Parking fine - to pay or not to pay

andyt1962

About a month ago, I got a parking ticket and - in fury - put it in my bag and forgot about it... until today when I thought I'd better pay it.
I discover that the traffic warden has transposed the first and second letters of my registration number on the printed parking ticket. Do you reckon I can safely ignore it? Or will the warden have taken a sneaky photo of the car?

McKneff

Wow, lucky you, i dont think i would ignore it but if details are wrong, then you can appeal.

oldone_2

Is the private or council ticket. If it is from a PPC ignore it.

peter_the_piper

Post 3!
Sorry but that is not correct, councils have one chance to get a ticket right, if they have got the number incorrect there is no way of progressing. Should the owner of the car with the quoted vrm complain they will have to cancel it, they cannot say OOPS! We made a mistake, here's the correct one. If you get an NTO for any reason, check the vrm, if they have changed the number then it will not agree with the pcn and will therefore have to be cancelled. Wait for Colbris and Neil to come along and I am sure they will confirm this.

Neil_B

Cassandra1983 wrote: »

They will have taken a photo.

My hubby received a letter from the council last year about a parking fine. There was a good reason why he shouldn't have to pay it, but I won't go into that now. Anyway there wasn't a ticket on the car, so the letter was the first he knew about the fine. So he called the council, who said to put a complaint in writing. So he did this, but a few months later he received a letter about court action. So he called again, and was told again to put a complaint in writing. So he sent another letter (not sure if it was to the court or the council this time). Then a few months later he found a clamp on our car, and a letter from the bailifs saying that he has to pay over £500 to release it. He called the bailifs and they said he had no choice but to pay.

When the bailif came to release the clamp, he said to my hubby, that in his experience councils ignore letters. So it is best to pay the fine then complain. :mad:

This kind of post infuriates me.

Basically what you are saying is that at some stage you misunderstood procedure and messed up. This ended up at bailiff stage and cost you a lot more than it need have.

Your 'Money Saving' advice is to pay? Presumably in case people getting PCNs are no brighter than yourself?

Neil_B

Cassandra1983 wrote: »

he did everything he was told to do with regards to complaining about the fine (that he never actually received a ticket for).

Clearly he did not! No warrant could have been issued by Northampton TEC if the appeals procedure had been followed and the matter either resolved or the penalty paid in the correct timescale.

The clue is in ''complaining''. DON'T! Follow the correct appeals/payment procedure and a bailiff should never be involved.

Coupon-mad

Cassandra1983 wrote: »

It infuriates me when people criticise and become rude and abusive without reading the post properly.

Like I said it was my husband, and not me. Also he did everything he was told to do with regards to complaining about the fine (that he never actually received a ticket for).

The advice was from the bailif who did the clamping, going by his experience.[/QUOTE]



The Bailiff's advice was carp.

I do feel sorry for you and OH though, simply because it seems due to 'complaining' instead of following the appeals procedure right through, you've ended up lining a Bailiff's pocket with a hefty and unnecessary amount of cash.

If there was a valid reason for OH to appeal the ticket (or the postal PCN and NTO if he never saw the original ticket) why didn't he just follow the appeals procedure and take it to adjudication?
The most he would have had to pay would have been the full fine, if he'd lost the appeal. A bailiff wouldn't have got a sniff at any money unless OH then still didn't pay, after adjudication.

And back to the OP, andyt1962. Was it a private car park ticket, in which case ignore it (just as advised above by oldone). If it's a private 'ticket' it is just a scam, DO NOT PAY IT BECAUSE IT IS NOT A VALID FINE! Read a few threads on this board and you'll get the picture re this scam, if indeed it's a private ticket you have there (hope it is!).

Also, have you not been sent any letters yet? If it's a Council ticket then post again and give more details/pics please, of the bay lines & signs and the front & back of the PCN with your details blanked out.

Maybe - with help from posters on here - you can successfully appeal (as Cassandra's OH should have tried - sadly too late for him now).

658282

This is the first time I have ever posted anything, so hopefully I am doing it correctly? I work for a private limited company and regulary recieve private parking charges, I have one on my desk now. It is addressed to the company name, as it appears on the vehicle logbook. Does anybody know if I can refuse to pay it on the grounds that the contract was between the driver and land owner and we are not obliged to disclose who was driving at the time?

Coupon-mad

658282 wrote: »

This is the first time I have ever posted anything, so hopefully I am doing it correctly? I work for a private limited company and regulary recieve private parking charges, I have one on my desk now. It is addressed to the company name, as it appears on the vehicle logbook. Does anybody know if I can refuse to pay it on the grounds that the contract was between the driver and land owner and we are not obliged to disclose who was driving at the time?[/QUOTE]


Yes, you can ignore it completely - or if you prefer, refute for the reason you state, using Martin's suggested template letter, then refuse to enter into any further correspondence.

I wouldn't give an air of validity to the scam ticket by referring to 'the contract' though, maybe say 'any alleged contract would have been between the driver and the landowner...'

Private parking tickets are a scam and it's great if Fleet Managers realise they are not worth the paper they are written on.

658282

thank you very much indeed! I'm sure I'll be on again in the future

peter_the_piper

Neil may not know the whole situation but he is correct on the technicalities. Had you and your OH known how to appeal/what to appeal against then you may well not have had the bailiffs call. What Neil was trying to do was to help other readers of your post as it was too late to assist you.