I REFER to the letter ‘Beware machine’ from Ken and Val Wickes (Echo, June 6) referring to Parking charges at private car parks in the Weymouth area.

The car park they refer to is now run by a private company and controlled by cameras that take photographs of a car’s number plate on entry and exit.

If Mr and Mrs Wickes had overstayed their welcome by more than a minute or two, the company would have obtained their details from the DVLA, which, despite the supposed protection of the Data Protection Act, is happy to sell on personal details for £2.50 a shot.

They would then have received a so-called ‘parking charge notice’, with an invitation to pay £60 within 14 days, or lodge an appeal.

Such appeals appear to be universally rejected and serve only to confirm the identity of the driver. Anybody who receives such a notice would be well advised to do their research before paying up.

Unlike council-run car parks, parking on private land requires that a contract be established between the parking company and the driver of the vehicle and this is deemed to be the case when a driver parks his car having read the terms and conditions displayed.

It is not the case that the registered keeper – to whom the parking company will write – is liable for the payment, because it was the driver who, by parking, accepted the terms of the contract.

Nor is the registered keeper responsible for telling the parking company who was driving the car, which the parking company will claim they must.

Aside from the issue of who was driving the car when the contract was made, there is also the issue of the amount of the ‘charge’ which, for Brewers Quay, is £60, increasing to £120 after 14 days.

Remember, private companies do not have the right to apply a |fine – this is the sole preserve of the state.

Under English law, remedy for breach of contract must be a genuine pre-estimate of loss incurred, not an arbitrary and punitive figure.

If you overstay by 30 minutes in an empty car park, it would be hard to justify why the company lost out to the tune of £60.

The activities of such parking companies have featured on Watchdog.

The advice of the BBC legal expert was that all correspondence from the parking companies, their debt collectors and solicitors should be ignored.

Parking companies claim victory in cases where a frightened defendant paid up before the court date.

However, where cases have gone to court – and this is very rare because the companies’ business model relies on people paying without a fight – they are won by the vehicle’s owner.

Readers would be well advised to do their own research before reaching for their cheque book.

James Young

Dorchester