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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parking ticket

64 replies

TrainsandDiggers · 31/08/2018 13:05

I have been fined £100 for parking in a pay and display car park for less than THREE MINUTES - as corroborated by their own photographic evidence. I have just lost my appeal.

Technically, I know I should have paid for ‘up to one hour’ parking. Really though, does this not seem incredibly unreasonable? There were other spaces available and by the time I had bought a ticket I could have been on my way.

I know I’m technically wrong but AIBU to be just a little bit peeved about this? My husband thinks I am. I just think there’s no good will in the world any more.

OP posts:
BitOutOfPractice · 31/08/2018 13:42

I know rules is rules but yes, that is so annoying. Doubly so because your DH thinks it's reasonable

Dilemmacentral · 31/08/2018 13:43

My understanding is that she pulled up outside a shop where there was no actual parking space ie parked on double yellow

MrsSteptoe · 31/08/2018 13:43

That's shit, OP. Bad luck. Selfishly, I'm reading your thread and thinking that it vindicates my neurotic insistence on paying every single time, no matter how quick I'm going to be!

thebeesknees123 · 31/08/2018 13:44

Yes, bloody sod's law. Bet the parking attendant was hiding behind a bush!

Lunde · 31/08/2018 13:47

The thing is that you could not have possibly known that you would only be parked for 3 minutes when you parked and went in the shop. It could easily have taken 10-20 minutes.

You took the chance and sadly it didn't work out.

Topseyt · 31/08/2018 13:47

I do feel your pain, but unfortunately you stand little chance of successfully appealing these days as they increasingly often have parking eye technology on the car park entrances and exits.

I was caught recently too. I had gone to collect my teenage DD who was returning from a coach trip. The coach arrived late, and the wait plus the queues to get out afterwards had me apparently just outside the time slot when you are permitted to park for free. By less than 5 minutes. It was galling, and I had thought we were OK.

My mistake though, and I won't make it again. I've never had a parking ticket before, and will be more careful in future.

Original poster
TrainsandDiggers · 31/08/2018 13:49

I was in a parking space (pay and display) that happened to be right outside the store I needed. The store was closer than the meter. I could see the till from my car and could see the shop was empty, so ran in, returned my items and got back in my car. The space was under cctv. Yes, I should have paid but I still think for less than 3 mins it’s unreasonable

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 31/08/2018 13:50

In any case, although I've never tried it, my local FB is adamant that these fines on private land are unenforceable and should be ignored

Your local FB is out of date. The law changed in 2012. These fines are very much enforceable. Ignoring them sometimes works as the parking companies don't take all cases to court. But if they do take you to court they will win.

Refer your local FB to Parking Eye v Beavis in 2015. Beavis overstayed in free a car park - he parked his car for 3 hours, ignoring the 2 hour time limit. As a result Parking Eye demanded £85. He ignored them. They took him to court. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. Beavis lost.

DollyWilde · 31/08/2018 13:54

Thanks OP, you've just reminded me to pay one we picked up on Monday - we assumed Sunday rules applied on a Bank Holiday and they didn't. Really effing peeved as well but what can you do.

PersianCatLady · 31/08/2018 13:56

I still think for less than 3 mins it’s unreasonable
It doesn't matter what you think

BarbaraofSevillle · 31/08/2018 13:56

I got done this way. I pulled into an otherwise empty car park to wait somewhere safely to pick DP up from the station.

I didn't even leave the car and didn't know that the car park was ruled by cameras and you had to enter your reg number and buy a ticket.

I appealed and got nowhere and just chalked it up to experience.

It's just a huge scam, brought on by the ban on clamping - it used to be that 'parking attendants' would roam car parks and clamp anyone who hadn't paid and then charge them a couple of hundred quid to remove the clamp.

Yes, technically I should have paid and so should the OP, but really? I know that there has to be controls or otherwise people take the piss, fill car parks up or block entrances, roads etc, but there has to be some give and take. What harm is anyone doing stopping their car for a few minutes to take a phone call, pick someone up, or pop into a shop? If they're literally in and out in a few minutes, having to pay for an hour's parking is utterly ridiculous, especially when it's controlled by reg number so you can't even give the ticket to someone else.

AllyMcBeagle · 31/08/2018 13:56

I think it's fair enough. You broke the rules. You didn't have to park there. They need a strong deterrent to make sure people obey the rules.

And I agree with prh47bridge the law has changed and a lot of people are unaware. Here is a link to a brief easy to read summary of the Supreme Court's judgment:
www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2013-0280-press-summary.pdf

MrsMozart · 31/08/2018 13:58

You used a seevice. There was a charge for less than an hour. You didn't pay it.

pictish · 31/08/2018 14:01

You’re right but it doesn’t matter. The tariff was displayed and you chose to ignore it so you got fined...as described.

I agree with you but I wouldn’t do what you did. I wouldn’t want a fine. I could say ‘it was only three minutes’ till I was blue in the face and I’d still be fined. They don’t care if you were three minutes or an hour. They’ll fine you.

