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?

OP... I wouldn't reply to it at all. I've looked at the MSE site and, using any of the tactics on there, if you fail, the max. charge would be £410. That is cheaper than £700.

These lazy, greedy companies never bother to send their letters by recorded means so, how do they know you have received it? Ignore them.

Parking charge isn't a penalty charge (which you must pay).

Read the MSE website from the link from PP and decide for yourself. I have one going on from 2019, I wrote to them (recorded delivery) three times, outlining my case and then told them I wasn't going to respond. They keep sending it to random solicitors (who cant spell) - who then sell it on to other parking companies.

If you have a log burner these are useful letters.

Whatever you do, don't despair.

It is a Penalty Notice not a Parking Notice.
The owner of the car park is not the railway company.
Not expecting much sympathy from them especially as their earnings would have been minimal since the number of commuters dropped dramatically over the last year.

How awful.
I actively avoid using private car parks and would much rather use council run car parks.
I don’t like the fact we are monitored all the time either.

Just pay it is always my advice. I tried appealing the 'invoice' lost, overlooked it like an idiot and 2 months later.. CCJ. If I ever get one again I'll just bloody pay it.

If you’re on Facebook there’s a group for just such lovely items ; private parking notices.... depends who the land owner is. They can advise you as to whether you should pay up or not. Don’t ignore the notice to keeper if you get that, or letter from County Court regarding it, but that’s a long wait yet. Also Martin Lewis advises on these as well. Obviously if it’s your big standard council warden you have to pay them.

My dad had something like this, he went to a service station for a meeting and went 10 mins over the allowed free time.

He wrote to them offering to pay whatever the ticket price should have been, I think £10.

They never replied and he never heard from them again.

I've had quite a few of those! My advice would be to pay the £50 and buy your peace of mind. It's a lot of work to have them cancel it , if at all, and they can chase you for 4 years or so. Have you already got letters for other times that you parked there? If not, you only need to pay this £50. They have to send you a letter(Parking charge or Penalty Charge notice) within 14 days of you parking there . So if you haven't received any more, you are unlikely to get any more from before the 8th April. It is a pain and the government should really do something about these bullies. Wishing you all the best.

I've had a few of these from different places over the past few years. Probably four or five. Every single one has just gone away when I've ignored it. Though they have been for between 50 and 70 quid so I always figured no company will take you to court over that. £700 might be different. Also, not helpful but isn't it pretty standard that you pay to park at train stations?

These companies work for the land owner my gym has parking eye which has a notorious reputation .
Any tickets you get they cancel them .Parking eye do as the people who employ tell them.
Basically for what ever reason you parked in a carpark and didn't pay doubt they will cancel them you have used there carpark and not paid .

@Branster

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.

So glad you've re-read with a clearer mind OP and that it's £50, not £700! Hopefully, you can forgive yourself for such a small mistake, which is all it was, and have a nice relaxing evening :)

I run a Facebook car park charge appeal group. Sadly from what you’ve said it doesn’t sound like you have ground for appeal. There’s a very small chance that the signage isn’t up to spec but most train station carparks are run by one of the main outfits and normally have adequate signs.

This group on fb is probably the best for advice, chances are someone may know the actual car park. www.facebook.com/groups/fightyourprivateparkinginvoice

Definitely worth asking them nicely to reduce the amount you have to pay if you get a lot of tickets. Don’t follow any advice to ignore. It’s outdated advice. The firms are getting more militant at chasing people and I’ve seen a lot of people lately with county court judgements against them due to ignoring. Also seen people lose in court.

Oh this I feel so bad for you. I wouldn't call the company about the future potential charges though. I had one with the Dartford crossing. And I'd done the same crossing 3 months in a row without paying. I know I'm an idiot. It was a "oh best do that when I get home" type thing. Got fined for the first and didn't hear anything about the other 2.

You don't have grounds to dispute the charges, though? You parked there repeatedly and "vaguely noticed" the paying system, which means it was clearly visible but you just weren't paying attention.
I'm struggling to see why they'd retract the fines, everyone who parks there is subject to the same conditions and it wasn't a one off.

You need to ask them to send proof of you actually parked up, if it's just number recognition they don't have it.

@priccey

You need to ask them to send proof of you actually parked up, if it's just number recognition they don't have it.

@GreyhoundG1rl just sharing with the op what has worked for me against parking eye.

I don't understand the need for this anyway. Is it personal admin you are doing, or work?

Either way, why not do it at the office before you leave (or at the very least, in your car wherever it is already [presumably legally] parked near the office), rather than stopping in a random car park halfway home?

I don't see why people think it is relevant if you got out of the car or not, or if the car park was full or not though. They don't charge parking fees based on those factors; they charge for cars using the space (which covers maintenance costs etc), which you were doing.

