Disproportional parking fines

@MatildaMovesMountains @latetothefisting
Every ticket machine I've encountered that was broken has had a phone number on it and I have called that number, and in each case I have given my reg number and they have said I am ok to park there for however man hours I had attempted to pay for. I can't swear this is true for every machine in every part of the country but it's completely normal ime.

Incompetent or lazy driving

You don’t even need the token. It is just done by number plate recognition.

I do have sympathy though. If you don’t know about it and set it up in advance it is a real pain to remember it when you arrive at your destination, when you are excited to be on holiday/visiting someone.

Get the kids to do it 🤷‍♀️ they are handy with phones from very small! Or shout at Siri to set a reminder and an alarm up later on to do it

Nope. The onus is on you to pay for your parking. This isn't my opinion, it's reality. If you can't pay because the machine is broken, you can't park there.

Why do you think you are so special?

You are being legitimately fined for parking illegally and failing to pay tolls reasonably charged by the organisations contracted to manage them.

You are in the wrong. You have no right to demand that fines should be used in a certain way, or who they should go to. If you don't want some "fat cat" to profit from your actions, do the right thing. Pay up and change your habits.

You do not have the moral high-gound here.

If you don't like fines, don't park illegally and make sure you pay in a timely manner for road services you have used. If you try to get away with not paying, you will be caught out and rightly so.

I have been driving for over thirty years and do more than 20,000 miles a year. I have never had a parking fine or failed to pay a toll fee. It's easy to avoid.

I don't want to be a pedant but there's no such thing as 'road tax'. There's VED, which is a tax on vehicles. Has nothing to do with paying to use roads.

Haha I would absolutely think that if a parking machine was broken and there was no other option to pay (i.e. no app) i could park there for free - what's the alternative? If that is where you need to park (I'm thinking of a car park attached to a shopping centre for example where it wouldn't be easily feasible to park elsewhere) and the means of paying is broken whats the alternative?

What if it was one of the ones where you pay only when you return so you didnt know the machine was broken until youd already been there for several hours, how would you avoid parking for free in that instance, you can't go back in time!

Id obviously take a photo or something proving id tried to park and couldnt, so think if you appealed they'd have a hard time enforcing it. If you look on mse or parking fines advice websites you'll see millions of examples of parking companies backing down if you challenge them - and even if it went to court surely most magistrates or whoever would think the onus would be on the company to ensure there was a working method of payment.

Have you ever had to remember to do something and then forgotten?
Given that you are driving along, especially when you are going on a holiday or returning from a long holiday and you have to remember to pay for a crossing you did a few hours / maybe many hours ago?

Can you see that it is possible some people might not remember they have to do it, even if they have seen the signs?

In the past few weeks I have parked in the following places as well as my home town.
Leeds, York, Harrogate, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, often more than once
I did not get one parking fine, its not really difficult

@NameChangeParkingProblem

I didn’t know about the Dartford charge, because why on earth would anyone think that a road in England required payment?

How on Earth did you miss all the signage telling drivers it was a toll road?? Do you drive with your eyes closed?

In your post, you admitted you knew there was a toll but forgot to pay it.

So you can't then say you didn't know!

Because I'd paid 2 of them just outside the deadline, and had a Dart tag for the 3rd one but had forgotten to update my vehicle.

I'm confused - you say why on earth would anyone think a road in England requires payment BUT then you say "I've paid for the Birmingham bypass which has a toll". So it's not unexpected in England for you, clearly.

Google maps will also tell you a toll is on your route.

The crossing has so many signs in advance. Hopefully you can waive that one (when I use it I'm usually going back within 24 hours so I pay both in between) but these are on you I'm afraid.

I think the OP has a point, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to go anywhere without having to double, triple check everything. Whilst there are often signs, and honestly OP driving through a well established toll tunnel and not paying is on you, in many places it’s easy to not notice signs when you’re trying to navigate. Bristol is a good example of this, speed restriction zones, traffic charge zones etc. It’s up to the user to check it as you won’t get an email if you’ve wandered into the zone. Companies and councils are raking it in for example Heathrow is now in the ULEZ so that’s £18 plus the drop off of £6 to just take someone to the airport!

Personally I find it stressful and annoying that I have to plan every trip now to check these things, have various apps for parking etc. However I don’t want fines so I plan.

How come you had 3 Dartford fines rescinded?

I've had 3 Dartford fines rescinded - and as others have said, it's £2.50 not £1. There are big signs up to warn you. You sound unbelievably dozy. If a parking machine is broken and you can't pay via an app, you can't just park there for free.

Last year I forgot to pay the Dart Charge and received the fine letter, but when I logged on to pay, it recognised me as a new user and that it was the first time I had forgotten to pay. The fine was automatically reduced to £2.50.

I've seen that sign, usually on a trip to France. So it's been a long trip down, you do the bridge and then you are going to Dover. I can see how people can forget they have to pay for a crossing they did a few hours ago, along with everything else they have to remember on holiday.

Now I pay for crossings in advance, just part of the holiday routine.

Agree on the Dartford Crossing.

If you're on holiday, returning from holiday, you're potentially on a long journey. Yes, there are reminders but you have to remember somehow.

And it's easy to forget even to remind yourself when you're on a long holiday journey.

Same for the Tyne Tunnel. It's something you have to remember to do.

Much prefer the peage in France when you have to pay there and then.

Nope. If you can wade through the ads:

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/drivers-say-dartford-crossing-owned-2415752

There used to be kiosks at dartford crossing - it also used to be free after 10pm!

It is incredibly well signposted for miles both sides of the crossing that you need to pay, so not sure how OP missed it.

They are also incredibly reasonable with cancelling fines, I’ve had loads cancelled!

Much more than the congestion charge 😂😂😂

So you have got many fines for parking in places you shouldn't. On balance I have never had a parking fine because I follows the rules. It's not them. It's you OP.

Your posts are full of excuses as to why you can't just pay the fees. You need to be better organised.

Also YABU to think that someone "in government" is going to pick up on a post on MN.

There are signs everywhere for the dartford crossing. This suggests to me you are not only a deliberate rule breaker that expects to get off and park where you want or you are blind / observant so should be off the road completely!!!!!! Worrying

Yes but there’s also signs that tell you so if you didn’t already know then you do.