Parking ticket Stansted

rogermunns

I arrived at Stansted Airport on 27 March with my 92 year old Mum in order for her to catch a flight.
When I arrived at the drop-off point I could see the warden about 60metres away, talking to someone.
I got out of the car and rushed in to the airport, grabbed a wheelchair and got back out to the car. The warden was still in the same place, talking to the same person. I quickly put Mum in the wheelchair, grabbed her luggage and rushed her into the special assistance department. The warden must have seen me loading Mum and wheeling her in. I left her at special assistance and rushed back to the car. The warden had ticketed the car.
I sent payment (£30) by card number two days later. I also enclosed a letter outlining why I felt I should not have been booked. I paid because I was in a hire car and I knew that the hire company would have to pay the fine and they would have debited my credit card account with the fine plus an admin fee.
A major point was the timing. I arrived at 12:03pm and drove off at 12:11pm. The warden had put 12:00 and 12:13pm on the ticket.
My timings show that I was as quick as I could be in the circumstances.
The money was taken out of my CC account on 12 April.
They sent a letter to me rejecting my appeal, mainly because I "should have applied for a court hearing". This was clearly impossible for me because I now live in France.
The letter was dated 18 April and sent 2nd class. I received it today. So 28 days were already up. In the letter is also mentioned that 28 days is a deadline. Why was the letter so late being sent?
Finally, (quote from the letter):

If, within 28 days of the offence an alleged offender wishes to challenge the ticket's legality, or an issue or circumstances around the offence, then they are required to make a court request. At the time of the request the alleged offender may provide any mitigation, this is then sent to the officer who issued the ticket in order for them to make a final decision as to whether the case should go to court or not. It is not possible for an alleged offender to speak with the officer concerned as this would be sub judice.

Can I do anything? As I said, I live in France.

Kite2010

You have paid them £30 to much

The letter is late being sent as a measure to try and get you to panic and pay more money up.

rogermunns

Maybe I should also have mentioned that the ticket and the letter are from Essex Police.

peter_the_piper

I'm not sure about this post. Op got a ticket, paid, end of story. The only thing to watch out for is the hire company but its not likely the police will chase them, otherwise its all done and dusted.

give_them_FA

Hang on, if this is a Police ticket, then what they are saying is if he doesn't want to pay the fixed penalty then he has to appear in Maggies Court. This is standard practice. Not dealing with a car park scammer here, they would have demanded a lot more than £30.

I cannot see how minor discrepancies in timing could have any effect.

Clearly what the OP describes as an "attendant" was either a Police Officer, PCSO, or official Traffic Warden.

I don't see anything that can be done about this one especially if the OP has emigrated!

ManxRed

To the OP, was this a 'FIXED PENALTY NOTICE' issued by a copper?

Stephen_Leak

ManxRed wrote: »

To the OP, was this a 'FIXED PENALTY NOTICE' issued by a copper?

rogermunns wrote: »

Maybe I should also have mentioned that the ticket and the letter are from Essex Police.

..........

ManxRed

I know, just clarifying. His original post mentions a warden, and then much later on in the thread he mentions that the ticket and letter are from the police.

So we ARE 99.9% dealing with a fixed penalty notice which isn't obvious from the original post (apart from the £30 fee).

Just want to be 100% sure here.

Remember, never assume, etc......!!!!

Stephen_Leak

It makes an A$$ out of U and ME.

When you re-read the original post, all the clues are there. It's like watching "The Sixth Sense" for the second time.