Didn't know I needed a ticket

knighterrant

Over a month ago I went ten-pin bowling for the very first time with a group of friends. It was pouring with rain when we arrived at the bowling alley (on a Sunday morning) and I felt lucky to easily find a space in the open air car park very close to the door. I didn't even consider that I may need to pay for a parking ticket, assuming that the car park belonged to the bowling alley. I certainly didn't spot the huge sign at the entrance because I was looking too far ahead for a good parking space! Having parked, all of us just made a dash for the door. When we came out about an hour later it was still raining. I spotted a small clear plastic bag with a piece of paper in it that looked as though it hadjust blown onto the top of my windscreen - it was only the wet surface that kept it there. I just brushed it off as I jumped into the car.

It wasn't until I got home later that day that I wondered if the bag was actually a parking charge. I've never had one before (during over 40 years of driving) so didn't really know what they looked like. There was nothing I could do about it by then because it was probably still on the car park floor.

Today I received a "Notice to Keeper / Driver" from NCP:(. It's a little confusing in that it says "Parking Charge: £100, Paid to Date: £0.00, Amount Still Outstanding: £50.00" No matter what, it's a PCCN.

My quandry is this:

• Do I just ignore it and follow the advice so well covered elsewhere?
• But I was "guilty" of not paying the original parking charge so should I just pay the £50 and put it down to an expensive hour's entertainment?
• Or how about telling NCP what happened and sending them £2.00 (the charge for 2 hours) together with an apology and then have nothing more to do with them?

:question:

Quentin

knighterrant wrote: »

• Do I just ignore it and follow the advice so well covered elsewhere?

:question:

Never mind elsewhere, you came here!!

And the advice you see here is the same?????

taffy056

Here are some answers for you, basically the charge is a scam and you should simply ignore them, going the advanced route is an option though, and we can give you details of that if you wish.

knighterrant wrote: »

My quandry is this:

• Do I just ignore it and follow the advice so well covered elsewhere? YES
• But I was "guilty" of not paying the original parking charge so should I just pay the £50 and put it down to an expensive hour's entertainment? You are not guilty of anything, don't pay anything
• Or how about telling NCP what happened and sending them £2.00 (the charge for 2 hours) together with an apology and then have nothing more to do with them? You could send them what their loss is, but only do so if you are confident on going the advanced route

:question:

HappyMJ

As above....ignore and it will go away....after they send a few more sternly written letters threatening credit rating destruction and huge penalties and a court visit. None of which will ever happen.

bondy_lad

100% ignore, its a scam,, dont worry about any future threat o grams you recieve on or behalf of them,, they are all part of the scam,, so again totally ignore, come back for reassurance as often as you like,, only police/traffic warden can issue a fine called,, PENALTY charge notice=legit/have to pay,,,what you have PARKING charge notice=not legit/scam/ loo paper, full stop, the end.do not contact totaly 1000000% IGNORE.jobs a good un.relax,feet up, chill out.

Coupon-mad

Do not ignore a private parking ticket - from 2013 onwards things changed in England/Wales. If yours is Parking Eye then they are suing people and so are some other PPCs.

You must appeal and with current forum advice, you will win at popla - we win 100% of appeals in 2014.

Please click to page one of the forum, get off this old thread. See my signature below for where to click to read current advice. Please read the NEWBIES thread at the top of this very forum.

Did I say STOP reading this ancient thread, NOW??!!




Do not ignore a private parking ticket - from 2013 onwards things changed in England/Wales. If yours is Parking Eye then they are suing people and so are some other PPCs.

You must appeal and with current forum advice, you will win at popla - we win 100% of appeals in 2014.

Please click to page one of the forum, get off this old thread. See my signature below for where to click to read current advice. Please read the NEWBIES thread at the top of this very forum.

Did I say STOP reading this ancient thread, NOW??!!

knighterrant

Thanks all for confirming what I thought. I do feel a bit guilty for not paying the £2 in the first place, but it was a genuine mistake. And NCP have far more money than me anyway!

ALTHOUGH - what is the "advanced route" that taffy talked about? I can't argue that I wasn't there at the time, or that I had a ticket that they didn't see, or that I disagree about exactly where I was parked, or any of the other multitude of reasons I've read in these forums. I parked in a car park without paying the standard fee - simples.

But no, I've decided. If NCP are sensible enough to write to me and ask me to pay the £2 then I'll gladly do so. If not, then I'll sit back and wait for all their threatening letters - but ignore them.

The letter that I received says " .... PCCN CP******** was attached to the vehicle .....". Well it wasn't attached so they got their bit wrong. Additionally, they go on to talk about the vehicle being involved in a "contravention". The legal dictionary definition of contravention is: "an act which violates the law, a treaty or an agreement which the party has made". I haven't violated any laws or treaties, nor did I make an agreement with them. They can't get their basic facts right so I'm not going to pay them anything. Their fault so their loss. :cool:

The_Slithy_Tove

knighterrant wrote: »

Or how about telling NCP what happened and sending them £2.00 (the charge for 2 hours) together with an apology and then have nothing more to do with them?

As you stated in your most recent post, if they had actually asked for what they are entitled to, i.e. their actual losses which are £2 (and maybe another £2.50 it cost them to get your details from the DVLA), then you could pay it. But they got greedy, and thus deserve nothing.

AlexisV

I do feel a bit guilty for not paying the £2 in the first place, but it was a genuine mistake

Euro Car Parks recently got spanked for failing to clearly notify people that their car park was pay and display on their horrendously cluttered signage.

There's more money for NCP in not making the pay and display clear considering 60% of people pay their phoney tickets without question.

give_them_FA

So you are getting the message that their operation (behind their glossy corporate image) is a scam which relies upon people being conned by them impersonating an authority which they are not.

The advanced route is this.

Admittedly, you do owe a small amount of money which you should have paid for parking. £2, was it? But you certainly do not owe the amount they have tried to claim, which is an unlawful penalty they have no right to enforce- and, ultimately, won't try to enforce because they know it.

So, you send them a cheque for what you admit you owe them, covered by a letter, and endorsed on the back of the cheque, "in full and final settlement of all liability to the payee".

Thus, you have offered them what they are actually entitled to in law. Add a little for their expenses (say £4) to be fair.

If they accept that, it will dispose of the matter. If, as is usually the case, they refuse your offer, that leaves you clear for Stage 2.

Collect the threatening letters that they will send you and then sue them for harassment. Come back for further instructions if you want to go that route.

That is "advanced" but you do need the bottle to see it through.

Otherwise, simply ignore everything you will receive. Do not be tempted to reply or query. After they have gone through a set routine of template letters they will go away.

Although they will make empty threats about it, NCP are far too smart to really go to court, and they never do.

knighterrant

Thanks GTFA. I'm very tempted to take the "advanced" route - I love fighting the "big boys". So far I've taken on a beaten the Home Office (twice on visas for relatives visiting the UK on holiday!), Thai Airways (full compensation for 36 hour flight delay), Bangkok Airways (compensation for 27 hour delay and rerouting) and Dollar Rent-a-Car (large fine for motoring offence that I didn't commit). It's taken hours of research and lots of letters in every case, but so rewarding when I've won. But in all those instances I had lost significant amounts of money and/or time so it was well worth the effort. At the moment I'm £2 up on NCP (:j) so I think I'll let them off