Greedy council refuses to refund fines wrongly issued

vax2002

Greedy Bradford council is refusing to refund £60 bus lane fines to motorists who followed a council diversion sign in the town UNLESS they APPEAL ! :eek:

The council is refusing to contact motorists it issued fines to to point out the mistake.

The Council placed diversion signs during roadworks and automatic cameras dished out £60 fines and 3 penalty points to those obeying the signs.

The council is saying anyone who thinks they have been wrongly fined should write in !!!!

At what point does this become theft ?
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9246803.Driver_stung_by_Bradford_diversion_fines/

vikingaero

I've always maintained that Councils and parking attendants who issue false tickets should be charged with theft/blackmail. The only responses I've had are that the Police have enough to deal with - so the Councils and parking attendants get away with it and know that they can get away with it.

Can someone in Bradford not make a complaint and escalate it to the Local Government Ombudsman?

rev_henry

Didn't think anyone in Bradford had a licence anyway. Or was that just insurance?

wobbley

rev_henry wrote: »

Didn't think anyone in Bradford had a licence anyway. Or was that just insurance?

Yeah, quite a few do, but, it's usually shared amongst brothers / cousins / friends ect.

Strider590

wobbley wrote: »

Yeah, quite a few do, but, it's usually shared amongst brothers / cousins / friends ect.

Explains all the aliases, keep trying a new one until the Police officer goes away.

Ghostrider

vax2002 wrote: »

Greedy Bradford council is refusing to refund £60 bus lane fines to motorists who followed a council diversion sign in the town UNLESS they APPEAL ! :eek:

The council is refusing to contact motorists it issued fines to to point out the mistake.

The Council placed diversion signs during roadworks and automatic cameras dished out £60 fines and 3 penalty points to those obeying the signs.

The council is saying anyone who thinks they have been wrongly fined should write in !!!!

At what point does this become theft ?
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9246803.Driver_stung_by_Bradford_diversion_fines/

It doesn't take much effort to file an appeal which in all likliehood will be upheld

What do you expect them to do, try and sort through all the fines to find those they should be dealing with and then write to everybody? I imagine the number of fines issued in the Bradford City area amounts to a fair few every day!

Councils are short of money and staff these days i'm not surprised they can't do it - thats what the country voted for BTW so we have ourselves to blame.

But being realistic as much as I understand the point of principle you are making and do agree, I also would say it's hardly the end of the world and it's not going to cost you more than the price of a stamp if that.

vaio

Ghostrider wrote: »

.......What do you expect them to do, try and sort through all the fines to find those they should be dealing with and then write to everybody? ......

Yep, it’s a simple database search based on date & location & fine paid status followed by a computer generated apology letter & refund cheque to all those that have paid.

As others have said, to do otherwise is tantamount to theft, if a public body know they have wrongly fined me I expect them to actively take steps correct the position.

vax2002

The main problem is that this is the main route in to the city for families visiting the media museum which is very busy so visitors to the city would have no idea that the fine related to the diversion so I feel that to not inform people of the error is a malicious act.
Why should people have to appeal when they have done no wrong and what about those who paid ?

Ghostrider

vaio wrote: »

Yep, it’s a simple database search based on date & location & fine paid status followed by a computer generated apology letter & refund cheque to all those that have paid.

As others have said, to do otherwise is tantamount to theft, if a public body know they have wrongly fined me I expect them to actively take steps correct the position.

Well thats fair play, and like I said I understand the principle and sympathise, but in the real world it's easier for you to appeal and less use of tax payers money which is already tight.

or you could wait for them to take you to court only for you to then win the case because you have a defence, although thats an awful waste of taxpayers money especially in the economically constrained time we're in and takes ages to resolve the situation and it hanging over your head for months.

or you could write endless complaint letters and make endless phonecalls until you're blue in the face from talking to computerised idiots that work for the council who wont care about your plight, until you finally get somewhere and they admit they are at fault - that will end up costing you time, effort and money - not to mention increasing your blood pressure.

THATS why my advice would be to just file an appeal, its easier all round - I didn't say I didn't agree with your view of the principle - but ranting won't help, Councils are so frustrating to deal with, they have customer service worse than the likes of Sky and BT AND have the law on their side!! So trust me, save yourself the bother, write them a three line appeal letter and be done with it.

vikingaero

What should happen here is that the Head of Parking Services comes into work in his own time and traces the drivers and issues the cheques to them.

Indout96

What do you expect them to do, try and sort through all the fines to find those they should be dealing with and then write to everybody?

It would have been far easier to turn off the camera whilst the diversion was on.

Didn't think anyone in Bradford had a licence anyway. Or was that just insurance?

I do - but I think its just me - seems like it with my premium