Supreme Court: Private parking control company has right to issue parking tickets

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The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the private parking control company ParkCom has the right to collect the fines that were issued to motorists who had committed parking offences in a real estate company car park monitored by ParkCom.
     
In the Supreme Court’s view, parking one’s vehicle in a monitored car park automatically creates a contract between the motorist and the parking control company pursuant to the posted parking instructions. The contract obligates the motorist to pay a control fee in the event the posted instructions are breached.
      In the case handled by the Supreme Court, a motorist had falsely parked his car on several occasions in a Helsinki yard equipped with instructions on parking. According to the clearly visible instruction board, parking was permitted only for holders of a valid parking permit.
     
In December 2007 the Vantaa District Court dismissed ParkCom’s complaint against the motorist.
      The Helsinki Court of Appeal also ruled in favour of the motorist.
      The Supreme Court, however, overturned the verdicts by the lower court instances, and decided the case in favour of ParkCom instead.
      In the final vote, two of the Supreme Court members saw that violating against the posted parking instructions still did not lead to a contract between the two parties regarding a payment of a control fee.
     
Since the previous ruling by the Court of Appeal, the collection of the disputed parking fees was put on hold by ParkCom as well as by its competitor Parkpatrol, which has faced similar problems in its operations.
      “Now, after the Supreme Court ruling, we will issue a payment reminder to all those motorists that have been issued a parking ticket and who have failed to pay it. However, we will waive our right to collect any interest on arrears”, says Tom Ek, the Managing Director of ParkCom.
      Parkpatrol estimates that around a third of the issued parking tickets have remained unpaid. “We will decide on Wednesday on how to proceed with the matter”, says Parkpatrol chairman Lauri Mustonen.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Private parking control company drops lawsuits (26.2.2008)

See also:
  Ministry of Justice considering wheel clamps and stiffer fines to prevent illegal parking (12.3.2010)
  Private parking control firms may have to return levied fines (21.11.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat