Has anyone experience of dealing with a car park fine appel?

jfc

Hi

I have a debt diary thread on this site already but this is a seperate issue that I am trying to help my son resolve and would appreciate any advice you can give.

My son received a parking ticket recently and has challenged the legality of it. He had paid and displayed correctly but returned to his car to find a parking ticket on his windscreen - He challenged the attendant, who said, its too late Ive issued a ticket now.

He appealed again by email, scanning and sending a copy of his paid ticket, and the charge to Premier Parking, but his appeal has been declined.

I rang trading standards yesterday and registered a complaint and was advised to take it up with the National Car Park Adjudicator Service. On this advice my son has sent the following email to them:

For the attention of the National Car Park Adjudicator Service

On 2nd February I received a parking ticket whilst parked in Sussex House Car Park, Crawley, West Sussex. I complained to the attendant and pointed out to him my fully paid parking ticket that was on my dashboard. The attendant told me that it was too late as he had already issued the ticket.


When I got home I followed this up with an email appeal, attaching a scanned a copy of my parking ticket and also my parking charge to the company that issued it:



Parking Charge: 55361
Premier Parking Solutions
PO Box 471
Newton Abbot
TQ12 9FX



This morning I received a letter from Valley Enforcement of the same address. It resembled a standard template rejection of appeal letter and didn’t seem to relate to my personal situation.


I have today spoken to Natalie at Trading Standards who has reposted my complaint against Premier Parking (Ref: SE3726435) Natalie also advised me to send an appeal to yourself.

I have attached copies of the scanned ticket, charge and response letter from Valley Enforcement. I would appreciate a prompt response as there is a threat of increasing charges and a suggestion that if left unpaid a bailiff will come to my home and take my possessions.

As an A level student with only a weekend job I have very little income and am very anxious about the situation. I feel it is unfair to be fined for something I haven’t done.



I look forward to your response.

Now what I am worried about is , if we dont pay within 28 days a baliff will come to the house and take my sons possessions, probably his car (which he bought for £500 a year ago) He would happily pay the charge if it was legitimate but he didnt commit an offence

I cant work out how to attach the reply to the first appeal t this message, if anyone can help me that would be appreciated.

Many thanks

DVardysShadow

OK, this is private parking enforcement, not the state doing it. Just ignore them and their faux appeal processes. Keep hold of the evidence - the parking ticket for 6 years, as it would be a good defence if ever the matter was taken to court - which is remote. And you don't get bailiffs without a court case - anyone else who turns up can be laughed at - they will not be real bailiffs.

PNPSUKNET

They are not fines, they are invoices and they can not take your car. Only council or police issued ones can

cattyboo

Hi jfc,

Sorry to hear your son is having trouble, it all sounds like the parking people have been very unreasonable bless him, things like this should never make it this far but it seems all to often they do.

I know a couple of people who have dealt with similar matters, one of them was cleared up after an initial letter (and photographs) were sent to the council, but it sounds like your son had no luck explaining the situation the first time and just got a standard reply :mad:

The other person I know who's had to deal with stupid issues like this got a fine for parking in a multistory without paying but had kept the fully paid ticket as proof she paid. Even with this overwhelming evidence that their action against her had nothing to go on they sent another letter demanding she pay the fine and she went on the offensive and threatened them with action back and has heard nothing more from them. This was with a private company though and I'm afraid I don't know much about them, all I know from the news is they are of questionable authority and repute and understandably not well liked!

Is it possible for your son to speak to someone on the phone who can investigate the matter personally? It's always much nicer when you can talk to an actual human and most of the time the people on the other end of the phone are very helpful. Would be a good way of getting a quicker response if it was possible.

Hope it gets sorted soon,

C xx

cattyboo

Have you had a look on this link? I'm not qualified to give you specifics so hopefully this will be more help!

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

C xx

jfc

thank you for your replies. I would like to post a scan of the letter on here so you can help my son word a reply to the original appeal. Has anyone an idiots guide to posting scans please?

Thanks

molerat

There is no appeal to a private ticket, it does not work like that as they are not going to chance losing money. Do not enter into any further communication with them. Ignore all letters they send but keep them safely in case they incriminate themselves. There is very little chance of them taking court action as any defence will win the case. Go here and have a good read to convince yourself http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

iolanthe07

You cannot receive a fine from a private company - only an invoice. There is a sub-board here that deals with parking matters, and the advice seems to be that you can safely ignore these invoices. They will threaten and intimidate, but court action would cost them too much and they would probably lose anyway.

NeverAgain_2

This is a fake scam ticket and should be ignored.

Writing to the company is a tactical error because it will be seen by them as 'a bite', and they will bother the OP's son even more.

Expect a few more threatening letters, but they will give up in the end.

I have successfully ignored two of these tickets.

chesky369

The only power they have is that many people assume they have legal validity. They do not. Ignore them. Do not pay.

consultant31

Please ignore any and all communications that come to you from these people.

I was sent a letter by Excel Parking to say that I had overstayed in a car-park in Sheffield on Christmas Eve a couple of years ago when I knew I hadn't been anywhere near Sheffield on that day, and could actually prove it.

Having read on here about these types of claims, I wanted to ignore it but my DH insisted I write back to them explaining my position. It's like a red rag to a bull to communicate with them....within a couple of months we'd had 3 more letters and the 'fine' had gone from £60 to £200+ and the final letter said they were taking us to court.

We replied with a solicitor's letter saying that we were looking forward to our day in court and since then, we've heard nothing from them - shame really, it would have been good flashing the proof in front of their eyes

My DD got a similar one from a different company which put her into a state of panic (which is what they want so that you'll pay up quickly). I persuaded her to ignore it and after one more letter she heard nothing else.

Tell your son not to worry any more, ignore them and they WILL go away