Faulty machine - fine recieved!!

Billy_the_fish

About 8 weeks ago i parked in Nottingham town centre for a quick appointment i had.

i paid £1.20 into the parking meter and then pressed the button to print my ticket.

the ticket machine i could hear doing the usual noise to print a ticket but no ticket was recieved.

i had 5 mins spare before my appointment so i looked at either end of the road to see if there was a traffic warden i could speak to about the issue. no warden was visible, i had no other change on me either nor a mobile phone with me.

i left a visible note on my dash board explaing what had happened, the time i parked and how much i paid into the machine.

on returning to my vehicle 45mins later (still 15mins left of what i paid for) there was a ticket for parking without displaying a ticket.

i saw the warden and approached and asked why the ticket on my car when clearly there wa a problem.

her reply was 1. you havnt displayed a ticket 2. you should of rang the phone number for errors etc

why didnt she just check the meter to see if it was printing out the tickets?? maybe she couldnt do that, i dont know.

i sent an email to parking sevices explaining the situation and the fact that 3 or 4 other cars were also with fine tickets on their screen so they seemed to be in the same situation.

today i recieved there reply that again i should of rang the number on the machine and they see no reason to reverse their decision but still offered me either the lower rate of £25 or i wait for 'unpaid ticket' letter to arrive where itll go to court/hearing of some sort i guess and ill make my case their, but thatll cost me a day off work!!!

i had no more money on me, i had already paid my fare for the hour.
i had no phone on me, no money to phone the number the warden pointed out to me after she issued the ticket and there are no public pay phones close ny even if i did know about the number and had money to call them.

utterly p*****d off that in doing right im still wrong.

im in the frame of mind to ignore it all and offer myself to her majesty service for the week or 2 that theyll lock me up for.

i know its easy to say pay the £25 it easier in the long run, but for me right now my morals are with me and refusing to bow to their greedy pockets.

can anyone please shed any light on what i can do here, various options etc?

any past cases with info i can read, any similar experiences with anyone here? reuslts/outcome?

any help, pointers, info or guidance would be hugley appreciated right now.

giraffe69

When this happened recently in London (Kensington & Chelsea) to us we also got a ticket after leaving a note on the window. A letter to the parking people snet the next day produced a cancelled ticket once the facts of the broken machine had been checked.
Do you really travel around with no phone and no money?

peter_the_piper

Can the op copy/photo all paperwork recd all sides and remove personal bits. Host on tinypic and copy/paste the url into a post. You may ahve to get the parking place order for that park as well.

ps I rarely carry a phone either.

Billy_the_fish

giraffe69 wrote: »

When this happened recently in London (Kensington & Chelsea) to us we also got a ticket after leaving a note on the window. A letter to the parking people snet the next day produced a cancelled ticket once the facts of the broken machine had been checked.
Do you really travel around with no phone and no money?

it was a quick punt into town for a 30-40min appointment. 1 hour payment on the meter was ample. as for my phone, yes believe it or not, i went into without my phone as i wasnt needing it as it didnt have any credit on it any way. but i dont believe me not having a phone on me is the real issue here.

Billy_the_fish

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Can the op copy/photo all paperwork recd all sides and remove personal bits. Host on tinypic and copy/paste the url into a post. You may ahve to get the parking place order for that park as well.

ps I rarely carry a phone either.

not sure what your asking me there.

heres my quote for my approach to them about the situation...

At 11:16am on 27th September 2010 i parked next to parking meter on Trent street. upon inserting £1.20 for 1 hours parking, i pressed the green button for the ticket but no ticket was received!! i had an appointment at 11:20, had no phone on me and no other money on me. I wrote a note explaining that the ticket was not recieved fromt he parking meter and left it clearly visible on my dash board.

On returning to my vehicle at 12:10pm (still 6 minutes remaining for what i purchased) i noticed a ticket on my windowscreen. after speaking tot he attendant in the area she said i got the ticket not because of the machines fault but the fact i never made a phonecall to parking services!!

Clearly your machine was at fault in not giving out receipts, i paid my fee as required and therefor have kept within the law.

Please inform me asap of what actions you will be taking

thank you

should i scan there reply to me and post it here??

Billy_the_fish

just scanned them, gonna edit them and post them up.

also i was in a van which could be considered as loading i guess as i was filling out paperwork at the appointment i was at. it only states in the letter that the van was observed for 5minutes before being issued with a ticket.

surely im allowed more than 5minutes loading if thats the way i want to go, yes? no?

according to another website ALL parking bays can be used for loading unless specifically stated.

cheers guys

Billy_the_fish

Ok, uploaded the scans at original size so they are readable but not sure if the forum will resize them for the thread.

Billy_the_fish

OUCH!!! the images are big!!!

if any mods/admin can edit them to be smaller then please do.

just checked the ticket again and its the reg of my car not my van, none the less, could i argue it as loading as i was collecting/siging paperwork and is the only reason i was there for the appoinment.

also, how long loading time are vehicles allowed or is this supposed to be signed with the parking signs also?

any info/help like i say is appreciated.

taffy056

You can do a foi request on the machine in question to the council, demand that they tell you if its been repaired since, and ask for the service schedule of the machine also, and you probably should post this on pepipoo.com

Coupon-mad

Sadly this is not a dedicated Council PCN fightback website, so uploading the PCN and/or rejection notice here won't get the advice you need. Also I don't think paperwork alone can be passed off as loading (postal packets yes, piece of paper no).

Pepipoo is the forum for you as they are a dedicated fightback forum for motorists:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Read the FAQs and stickies, and a few threads to get the gist. Then register and post your pictures of the PCN front and back (all the small print but blank out car ID and PCN number). Also pics of the bay ends, signs and lines, all pics would be useful. See the sticky threads on how to post pictures on there (not so big!).

'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again' is the motto for appealing a Council PCN. Most Councils decline almost every informal appeal but that doesn't mean you haven't got a case. Councils like to play a game of bluff - so call theirs with help from pepipoo posters.

Good luck.

peter_the_piper

FOI's requests are supposed to be answered in 20 days but often take weeks longer. No doubt the council cuts will be blamed.