Parking ticket, bit of a strange one....!

[ScottishStottie]

So i posted before about a parking charge that had been issued by parking eye, which shouldnt have been issued due to working on site.

But due to covid, hotel changing ownership, and no longer working there, it was very difficult to prove it wasnt valid.

So after emailing various people to try and appeal and not hearing anything back, we paid the £170 (!) As it was stressing dp out having it hanging over him.

Just checked emails (dp hasnt checked his for a few days) and theres an email from parking eye telling us that they have cancelled the charge!!

Can we get the money back from the debt collection agency?

Currently on hold in a queue with the debt collection agency that we made the payment too, surely they have to give it back if the original debt has been cancelled?

i was under the impression the money is held for 14days to allow disputes .
Check they haven't put anything on your credit record as well

I would crosspost this to moneysavingexpert as well, they are pretty good with stuff like this on their forum

Nithing on credit record as it was currently a civil issue, but the next stage would have been court action, so it was a chance of either never hearing again, or getting a court letter, which would have then been on his credit record. Thats what was stressing him out and made him decide to just pay it.

Interesting about the 14 days, will state that if they are awkward about refunding.

Can you get a chargeback from your bank?

Ah yes can try contacting bank about chargeback if no luck from debt collection agency. It was paid on the 24th, will that be an issye for a chargeback if its been a few days?

Parking eye are a well know company and if you google them you find that the debt collection agency and eventually the solicitors they get to chase the debt are all the same company, hopefully you’ll get your money back, for future reference their tickets are not fines they are invoices and totally unenforceable, unless they can prove who was actually driving the vehicle, unless they can send you a picture with you say in the vehicle there is nothing they can do, I ignored them for two years they sent multiple letters and threats, which eventually went away, because their tickets are invoices they can only take people to court for the reasonable cost of the parking which even by London parking prices is always less than the charges they have applied

We spoke to citizens advice at the time, and they said that although they aren not enforceable fines, they can take you to court and would most likely win given the grey area of whether dp should have paid or was entitled to free parking. So although ignoring is in the majority of cases effective, if they decide to escalate then it becomes a court case. Which was an extra stress that we didn't need currently.

On a happier note, the debt collection agency have refunded the money! Put us on hold for a while as she spoke to a supervisor but eventually came back and issued the refund!