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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not pay parking charge notice

62 replies

dagmarsablob · 25/04/2014 00:10

I probably will pay for a quiet life, but I am unreasonably distressed at the thought of handing over £60 for nothing and being made to feel like a car park criminal.

Story is: I took my Mother to a retail outlet so she could buy a tablet. Paid £1.30 for a ticket at the appropriate pay and display machine - the type where you have to put in your reg number. She got her tablet and we left the car through one entrance, then she decided she wanted to go in a different store (her words 'as there was still plenty of time left on the ticket') within the same retail outlet but through a different entrance. We left around half an hour later, still well within the 3 hours allowed.

A week later,I duly received a parking charge notice for £100, reduced to £60 if paid within x number of days. My car had been photographed entering and leaving the 2nd entrance but they have no record of my reg no being entered so insist no ticket was purchased. IT WAS so I appealed unaware that leaving and re-entering when the ticket was still valid was in breach of their rules. Appeal was rejected and I am due to pay by tomorrow or face the inevitable trail of threats to increase the cost blah blah blah.

£60 isn't the end of the world. I can pay, I just don't want to as I don't feel I broke the rules, but I don't think it is worth the hassle of not paying.

Sorry - tried to keep this tedious little problem brief

OP posts:
Tinkerball · 25/04/2014 00:13

It's a private company probably that runs it, ignore as it's not enforceable.

Original poster
dagmarsablob · 25/04/2014 00:15

Oh and I do not have the ticket as I gave it to some bloke as I was leaving, pestering because he was only popping into Hobbycraft for a few minutes... Where I know I am BU is that I am completely convinced I was set up and this man is going round taking tickets from gullible saps so they have no evidence when the PCN plops onto the doorstep

OP posts:
Original poster
dagmarsablob · 25/04/2014 00:17

Yes it is a private company and I know that's the general tone on the internet, but I just can't bear the inevitable letters and threats

OP posts:
EverythingCounts · 25/04/2014 00:24

I had one of these. The bad news is that you will get letter after letter for about 2 months saying they are about to take you to court, threats etc. The good news is that I felt a bit wobbly at times but I gritted my teeth and ignored them all. Nothing happened. It has been about 8 months now and I have heard no more at all. These companies talk tough but rely on threatening letters to get money.

Money Saving Expert is a good site for more info about this but there are lots of other threads on here (there was one recently) with people saying the same as me. Really, I'd advise you to steel yourself and ignore. It won't go anywhere.

AmberLeaf · 25/04/2014 00:28

Ignore.

They are pretty much toothless.

Lobbing · 25/04/2014 00:41

You can either ignore or entertain yourself by working out just how many different fonts they've used in each letter.

snice · 25/04/2014 00:51

Or wait until the court papers arrive as they did in my case-sorry but despite what people say this does happen

Original poster
dagmarsablob · 25/04/2014 02:29

Your replies have exactly summed up my thoughts - don't pay the cheating thieves....ignore them....they can't or won't follow it through...they'll send me loads of letters that will unsettle me....but they still won't do anything....but they will threaten additional charges..it's not worth their while pursuing.....I'm going to end up in court over it and wish I'd just paid it now, or better still not given the ticket, which had my reg no on it, to the man who wanted to go to Hobbycraft (or was a sneaky car park person paid to relieve folk of proof that the ticket ever existed).

I think the only way to stop it nagging is to pay Dick Turpin and forget it.

OP posts:
puntasticusername · 25/04/2014 04:48

I think the advice these days is that you can certainly fight unfair parking charges, but you shouldn't just ignore the letters - follow the advice on the MoneySavingExpert site: www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

Andrewofgg · 25/04/2014 05:36

Giving Hobbycraft-man your ticket was a bit silly!

Tell them that if they sue you will defend. They won't!

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 25/04/2014 06:25

I ignored one 3 years ago. Their demands escalated and then stopped. Research it, then either have some balls and hold out, or just cave in now. I think the worst thing would be to pay on letter 4 or something.

I think Hobbycraft man is a coincidence.

FoxyHarlow123 · 25/04/2014 06:54

I ignored same parking fine several years ago and got months of letters and phone calls. I nearly caved so many times but I just kept reading the advice on MSE forum and held my nerve. They stopped eventually.

Andrewofgg · 25/04/2014 06:58

If they sue and you defend it has to be transferred to your local court (not always so local as it should be but nearer than theirs) and if they win the only costs they get is the court fee. The game is not worth the candle for them.

Write recorded delivery saying why you are refusing to pay and saying in terms that if they sue you will defend - they will not sue once they realise they are dealing with an articulate, literate, competent person who says waht she means and means what she says (a.k.a. an MNer!).

Eastpoint · 25/04/2014 07:00

Can you write to the shop & tell them what has happened? The carpark is presumably being run by a contractor on their behalf. Did she/you buy things in both shops, if you have a bank statement or a credit card statement would it help prove your case?

OwlCapone · 25/04/2014 07:01

I thought the law and the advice to ignore had changed recently.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 25/04/2014 07:04

Look on money saving expert, post on their forum for advice. There areeople on that forum who make a whole way of life out of appealing parking tickets. Don't just ignore and don't pay, get advice from the experts!

Icimoi · 25/04/2014 08:29

When you gave the ticket to Hobbycraft man you committed another offence. You might as well pay up.

PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice · 25/04/2014 08:57

It's not an 'offence', it's not criminal, it's a breach of contract that they're claiming.

There is no need for them to know about Hobbycraft man as you would not normally still have the ticket anyway. I always chuck them out after leaving the car park.

SouthernComforts · 25/04/2014 09:03

Are there barriers at the entrances and exits? The only one I go to that asks for my reg is because the barrier scans it to let you in and out.

So if it let you in and out the second time, that proves you were in their system and must have a valid ticket.

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 25/04/2014 09:07

I'm sure the law recently changed and you can't ignore

ThatBloodyWoman · 25/04/2014 09:09

I think it may be different now.

We didn't pay and got surprisingly little hassle from them.

Madratlady · 25/04/2014 09:10

I got one of these from the company running the hospital car park where I used to work. I ignored it and they seem to have gone away, it's been 6 months since they sent a letter from their solicitor threatening to take me to court but I'm pretty sure that was scare tactics as I haven't heard anything more.

TheGirlFromIpanema · 25/04/2014 09:10

Have a read through this OP. Its pepipoo and along with money saving expert linked above you'll find out all you need to know Smile

Don't simply ignore as some people have suggested, the rules changed last year and that is no longer the best advice. You'll maybe need to appeal through POPLA but I think the success rates of these is around 100%. (Even without you ticket)

TheGirlFromIpanema · 25/04/2014 09:12

Oh, and don't contact them at all and especially do not admit you were driving. Let them pay the DVLA for the keepers details and write to the keeper. (Even though that's likely to be you.)

Out of interest, which parking company has issued it?

ComposHat · 25/04/2014 09:12

Martin Lewis is your friend