University Parking Ticket - advice please

ChinUp_2

Please can anyone help?

My partner is a mature student who commutes to university (lives off campus). On 29th January he was issued a civil penalty notice in the Univeristy car park, for apparantly 'causing an obstruction'. He was not blocking any roads and was parked along with many others down the edge of the carpark.

The car parking at this university is an absolute joke. Students pay £50 a year for a permit (which my partner has) and have to park in a certain car park which has nowhere near enough spaces for the students to park. They are charging students for providing a service that they are totally unable to offer. Students spend ages waiting or trying to find a space and inevitably end up late for lectures. The car park is not tarmaced and doesn't even have marked out spaces! :mad:

Anyway after looking at advice on this forum I told him NOT to pay but to ignore the fines/letters. He has had several letters and the fine has now increased to from £25 to £85. This week he received a letter from a debt collectors called Roxburghe. They state he has 7 days to pay before the matter is passed to their solicitor who will review the case for potential legal action.:eek:

We have held off for this long but now are both feeling a little worried as to whether it will just go away or whether we will end up going to court. Are we doing the right thing by ignoring it? Does anyone have first hand experience of this?
Any advice welcome, if not to just help put our minds at rest!

Thanks in advance

Coblcris

Google Roxburghe, what you find should make your fear subside to the point of elimination.

ChinUp_2

Anyone else able to give any advice? Thanks.

Neil_B

Only that Cris is correct.

If you have not understood the ppc scam yet then you haven't seen the endless threads on various forums and this one.
-

Meepster

I'm not being funny, but why do people not read the other posts before starting a new thread about PPC's? It would save a lot of time and effort for everyone when there are no unusual circumstances...

bargepole

ChinUp wrote: »

... This week he received a letter from a debt collectors called Roxburghe. They state he has 7 days to pay before the matter is passed to their solicitor who will review the case for potential legal action. ...

Roxburghe are well known as part of the whole scam, and won't go anywhere near a court. Expect a couple of letters from them (final demand, then final, final demand), then one from "Graham White Solicitors" (not a real firm), then you're at the end of the process and they will just fade away.

If the PPC were actually going to take it to court, they would have done so by now.

Mark_Hewitt

You have student parking? Wow! It's a very rare university that does.

ChinUp_2

Thanks Bargepole.

It's a shame so many people on here are so eager to criticise others. I had in fact trawled through all of the threads on here about parking fines etc. It doesn't mean you don't worry when it happens to you and you are the one receiving the letters. I only asked for advice and to confirm what I thought to be true (that the fines were total rubbish).
Of course, you don't have to waste time and effort replying, that's up to you.

ChinUp_2

Received a phone calll from Roxburge today while we were out - is this normal?

bargepole

ChinUp wrote: »

Received a phone calll from Roxburge today while we were out - is this normal?

Yes, it's all part of the intimidation process. Next time they call, say "hold on, I'll just get Mr Chinup for you", and leave the phone off the hook while you put Des O'Connor's Greatest Hits on the stereo. They'll soon get the message.

cvd

Some Universities have a rule that they will not award a degree to anyone who owes money to the University or has any books overdue at the Library.
So he needs to check the University's rules carefully.