NCP say wrong ticket bought at Milton Keynes

Honey_Ryder

Hi All,
I got caught by the same trap last Saturday, parked in the NCP area and bought a ticket from the nearest machine (none NCP it turned out) so today I went back to record via photo's and video as to how clear the signage was.

I called the number for NCP customer services and she brought up what pictures they have of the car parks, she said at first when the car park was handed over to them there was a lot of complaints but now all the signs? are up they have not had the same level of complaints. Their number is 08450507080. I will look to send them and any news paper the pictures if they want them?

Today I have told about 7 people, one caught on video camera of people putting money in the wrong machine, and therefore prevented them from getting a parking ticket.
But here's the deal, if you didn't happen to see the attendant OR if they did not give you all the details, you might just think you have to pay the £35 fine if in 2 weeks or £70 afterwards and leave the car park, however if you are prepaired to pay a full days parking into their NCP machine £3.30 whey will write off the parking fine for you ( They will have to be with you)
I was not told this last week when I was given my lovely yellow sticker on my windscreen - but was today. He called a number and it had not been processed (luckily) so I paid the NCP machine £3.30 he kept the tickets as receipt and wrote on the detachable part of the fine that it had been written off and with his name.
Whilst I was catching all this on Video camera, a passerby called Mark stopped to report his daughter had fallen foul of the same fine, that is is apparently going to be in the papers next week, and that there is a legal dispute as the NCP markings should not have been purple like the other standard rate non-NCP bays. That all the NCP bays should have clear markings.
The parking attendant was friendly, and I would really hate to do his job. He is right in that all the non-ncp ticket machines say on them,"This is not an NCP ticket machine" but my arguement was that I didn't know I was in one! Plus who reads the signs other than how much is the parking and the buttons you need to press.

I appreciate the other threads say to ignore it, and I do agree. However for £3.30 I have got off any further annoyance and disruption to myself but I will not use another NCP car park again!

Hope this helps!

TrickyWicky

petal1 wrote: »

There is council parking and shopping centre parking in close proximity, and it does not appear very clear which bit is which.

This is actually very common and both council and PPCs reap the benefits of it being this way for the reason that they can whack PCNs on windscreens.

As for NCP, ignore.

petal1

@Honey Ryder

Well done for sticking it out and getting a satisfactory result.

It's not just about trying to beat the system because you have accidently overun by ten minutes or used somebody else's disabled badge, it's about getting the system to work properly, and your own peace of mind.

trimble101

exactly the same thing has happened to us today in Milton Keynes (and to the car next to us it seems! - they'll probably read this forum tonight too!). We are not local to MK and were totally unaware of a change-over in ownership. We legitimately bought and displayed the ticket on our window (without any Council or NCP logo on the ticket anywhere) and came back to our car to find the parking fine slapped on our windscreen. Really annoyed about this. It wasn't clear at all that there are different areas to park in, in fact we parked in an area with the original council markings (pink lines ) around the spaces. But thanks to Petal we now realise why NCP are trying to fine us for it. Surely they should try and get our money/their money back from the council? We thought it was weird at the time that instead of putting a Parking Attendant Number on the ticket, they just wrote "see attendant" (but obviously nobody was around when we were looking for one!). Perhaps if we were to find him he would have done what HoneyRider has said above. (not that we should have had to pay even another £3.30 to have the fine cleared).

MrsDougal

Hi Petal1 -
Thank you so much for posting your information regarding Milton Keynes car parking. I have suffered the same problem 10 or so days ago. I have appealed and am waiting for a rejection. Can you give me the details of the owners of the car park who were so curteous and professional as I assumed as well that it was Milton Keynes Council? I would also prefer to clear this up rather than ignore lots and lots of threatening letters. kind regards and thanks.

trimble101

Hi Petal, I have tried to respond to you, but it will only let me send one message per hour whilst I am a "newbie" !!. But thank you SO much for all your help, it is really appreciated. I will definitely be contacting them this week.

petal1

MrsDougal wrote: »

Hi Petal1 -
Thank you so much for posting your information regarding Milton Keynes car parking. I have suffered the same problem 10 or so days ago. I have appealed and am waiting for a rejection. Can you give me the details of the owners of the car park who were so curteous and professional as I assumed as well that it was Milton Keynes Council? I would also prefer to clear this up rather than ignore lots and lots of threatening letters. kind regards and thanks.

Please see the PM I have sent you.

trimble101

Hi Petal,
Oh my! what a mess I'm getting into. I had to wait an hour before I could respond to your message. So I have just sent you the message. Now I have seen your other PM re MrsDougal and I can't respond again for another hour!!!!!! :mad:
But there should be a way of you seeing your message that you wrote to me. If you go to your Private message section, there is a small drop down box where you can change from seeing your inbox to your outbox. Hope this helps. If it doesn't, let me know and I will send a copy of it to MrsD in an hour or so!!!

halibut2209

You just can't help some people.

If it's a private ticket IGNORE!!!

It's that simple.

petal1

halibut2209 wrote: »

You just can't help some people.

If it's a private ticket IGNORE!!!

It's that simple.

Perhaps your first line should read ‘you just can’t dictate to some people’

So far two people have opposed these tickets, and two people have achieved a satisfactory result. The reason for this is that those in authority may appear to have acknowledged a problem

I refer you to my post at #34, this is not just about getting away without paying a ‘parking ticket’, but it is about getting the scandalous situation at Milton Keynes resolved. If everyone takes your ill found advice and ignore these tickets, no one will be aware of the problems that exist, and have the opportunity to resolve them.

From trimble101’s post, it would appear that NCP may well be taking note off the problem, as they put on the ticket ‘see attendant’. This would possibly infer some attempt to resolve the situation.

To my mind, and the mind of others it is better where possible to resolve the issue, both the ‘fine’ and the bad situation in the car park, rather than prolong the all round unfairness.

If, as a society we trod an honest path, and did not over stay the allowed time, did not park in two spaces, did not use disabled spaces when not disabled, and more importantly did not make up fanciful excuses as to why we shouldn’t pay, then perhaps there would be no need for parking attendants and ‘fines’, and when genuine errors were made, they would be looked upon favourably, and not just as another person trying to beat the system.

Not every case is the same, even Martyn Lewis’s pieces state tickets are ‘often unenforceable’, not ‘all are enforceable’, and if there is a way where of a couple of letters or a phone call prevents the ensuing stream of unpleasant letters, then there are people, including myself will take that option.

There are many people like the elderly, vulnerable or those of limited financial means, who find these situations and letters very frightening, and it is selfish, unreasonable and unfair to try and deny them the opportunity to put an end to it.

We are only talking about the situation at Milton Keynes here, not all parking tickets.