Be careful Harry, the Msa operations could call the Police the next time you park and it could get nasty until all the money is paid back to them via a court order and bailiffs seizing your lorry, freezing your bank account and other assets.
Harry Monk:
Every week, when I get home, I have one of these waiting on the doormat, sometimes two, occasionally three.
Why not just pay the parking fee, even get the meal voucher as well all tax deductable.
By habitually not paying for parking knowing that POPLA will (for now) uphold the complaint you are losing the moral high ground a bit.
Don’t get me wrong we all hate these speculative invoices and your advice is great on how to get out of the odd one or two.
As long as theres little human interaction and most of the work is done by computer anyway you have little to worry about. As long as these cowboy firms rely on those who cough up the £60 that far outweigh those that don’t you will be fine.
I understand your an owner driver but surely your profit margin isn’t so tight that you can’t factor in parking costs.
Harry Monk:
Firstly, as well as the £700 a year road tax, I pay around £8,000 a year in VAT and £30,000 a year in fuel duty. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve paid more than enough tax to entitle me to park for the night when the law requires me to do.
Thats a crap argument, why not park in a layby or other public property spot, and not privately owned and maintained (I know thats a laugh seeing some service station areas) land because None of your road tax, vat or fuel duty goes to them.
My argument would be as lorry drivers we’re regular users of their services, a lot go in and spend money for the privilege of getting bent over backwards when paying for a coffee and sarnie, so why charge over the odds for having to take a 9 or 11hr in a dodgy, badly lit, smelly, tarmacked patch a mile away from the loos. I’d pay a few quid now and then for that, but 20 quid plus is taking the ■■■■ in my opinion.
I think Harry would be happy to pay for parking if it was worth paying for? No security, dirty and damaged facilities amongst other things that make the original price charged unreasonable.
^^^^Thats it really your paying £20+ just to have a toilet near. We get £25 for a night out so i shall keep all of that and ■■■■ in a bush.
mucker85:
I think Harry would be happy to pay for parking if it was worth paying for? No security, dirty and damaged facilities amongst other things that make the original price charged unreasonable.
£20 for 24 hours when we only need 12 is a rip. Some places have security though but I agree with shoddy facilities. Why can’t we get some decent food on site too? I’m sick and tired of fast food.
Don’t think anyone will argue against how crap some if not most motorway services facilities are for drivers (well truckers who don’t spend much). Although I did spot new shower facilities at Strensham northbound the other day but didn’t have chance to try them out.
As far as security- well its bollox really, the only security at services is safety in numbers, forget CCTV as I doubt it covers the lorry park.
Overpriced, poor quality facilities don’t offer any value for money for drivers. Reasonably priced Truckers cafe + toilet /shower block near the lorry park is all I ask. I don’t want to walk a mile for a ■■■■ and worry the general public with my obvious knuckle dragger demeanour. e.g. Peterborough amongst others- I took one look at the distance and ■■■■■■ up someone else motor instead 
… In hindsight the walk would do me good but due to old age I would need another ■■■■ by the time I got back.
But we have a choice and to be fair my last resort is a MSA, but I am in the enviable position of working for a company that demands the oxymoron that is so called ‘secure parking at Motorway Services’ if neccesary and will pay for it, even with this in mind an MSA is always the last option as theres allways a few truckstops to choose from. Although these fill up early so after 8pm your in for a struggle.
Edit: I found a services the other day that was good value for money- Sutton Scotney = Free (for now anyway).
Doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a service for which we are charged and should pay for. Refusing to pay is immoral and doesn’t make you big and clever by not paying.
toby1234abc:
Be careful Harry, the Msa operations could call the Police the next time you park and it could get nasty until all the money is paid back to them via a court order and bailiffs seizing your lorry, freezing your bank account and other assets.
Well, no they couldn’t. In every single appeal which POPLA have heard, they have instructed CP Plus to cancel the charge. A POPLA decision is binding on the operator.
The Police wouldn’t get involved in any way, shape or form because it is a civil, not a criminal matter.
A motorway service operator could, in theory, ban me from their premises. However, CP Plus could not do this since they do not own any of the premises for which they have the parking contract.
POPLA uphold each and every appeal because the law is on my side, and not that of CP Plus. I’m surprised to see drivers on here (don’t mean you here Toby) advocating that hauliers should pull their pants down and get shafted by a company which regularly appears on programmes such as “Watchdog” because of their spurious and illegal business practices.
toby1234abc:
Be careful Harry, the Msa operations could call the Police the next time you park and it could get nasty until all the money is paid back to them via a court order and bailiffs seizing your lorry, freezing your bank account and other assets.
Post of the decade 
he aint paid a £20 parking charge not laundered £3 million of drug money ffs
So Raymundo, you expect free parking on your ship in the docks, and they unload it for free.
Harry Monk:
POPLA uphold each and every appeal because the law is on my side, and not that of CP Plus. I’m surprised to see drivers on here (don’t mean you here Toby) advocating that hauliers should pull their pants down and get shafted by a company which regularly appears on programmes such as “Watchdog” because of their spurious and illegal business practices.
