UKC

I got a parking ticket. I had paid for my parking on line (ringo) without noticing that it had defaulted to my old car registration, so had paid for a car I no longer own! Curious because I had never paid for parking on line in that car, (but had done so on the phone). Only realised the mistake when I challenged the PCN.

I assume I'm rogered but has anyone ever managed to squeeze out of one like this?

In reply to Postmanpat:

Give it a lash, what's the worst that can happen? Or you could ask for the money you spent back, since you got no benefit from it...

In reply to Postmanpat:

I changed my car recently so I was wondering about this after using a machine like that and struggling to remember my new registration. Found the thread below - see Post 2. Don't know how reliable the info is but it sounds like an appeal is worthwhile.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=68150

In reply to Postmanpat:

Local authority, railway or private car park?

In reply to Postmanpat:

So - I once paid for airport (Liverpool) parking in advance and gave the wrong car number ( 55 instead of 57) so I couldn't leave the carpark without paying (3 times the advance fee) However a sensible man at the control desk dealt with my rather fraught call from the exit barrier with aplomb, and so we were back on the road! Whether the PNC would likewise see sense, I don't know, but worth a try I'd say

In reply to Postmanpat:

I tried to get out of a ticket a little while ago. The uni I work at uses an app based system for parking, so I am required to pay every day. The local parking company controls the car parks and patrol them with a car and a roof mounted automatic number plate recognition system, which is brutally efficient.

What they don't discern between is people who park in the same car park every day, who pay every day and those who don't. Thus if you forget to pay (surprisingly easy to do) you are fined for being forgetful as opposed to trying to cheat the system, by parking deliberately in a staff car park without paying.

Despite being able to produce two years worth of receipts, showing payment for parking every weekday, so it was clearly unintentional and parking was paid as soon as I remembered (lunch time), they were having absolutely none of it.

£60 odd quid later for the sake of forgetting a 2.50 charge and I'm left fuming, it feels incredibly unfair, but hey, that's their system.

In reply to EddInaBox:


Local authority

In reply to Postmanpat:

I've appealed Ringo tickets on the basis that I had paid but had gone to the wrong car park.
On producing evidence of payment and an explanation they let me off.
So yes, worth a go.

In reply to Postmanpat:

The two week grace period is paused whilst any appeal is in progress so definitely worth a shout!

In reply to GarethSL:


Have you paid this, and if so how long ago? Private parking company 'fines' are, generally, not enforcable, but you do have to fight them in the right way. No mitigating factors are ever any use, but if you can get a PoPLA code out of them you may well still be able to challenge and win. Get over to pepipoo for better advice than I will be able to give.

OP - as this is LA, not PPC, it's trickier. Again try pepipoo, as they're the experts over there.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Hi
Appeal with evidence and you should be let off.
The same happened to me and they let me off.
Just be very very polite in correspondence.
Good luck !

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

Its outside the UK and enforced by the council unfortunately

In reply to sonar:

Thanks for comments. One problem is that having challenged it once (having not noticed the VRN problem) it seems my next option locks me into make a "formal representation" which guarantees paying the full charge as opposed to the 50% discount if it fails.

In reply to Siward:

I've done this too. They seem pretty reasonable, so it's worth a go.

You (the OP, not Siward) paid for an old car that was registered in your name and isn't any more, and you got a ticket in a car that is now registered in your name and hasn't been for long - so it shouldn't be difficult for them to see that you're not taking the piss.

In reply to GarethSL:


Or, another more pragmatic, less frustrating way of looking at it: it's cost you about £1,360 (instead of 'only' £1,300) for the convenience (which you choose, rather than it being 'required', as you say) of being able to park near your work for two years. Oh, the injustice! It's their system, which you've chosen to use.

(I stand ready for 'there is no humanly possible way for me to avoid parking there'.)

In reply to Postmanpat:

I once sold an old car to a dodgy dealer who assured me that he was going to scrap it. Obviously I should have insisted on receiving the documentation but couldn't be bothered. 6 months later I received a parking ticket for the car (which I had seen driving about in the interim). My excuses were accepted.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Contest it politely and submit your evidence of payment for the wrong car.
You should be okay.

I contested parking in a disabled space a couple of years ago and won.
The road had a clear demarcated area painted disabled only on the road so naturally I didn't park there I parked in the empty space next to it.
What I didn't notice was the tiny sign on the wall.
It turns out they had altered the parking on the road and put a sign up but left the old road markings in place.
I took photos of everything, sent a polite email explaining my error (though I disagree that I was wrong seeing I was following the 2 foot high letters painted on the road) and the charge was squashed.

I am actually back there next week for the 2 year renewal of the training course I was on so I will be looking in interest if the road is still marked that way.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Have a look here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

In reply to Postmanpat:

I normally like to smash up a parking meter in revenge for a ticket.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I got a ticket once at a council car park in Bath, where I had paid at a machine but left the ticket the wrong way up on my dash board. I contested politely, and the fine was dropped.

