Parking ticket fine

[Girlinblue]

So me and my partner went for a meal on Saturday 28th September. We bought a pay and display ticket for 2 hours and were there for 1 and a half hours. We received a letter yesterday which is a £60 fine, I appealed it this morning and sent a picture of the pay and display ticket plus a screen shot of the transaction on my bank statement.

The appeal has been rejected because it is computer generated and there is no payment against my reg plate. The rejection email states there may have been a “keying error” which I am assuming that means maybe I entered my reg plate incorrectly. I can’t find any number to call them to explain. The fact of the matter is that I paid for that parking. I am now being charged £80. I want to explain to someone that if they check their system they will see a reg plate the same as mine but maybe off by 1 letter or number because I must have hit the wrong key or something.

What’s should I do in this situation? Do I just admit defeat and pay £80 for a ticket that I actually already paid for, or would I get anywhere if I kept pushing back and didn’t pay it? I just don’t think it’s fair for me to be charged this when my car had a ticket in it for the duration of my stay and I haven’t done anything wrong apart from human error, but still paid! Does anyone have any advice and know how on earth I contact euro car parks? My fine was £60 but because I appealed it they’ve added another £20 as an admin charge 😢 I don’t have the money and feel like this is very unfair

They should offer you a £20 fee if it's a keying error.
Have they done this in the rejection letter?
Please take a look at the FB page 'challenge your parking fine' or MSE for guidance. You'll need to upload a picture of the letter minus your personal details.

No don't pay! People get pressured into paying because it was 'their error'. Well no, the terms presumably stated that if you park there without a ticket you will get a parking charge notice (not a fine, not particulaly enforcable) not that you will get one if you make a mistake on your registration number. The system shouldn't have accepted a 1 letter reg anyway. Appeal through Popla. You had a ticket, you've provided proof of that. They are just hoping you just suck it up and pay it and that's how these companies operate.

Op if you remember keying in the whole ref then you should appeal again, lots of info on moneysavingexpert as pp have said, also have a read of this:

www.popla.co.uk/case-studies/keying-error

There are other examples of cases on there too, and these are the people who handle the cases with appeals and disputes.

The company would need to prove their machine definitely wasn't faulty and that you only keyed in one letter to continue this. Personally I'd fight it!

Some poor information here, especially from @BlaiseBaileyFinneganiii .

OP you don't have to pay it. Do as I said before and get over to MSE. The parking scammers have suffered zero loss because you paid in full so demanding £60 is ridiculous and utterly disproportionate. Complain to your MP and complain to the MP in whose constituency this occurred. The sooner these former-clampers-turned-rogue-parking-companies are put out of business, the better.

Appeal as detailed above.

Parking charges and fines and some of the unscrupulous behaviour by owners of car parks are the real war on the motorist. There should be laws put in place about charging for parking to stop such practices.

I recently appealed a mid entry of my number plate and won . I said that even though I had made a mistake they had been paid for that vehicle and they had not made a financial loss . They let
me off , but not to do it again .

Great advice on here. I've not used it but there's also a Facebook Group - Challenge your Parking Invoice that helps a lot of people out this absolute racket.

Like a PP said, more people need to stand up this bullying.

Facebook link -

Challenge your Parking Invoice

That's what I did too, through advice on online forums! They said to appeal on multiple points as many companies won't bother to defend multiple, time-consuming argument, however make sure they are relevant and legitimate points. There were lots of good examples which I put into my own words, and the company cancelled the fine.
It took me some time to compile, but worth it in the end.

It’s a parking charge notice not a fine.

I would suggest joining the facebook group “fight your private parking invoice” for help and advice. That group seems to help a lot of people.

I have significant professional experience in this area. You may not like my advice but that doesn't make it incorrect.

You will not get a parking charge rescinded if you entered the registration incorrectly. OP agreed to the terms and conditions when she parked on private land. Parking Eye are a legitimate company enforcing a contractual obligation.

