bank holiday parking ticket

disposable849

Hello everybody,

I phoned three places before leaving the house, including the local police and asked if there was a charge for parking on a bank holiday in my town. Two of the three said no, the other didn't know. This was Christmas Bank Holiday Tuesday. I arrived, it was dark and raining, parked where I saw a space and left it expecting no charge. A 'parking contravention enforcement notice' arrived this week from Civil Enforcement asking £150 or half if paid now. I feel this is excessive, have never parked there before and don't want to pay it as I did believe there was no charge for a Bank Holiday. I'm in the town centre tomorrow and will look at the signs in the day light.

Anyone done this? Any advise? Can I argue it? It is a worry but it is also a great deal of money I don't have. Help!

taffy056

Before we can give advice, who exactly gave you a ticket, its pretty important - thanks

DaveF327

Given the excessive amount of £150, I suspect this was a privately owned and run car park where they charge 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including Christmas Day, charge disabled badge holders too and even charge extra for tiny tim's crutch.

Advice for all car parks (council or otherwise) is never to accept anyone's word for it, but always to consult signs at the location in question to see it printed in black and white. The pay and display meter will always have hours of operation printed thereon. Some towns' meters say "Sundays and Bank Holiday free", others' say "Sundays £X.xx all day, normal charges apply bank holidays." Bah Humbug.

It's the same with bus lanes. Despite the clear "MON - FRI" sign, people assume it's ok to drive in there on bank holiday mondays / tuesdays. Never assume.

Coupon-mad

disposable849 wrote: »

Hello everybody,

I phoned three places before leaving the house, including the local police and asked if there was a charge for parking on a bank holiday in my town. Two of the three said no, the other didn't know. This was Christmas Bank Holiday Tuesday. I arrived, it was dark and raining, parked where I saw a space and left it expecting no charge. A 'parking contravention enforcement notice' arrived this week from Civil Enforcement asking £150 or half if paid now. I feel this is excessive, have never parked there before and don't want to pay it as I did believe there was no charge for a Bank Holiday. I'm in the town centre tomorrow and will look at the signs in the day light.

Anyone done this? Any advise? Can I argue it? It is a worry but it is also a great deal of money I don't have. Help!

You've come to this forum and don't seem to realise that you don't even have a real parking ticket? It's a scam, for Gawd's sake wise up!

Look at all the other threads on the forum, read the sticky threads at the top called 'PPC letters/threats ' and 'welcome, please read before posting'.

Watch the Watchdog video. Then ask yourself why on earth you took a fake PCN so seriously - do you not realise the difference between:

- a real Council ticket (Penalty Charge) = appeal it,

and

- a private bogus version (Parking Charge) = ignore it.

If you don't read the stickies and you are so quick to believe that a fake PCN is real, you are going to get so scared when you get the debt collector scamogram letters! So read other threads, especially the 2 stickies I mentioned which are at the top of this forum. Learn about the scam, watch the Watchdog Solicitor, have a laugh.

It amazes me that people fall for this con every day just because the PPCs pass off their flyers to look like a PCN (a bit). 'Can you argue it?' LOL! Will you pay me some money too if I ask? What if I put it on headed notepaper and called it a Parking Charge Notice?! Do you also reply and pay money to phishing emailers?

TrickyWicky

With council run car parks you should always assume that bank holidays are enforceable. Some councils don't enforce but many do and there is no hard and fast set rule for this. It's down to each local council so you either need to ring them in advance or be prepared to stump up P&D charges just in case.

With regards to any parking ticket you get that starts with the word 'parking' instead of penalty, you can ignore it. They have no legal powers to fine you, you've not agreed to a contract and they cannot assume that you have agreed to a contract. Additionally they have no legal power to demand that you name the driver of the vehicle at the time who would of 'entered' into the contract that they can't enforce.

Put it at the bottom of a pile of paperwork and forget about it. Should you receive any more of these add them to the collection and by the time you get 5 or 6 you may well have a case for harassment.

Now, go about your business and have a happy new year.