Pay and Display machines would not take coin

rbmjmw

Hello, I was issued with a penalty charge notice from Newark and Sherwood DC last week. I have used this car park over 100 times in 2008 and regularly park there to get the train. Last Wednesday morning the pay and display machine would not take my £2 (the machine states that it does take these coins). This is only the third time that this machine has failed to take my money in the past year. When this happens I go over to the other pay and display machine to get a ticket. Except this time neither machine would take my £2. This was at 7:21 in the morning and I get the 7:25 train. So I put a note on the dashboard together with the coins I intended to use in the machine (one £2 and one 20p) which stated neither machine would accept my £2 please contact (my mobile number) for details. This car park used to have an intercom system which you could press a button and speak to someone in authority (this was removed towards the end of last year). Anyway I received a penaly charge notice for not displaying a ticket. I was very annoyed by this as I wanted to pay and left details for the Civil enforcement officer to contact me. As a customer of Newark and Sherwood DC I expect to be able to use my legal tender to pay for my parking and they have let me down. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can challenge this. I spoke with the parking manager last week who was going to check the machine, but he did say they were not aware of any issues) and has not got back to me. Any thoughts would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Neil_B

Technically in contravention but clearly a situation where they should either co-operate in the first place or exercise discretion.

there are a few more things you can do re the machine fault - but laterz.

for now, I need to see ALL of the PCN. Not got a Newark one.
-

Dealwithit

Happened to me today. I just drove off and parked somewhere else.:eek:

Not getting one of those again

TheBogsDollocks

I have looked at the off street parking order for N&S DC and it contains articles that ought to help your case. Firstly article 30 says

30. If under Article 29 no valid Pay and Display Ticket can be obtained and displayed Vehicles may be left in a Parking Place but may not be left for longer than the maximum period of parking in that Parking Place as advertised at the Parking Place.

further assistance is offered under article 40

40. If at the time when a Vehicle is left in a Parking Place during the Charging Hours there is no Ticket Machine at the Parking Place, or all the Ticket Machines at that Parking Place carry notices placed upon them by a person duly authorised by the Council indicating that they are out of order, the driver of that Vehicle shall be exempt from purchasing a Pay and Display Ticket.
Otherwise Article 30 shall prevail where there is no ticket machine or all ticket machines are out of order whether signed as such or not.

These clearly give you an exemption. Hopefully the CEO took a photo of your note and money displayed in the windscreen which on the balance of probability should aid you. It will also help if you can produce old tickets that show you regularly use the car park and pay.

Here is the link to view the off street order in it's entirety should it interest you. On the site click on the blue link.

http://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk//pp/Gold/viewGold.asp?id=2309

sturll

Appeal the fine and you'll get away with it. Similar thing happened to me.

LucyTheDwarf

Similar situation ish. Private car park, machine would not accept my money (there's only one machine) and it is frequently out of order. I put a note in my window that read "Machine not working" with the date and time.

Returned to the car tonight, and I have a £90 fine (£45 if I pay within 7 days) - checked the machine which instead of the time now displays the words "NOT IN USE" - I have taken a photo of this as proof. Tried to call them to have a go, but "this number has not been recognised"...

It doesn't rest easy with me to just ignore them, I will write, but I want to make sure I'm correct before I refuse to pay - can they enforce this ticket at all? If it got to court, how would this go?

Coupon-mad

LucyTheDwarf wrote: »

Similar situation ish. Private car park, machine would not accept my money (there's only one machine) and it is frequently out of order. I put a note in my window that read "Machine not working" with the date and time.

Returned to the car tonight, and I have a £90 fine (£45 if I pay within 7 days) - checked the machine which instead of the time now displays the words "NOT IN USE" - I have taken a photo of this as proof. Tried to call them to have a go, but "this number has not been recognised"...

It doesn't rest easy with me to just ignore them, I will write, but I want to make sure I'm correct before I refuse to pay - can they enforce this ticket at all? If it got to court, how would this go?

Not similar really, as yours was a private car parking company ticket.

You safely ignore a ticket from a PPC.

If you really must write then don't write as 'the driver' in response to the ticket. Wait for the first rubbishy letter to arrive for the registered keeper, then they could reply in a general manner as the 'registered keeper'. 'I am the RK of vehicle reg xxxxx and expressly dispute and deny any alleged debt to your company. The pay & display machine was not working so any requirement upon drivers to pay and display was null and void. This is not an appeal but a statement of fact for which I have photographic evidence. To try to charge a high penalty for such an instance is clearly extortionate and unenforceable in law. Desist from harassing me about this matter immediately.'

Personally I would not write, just ignore their letters and they will go away.