Unreasonable parking fine

[Needingadvice2023]

I am so cross. I have received a fine from the National Parking Control for £60.

I paid for 30 minutes on the Ringo app and they said I was on the car park for 30 minutes and 16 seconds. It just feels criminal that they can do this. I have appealed with photo evidence of the Ringo app payment and they have declined with no explanation. I have escalated the appeal.

AIBU to hold my nerve as I can't believe this fine will be upheld in court?

Has this happened to anyone else and did you appeal and succeed?

I get an email confirmation from RingGo that states the end time of the parking I've paid for. Did you get one?

if you appeal it stops the clock on the charge so you don’t pay more than the cheaper charge if there is one

I won against Parking Eye. Accused me of leaving the site, only had photos and the word of their warden (who I didn't see, so clearly made no effort to stop me if he believed I was leaving on foot). I didn't leave the site as I used the shop but had no receipt and paid in cash, so they rejected my appeal. I knew they would and was just waiting for my POPLA code, to be honest!

I looked at Money Saving Expert and Pepipoo forums. Also try Googling "name of car park + PCN + appeal" and you might get more examples from people who have been successful in the same circumstances as you, in the same car park.

The best advice I read was don't rely on one point alone, e.g. only challenging the extra 16 seconds. Look for other points to raise that they will have to defend - was signage clear? Was it at a height at which you could easily read it? Was everything that should be on the PCN included - there are certain pieces of information they have to include for it to be valid?
I think that's maybe partly why I won - Parking Eye didn't even dispute it, they had a certain time period to upload their evidence/argument against me and halfway into that time period withdrew the PCN. It's time consuming to put together, but worth it.

Also - DO NOT PAY THEN DISPUTE! This advice is wrong, POPLA actually state, when you appeal that if you've already paid any amount they cannot recoup the money for you even if they find in your favour.

This is what POPLA sent to me when my PCN was cancelled, so definitely don't pay anything now!

Please ignore this advice.

It's not possible to pay and then appeal. You have to do one or the other. If you make payment, you accept liability.

What of you had been queueing to get out. My local waitrose car park is a Ringo one and quite often you can be stuck trying to get out of there for upto half an hour. Luckily it doesn't have cameras.

You have to activate this in many cases and it may cost you money eg text message reminders with some virtual parking platforms cost between 10p and 30p.

Ignore statements that it ‘isn’t a fine but an invoice’

But it isn’t a fine. Private companies cannot issue fines. It’s a “parking charge notice”.

No OP don't do this 😂

Appeal it

If it's not from the Council or Police I'd fight it

First rule is, don't admit to being the driver

Admit to being the owner but not the driver on the day

I got out of a £70 invoice this way

You have to activate this in many cases and it may cost you money eg text message reminders with some virtual parking platforms cost between 10p and 30p.

That's true. You should still be able to see session history in the RingGo app. I can see all times I've paid for for the last 8 months.

I agree with the point that they've left you no time to find a parking space or drive to the exit afterwards.

Is there a local FB where other people may have experienced the same issue? When a new parking system came to my town multiple people had issues with it which made it a lot easier to sort out. Might make you feel less stressed to know you arent alone.

You paid for 30 minutes parking. Assuming you are one of the 75% reasonable drivers, you would have carefully reversed out of your parking space, driven at under 10mph to the car park exit, and stopped before moving onto the highway. Which would have taken more than 16 seconds.

So it is factually incorrect to levy a parking charge.

Gone to court for 3 of these fines, won everytime. DO NOT PAY. Appeal, keep appealing. No way this would rule against you. So many Facebook groups for it too.

Been through loads of these. Dont admit you were the driver, do a SARs.

Over is over. Where do you draw the line?
It will be automated not some wee man in an office judging every case.
I always get more than I need just in case. Also if you are tight for time you can top up on the app.

Definitely appeal, you're entitled to a grace period.

Totally incorrect advice. Do not ignore it.

Does it tell you, anywhere in the carpark or in the app, that you are paying for the TOTAL time spent in the carpark, from entering to exiting?

If not then you have fair grounds to appeal - reasonably, you would expect to be in the carpark for longer than just the time spent with the vehicle parked and empty, because you have to get in there, find a space, park in it - and get out of the space and leave the carpark at the end. If there were lots of people entering or exiting, that time could be much longer than your 16 seconds!

Which is an irrelevant statement

Under the legal definition in the UK it is not a ‘fine’ until endorsed in court.
Old advice was that private parking companies can only produce an invoice and they were rarely enforced. But with successful enforcement in court, based on suitable signage, proper processes and reasonable amounts they can and are enforced in court.

Under the general English language of the definition of a fine as a penalty they are fines/penalties under the terms and conditions displayed

So they aren’t immediately legally enforceable fines at the point of issue, but follow the process through to court and they can become a legally enforceable fine

She's already appealed and had the appeal rejected

@tommika thank you for the links. I have escalated to the next appeal and have also send an email to the company asking them exactly what I am being charged for and also asked for a copy of their cameta calibration certificate and a copy of their terms and conditions. I have tried to call them 10 times for clarification and despite the voice mail promising a call back they are yet to call. I will keep all logs as evidence that I have tried to resolve this.

I am thinking of contacting the local paper to highlight this problem and contacting the company who owns the car park.

That has to be a joke post - or an employee of National Parking Control.

I parked in a car park in the Lake District recently and there were very clear signs saying that your parking had to cover the time you entered the car park to the time you left, not just the time your were parked. Was there anything like that?