Parking fines - I've been so stupid

[Branster]

I’m not sure where to post this, not a strictly AIBU thread (I know I am BU as far as rules go) but I’m desperate for some sensible advice and maybe a glimmer of hope.

I’ll try and describe my situation in a rational manner. It might not be a big deal for some people but it is for me.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been partly working away from home driving to an office at various times of the day.
I got in the habit of stopping on the way back home to clear my messages, catch up on urgent calls and do minor paperwork in my car - nice and quiet, no distractions, no weird people walking by etc - before returning home where I wouldn’t get the chance to finish these tasks before 10-11PM. Clear the head sort of thing so I’m ready for doing the full on evening house duty ‘shift’. Like a lot of people, I am at the limit being in a constantly occupied house all the time without any quiet time with zero interruptions. So grabbing a short period of time to get rid of outstanding little work tasks like this does help me be a better person in the evenings at home.

So I stop in a very safe, nearly empty secondary train station car park which has this car number plate recognition parking system which I vaguely noticed. I assumed if I stop just for a little bit and stay in my car I should be OK and didn’t even consider getting a ticket (Not exactly a ticket, it’s a pay system of some sort). Technically I was using the car park but not in the traditional sense of leaving the car there. Who am I kidding?! I was using the car park. Even though it was a stopovers.
Breaks on average between 10-30min max.

Today I got home to an £85 penalty notice dated 8th April. In theory this should be the first fine, maybe I didn’t stop there before that date or maybe there is a grace period of 15min or so and I didn’t stop for too long prior to this date or maybe earlier dated letters are yet to arrive.
If this was the first recorded breach of parking rules, I might get another 7-8 penalty notices, not sure, including today. Nearly £700, potentially. That’s an awful lot of money to me especially when I haven’t budgeted for it and when it doesn’t even benefit anyone in practical terms.

I’m so, so cross with myself for being so negligent and incredibly stupid and I am at a loss as to what I can do to limit the damage.
I know these tickets can be disputed within a certain amount of time. I’d need to wait at least another week to get all the letters and try to write a dispute for all of them in one go on the basis of what exactly, other than utter stupidity.

My first thought was to try and call the company issuing the tickets first thing tomorrow morning to get the total number of offences from them and to tell them the truth and ask if there is any way of reducing the fines.

I can’t think straight, I am in a right mood about it and I feel like the biggest idiot on the planet. I feel like crying with anger at myself (and a bit of self pity).

I can’t ask anyone in RL for advice, I am very embarrassed. I never park illegally on the road and never even got a speeding ticket, I’m always do careful and mindful of consequences and I’ve just failed in a spectacular way.

It is a lot of money, potentially. I would agree to pay 1 fine of £85 in the context of my predicament. Has anyone got any practical advice, experience in this sort of thing? How can I argue my case against all these fines which will be pouring in soon?

I do not know the answer to this but I do think it’s desperately sad that we live in a society with electronic surveillance like this, used to punish a law abiding citizen for pulling over for a few mins to sort stuff out. I really doubt she took the last free space in this car park. She wasn’t harming anyone and could hardly be considered to be “using” the car park (as in parking there, getting on a train, returning hours later). Life is like this in modern Britain though.

Here's a good guide in plain English. Always worth having a go. Presumably, it was emptyish and you didn't deprive any other drivers of a space.

I appealed and won one of these charges. Look up the name of the site and 'parking charges' as you may find some useful advice. My appeal was against a notorious car park so lots of tips and copies of successful appeal letters I could borrow from.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets/

DD did something similar, looked like she would get about 5 fines but she paid quickly when the first one came and no more came through so we can only assume that there was some sort of leniency.

No advice, but you have my sympathy OP. I once got caught by an automatic camera thingy when I waited in a tube station car park to collect DD & her friends. It was late at night and they had been drinking. My main concern was their and my safety, so I just didn't stop and think that I was "parking". Expensive mistake to make.

Was it dark when you parked? Was it clearly stated what the parking charges were? Does it specify how long you have before getting charged? I would go back there and have a look and take photos of your passage through. If for example at night you can't see any signage you have cause to refuse, signage hidden in the distance etc etc..

