They can't legally force you to pay for parking?

[LightSam]

To charge for staying in your car park, you must have terms and conditions displayed every so many yards, ie signs usually attached to lamp posts. There is none of this.

 

There is no gate of barrier when you enter, which implies you're not trespassing by being there.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong?

[JoshC.]

I'm no expert, but...

 

I don't believe they can fine you if you left the car park without paying.

 

The park have not opted to be a part of any regulator for car parks. It is not necessary for them to do this. This means they don't have to follow any rules about displaying T&Cs every so often, don't require clearly marked bays for cars, etc. That comes with the downsides of not being able to fine, not being able to punish drivers who park improperly, etc. 

 

The park state on their website, app and signage that there is a charge to park on site. This is clear enough that they can say they have made a reasonable and justifiable attempt to inform the customer if anyone was to kick up a fuss. 

 

So if you realllllly wanted, you could try and argue they're not able to force you to pay, meaning you could either:

-Forcably drive through and break a barrier (and then be liable for destruction of property)

-Exit the car park the way you came in. Again, there's technically nothing they can do even though you're driving the wrong way. But the second you leave the park (ie go underneath the coaster track), you're back under normal laws and made a conscious choice to drive on the wrong side of the road as a result. That's a big whoopsie.

 

Most importantly, the park have been doing this for over a decade. Plenty of other visitor attractions have done the same. If there was a notable legal issue with this, it would have been brought up and resolved by now. 

 

Your whole point kinda feels like being awkward for the sake of it to be honest.

[Benin]

Private land so can do what they want within reason.

 

Including charging for parking. There's problem some different laws/rulings written up for the various situations of car parking. 

[LightSam]

3 hours ago, JoshC. said:

I'm no expert, but...

 

I don't believe they can fine you if you left the car park without paying.

 

The park have not opted to be a part of any regulator for car parks. It is not necessary for them to do this. This means they don't have to follow any rules about displaying T&Cs every so often, don't require clearly marked bays for cars, etc. That comes with the downsides of not being able to fine, not being able to punish drivers who park improperly, etc. 

 

The park state on their website, app and signage that there is a charge to park on site. This is clear enough that they can say they have made a reasonable and justifiable attempt to inform the customer if anyone was to kick up a fuss. 

 

So if you realllllly wanted, you could try and argue they're not able to force you to pay, meaning you could either:

-Forcably drive through and break a barrier (and then be liable for destruction of property)

-Exit the car park the way you came in. Again, there's technically nothing they can do even though you're driving the wrong way. But the second you leave the park (ie go underneath the coaster track), you're back under normal laws and made a conscious choice to drive on the wrong side of the road as a result. That's a big whoopsie.

 

Most importantly, the park have been doing this for over a decade. Plenty of other visitor attractions have done the same. If there was a notable legal issue with this, it would have been brought up and resolved by now. 

 

Your whole point kinda feels like being awkward for the sake of it to be honest.

Not awkward, I have season pass, just curious. 🙂

 

Another option would be to ask them to open the gate, they don't have any legal authority to keep you there.

 

Alternatively, you could just take no cash and no electronic payment with you. Again, they'd have to open up then.

 

It's one thing to chage the earth for food and fast tracks. Paying for parking is just exploitation in my opinion.

[JoshC.]

32 minutes ago, LightSam said:

It's one thing to chage the earth for food and fast tracks. Paying for parking is just exploitation in my opinion.

 

It's the (unfortunate) reality of theme parks. The overwhelming majority of theme parks charge for parking these. And Thorpe Park is probably on the lower-side of average for theme parks in Europe. And cheap compared to America. Not that it should be a race to a bottom, but again, that's the reality. 

 

It's a weird one. If you were to go to any car park and park for 6+ hours, you're looking at paying over a tenner anyway. So not exactly different to a theme park. There's an argument for sure about the differences between the need for a theme park car park versus, say, a shopping centre car park, and how that should impact cost, but that's a different point for now.

 

Ultimately the point you're making is a universal one across theme parks. Most parks have high costs for food, parking, etc, on top of an entry fee and have high-cost extras too. It's the way they are. If you're looking at technicalities of whether they can charge for things legally, it's kind of splitting hairs in my opinion 

[Inferno]

I totally agree that paying to park at theme park sucks, but trying to get out of it by “outsmarting” the system or whatever is poor behaviour.

 

It’s like these idiots you see with cameras in Police officers’ faces, not breaking any laws, but trying for hours to catch them out or get a rise out of them. Not breaking any rules, but it’s scumbag behaviour.

 

The reality is, if you get out of the car park somehow without paying, weather that be by tailgating someone at the barrier, driving the wrong side of the road out of the entrance, holding up the queue while arguing with staff to open the barrier, or whatever, I doubt very much that anyone would do anything about it, but if someone does something stupid or aggressive in order to get out without paying, they’re are an absolute piece of sh!t. 🤷‍♂️ The rules apply to everyone. Nobody should do stupid things to get out of paying, and certainly nobody should be trying to lean on the staff to let them out etc - they aren’t there for that and it isn’t fair.

 

There will always be people who try to flout the rules, but I suppose it comes down to the sort of person you want to be.  Some in our society simply don’t care. But if we all behaved like that, 1, we’d be in a mess, and 2, the parks would simply make whatever changes are needed to close the loophole.

 

on the other hand however - if you choose not to buy a parking ticket in advance, and take a chance that the exit barriers might be open at the end of the day etc, I think that’s fair enough if you’re let out without paying but were willing to pay at the exit 🤷‍♂️