Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Has anyone ever just ignored a parking ticket?

114 replies

BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 12:28

Private car park I should add.

Cut a long story short, we went into a car park and were unable to pay. Machine not accepting contactless and RinGo just cutting out when we called them. We were in there for 20 mins.

About 2 weeks later, we got the invoice for £100, reduced to £60 for quick payment. We appealed. They said no, ignoring the fact we couldn’t pay. We appealed again and they declined it and reduced it to £20. We appealed it again and stated that we were unable to pay and have had another demand for £100.

What would happen if we just ignored it? Would we get in a lot of trouble? It’s not the money per se, I just feel absolutely outraged that due to them not maintaining their machines they are now harassing us for money and not listening to us.

OP posts:
Oblomov22 · 12/05/2022 13:41

Never ignore. If you appealed then your logged in their system. I'd pay the £20
and then email to say you have paid the agreed amount.

Original poster
BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 13:42

😢 Can I just have a shout please: IT’S NOT FAIR!!!

ok, done now, back to being a grownup. Think I’m going to have to rethink this.

OP posts:
JollyWilloughby · 12/05/2022 13:43

I’ve ignored plenty and nothing has ever happened.

1Wanda1 · 12/05/2022 14:28

No it's not fair but your options are:

  1. Pay the £20; or
  2. Don't pay, wait for a claim to be issued and served on you (make sure that the address your car is registered to is your CURRENT residential address, otherwise you won't receive the claim when served and if you don't know about it, you can't defend it), and then explain all the reasons why the fine is unfair in your Defence.

Personally, I would just pay the £20 because the time and hassle involved in the other option is not worth it to me.

FlibbertyGibbitt · 12/05/2022 15:00

Be VERY careful with parking charge notices. If you ignore you’ll get a CCJ. There’s some good info on Martin Lewis and on Facebook there’s a group for such just queries .

Original poster
BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 15:06

Is it too late to back down and just say we’ll pay the £20? They’ve not put it up to £100 but surely if they tried to take us to court then any reasonable judge would see that we’d paid almost £1 a minute for nothing. Surely £5 a minute would be absurd! We 100% would have paid if we could but we couldn’t.

OP posts:
Original poster
BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 15:07

Sorry, they HAVE put it up to £100

OP posts:
Tomikka · 12/05/2022 15:26

BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 15:06

Is it too late to back down and just say we’ll pay the £20? They’ve not put it up to £100 but surely if they tried to take us to court then any reasonable judge would see that we’d paid almost £1 a minute for nothing. Surely £5 a minute would be absurd! We 100% would have paid if we could but we couldn’t.

A court will decide on the basis of whether the terms are reasonable and clearly displayed

Once you’ve had the original opportunity to park and pay or to not park, plus correspondence with offers to pay the full price or a reduced offer and then carry on waiting until you are called to court then they have been reasonable

When you couldn’t pay via the relevant methods did you drive off or continue to park?
eg was the 20 minute stay your parking duration or 20 minutes of attempting to pay then giving up?
If it was 20 minutes attempting to pay then you have a valid reason to not pay now, but if you attempted and were unable to pay but parked then you have accepted the terms and failed to pay

Original poster
BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 15:34

We stayed 23 mins attempting to pay. The invoice records the exact time we came and left and states 23 mins underneath the entry and exit times on the ticket. As soon as we realised RinGo wasn’t a goer we left.

OP posts:
TheSeldomSeenKid · 12/05/2022 15:36

They took me to small claims court.
I had drs evidence and it got dropped.
But I wouldn’t ignore it! They do sometimes take people to court.

Sapphirensteel · 12/05/2022 15:40

Tell them you spent the 20 minutes searching the car for money. It was only when you realised there was no money/ insufficient money you left. They can only take a photo of your car ( they’re not allowed to photograph people so if they say you left the carpark tell them to prove it) If a photo shows the car unattended that was when you were trying to get a phone signal or were at the parking meter.

Original poster
BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 15:44

I hate these people! I’ve got enough going on without this FFS. They’re just bullies. It’s scary hearing from posters on here that court could actually be a possibility though.