Do you understand now?

BarbaraofSevillle · 31/08/2018 14:01

Question for those people who are saying the OP should have paid, would they have also paid in the circumstances I described above, ie stopping in a mostly empty car park to pick someone up from the station, in and out in 5 minutes and not even leaving the car?

Without cameras, I don't think it would ever occur to anyone to pay in those circumstances. Why would you?

diddl · 31/08/2018 14:01

" Yes, I should have paid but I still think for less than 3 mins it’s unreasonable"

Well how bloody arrogant!

AllyMcBeagle · 31/08/2018 14:05

Question for those people who are saying the OP should have paid, would they have also paid in the circumstances I described above, ie stopping in a mostly empty car park to pick someone up from the station, in and out in 5 minutes and not even leaving the car?

I would pick them up elsewhere. Don't most stations normally have pick up/drop off points?

BarbaraofSevillle · 31/08/2018 14:08

Yes, but it is crammed with taxis and other people doing pick ups 90% of the time.

It's like the Arc de Triomphe Roundabout.

MrsMozart · 31/08/2018 14:11

Barbera Yes I'd pay. I'm not a goody goody but I pay for what I use.

passalongnow · 31/08/2018 14:13

Weirdly, I just received a parking fine this morning from ParkingEye.

You cannot speak to anyone on the phone, only pay. I sent in an appeal last week and they have just send a duplicate, no response to my points or copy bank statement sent showing where I shopped. I sent a receipt showing I shopped in the shop (Aldi) so was really puzzled. In the end, after crying (not feeling well this morning), I rang Aldi and asked them what to do. The problem was I spent over an hour in the car park. I thought the maximum was two! Still I have a blue badge and apparently (I didn't know that) I should get more time, so I am hoping the whole fine will be waived. Aldi were v understanding actually, I just hope they do waive it.

Still, it was quite stressful. Involved correspondence, phonecalls and emails. I always pay by card so I have proof as sometimes I lose the receipt (I did this time wouldn't you know!).

So:

  1. Be careful where you park.
  2. If you feel its unfair or you misunderstood, its worth pursuing.
  3. Sometimes you just have to pay up. I was fined last year on a space where you couldn't tell it was restricted parking - even the traffic warden couldn't see it - the sign was so obscured! I tried appealing and lost. I still think I was in the right! I know its crap, but sometimes you just have to put it down to experience....
BarbaraofSevillle · 31/08/2018 14:19

passalong. In the Aldi case, that's the best approach - ask Aldi to cancel the ticket. You've more chance of success that way than trying to get anywhere with Parking Eye. The fact that you have a disability so should be allowed more time and actually shopped there really helps your case. Good luck!

I did manage to win an 'unclear restricted parking appeal' though. I parked on what turned out to be private land at the end of a normal road but there were absolutely no signs or markings that parking was restricted or it was private land. I didn't know anything until I got the letter a couple of weeks later and then sent them a load of excerpts off Google Streetview to back up my case and never heard from them again.

Topseyt · 31/08/2018 14:24

Barbara, I would have agreed with you some time back and certainly can't say that I have never stopped and waited in the car for a couple of minutes to collect someone.

Not in the last couple of years though, as parking eye technology has really taken off. There is no point.

I guess I have grown quite used to this living near to Stansted Airport, which is the main transport hub around here (though it wasn't where I was when I got the fine). Number plate recognition everywhere around there and creeping in everywhere else too. You just can't take that chance any more. It can be a very costly mistake.

missbattenburg · 31/08/2018 14:29

It is what it is, you parked and didn't pay so have been fined instead. Not much to be done.

I agree that it is very frustrating and, among other things, is contributing to the downfall of the high street as it leaves such a bad feeling that you are less likely to go back.

I got a ticket for staying 10mins over my allotted time in a car park in Hastings. The rest of the park was totally empty and, as it was raining at the time, we were about the only people spending any money in town that day.

I paid the fine and accept it was my mistake, but I can't say I'd ever be that keen to go back to Hastings again. It's put me off.

prh47bridge · 31/08/2018 14:29

Question for those people who are saying the OP should have paid, would they have also paid in the circumstances I described above, ie stopping in a mostly empty car park to pick someone up from the station, in and out in 5 minutes and not even leaving the car

Yes. It isn't my land. If the owner is happy for me to use it free of charge that is a bonus. If not, I should either pay or not use their land.

I used to get really annoyed when people used to use some of my property as if it was a free public car park. Even more so when I challenged them and they acted as if it was their right to do so. It wasn't any kind of public car park but I often got the "I was only..." line, even when they had been parked there all evening (or, in one case, for several days). I don't live there any more but I believe the new owner has the same problem.

beeefcake · 31/08/2018 14:31

Is it a private company or council? If it's a private company then ignore it. There are some good threads on money saving expert on this.

I had one some time back and appealed it, which was a bad idea because they rejected it, and then they had my details.