6min 31 seconds - parking fine.

[Deftandglory]

I went to pick up my son from a pub in a quiet town at 9.30 pm. The town is pedestrianised so I drove into car park with 24 hour charges. Empty car park
Knew I wouldn’t be long and thought the grace period was 10mins ( it is, but for returning once paid).
Got a fine for £60 - appealed on the grace period - went to £100 and now £170 with legal fees.

Apparently it is quite likely it will go to court via a mass booking system by the solicitors. And as the grace period for buying a ticket is 5 mins I have breeched the conditions .
Court or pay up?

Unfortunately, as you say yourself "And as the grace period for buying a ticket is 5 mins I have breeched the conditions ."

You acknowledge you've breached the conditions so I can't see why going to court will help. They won't care if it was empty or you thought it was longer, they only care about the facts. I think sadly it might be best just to pay up and chalk it up to experience 😬

You should have paid and then appealed but that ship has sailed.

Pay up, you knew the rules and flouted them.
If you didn't know the rules and educated yourself after the fine, you should have taken it on the chin and made a mental note not to do it again.

You've acknowledged you didn't adhere to the terms of the car park and thought it was ok to not pay as you would only be a short amount of time so I can't see that going to court would result in anything other than you having to pay more money?

I appreciate it's annoying to pay for only being there a short amount of time but you parked in the car park knowing it was a 24 hour car park so yes you should pay up.

Op this is very clear
You breached the grace period
the end

It doesn’t increase after an appeal unless the 14 day extension to pay the original fine expires.

Pay. Nice try.

Not sure what your defence is? You incurred the fine, pay up.

But what is your appeal?

You breached the terms of using the car park.

Unless the signs were not clear, not sure what grounds you have for not paying. If it goes to court, it will increase even more.

It sounds like the ten min grace period only applies to those who bought a ticket. Although what would happen if you went in and left almost immediately due to no spaces? But ultimately you broke the terms so you owe the money.

Have you spoken to the pub? You were picking someone up. The grace period is very short. He was there I assume . I have breached grace periods before and had the tickets written off by the business in question

Money Saving Expert is the place to go for advice on parking fines, not here.

Personally, I'd pay the £60 and not a penny more. £170? The grifters!

The grace period is for buying a ticket NOT for picking people up.
You used the car park without paying, however long you parked for

First course of action is to speak to the pub. They will often get it canceled for you. After all you were only there 6 minutes and were picking up one of their paying customers.

Failing that there are various websites which can give you advice on what to do, as has been mentioned above.

Can people stop calling it a fine please. It’s not a fine. Only councils and other government bodies can issue fines. This is merely an invoice.

It doesn't actually sound like it's the pubs car park just a car park conveniently located near the pub so the pub wouldn't be able to do anything.

Can people stop calling it a fine please. It’s not a fine. Only councils and other government bodies can issue fines. This is merely an invoice.

I think it's fine to call it a fine. People know what a parking fine is. No one talks about getting a parking invoice and there's nothing mere about it at that amount. I'm sure the councils and government bodies won't mind mumsnetters slightly misusing their terminology.

I’m fine calling it a “fine”

I have won on appeal if the signs are misleading/not well lit/obscured

Agree with a PP re asking the pub to set it aside or at least reduce it ( although the car park might be nothing to do with them)

Was it even the pub car park?

If you appealed and that failed I guess it is only worth their while taking you to court if they know you will win.

Cj tracts and tbd courts are about the facts and detail, not the ‘yes, but I was only….’

It is teeth gnashingly annoying but think you took a gamble here that didn’t pay off.

Call it that if you want, but you are incorrect.

Fine

Unfortunately, if you pay you have admitted liability so won't be able to appeal after payment.

Always worth checking what photos they have using their website and parking invoice number. i.e. no point making an appeal based on reading the signage then leaving if they have photos showing you never left the car or another one which catches people out is parking but leaving the site; they usually have photos showing you walking from the car to leaving the site.

The government are looking at legislation to ensure parking fines aren’t “excessive”. Theres been a massive rise in court cases.
Being a minute and a half over is excessive to my mind.

It’s not a pub car park.

Annoyingly I could have parked on the double yellows and got away with it but didn’t want to be a dick and block the road.

The signage doesn’t go into detail. I thought the 10 minute grace period applied from entering ( it’s only after a ticket expires).

But you weren’t a minute and a half over the grace period because that only applied to people buying tickets. And you didn’t buy a ticket…