No speech that Ed Miliband has made over the past five years has generated so much derision on the right as when he divided capitalists into ‘predators and producers’. That was because everyone knows there is a lot of truth in Ed’s analysis. And worse, the legal system seems to support the predators.
Today, a company called ParkingEye won a victory in the Appeal Court against Barry Beavis, a fish and chip shop owner, whom it had ‘fined’ £85 for overstaying a two-hour limit in one of its car parks in Chelmsford. Mr Beavis refused to pay the charge – which was not really a fine but simply an invoice – on the grounds that it was excessive. The court ruled that the charge was a ‘commercially-justified deterrent’ that was ‘not extravagant or unconscionable’, and that Mr Beavis must now pay an increased charge of £150.
Others might prefer to see it as sharp practice, a bit like Ryanair’s charges for overweight baggage or for printing out a boarding pass at the airport.
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