Have a look at Martin Lewis's website - there's a very good section in his forum about these parking fines. Look at the Newbie section first.

ETA I see that someone else has already suggested this. I got very good advice there.

…and also legally obligated to adhere to their ish code of practice, which in the case, they are not.

@Girlinblue I'd be tempted to go back (on foot) and buy the cheapest ticket you can. if it still prints it wrong then thousands of people will have had this problem. Take it to your MP

Your "significant professional experience in this area" would seem to contradict the people on MSE who get such charges rescinded every day. Parking Eye are at best a disreputable organisation. You only have to read the Parking boards on MSE to see that their name is mud.

The OP may have entered their registration incorrectly but whether or not s/he did, Parking Eye suffered no monetary loss. Sounds like you work for them.

But people are managing to get out of paying these charges which they would not be able to do if they were lawful. They are not.

The parking companies wouldn't rescind a charge if their PO boxes were on fire. The only way to combat them is to make their incompetence and greed as uncomfortable and time-consuming (for them) as possible. Fortunately, they are rather stupid as an industry.

OP... do NOT be bullied. I don't care who tells you that the charge won't be rescinded, you can fight this off.

No, I don't now and have never worked for Parking Eye or any other company of that ilk.

OP is free to continue to pursue this, throwing time and energy into it. I don't advise that course of action but that's her choice. There's a very slim chance they'll get sick of her and rescind it, sure. But I've never seen any parking company do this and case law is on their side.

Plenty of people object to the legitimacy of these companies. But ultimately, there's a breach of contract here.

Feel free to shoot the messenger if you like, but I didn't make the rules.

My case was different from the OP's, but the firm concerned only rescinded the (wholly undeserved) charge after I got advice on the MSE forum and threatened to to sue them for harassment.

After ignoring me for a month, they sent an email on a Saturday afternoon, saying that they'd removed the charge...

There are numerous reasons as to why the parking charge probably doesn't stand OP. Go check out the Newbies' thread on MSE. For a start, there are issues with the ANPR that these firms use.

The contract only stands if the parking firm has displayed all the details in clear, large letters easily read by the individual concerned.

Yes, indeed. Although that's another matter entirely and there's nothing to suggest in OP's posts that they had inadequate signage in this instance.

I can only guess, but I would imagine it's extremely likely they did have adequate signage.

I have yet to see a parking sign for one of these firms where every little detail is displayed in a sufficiently large font.

You must not be paying attention. I took this picture last night. It seems pretty obvious to me that you're entering into a contract whereby you must pay to park on this piece of private land.

If you don't like the terms, the option to not park on private land controlled by a parking company is always available to you.

Yes, the requirement to pay is clear and obvious from this. What is not at all clear from your photo is whatever is written in the very small font below. I'm on a small laptop and cannot make it out. If this was 1 metre off the ground (just below normal eye level) then ok. But what happens over and over again is that these conditions are on signs high up in very small fonts that most reasonable people cannot see clearly.

It should also be pointed out that a motorist has the right to stop to read the terms and conditions before deciding whether or not to accept them. Some ANPR cameras do not allow even the minute or so for someone to enter the carpark, drive up to the sign, get out, read it, then having presumably declined the conditions, driven off.

I've never seen anyone get a parking charge for briefly entering a car park. And as I say, I've seen literally thousands of notices.

But as I said, I don't make the rules. Neither do I enforce them. I just happen to know quite a bit about this and I don't want the OP to waste her time. I've helped many other people previously to appeal their charges when I think they have a case. But I don't think the OP has legitimate grounds here. That may make people angry with me personally, but I'm only trying to help.

I wouldn't pay and make them take me to court. If the machine issues a ticket with a single letter registration then there is no way for the customer to know they made a mistake until they get a fine.

You bought a ticket, displayed it correctly, they have no contractual loss and can fuck off to the far side of fuck.

Honestly these criminals need firing into outer space.

The OP doesn't have to fucking well "pursue" anything. If they want their money Euro Shysters will have to pursue her.