Comments by "Mentat" (@_Mentat) on "Awash with Stupid?" video.

Letters are cheap. Some will cave in and pay. It's worth investing £10 in letters to get £100 off you. This is particularly effective on poor people who dread the costs of going to court.
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Debts cannot be collected by bailiffs until a court has made an order.
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They use the small claims procedure of the County Court so only minimal costs are claimable. Their business model relies on heads they win, tails you lose. If you win you might get £30. And the court will be hundreds of miles from where you live.
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The parking companies enforce their "tickets" in the small claims court, in bulk, in a court hundreds of miles from where you live. They are responsible for around 70% of all court cases. Any defendant who turns up will probably win, but most don't turn up so get a default judgment against them and eventually find the bailiffs on their doorstep with an order only the High Court could overturn. It's licensed brigandry and should be illegal, or economically unviable.
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Lots are bluffing and never go to court. But some do... (Parking Eye).... They use the small claims procedure so costs not claimable so they can't lose - at best they don't win.
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Sit in your car, as is your right, and they cannot tow it. 'elf 'n' safety, you know. Eventually the gorilla will want to go home for his tea. (Although just paying with your card would seem simpler and faster.)
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@ccnnffpp00660077 My understanding is they batch hundreds of cases through one court on a single day with defendants living all over the country. If they had to go to the nearest court for each defendant their business model would not work.
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@ccnnffpp00660077 That's good to know, because they are far less likely to want to pay for a lawyer to go all over the country. In small claims they cannot claim back (much) of the costs. Their business model really relies on people not contesting cases.
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@bartram33 Unfortunately the courts have upheld no-signature contracts. I suspect someone willing to devote time and money could get that changed. For example a contract can be deemed unfair if there is no opportunity for one party to negotiate changes to it, and you can't argue with a sign on the wall.
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@bartram33 The point being that the Unfair Contracts Act (1977) says that if you do not have the opportunity to negotiate terms then the contract may be unfair, and so unenforceable. "Take it or leave it" isn't necessarily legal.
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No, the charged is based on a precedent set in.... Central London!
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