Yep the POPLA appeal is binding on the operator and don’t get me wrong I am on your side for not paying these rip off invoices.
However your high-horse stumbles a bit when you knowingly do this on a regular basis, perhaps you are heading for a fall or maybe you will always get away with it as the gullable public that pay the fines will help support you. But at the end of the day (sorry a phrase I hate to use) you are knowingly breaching a contract (insert to add that the validity of this contract is debateabul) due to the stupidity and greed of the other party in the contract.
I wish you luck and I am happy for you not to pay, I just wish everyone else would follow suit untill these cowboys just send an invoice for the true amount in which case your POPLA appeal would fail.
bigvern1:
Doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a service for which we are charged and should pay for. Refusing to pay is immoral and doesn’t make you big and clever by not paying.
+1
Sort of agree to not paying as the services don’t offer enough for the money you pay.
You seem to keep doing this a lot and I feel it will back fire on you badly ie having a marker against your motor, which looked clean when I flashed you on the M5, which might cause problems for the next owner should he use the parking.
Just flew back from France after the ski-ing holiday and yes sitting in a plane this week of weeks was to say the least scary.And at home
a letter from CP parking cowboys…time showed entering services…3 hours later leaving…but what it didn’t show was me leaving 20 mins after
arriving to do a delivery and returning over an hour later for another Costa but my tacho does so time to have some fun.
a letter from CP parking cowboys…time showed entering services…3 hours later leaving…but what it didn’t show was me leaving 20 mins after
arriving to do a delivery and returning over an hour later for another Costa but my tacho does so time to have some fun
See there’s an issue in its self, technology not working 100% and no ones checking the footage…do the actual photos have date recorded on them 
I much prefer parking areas to have barriers with ticket machine on entry and payment on exit… and none of that BS about full charges over 2hrs …the cost be on a sliding scale…like the pay and display car parks…
But unfortunately there’s plenty of car drivers that will be suckered by this con and end up paying up, personally I try and avoid motorway services at all costs…
I think Dipper_Dave may have a point, regarding the morality of flouting the parking fees and getting POPLA to quash to appeals.
Someone doing it a couple of times is OKish as circumstances may force a driver to use the facilities, the average driver will learn the lesson and live to fight another day, & consider parking elsewhere if they’re unable to pay the parking charges. But to repeatedly and blatantly flout the process for finacial gain is immoral IMO
mickyblue:
You seem to keep doing this a lot and I feel it will back fire on you badly ie having a marker against your motor, which looked clean when I flashed you on the M5, which might cause problems for the next owner should he use the parking.
I imagine that when I’ve finished with it, it will be shipped to Wavis Bay and a parking ticket from Thurrock Services will be the least of the new owner’s worries.
Armagedon:
Just flew back from France after the ski-ing holiday and yes sitting in a plane this week of weeks was to say the least scary.And at home
a letter from CP parking cowboys…time showed entering services…3 hours later leaving…but what it didn’t show was me leaving 20 mins after
arriving to do a delivery and returning over an hour later for another Costa but my tacho does so time to have some fun.
My point exactly. CP Plus are crooks. Their ANPR system has absolutely no problem in determining that you didn’t overstay, but they think they have a chance of scaring you into paying them to avoid a black mark against your credit record.
There is absolutely no chance whatsoever that this will happen. Appeal against the “fine” on the grounds that it is not a “genuine pre-estimate of loss”. When CP Plus reject your appeal they will give you a POPLA reference number, go on POPLA’s website, enter the number and appeal on exactly the same grounds, POPLA will uphold your appeal because they are duty-bound to apply contract law.
That’s why I win every appeal, because I operate within the law and CP Plus don’t. Good luck!
I had one from them for staying over 90 mins in McDonalds in wales. The car parking was free and I was spending my cash in Macs but they still seen fit to ‘fine’ me.
Anyway over the next 6 months the fine went up and down with punihsments for not paying and then discounts. I never replied to anything and they never bothered me anymore. This was about 3-4 years ago.
Good on you Harry b
Harry Monk:
That’s why I win every appeal, because I operate within the law and CP Plus don’t. Good luck!
I know it’s exorbitant but Intentionally & repeatedly not paying the parking fee when you park up is wrong IMO. Wether it’s theft I’ll leave that to the masses to decide. But you’d save yourself the hassle of appealing the CP+ invoices by either paying the local parking fee or parking elsewhere for free & opperate in the same “level playing field” as everyone else. The POPLA appeals process gives the average driver the option of a “get out of jail card” for their (1st and possibly 2nd) mistake of getting caught out and being issued with such a high value speculative invoice. Most of the post so far from the other drivers who have been caught out seem to show its their 1st encounter with CP+ The appeals process is there for them to seek rederess, but I doubts it’s there to be abused.
Oh btw, Coming on a message board and bragging about abusing the POPLA appeals process is somewhat blarze IMO