Parking Ticket, Date wrong - 31/02/2010

ziro

It's from Town And City Parking Ltd, for none display (15 minutes shopping in the carparks shop, woopdie doo).

It's dated 31/02/2010 - which is a date that doesn't exist this year, so how could I have infact infracted as detailed on the ticket?

It's also a courtesy vehicle (in for repair under insurance) - so i've got that whole 'we'll charge you for fines etc' stuff.

What do you think I should do?

Sir_Roger_deLodger

ziro wrote: »

It's from Town And City Parking Ltd, for none display (15 minutes shopping in the carparks shop, woopdie doo).

It's dated 31/02/2010 - which is a date that doesn't exist this year, so how could I have infact infracted as detailed on the ticket?

It's also a courtesy vehicle (in for repair under insurance) - so i've got that whole 'we'll charge you for fines etc' stuff.

What do you think I should do?

Make sure that whoever owns the courtesy car is fully aware that this is not a fine but a scam, and should not be paid.

31st of Feb....another indication of the intelligence of your average PPC employee!

Coupon-mad

Check the t&cs of the Courtesy car form that you presumably signed? If it says fines then this isn't one. What you must avoid like the plague is any possibility of the garage paying the fine then billing you, or charging you an admin fee just for handling the correspondence.

I would put that in writing to the garage that supplied the Courtesy car, tell them you got a scam ticket from a private company (don't mince your words). State that as this is not a real fine from a Council or the Police you will be ignoring it and take full responsibility for it. Tell them to bin or redirect to your address any letters about this scam (as long as you know the garage won't bill you for this).

Personally, in your shoes I would write to Town and City parking - just once - because really I would want to see all the rubbish letters they will send out. If you write very soon you may be able to get them to use your address as they will think they have saved themselves the fee for getting the details from the DVLA.

Don't say who was driving, just say, 're this ticket (copy attached) I dispute it and believe no such offence has occurred. Unless you proceed to the Small Claims Court within 14 days I will consider the matter closed. Any further correspondence will constitute harassment for an alleged debt that has been denied/disputed, and any increase in the alleged debt or fees added on from now will be unlawful'.

Don't give them any clues as to why you dispute it, nor who was driving (they won't know it's a courtesy car if you write before they've got DVLA details) nor point out any errors. Make sure you include your address and hopefully they will use your addy in future for their debt collector letters (which you just ignore until they fizzle out, see other threads).

The only reason I say to write is to give them your addy so they bother YOU, not the garage. But do be careful to word the letter as I have suggested which will pin the alleged debt at the current amount and hopefully stop them annoying the garage at all.

You must still not pay the amount of course as it's not a lawful fine. Read other threads to learn about this scam.

ziro

Coupon-mad, thanks for your advice.

I will call my assistance firm tomorrow and instruct them that I recieved this scam ticket from a private company. I will then follow this up in writing and write to Town and City Parking as well.

Thanks for your help, I'll scan any responses.

Coupon-mad

ziro wrote: »

Coupon-mad, thanks for your advice.

I will call my assistance firm tomorrow and instruct them that I recieved this scam ticket from a private company. I will then follow this up in writing and write to Town and City Parking as well.

Thanks for your help, I'll scan any responses.

If they don't know about such scams then they need to learn as they are becoming more common.

If they don't agree that it's a scam, that doesn't affect you as long as they don't pay it or charge you an admin fee for receiving any letters about it. Either way just make it clear that you take responsibility but just wanted to be sure they won't pay it up front because it is - you are reliably informed - unenforceable.

If they say their courtesy car t&cs say 'you must pay any parking/speeding fine' then say, 'yes, I see that, but this is not a fine, it's a scam ticket, a demand for money, not a real fine'. Etc...:D