£3500 in parking fines

goober35o

Thankyou for reading this post, I've obviously made some lapses of judgement (best case) or idiotic decisions (worst case) but the title is true, I have a bill of £3500 for outstanding parking fines and I'm at a loss as to know what to do...

All of my PCNs (31 of them) were accrued in the space of around two months, in a company car, 30 in the City of Westminster, 1 in Camden.

I began 'running away' from the issue on a day where I received 4 tickets, effectively doing a couriers job. I couldn't afford the £240 it would be to pay them all immediately and the alternative offered by the company was having the money taken out of my wages. After a couple more, then a couple more, I was facing a scenario when my take-home money would not cover my rent.

The second issue I have with the company is that they refused to allow me to officially appeal after the initial driver's appeal had received the standard rejection letter.

Virtually all of my tickets were either single-yellow or residents' bays where I stayed 2-3 minutes. A looser definition of 'loading' would allow this but the council said no.

A high proportion (around 10) were never given to me but still processed by -insert adjective- traffic wardens after I had driven off.

18 months down the line and I realise this is not going away. The company took me to court and won, despite not sending me any copies of documentation as they are required to do.

£3500 seems a great deal compared to fines given out in criminal courts. This is not a case of 'won't pay' it is genuinely 'can't pay' as I am 25 and earn £20k as a teacher, living in London.

Any ideas would be hugely appreciated, sorry for such a long rant.

D_e_n_i_s_e

advice? yes pay up and do as you are told!

(something teachers used to say to me as when i was a kid)

No in all honesty i am sympathetic to your plight, it is a heck of a lot of money. But in all honesty i dont think its one you can get away with, unless you can find a hot shot lawyer, who can squirm a loophole or summut (one that footballers pay on a footballers salary - tht is one u and i cant afford).

i know this is going to sound harsh but its the truth, start paying it off - baby steps (£50/wk) cos this is one bill i dont think ul get away with.

Bigalagain

I also do courier work (mostly in City of Westminster area) and when I park, be it on singles, doubles or sometimes reds, put my hazards on and put a typed message in my windscreen asking politely for the 20 mins they are obliged to give for deliveries. Haven't had a ticket since I started doing this. Is it a commercial (van) vehicle you are driving?

Really sorry for your plight but perhaps my smidge of advice may help in the future.

One thing is puzzling me, City of Westminster tickets are £40 rising to £80 if not paid within the 14 days. You say that your 4 came to £240??