Please help me beat this bloody unfair

[lilyboleyn]

…parking ticket. Because I don’t have £60 to pay it, much less the £100 they’ll charge if I make an appeal and it fails.

car park recently changed ownership. New signs up. I buy a ticket on Ringo as usual.

except, instead of being Regent Park 221 it’s now Regent Park 345 or something like that, and so they say I don’t have a legitimate parking ticket.

technically I’m wrong because I didn’t check the code was right, I just used the same one as usual.

morally I’m right because I bought a bloody ticket.

if I appeal, are they likely to fail it? Money is so tight at the moment, I’m scared to risk it but also I can’t afford to lose £60 when I paid to park!

I did the initial ‘appeal to car park owner’ but that was declined so now it can only go to the independent people.

please help me figure out what to do.

I would be tempted to contact RingGo and complain that they accepted your money for parking in a car park that in effect doesn't exist, and that should not have been possible.

Do you have evidence of the payment made? If it is for the wrong car park at the same time as they have you parked in the right one, it would be reasonable for them to recognise your inadvertent mistake and waive the fine.

There's a bundle of free resources on the Internet to help appeal pcn. I don't drive a car these days so I can't help on which is best but am sure MN will advise. If not I'd start with Which, citizen Advice and maybe money saving expert.

Good luck

Yes, I have proof of the ticket I bought, it’s the same name for the car park, just the number is different.

Hi

If the change was recent and you can prove you was a regualt user, ie once a week at least for x years and had never used the other car park - they may agree as long as you have the evidence of paying for the other car park

so of these outfits do answer the phone as when we went to Borunmemouth last year I could not understand if we had paid for 48 hours or what they were very helpful

You're wrong.

You didn't buy a ticket for the car park you were in. You did not pay to park there.

A costly lesson to check what you're reading.

If let them take you to court and fight it there.

Ask yourself how much mental and emotional energy you're willing/are able to expend on this. It's a shame it happened, but you did make the mistake so perhaps paying the fine and being done with it is worth the £60. It's not a mistake you'll make again.

The old pepipoo forum fighting back against parking tickets no longer exists but try this one for advice

https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/

Do you get your receipts emailed to you from Ringo? I'd email the latest receipt back that has the different location with a few previous receipts that show the same car park and explain.

I hope they waive the fine. I park in a Ringo car park every day for work and I have never thought to keep checking the location number either!

We had exactly this parking at Battersa Park.

From memory (and it was some time ago, so may have changed).

The count down to pay pauses when you raise an appeal.

If you don't receive a response to the appeal within a certain number of days, the ticket expires and you don't have to pay.

The council didn't respond in the set time, so the ticket expired, and we never heard about it again.

I am so sorry this happened to you...
I feel your pain as similar happened to me once when a two hour parking bay changed to one hour and I hadn't realised. Despite appealing, I had to pay the fine. These companies are utter bastards, handing out their tickets of misery. You have my sympathy.

You've already received good advice but could you also explain the impact this fine would have on you? Also, stress that you park there regularly and always pay. Yes, you are in the wrong but it is a technicality. Good luck!

But as I understand it, the OP didn't buy a ticket for, like, the car park round the corner instead of the one they were in. That would be their mistake, certainly. They bought a ticket for the car park that had until very recently occupied the exact same physical space that the 'new' car park occupies - and the old one therefore no longer exists. I would argue that this should not be possible to do, since in RingGo accepting the payment a contract was formed, which clearly couldn't be fulfilled since the service being paid for did not exist.

Very harsh and uncessary IMO

What if op had been using the car park regularly for years, ie many times a month for a long time and was in a rush and did not note the change - it can happen I guess - FYI its not happened to us as we don't use any car par regualalry so always check

I’ve done this. Bought a ticket for X street car park when I should have bought one for X street. I challenged it and they waived the ticket with a comment they wouldn’t do it again. The clock stops when you start your appeal so get it in quickly.

Go on Martins money or one of the many Facebook groups for advice.

Am in similar position - my parking app updated and reverted to one of my old cars as default, so I paid for parking for a car I no longer own and got fined on the one I do. I’m really annoyed, but I think in my situation I need to suck it up. Yours is slightly different though, so might be worth trying to appeal.

It's not your fault, and so easily done (it's a lesson to us all).

But personally I would pay £60 and put it to bed, because of the £100 risk.

The problem is these companies have got you by the neck and they're utter bastards.

I know how hard it is to swallow 😭

There was a case recently in our local news about a man who had a disabled family member who always parked in the same carpark for good access. One day the ticket machine wasn't working properly and he paid, but had no ticket. It still went to court.

Shit situation, but do you need that stress.

Join the fbook group fight your private parking invoice.

Does that carpark number exist anywhere for Ringo?

When you enter the number in does it say 'xyz car park is at ABC location'? So does your receipt give the correct address?

What notice / warning did they give to change numbers?

Tbh out of principle, I'd want to appeal.

I'm not sure you're going to get anywhere tbh. I don't use Ringo a lot but whenever I go in on the first screen it gives me it the option to immediately click on last/recent parking and if you had done that you shouldn't have had to put in any number? Then the next screen does have a box at the end reminding you to check that location code matches where you think you are parking. Which makes me think you are not the first person to have parked in a kind of auto state but then realised it was the wrong location.

Step one is to talk to whatever shop it was that you were visiting when you parked. They might be able to get it over turned as they don't want to lose your custom.

If that doesn't work go to the MSE website parking forum and they will tell you how to deal with it. Be warned there's a few twonks on there but essentially there's a few things you do and then you wait to get papers saying they are taking you to court which you need to submit. And normally they will cancel the court hearing shortly before it's going to happen as they don't have a solicitor or the balls to take any action.

Parking tickets, fines & parking — MoneySavingExpert Forum

fyi - a lot of the cases are won on the fact that the signs are not clear about what needs to be done, they can't be seen as they are 15 feet above the ground and small print or sometimes there'll be different signs that give different instructions. Always go to MSE for further instructions.

This happened to me on the day of my DD's graduation. I used ringo and selected where I thought I was but I was X avenue and I paid for X street. Appealed and it was cancelled with an on this occasion type message. I would appeal it. Good luck.

Is it a private parking company? Do not pay. Search the internet for how to appeal a private parking ticket, and there are facebook groups that can help you too. They explain how the process works, but you need to follow that process to get results.