Should we just suck it up and pay this parking fine?

[Bananaram]

DH recently used a pay as you leave car park. He used contactless, heard the little beep and then the machine seemed to freeze after being stuck on the little spinning circle of death before eventually coming up with an error message. DH checked the online banking and saw a pending payment for £1.50 from that day (price of the parking) so thought all had been paid and left

We then receive the letter saying he didn't pay and we have a £100 fine (£60 fine if paid within 2 weeks)

DH called the bank and they said they could see the payment but it was rejected by the vendor. He appealed the fine and attached the letter from the bank that confirmed this and they have rejected the appeal saying they could not find the details of the payment and said it was his responsibility to ensure it had been paid. Considering payments can stay as pending for days, I'm not sure how long he was meant to stand there to ensure the payment had gone through. They have said he can appeal their decision and would need to provide the last digits of the card he used. Is it worth wasting more time and energy fighting this or should we just pay while it's at £60?

Feeling mighty peeved at them!

I've had this a few times and always try again if there's an error message - the pending can be stuck with your bank and not process at all 😬 I'd say he probably should've tried again if he had an error message (and chased with his bank if payment was taken twice after the 'pendings' settled). I wouldn't fight it any more.

I disagree, how could you 'try again' once you were at home and it was pending? I would sent all the info and the screenshot from the bank statement and you might get it quashed.

I would continue to fight this. I can't see this being upheld if it went to an appeal through POPLA so keep at it. The letter confirms the payment was attempted and it would have shown as pending at that time whether it then went on to be a completed transaction or not. He did all he could with the information he had available to him at the time that he authorised funds to them for payment.

He has made a reasonable attempt to pay. Was there a boom gate at the exit that opened for him? If so I'd say this is their acknowledgement of his payment.
Whether or not their equipment is functional is not his responsibility. His reasonable attempt (captured on CCTV surely) and the bank's letter saying that even they can see the transaction was attempted should surely be enough to demonstrate that he did not leave without 'paying'. He could offer to pay the 1.5 if it truely didn't process but that's it.
Sounds like a common scam for car parking companies

Yes, press on with the appeal. There is a phrase 'no intention to deprive [company] of revenue' which applies in this case, and the letter from the bank is proof of this.

Don't fall prey to these scumbags! Head over to the FTLA forum where you'll get proper advice from veterans. I myself have 3 unfair parking notices in the works myself and I refuse to pay

Absolutely fight it. They are cowboys who are out to make as much money as possible from the car parking business. Go on Moneysavingexpert.com parking forums ( not the Martin Lewis piece on fighting car parking tickets, the actual public forums ) for help and advice.

I argued 2 fines last year after I’d only just driven through a car park and didn’t park and another where I’d paid but made a typo in my reg. One of the fine letters arrived after the end date of the appeal deadline so they tried to say I couldn’t appeal! I emailed and argued and they both got quashed and under these circs I’d definitely keep going .. a £100 fine is so disproportionate for a £1.50 parking fee before you look at your circs when imo you have a good case. I think they prey on people just caving in. As a pp said there are good forums that can help you through the process I think there’s one on Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert site. Good Luck!

The new Labour govt could do far worse than put these modern day bandits out of business, they recently fined my DD £100 despite here having an NHS permit to visit patients in the region.
Told her they don't recognise these, fucking wankers.

& get rid of train ticket inspectors who have the power to interview under caution for someone who uses, what they consider, an invalid ticket too.

Private parking companies always reject any appeal. Even if you have a watertight argument they will refuse it in the hope that you pay up.

Ask them for details on the Popla appeals process and tell them that you now have proof from the bank that the payment was declined on the vendors side. the Popla appeal costs the parking company money but not you.

Did you screenshot the payment as it appeared on your phone at the time? Can you get any screenshots from your banking app of the declined payment?

Sorry I do not have time to do into more detail but absolutely do not pay this. Go through the next stage to Popla. Make it clear that you will not be paying their invoice unless they get a county court judgement in their favour. Basically you need to make it clear you are not going to roll over and have your belly ticked by them. They rarely take people to court unless it is a blatant open and shut case in their favour. They are parasites and go after people who give in easily.

You ve a 40% success rate with POPLA like all regulators etc, work hand in glove with the industry they are supposed to keep in check.

Poor advice, a CCJ is an awful thing to have against you, together with a far larger fine & costs.

The point is no parking company is going to take a driver to court if they proved that the payment fault was on the side of the parking company.

I would stand my ground considering you have evidence from the bank. I would offer to pay the money owed (settle the original parking charge) to bring the matter to a close, but not a penny more.

Is the car park registered with BPA or similar? If so, they have to act in accordance with their processes.
Ultimately, assuming this isn’t a council car park, this is contract law. By parking, you agree to the terms and conditions of the contract. However, if you’ve offered payment (which you can evidence), and they have declined to accept, then idk where you stand legally, but I very much doubt they’d succeed in getting the £100 off you, even if they took it to court.

You don't know that and imho you'll have stress and financial worry whilst it all goes through and at the end of the day, could end up losing.

The "open and shut" case here is "Did the OP pay the parking charge? YES or NO?"

The OP could have phoned? they all have a phone number... tried again? or if possible paid with cash....

A woman who recently couldn't get a signal and walked a few minutes until she could and paid the charges, is now being taken to court.... she exceeded the "free parking" threshold.

The law needs to change and Labour need to get the fuck on with it.

The BPA is nonsense, they are all in each others pockets and are out to make as much money as possible. They will threaten courts and CCJs in the hope that people will cave in and part with their hard earned cash. You could only get a CCJ if the matter does end up in court and you refuse to pay what the judge says you have to pay. Very often the judge will throw the case out and the defendant, that's you, will be able to claim costs from the car parking companies who are just chancing it. Fight it, plenty of help on the moneysavingexpert.com forums.

I would fight it. You haven't intentionally tried to deprive them of revenue - and you have evidence that you tried to pay and that they rejected it.

Absolute fuckers. The law on private parking companies and their predatory penalty charging practices needs to be changed, pronto.

This.

It might even generate positive headlines for them!!

They don't automatically reject any appeal. I've seen many successful appeals in my line of work.

I don't work for one btw!

Absolutely this.

Make sure you keep copy of letter from bank.

Send a letter saying you have proof of an attempt to pay. There was no deliberate attempt to deprive the company of money. That you are happy to settle by paying the £1.50.

If they want you to pay the onus is on them to prove you didn't pay (and they know they can't!)

Why would they need to phone up or use cash when their banking app showed the payment was pending?

No do not pay. They have no case and I suspect will not take you to court.

Thanks so much for all the replies 😊 they rejected the first appeal (surprise surprise!) which DH is fuming about and he has started the process of taking it to POPLA. We attached the copy of the letter from the bank which confirmed that the payment was made and rejected by them. The day we got the letter about the fine the bank confirmed the payment was still showing as pending and wasn't actually rejected until after this.

I'll hopefully remember to update the thread when we get an outcome!

The parking ticket machine came up with an error msg, so i would have thought its reasonable to assume payment may not have gone through, regardless of whatever the banking app says.

I fought and fought one of these and was 'let off'. I was told to pay, then appeal. But I refused to as so far as I was concerned, there was charge to answer for.

Took a few weeks of me pestering people on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, but eventually they 'let me off on this one occasion'.