NCP contravention

Diane89_2

Hi there, I've read some of the other posts on here, I recently got a PCN from a NCP car park and people have said to me that as long as there is signs in the car park regarding how much you will get charged if you overstay your ticket then you have to pay it.
I tried to pay the right amount and the machine wouldnt accept some of my money and I pressed the print button instead of the cancel button so before I had read the posts on here I had already sent away a letter telling them what had happened, they obviously declined the appeal.
My dads main worry was that if I proceeded to ignore all the letters that my credit would be affected so I would find it difficult to get loans etc?
I was wondering if anybody knows if my credit rating would be affected?
Also, I'm really worried about these threatening letters and possible court action, so is it really okay to keep ignoring these letters as I'm only a student and cant afford to pay a lot of money to courts etc.
Thanks so much for your help.
Diane Farrell.

molerat

Your credit can only be affected if they take you to court, if they win and if you then fail to pay the court imposed penalty. Your actual debt to them is the difference between what you paid and what you should have paid for your actual stay. They are imposing a penalty which is not allowed. Your first mistake was appealing as there is no appeal. Just continue to ignore and they will eventually go away.

Diane89_2

Thats great, thanks .

I know that now, wish I'd seen this website before I tried to appeal but if I continue to ignore them what are the chances of court etc because NCP is a big company?

Will they definitely go away if I continue to ignore?

Thanks.

trisontana

Diane89 wrote: »

Thats great, thanks .

I know that now, wish I'd seen this website before I tried to appeal but if I continue to ignore them what are the chances of court etc because NCP is a big company?

Will they definitely go away if I continue to ignore?

Thanks.

They won't take you to court because they know that they haven't a leg to stand on. Any judge would see that they are trying to extract an unfair penalty and would dismiss the case. In fact it is NCP who are breaking the law by demanding this penalty.

Garingo

Hi everyone, I am Garingo and its a pleasure to be part of your forum.


I have had a similar notice recently from an NCP car park asking for £50 for a parking contravention.

I have had a good look through the web site and forums and read through the car parking code of practice. The period of grace stated is no less than 10 mins. I was only a few minutes over the minimum period of grace and yet I have been asked to pay £50. An absolute disgrace. The general consences from just about every thread I have read, is to just ignore all future contact from the company ?? This will most likely be the course of action that I will take, when they finally decide to look me up and send me these 'scary letters'. However, one question I would like to ask is why not just refuse to buy a ticket in future and ignore all letters ??

Any info mis much appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Garingo

peter_the_piper

I am quite happy to ignore all unenforcible invoices for spurious reasons but would never recommend not paying and then ignoring them. I doubt that anyone else on here would do so rither. Its them thats in the wrong, we ,at least, have the moral high ground.

BFG_2

Garingo wrote: »

However, one question I would like to ask is why not just refuse to buy a ticket in future and ignore all letters ??
o

A valid question, and one which is a question perhaps more of morals than legality?

AFAICS you could indeed never buy a ticket and never pay an invoice/PCN/fine/whatever.

Main risk I can think of might be 'clamping' [esp if you do it all the time in the same car park].

Garingo

I did contact citizens advice regarding this and they recommended that I try and negotiate a smaller fee. Has anyone succeeded in doing this ?? I have not seen anything on any of the many threads I have sifted through today.

peter_the_piper

Garingo wrote: »

I did contact citizens advice regarding this and they recommended that I try and negotiate a smaller fee. Has anyone succeeded in doing this ?? I have not seen anything on any of the many threads I have sifted through today.

Ignore them and you will get an even lower fee, ie Zero. They give up after a while.
My fee for this advice is £5.00 to your favourite charity.

Coupon-mad

Garingo wrote: »

I did contact citizens advice regarding this and they recommended that I try and negotiate a smaller fee. Has anyone succeeded in doing this ?? I have not seen anything on any of the many threads I have sifted through today.

Sadly Citizens Advice seem to have no clue about the scam that is the whole private parking tickets 'industry'. I take it the NCP ticket was a private one (no Council logo on it?).

If it's a private ticket then you have got the best advice from here, just ignore all their letters (including those that look to have come from Solicitors or Debt Collectors). NCP won't take you to Court and your Credit Record will not be affected.

Garingo

No theres definitely no council logo on it. Its privte and and its a rip off.