OP posts:
AWOL66 · 12/05/2022 16:41

Someone I know was in a similar situation and refused to pay out of principle too. Recently (a year on) he gave up and paid it but for some reason they couldn't see he'd paid their end so kept chasing it still (I think this was a genuine error on their part). He then had to prove he'd paid it so it never seemed to end!!! I think with him though nothing major happened to him e.g being taken to court, and though ridiculously unfair I think if he knew how it would have panned out he'd have just paid it in the first place. There's also a case that comes up in the news now and then of a man who has racked up thousands but insists he won't pay it as he says he was fined unfairly!

Birkenshock · 12/05/2022 16:41

They have 6 years to take you to court, and if you don't pay, they can decide at any time over the next 6 years to just sell all their old debts to a debt collection agency en-masse, who will get their youngest intern to do a load of small claims. And then if they issue the small claim form for the £100, plus £150+ in all their costs, you HAVE to defend it and respond within 28 days, or they automatically win and can get a CCJ against you. And you'll spend hours researching a defence etc, it's such hassle. For the sake of not stressing that this will pop up again anytime over the next 6 years, I think I'd find the £20 letter, pay it, and email them a confirmation of the payment and the £20 offer letter and say "further to your letter of X date, I have paid the £20 as agreed. I trust this is the end of the matter". They 100% won't escalate it to court then if you have, they'll drop it before it gets that far. But by not engaging etc, they will take you to court, assuming you also won't engage with the small claims form when it comes through so it's an automatic win for them.

newtb · 12/05/2022 17:07

I did, but, I was in a car with French plates, so was fairly safe.

JollyWilloughby · 12/05/2022 17:16

@Birkenshock

i have ignored a few and I’ve never been taken to court, some well over 6 years ago too so it’s not a given.

shoehornartth · 12/05/2022 17:18

Yes!

Ignored it for 4 years. Then got a court letter as they were proceeding with court action. Presented our defence using lots of free online resources and stating that no 'loss' was suffered by the other party (they need to prove this).

They immediately dropped the claim :)

shoehornartth · 12/05/2022 17:21

I just want to say - I would never ever pay a private car fine. I don't agree with 99.9% of instances in which they are issued (but always pay parking etc - we tend to get them for overstaying in Tesco!) but it is so easy to defend. I would happily go to court.

Chances are slim of being taken though. My friend had over 100 tickets for parking at the same place at Uni and ignored them. It's been 10 years.

shoehornartth · 12/05/2022 17:22

Also - your defence which you've stated here would mean you'd 100% win. Easy.

JollyWilloughby · 12/05/2022 17:23

@shoehornartth

am i your friend? 😂

shoehornartth · 12/05/2022 17:26

1Wanda1 · 12/05/2022 13:37

If you just ignore it then they are likely to issue a claim in the small claims court and if you ignore that, they will get default judgment against you, which means a CCJ on your credit record.

I am a lawyer and recently helped a client get a CCJ obtained against him by a private parking company set aside and expunged from his credit record. I gave him discounted rates and it still cost over £1000 in legal costs. So don't ignore it. Private parking companies are very litigious as this is their revenue stream and small claims are very easy to bring.

You missed the very big point that the CCJ is only issued if you don't pay within 28 days of the judgement.

shoehornartth · 12/05/2022 17:26

JollyWilloughby · 12/05/2022 17:23

@shoehornartth

am i your friend? 😂

ahaha - must be many people like her I'm sure.

Amei · 12/05/2022 17:28

I ignored one in Lidl years ago and I've never heard from them since (after the original 3 letters they sent) x

cookiemonster2468 · 12/05/2022 17:32

BalloonsAndWhistles · 12/05/2022 15:34

We stayed 23 mins attempting to pay. The invoice records the exact time we came and left and states 23 mins underneath the entry and exit times on the ticket. As soon as we realised RinGo wasn’t a goer we left.

The owners of the car park don't owe you anything, though.

If you went into a shop to buy a pair of jeans and the card machine was broken, you wouldn't expect to walk out with the jeans.

Same thing here, unfortunately. It's a private car park offering a service. You can't justify stealing that service because their machine wasn't working.

Presumably you could have paid with coins as an alternative anyway, so I don't think you really have a leg to stand on.

cookiemonster2468 · 12/05/2022 17:34

(Also I had one, ignored it, it went up, appealed, ended up paying just to get them off my back. It's not worth the hassle).

Swipe left for the next trending thread