In reply to Postmanpat:

A few years ago I parked in a car park in the local high street but once I pulled up I noticed I had no change. Directly opposite was a shop so I went in and bought some mints and got lots of coins. I walked straight to the meter and bought a ticket. On returning to the car to put the ticket in the window I noticed I had been given a ticket! I had been gone less than two minutes!! I tried to appeal given the ticket time and fine time but they said I shouldn't park if I don't have change so I had to pay. What I now know is a warden sits in a car in the car park and jumps out immediately if you don't go directly to the machine.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I once challenged a local authority fine in Wiltshire on the grounds that I had tried to extend my parking by phone but had been cut off half way through the process. The operator agreed that she could see my attempt to pay and the fine for the extra period was waived.

I do have to admit that I did ham it up a bit in the phone conversation and my subsequent letter, saying I was from Lancashire and wasn't used to these high-tech systems in use in Wiltshire as Lancashire couldn't afford the technology. It didn't seem to do me any harm!

So give it a try. They are only human.

In reply to JIMBO:

That sounds contrary to the British Parking Associations own guidance. The relevant reference would be "observance period".

In reply to The New NickB:

I caved in and paid the fine whilst it was 50% off. Couldn't afford to fight it and lose... I guess this is what they hope for most of the time

In reply to The New NickB:


Yes, and that period may vary between authorities but it's usually reasonable (at least 5 minutes)
I am proud of having once successfully challenged/overturned an attempt to fine me, from the notorious Camden Council, some time in 2001-2.
Central London. Parked outside my office (uni department), entered, went upstairs, had a wee in the toilet and picked up a rucksack.
I was gone from the car for 3 minutes. I know it was 3 minutes because I was timing it as I had spotted two traffic wardens nearby as I parked up and was thinking "aye aye..."
There was a PCN on the windscreen by the time I got back to the car, and no sign of the traffic wardens. Some timing tests indicated that they must have already been keying my registration in before I even indicated to pull over, printed the ticket whilst walking, placed it with hardly breaking step, and then walked VERY BRISKLY away. Ticket stated "observed 17:20; issued 17:22".
Checked their guidelines, available online. I was allowed 20 minutes there for loading, as long as I was actually loading (which I was). They were supposed to observe for at least 7 minutes before taking any action.
I outlined this clearly in my appeal letter.
Their reply, overturning the ticket, had the gall to say "as this is your first offence, we will waive the penalty charge". Part of me wanted to continue a correspondence, building it up into some accusation of slander etc, but I saw sense and just left it, given that I had achieved what I wanted.
I dimly recall that I actually had to physically go to their office for some part of this appeal process.

Related - I once did 6 weeks of temp work at Haringey Council's parking fines appeals office - a whole office dedicated just to the appeals. 6 full timers plus me. In my 6 weeks I did not see one appeal upheld.

In reply to JIMBO:

>

This, of course, is their winning card. I have sent off a grovelling e mail explaining the cause
of the mistake but I fully expect them to fail to reply for long enough that I cave in on day 13

In reply to Postmanpat:

A local authority car park - paid for the ticket, then left it in my pocket! Came back to a parking notice, sent off a cheque together with my original ticket and an explanatory letter. I got a letter back waiving the charge and returning my cheque.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I had exactly the same thing although I caught the warden in the carpark and explained and he made a note which may or maynot have helped my appeal. (But I did get it expunged without a problem)

Appeal it, explain which reg was paid for and that vehicle has been disposed of.

Its a serious problem with the Ringo App that it defaults in car reg starting with the first one you registered and there is not a way to remove the old vehicle.

In reply to Postmanpat:

No, it's not. If you appeal the 50% period is put on hold, if its upheld you still get the discount as long as you pay promptly (I queried this before my appeal)

Edit: An email doesn't count as an appeal tho - get on the local authority website and fill in the appropriate appeal form

In reply to GarethSL:

You absolutely shouldn't and don't need to pay for something like that.
Private parking firms are a joke. I've had several tickets and have never paid. I will never pay.
Until I have an order from a judge in court to pay a "fine" not a charge I'm giving those scumbags nothing. They can send as many bailiffs round my house as they want. They have no rights if I don't let them in.

In reply to balmybaldwin:


Yup, I did the on line appeal before the penny dropped about why I had got a ticket (wrong reg) so when it was turned down I then sent an e mail explaining the confusion over the reg and asking for consideration. So I think I have 14 days from the date of the first appeal.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Yes you can get out of them. Contact me for details.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I got an Lidl parking "charge", shop closed at night and late for cinema. £60 for early payment.
I sent a letter explaining that the charge was excessive, but was happy to pay for the use of their car park for an amount equivalent to the (full) council park next door, so i enclosed a cheque for £1.60 and added 20p for their inconvenience then stated that cashing the cheque indicated their agreement to full and final settlement of the claim, they cashed the cheque and not a peep since.

In reply to JIMBO:


It wasn't a fine, and it wasn't 50% off though.

In reply to browndog33:


Thx, you have mail

In reply to Postmanpat:

So, I wrote a polite e mail explaining the situation and asking for them to show consideration. They told me the ticket stands. Barstewards.