To think parking fines don’t affect my credit rating or driving license?

[NameyMcNameChange1]

I don’t pay for parking in the car parks in my local town as (at the moment at least!) the traffic warden only visits our town twice a month. Once a month on the same day and once a month on a possibly random day (there may be a pattern but I haven’t worked it out yet). So I pay for one parking fine a month at £25 if I pay immediately, which I do. If I were to buy a ticket daily it would cost around £120 per month or an annual ticket would be £60 per month. I live in a tourist area though and can’t guarantee a space from about June-September so it still doesn’t really pay for itself.

The fact I don’t pay for parking tickets drives dh mad. He’s convinced it’s affecting my credit rating despite me showing him lots of evidence that it only does if I don’t pay on time. He also thinks the council automatically apply to the DVLA to get my details once a ticket is issued and this will get flagged up by them at some point. I can’t find any indication anywhere that they either do or don’t do this but I’d assume they only do this if I don’t pay so they need to chase it up. But even if they do it’s not actually an offence so it’s not an issue.

Unless I’m missing something and I’m about to lose my license or credit rating. Has anyone got any idea if there’s any truth in what dh is saying? I don’t park in disabled bays or illegally at all, I just don’t buy a ticket in the council car park.

I would do the same as you, OP. Most councils are corrupt as fuck and the issue is why they don't have enough money anyway. I can't do it near my work as they tow after a few hours

It’s an old fashioned traffic warden where they stick it on the window so you know straight away if you’ve got a fine. Considering there’s an open Facebook account listing where he is I think there’s a good chance he’s going to change where he is this week.

My sister spotted this thread and immediately text me to ask if it was me then sent me a link to the FB page. Doink. I might just have a trawl through what I’ve posted under this username and make sure I haven’t been bitching about her (just joking sis, honest).

How about cycling - a 25 minute walk is less than 10 on a bike, free to park and saves petrol costs plus the fines.

So what will you do in tourist season then, if there's no available spaces and you insist on 'free' parking?

don't complain when your local library/swimming pool/children's centre/youth club shuts down or your bins aren't emptied or the toilets are vandalised and not repaired or the graffiti isn't cleaned up etc

Where I am,
"Any profit made from parking, moving traffic or bus lane penalties once the cost of providing, managing and enforcing on-street parking have been deducted must be used by law to fund off street parking or any of the following:
public passenger transport services
highway improvement works
highway maintenance
the cost of anything that has the approval of the Mayor of London and which facilitates the implementation of the Mayor's transport strategy."
according to the council website.

So the council failing to provide libraries, swimming pools, children's centres or youth clubs isn't much to do with it, nor failing to collect dustbins nor mending vandalised toilets nor cleaning up graffiti, since none of those is transport-related.

Just don't complain about the potholes they don't fill in!

So according to most here, it's not ok for op to deprive council of potential funds. But, there's no guarantee of a space June - Sept. If I had paid for an annual pass and couldn't park for 3 months, I'd be pissed off. So I actually think the op might as well carry on as she is, for the time being!

You are right dh is wrong. I couldn't live like this paying fines instead of charges but its nit a morality thing. All the people thinking you are depriving the poor council shoukd check out councillors salaries, benefits, junkets, nicely refitted offices, silly flexitime that means they do bog all work and crushing inefficiencies which means more overpaid bureaucrats with gold plated pensions ate needed to administer the cost cutting measures.

Im not basing this rant on much so i apologise im happy to be told im wrong and why. In my area i walk past a swanky recently refitted council property and their meeting suite (marked meetings only no customer enquiries) take new deliveries of jammie dodgers and those marshmallow topped 'tea cake' biscuits every day. But to be fair they are always filling in potholes. Mind you my city's homeless problems are out of control. Not sure that can be the council's fault!!

anniehm I have considered cycling but it’s a pretty tough hill. It would work in the mornings (in fact would probably be quicker than driving) but it would be close in the afternoons but possibly doable if I could get a lot fitter. The walk consists of going down/up 200 odd steps so it’s a steep cycle back!

yunalis my job is term time only so I’ll hopefully be able to get a space as I miss the worst of the parking chaos in the school holidays. Tbh I don’t think my getting one ticket a month will be viable by then, I’m pretty sure they’re a lot stricter about parking tickets in the summer. I don’t have a plan for them as yet. It’s my first year in this job so there will probably be a bit of trial and error with various different ways to get to work.

Even though the whole area is complaining that it’s ridiculous the council are insisting on trialling their scheme for a full year to see if it increases revenue.

Huge drip feed there OP, if your motivation is to protest the changes brought in by the council to parking, then that gives a totally different perspective

I am genuinely amazed at how many people think it’s morally wrong though Wow. You are not paying for something you are using - ie stealing. And you are amazed that people think that's wrong.

Whether or not you agree with the parking charges and council really makes no difference. Plenty of things people don't agree with but are the law so we just suck it up.

youare sorry I didn’t mean to drop feed! I was unaware that other people were doing it until my sister showed me a page on FB yesterday. There’s a list of when and where the traffic wardens are and also lots of talk of doing a large scale ‘stay and no pay’. The protest isn’t something I’m involved with at all, I just didn’t want to pay for parking

nesssie is it actually the law? It could be, I don’t know! Tbh I don’t think of it as stealing - in my book it’s about the same level of naughtiness as getting fined for taking your kids out of school for a holiday. Obviously a lot of people think differently but I just can’t bring myself to feel guilty for not paying for parking in this situation.