Also if it not an official packing notice and from a private company you don't have to pay it. They will continue to send demand letters and such but you still don't have to pay it. The biggest issue is they can affect your credit score so its better to just fight it from the start.

Please do what PP have said and consult the moneysavingexpert forums on this subject. The posters there really know their stuff. They've helped me with silly stuff (getting a ticket for accidentally putting a '0' instead of an 'O' in as my number plate, parking in a shopping car park to use just the bank machine - I know, seriously). Check that and post your same post on there if you're unsure before you do ANYTHING else. It's really important. There's no hurry to act this second so have a look on there. Many private companies are cowboys, they really are. It's ridiculous to have to pay £85 to sit in your car for 15 minutes, when you actually think about it. So don't beat yourself up.

I feel for you OP, but it could be so much worse. I have a friend who lost her driving licence a while ago as she was caught by the same speed camera several times over a couple of days. She was doing in the region of 40mph and the limit had recently been reduced to 30mph, she just didnt realise.
She actually lost her community care job as she no longer had a driving licence.
Life is shit sometimes, I hope you win the lottery this week.

You shouldn't be parking in that car park. You knew it too.

Helpful.

If it was an ANPR system at a train station car park, I don’t think the OP will have much hope of getting let off with it, frankly. She can try contacting them to explain but from their side, they will see someone repeatedly using the car park without paying and they will have heard every excuse in the book.

DO NOT IGNORE IT! Anyone suggesting this course of action is totally wrong and I personally wouldn’t risk racking up more fines and charges because some random has decided to impart outdated information.

Try pepipoo, but be prepared to pay the tickets.

@MintyMabel

You shouldn't be parking in that car park. You knew it too.

Helpful.

And sanctimonious.

Ouch op that’s a expensive mistake , I’ve paid these and appealed loads of these for my job at the company I work .
First thing is appeal straight away put everything in the evidence etc. Even if the appeal is rejected you will still be able to pay the 50% reduction. They may agree a figure if you are lucky or cancel if your even luckier.
Worst case scenario you have to pay 7 fines at 50% reduction so £350 instead of £700 still expensive but lesson learned.

Ouch OP, that is so frustrating and I’m not surprised you are upset. I sometimes think these things are worse when you’ve only got yourself to blame. There is no one else to be mad at. 😭😭😭

Like a previous poster said everyone does dumb things sometimes. It just happens. There is no need to beat yourself up over it. Car parks rake in zillions of pounds from fines so that’s a LOT of people making similar silly mistakes. It’s just unfortunate that yours might be more than one ticket.

I’d look on pepipoo like other posters have suggested. There is a lot of out of date advice given about parking tickets.

It’s too early just now but one day this will hopefully just be a funny story you tell at dinner parties. Might be a few years before that happens though. 😔

Fingers crossed it ends up just being the one ticket.

@aiwm yep...

Go on MSE as suggested. There is a detailed process to follow to challenge parking charges from private entities. I have successfully challenged some following their advice.

have a look at this group on facebook www.facebook.com/groups/426233990873672
for help appealing if you don't want to do through the DIY route

How awful! That is completely something I would do! Can you write a pleading letter? Is there a phone number you can ring? Good luck with it! xxx

@MintyMabel

You shouldn't be parking in that car park. You knew it too.

Helpful.

Yep.

Oh no. This happened to a friend who didnt realise they had parking cameras - smart sort of set up. Fines came through nearly three months later (they had used carpark daily) stupid I know. They appealed and agreed an amount to pay that was much less that half the amount

OP, I parked in a clinic car park that also had number plate recognition... I was waiting in my car while my dad went into his appointment. I had been there for over an hour but didn't get out of my car. Like you I got a ticket for around £80. Definitely don't ignore this, but DO write to them, whether that be immediately, or until you see if more fines arrive. When I wrote to them, once I explained I was 'just waiting' in my my car (and politely asked them to check the CCTV) they waived the fine straight away. If they can see you didn't actually 'park' there, getting on a train or going shopping you could end up with a positive outcome. Just write to them and tell them what you have told us on here. I don't wish to give a false sense of security here, but seeing as you weren't actually abusing the car park, but getting off the main road for safety, I think you have a good case. I think this is laughable really- who in their right mind would expect you to pay up, even the first payment, for just popping in and not even getting out of your car? Makes my blood boil.

