Advice for a friend

claypath

Hi
A friend visited her husband in hospital. She paid the money for two hours parking at 3.11pm, (minimum she had to pay) After the hour of visiting she went back to her car and there was a parking fine of £60 placed on her car at 3.24pm. She appealed and received a letter back stating they could'nt see the ticket and that they would'nt go into multiple appeals. She still has the original ticket which she purchased.
Can she do anything more or is she obliged to pay the fine.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Claypath

The_Slithy_Tove

I assume this is a Private Parking Company, or at least the hospital doing its own enforcement, which amounts to the same thing. Tell your friend simply to ignore everything she receives relating to this. It is NOT A FINE, and there is no obligation whatsoever to pay the unenforceable invoice she has received.

Point her to this forum, and tell her to read the stickies, so she knows what to expect through the post, and to reassure her that it amounts to zilch.

djdave

As above, ignore ignore ignore.

Your friend bought a ticket in good faith, and shouldn't be punished for a PPC's inability to do their job. There are a hundred reasons why they won't take your friend to court, but even on the million-to-one chance that they do your friend would be able to demonstrate that she had a valid ticket. The PPC would be laughed out of the building.

Tell her not to panic, even if she starts to receive further demands. And again: ignore ignore ignore.

AlexisV

So she fell for the fake 'appeals' trick.

Just ignore.

Coupon-mad

claypath wrote: »

Hi
A friend visited her husband in hospital. She paid the money for two hours parking...

Enough information, if it was a private company in England or Wales and if it was a 'Parking Charge Notice' (no mention of the word 'Penalty' which appears on a real PCN?).

As others have said, this is a scam. You must tell her there is NO APPEAL.

If you read the stickies (info threads at the top) you'll find the Watchdog clip in the sticky thread 'welcome, please read before posting'. Please show your friend what you find out here, and do not worry a jot that she's already written to the scumbags.

She should never have taken it seriously and she/you will know next time. It was never a fine and it will have no more effect on her credit rating than if I alleged she owed me some money!

All she will get is the usual debt collector threatograms which are not scary when you know you can safely just play 'PPC snap' with them. Just read the 'welcome' thread, watch the Watchdog clip and also look at the letter chains in the top sticky thread. That's what will happen. Just letters.

bondy_lad

i work in a hospital and believe me this scam is rife, with the hospitals turning a blind eye, no doubt for their cut,,despite all the letters she will recieve on or behalf of these scammers,,,10000000000% totally ignore,,despite whatever threats are made nothing will/can happen.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

When I have to visit my local hospital [in England] I NEVER pay to park, because I object to a proportion of the tax I pay being used to subsidise free hospital parking in other parts of the UK.

I have collected and ignored numerous invoices from the PPC goons who prowl the site and guess what has happened? NOTHING!

Tell your friend to ignore.

Bondy lad you are right, the hospital, or more likely an individual in a senior management position, will be taking a percentage.