Disproportional parking fines

[NameChangeParkingProblem]

Feeling frustrated and need to vent. I’ve received multiple parking fines that feel excessive, and honestly, I’m barely holding it together.

First, the Dartford Crossing, which is £1 each way. I drove over the bridge for a holiday trip with my children, and made a mental note to pay later. I hadn’t given it thought prior to the trip, as I didn’t realise it was chargeable over and above road tax. By the time we got to the camping site, I totally forgot about the road fine. There was no payment barrier as there is for the Birmingham bypass.

Another is from picking up a friend from the train station. She had used public transport and had luggage which she couldn’t bring all the way to the car park, even with my help (heavy and she hurt her leg on the journey). I left her at the station and drove to the taxi rank to be able to put her luggage in my car. Then got a parking fine of £170.

Two other ones from broken payment machines, both of which I called the phone number on the machine and left a message. I missed the 14 day response deadline for both, because I’m super busy working full time while being here for my children. I really honestly don’t have time to prepare a defence, on top of everything else. So both attracted a £80 fine each.

I accept that I didn’t follow the rules and that the fines are legitimate. However, it’s just exhausting to try to get about life, and the fines themselves are very high.

Am I being unreasonable that parking fines are not proportionate? If so, can someone in government please take note, as I’m sure that there are many more people dealing with this. My salary isn’t high enough to support this, so I now tell friends to get a taxi; I don’t go out as much, etc.

They are but if you don't break the rules, you won't get the fines. Only you can prevent yourself from getting these fines.

The fines are meant to deter people from breaking the rules - theyre not a price you pay in return for being allowed to do something, they're not meant to be proportionate. If you are not deterred then arguably they're actually too low...

They are supposed to be disproportionate. They need to be high enough that they are unaffordable so that people who can't manage to follow the rules leave their car at home and use other transport options instead.

You need to be more aware of what you're doing. Broken machines is not your fault but you knew you were not allowed to park in the taxi space. FAFO.

I know it's a right pain, but you'll probably be more careful in future, which is ultimately the point of the fines, to get people to comply.

and made a mental note to pay later.

You've proven that mental notes don't work sadly. I'm sorry to hear of the fines you paid, but I use the Tyne Tunnel regularly, and I set a reminder on my iPhone before I drive, to pay the next day. Have never had a fine.

I know we should have a peage system like France where you can buy a token, stick it in your window, and you get charged for the roads which require it etc...

But until then, I'm afraid you will need concrete, real, set reminders - there isn't really any other way around it. They hope you'll forget and they kind of bank on it.

The Dartford charge is £2.50 one way for a car, so you're clearly away with the fairies half the time.

The trouble is, I was driving. But the time I’d stopped driving, I’d already forgotten.

Set up auto pay for the Dartford crossing, I was always forgetting until the last minute as I'm often in a work car which is paid for on account,but with auto pay it takes the money the next day so you don't need to worry about it

You should have set up the Dartford app with your card in advance, then you wouldn't have had to think about it. I made DP do it in case he needed to use it for work as I knew he'd forget. Same with the cc and tunnels across the Thames. It's part of planning a journey.

The dartford crossing has had tolls since it was built, had tolls when I was a kid, it’s been barrier free for 10 or more years, it’s never been acceptable to park in a taxi rank either. The reason fines are disproportionate is to be a deterrent, if it was only £10 if you are caught let’s face it, no one would ever pay for pay and display unless it was camera operated, you would hope the warden doesn’t come around

What do you mean you called and left a message?! With who? Most pay machines have ringo now. Download the app.

That is bad luck. Sorry you’ve had multiple things go wrong in a short space of time - it’s shit.

I got caught out on the Dartford crossing on the way to a funeral and once I’d paid off the fine, I set up the dart charge and the automatic congestion charge payment so that it didn’t happen again.

@JacquesHarlow

autopay for the dartford crossing works the same. So easy.

I have a friend who is very well off. She’s always getting fines because she can easily afford to pay them. Could you ask your friend to pay half of your fine?

Parking fines are meant to be frustrating. The trouble is, everyone thinks their reason for parking illegally is justified "just that once".

So... you are telling friends to get taxis and not going out as much because you couldn't manage to remember to pay the Dartford Crossing Charge, parked in a taxi space and didn't get around to disputing two parking fines? Pretty daft isn't it?
Did you contact Dart Charge about the Dartford Crossing incident? They usually waive the fine for the first offence.

It’s horrible. Car parking customer service is shitty.

Always get the app eg. RingGo and JustPark so you don’t have to use machines. Doesn’t help for tolls but you can set up auto pay accounts for the Dartford crossing.

You just need to sign up to auto pay and Ringo. I manage not to accrue parking/toll/ulez/congestion/ zone fines. Register your car, register your card.

I've had 3 Dartford Crossing fines waived.
One - I simply forgot to pay. Rang and explained, they could see my crossing history that it was a one-off and waived the fine.
Next - We changed vehicle, but it was exactly the same model as the old one. Meaning that when I checked my Dart Charge account with a quick scan I failed to notice that the vehicle was right, but the number plate was the old car. They waived again.
Finally - I did the crossing in a hire car, went on to my Dart Charge account when I got home and added the car. I didn't realise that they wouldn't take the toll money, because you get 24 hours to pay. They waived that fine too.
I call that great customer service to be fair.

If the fines were going to a fund which somehow benefited the community, it would feel more reasonable. I hate the thought that some fat cat is profiting from this.

Thanks for the feedback, it seems I’m being unreasonable.

Isn't it quite unusual not to have a pick up/drop off point outside a station?

My experience is the reverse - I don't think the fines are high enough in some places. Take the notoriously anti-car Brighton. Very difficult to park anywhere free or at reasonable cost in the town/city centre for more than an hour or two. Yet a parking ticket is only £70, reduced to £35 if you pay within 14 days. As a result, I park in any bay near where I need to be, and take my chances on a fine. As a day in a long stay car park is at least £25. And the chances of getting a parking ticket are less than 100% A £100 fine with no discount for propmt payment would make me think twice - but £35 does not.

I downloaded the recommended apps. It’s unfortunate that it’s now necessary to have these apps, because each app installation means more personal data is shared with a corporation and sold. Now to remember my phone!

I didn’t know about the Dartford charge, because why on earth would anyone think that a road in England required payment? I thought this is what we pay road tax for, and I’ve only ever paid for the Birmingham bypass which has a toll.

The Dartford toll has been in place for years, and is very well signed for miles. If you couldnt see the signs, what else did you miss ;)