So you’ve breached the contract you made when entering the car park by not paying. What they are chasing you for is contract breach, so it’s a civil issue and requires them to take you to court if you refuse to pay.

People Will tell you to ignore it and you don’t have to pay it. That’s not strictly true. Parking companies often won’t bother chasing up someone who ignores a parking notice and for many it’s worth the risk of ignoring but if you’ve done this multiple times it is more worth their while taking you to court to get you to pay up. There have been more and more cases of parking companies taking people to court and winning and the law is generally on their side.

You’ll read online multiple Stories of how people escaped these charges but it’s getting harder to do so it’s really not worth it.

I’d wait to see if you get other ones through and if you do then contact them to negotiate a reduction. What they charge has to be fair and proportionate and you may be able to negotiate a reduction by suggesting £700 is not a dose or proportionate cost.

But don’t listen to internet randoms. Even me.

Oh, what a sickening pain. Definitely consult the MSE forum. It's quite scary (more so than AIBU by a mile) but they know their stuff. I had a fine (or invoice as they insist you refer to it) and mine went all the way to the small claims court but thanks to the advice on there the judge found in my favour.

Signage is a big thing so definitely worth looking into - I would go and take some photos as there are a lot of rules that have to be adhered to, despite what posters here say, and if the company haven't met some of them it will be an issue for the judge.

I would post on MSE straight away as they will advise you whether it's worth fighting.

My SiL did this in a supermarket.
She was having work done on her drive so left her car there overnight every night for a week.
When the first fine arrived, she completely panicked knowing there would be another 6 or 7 on the way.
She went into the supermarket in tears, explained what had happened and asked for pity. The store manager got them all cancelled by saying they had given her permission to use it.

I’d go and ask a member of staff whether they could contact the firm for you and ask for the tickets to be voided. I know the circumstances are slightly different and it’s a long shot but surely worth a try.

Oh I feel your pain OP. Please don't beat yourself up over an honest mistake. I hope you are not issued any more notices but if worst comes to worst, I hope you can challenge them successfully.
You really don't deserve such a costly punishment for a genuine error. Best of luck to you.

@WiseUpJanetWeiss

Is it a Penalty Charge Notice or a Parking Charge Notice?

If it’s the former you’ll have to pay up. If it’s the latter you may be able to dispute it. Ask Pepipoo for help, as linked above but put your hard hat on. They make AIBU look like a church coffee morning.

This is the most important comment on here .

I cannot thank every single one of you enough for all your replies.
The voice of reason, clarity, encouragement and understanding.
Thank you very, very much for every one of your comments.

The car park itself has around 200-250 parking spaces and every time I went there the number of cars parked was between 3 and 7 at the most. There ate two other car parks for the railway station, the main one usually about 1/3rd full, the other with around 20 cars. Covid times! Parking restrictions on all neighbouring streets and this seemed the least intrusive option to my mind. Nobody bothers me and I don't bother anyone.
There are a couple of signs with a lot of words of various sizes but you'd need to go near to read properly.
In my stupid mind, a cursory look, I simply thought it's OK I'm here for a very short time so don't need to worry it doesn't apply to me and I certainly didn't appreciate how the CCTV system operates. I'd have happily paid the whatever charge was required (£5, £7??) for guaranteed silence and not being disturbed just to be able to concentrate quickly and exit with a clear mind. But I thought surely I don't need to worry, I'm not obstructing anything and I'm not leaving the car on its own. I looked at it as sitting on a bench in a park.
Obviously I was greatly mistaken as the car park itself is someone's land, not a public park.
Wether my use of it it's costing the owners as much as they claim it's debatable but they own it so can do what they like.
I definitely don't want this dragging through the courts and I wouldn't refuse to pay if I have to.

Thank you for the links and advice, I shall read them with a clearer mind in the morning.

On a positive note, I've just read the entire letter front and back and if I pay within 14 days the charge is £50. So the post illustrating the total damage around £350 was correct.
£350 is better than £700 but a few hours ago I didn't dream of paying even £50 for taking advantage of sitting in my car in a nearly empty and safe car park to clear my head.

I cannot stress enough how helpful every single reply on here has been. I am truly grateful. Thank you very, very much.