If you'd e.g. got on the wrong train and were charged a penalty for not having the right ticket (but you had a ticket for the train you'd intended to get on), that would be reasonable to object to (I know you weren't getting on trains; this is just an analogy).

But you didn't even buy a ticket, so regardless of why you were using the car park, the penalty is reasonable (assuming they have followed rules on signage etc).

DH did a similar thing and called the parking company. He was polite and explained and ended up having to pay just one of the fines (the reduced amount) rather than three. Hopefully it will be the same for you.

Suggest finding somewhere else to do your work
Do the emails before you start driving
Or park somewhere 10 minutes from where you live
Lots of super markets & service stations have parking restrictions now

So glad you've re-read with a clearer mind OP and that it's £50, not £700! Hopefully, you can forgive yourself for such a small mistake, which is all it was, and have a nice relaxing evening smile

It's potentially £350 though.

OP, it happens to the best of us. I'm usually anal about parking (even when I take my disabled mum to her appointments I'm too nervous to park on single yellow lines her blue badge).

I completely missed a no entry sign recently, I think because my intention was only to park in the barking bay, not drive through the road.

£60 down the drain for a stupid moment!

These companies are seldom flexible. Ultimately it doesn’t matter how busy it was or how long you stayed, or even why, what you were doing, you were parked in a paid car park and didn’t pay. Write to them or call them (if that’s Even possible) to see if they will reduce, if not I think you need to just pay and accept it.

To every single one of you who took the time to reply, again, my heartfelt thanks.
Your support and advice is unbelievably helpful.
I absolutely was in the wrong by using a private carpark without following the rules.
The harshest lesson ever. I am utterly embarrassed and annoyed with myself for creating such a problem.

Not a very restful sleep last night so I was up unbelievably early to face the problem head on and read all the useful information shared on here.
I decided to pay the penalty charge at the reduced rate of £50 asap which I did this morning because
a)the fine cannot ever be disputed by me with a clear conscience, it was my responsibility to inform myself on restrictions or potential charges and actually buy a ticket so it had to be paid anyway
b)I simply could not have this hanging over my head when it had to he dealt with correctly

Assuming no previous fines were issued, I wrote down what the maximum future fines I might get. A further 7 days when I used the car park but no idea for how long, maximum 15-20min but I cannot be certain. So I'd have 7 more letters and 7 more £50 payments.

Total potential damage if my assumptions were correct: £400 🤕

Next step, I went back to the scene of the crime and looked at every single notice. You can even pay your parking by 3AM after you left the carpark. Or pay onsite with coins, by phone, by RingGo, get a weekly or monthly pass any method is available and convenient. Zero excuses for not paying per use. Every T&C in the world is available to read on various boards in small writing, lots of paragraphs. I Read the lot.

Good news: 20 min free parking so that should help.

I then called the parking notices company and spoke to a very helpful person. I told him the absolute truth and asked if there is any way he could find out if I overstayed 20min since the date of my offence or if there was anything prior to that date for which I haven't received the letter yet. I confirmed I went back to read every notice board and I am aware I am liable for penalties and I am trying to establish how many offences I have committed so that I can budget for the fines and also so that I can actually breath properly because this giant unknown is stressful and I need to face up to my mistakes.

Well, it turns out that there are no more penalty notices for me!!!

It's a new system they are still testing so they don't issue fines running alongside each other. Only 1 penalty per vehicle within the due date period or until paid whichever is earliest. So my first penalty charge was issued and until that is paid or the deadline passes, no new penalty charges would be created for the same vehicle. In my case, if I was to go back today as I've paid now, and stay over 20min then I'd get a new letter with a new fine. If I went back today without having paid, then no new letter. A bit bizzare but most certainly in my favour.

For context, for those who asked, I work for myself and the time spent in my car was arranging my schedule and meetings for my other clients from the messages received during the day. The office itself belongs to one particular client and whilst there I don't deal with matters related to other clients because I'm on their money and it wouldn't be right. I also wouldn't stay over in their small carpark because I feel it wouldn't send the right signal.
I would feel uncomfortable parking in a residential road as it feels like intruding.
Main roads are mostly yellow lines otherwise busy and noisy.
No supermarkets on my route.
This was what I felt to be the safest option without getting in the way of anyone. Obviously I was very, very misguided in my choice.

Simplest way from now on will be just ride out the chaos and be more resilient to interruptions at home and actually not deal with any messages until late at night when the house is quiet.

I really need head space every now and then after the crazy year that's been with everyone on top of each other.

I have been through a mental rollercoaster since yesterday afternoon but I'm relieved to be able to put this to lesson learned category.

And I would have been a complete mess without your very helpful messages.
Thank you!

Oh, that's good news

That is fantastic news 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

PS I was parked there for 23min. I don't earn £50/23min to even make this an even earning extravagance 😔

PPS I mentally realised over night I can do an eBay sale to make up for my stupid £50 loss but wouldn't be able to reach £350-£400 this way