they make those rules known ahead of time. Anyplace where unwanted parkers get towed at their own expense is usually labelled as such. Maybe these private parking enforcers in Shropshire need to stop issuing tickets and start issuing penalties.
Or maybe Shropshire leaders need to clarify who’s really allowed to give out parking tickets. That’s a law that could be of value.
Read the article here.
