Brentwood Council Parking Ticket - Guilty until proven Innocent

iwi.

I got a letter in the post a few weeks back from Brentwood Council saying that I owed them £60 for a parking contravention.

I had to look up on the Internet to find out where Brentwood was, as I live in the Northwest of England, and saw that it was a London borough.

The date of the convention was also when I was abroad on holiday.

I therefore replied and to say that I disputed the contravention as I was not in the country and provided scanned images of my passport and my other half's passport to prove this.

A couple of weeks later I got another letter from Brentwood council saying that I would have to provide them with a copy of my tax disc in order for them to make a decision on the contravention dispute or I was welcome to pay the fine immediately.

I duly replied scanning a copy of my tax disc and in turn asked for some evidence that the contravention actually occurred, and asked them for the make, model, and colour of the vehicle as I believe the only way this contravention occurred was either by a vehicle with a similar licence plate or a vehicle that had false number plates.

I am still awaiting a reply from them.

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Neil_B

iwi. wrote: »

I got a letter in the post a few weeks back from Brentwood Council saying that I owed them £60 for a parking contravention.

I had to look up on the Internet to find out where Brentwood was, as I live in the Northwest of England, and saw that it was a London borough.

The date of the convention was also when I was abroad on holiday.

I therefore replied and to say that I disputed the contravention as I was not in the country and provided scanned images of my passport and my other half's passport to prove this.

A couple of weeks later I got another letter from Brentwood council saying that I would have to provide them with a copy of my tax disc in order for them to make a decision on the contravention dispute or I was welcome to pay the fine immediately.

I duly replied scanning a copy of my tax disc and in turn asked for some evidence that the contravention actually occurred, and asked them for the make, model, and colour of the vehicle as I believe the only way this contravention occurred was either by a vehicle with a similar licence plate or a vehicle that had false number plates.

I am still awaiting a reply from them.

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

I really don't mean to be rude Iwi but please look at what sarah and bargepole have said above. It really is important to start your own thread for your case or things get very confusing in many ways. At the moment, as far as parking and associated issues go, this forum is disorganised mayhem.

For your case we would need to see the correspondence exchanged. remove personal and car details and host images on 'tinypic'.

iwi.

This was the first item I have ever posted on a forum, so thanks for being so forgiving of a new comer.

Neil_B

I'm not quite sure what way I'm supposed to take that? Was it helful or did I upset you?

From what you have said so far you may well have something worth challenging. Unfortunately, as I said, this new idea on this large site is currently disorganised. That isn't your fault but if you want help then please follow what I said. 'New Thread' button is upper left.

ok?

Neil_B

Looks like the Mods have done it for you.

it's interesting that Brentwood ask YOU to provide evidence. Once you have queried the situation the onus is on the Council to prove the contravention occurred. That said, IME they are often a combination of intransigent and thick. possibly best to go along with what they say - although maybe they should have at least told you what 'expiry date' they have recorded? Just been dealing with a case where someone received a 'ghost' ticket like this and they got different tax details, LOL.

Some Councils can be helpful over the phone - ask them the sitch and what they've got?

Still need to see ALL docs and correspondence.

There is one worrying possibility - that your car has been cloned - increasingly happening. Perhaps you should report this incident to the Police as a matter of course.
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anewman

If it's definitely not your car, you've told them in writing clearly that it isn't - I'd let them take it to court for a laugh. I think you'll find the innocent until proven guilty thing will work well for you there.

MX5huggy

Why would the tax disc prove or dis prove anything?

Conor_3

MX5huggy wrote: »

Why would the tax disc prove or dis prove anything?

Because the genuine car is likely to have one with the correct details on that correlate to the barcode on the disc.

anewman

Why go to the effort of sending a photocopy? Invite them around to look at or charge them an admin fee

Neil_B

Ok. Can't help mentioning that the thread had some rather unpleasant interruption that the moderators dealt with quite promptly.

It seems such a shame because this is a fairly straightforward winnable case.

Also, in response to comments on another thread, board guide 'crabman' went to the trouble of separating this one so that it could receive appropriate advice.
It's a new poster who already comes across as nervous/worried - but if people behave that shouldn't be the case!

IWI please do not be put off. I am happy to help and I'm sure others will too.

What we need, as said before, is to see all of the documents relating to this.
It really is something that can be addressed and hopefully resolved.
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k1mmie

Not sure if this is much help iwi, but Brentwood council have a habit of operating a guilty to proven innocent approach to parking tickets. Although I have not actually heard of a case like yours, I have heard of many "questionable" tickets.

I presume most people pay up as it is easier if you have actually been there. In your case I would get as much proof as you can of your whereabouts and the cars for that time and let them take you to court and humiliate themselves, they are not known for backing down.

I actually used to live there and it is in Essex, so makes it probably even further away from you. Out of curiosity where were you supposed to have parked?