I could really do with a bit of help with a parking ticket situation.

BlueSkiesandClouds

Hi everyone

I have no clue with parking tickets (despite reading round on here) so a little advice would be welcome.

I've had a nasty shock this morning as a letter arrived for my partner with a bill for £50 for an overstay of around 30 minutes in a car park.

The letter has "Chipside Lancashire" at the top and appears to come from a council, it's addressed at the top:
[Local] Council
NOTICE TO OWNER (NtO)

Then then proceed to get her surname wrong. :undecided

Anyway...(it's a bit of a story...)

My partner has been attending a course on the NHS for people with mental health issues who haven't responded successfully to conventional treatment.

The date the ticket was issued (and for £25) she had had a particularly difficult and upsetting time and had consequently overrun the time she was supposed to be there.

When she came out she found it on her windscreen.

She tried to pay the £25 secretly (I had no clue she had a ticket) using the Chipside Lancashire website but for whatever reason the website wasn't accepting payment.

Unfortunately rather than contact them and try and pay it she...I don't know...pretended it didn't exist, forgot about it...I can't say.

Anyway...this morning a letter arrives demanding £50 as it's been over a month since the £25 fine was first issued. :mad: First I know about it.

I don't know what to do now....£50 is a hell of a lot of money, especially to us at the moment.

Is there any way that we can appeal this? Ask it to be reduced to the original £25 or even dismissed?

If they want evidence, she was referred to the place by her GP and of course there are witnesses at the place and I would imagine she was logged in as being there.

I would also hope there will be server logs showing she tried to log into the system and pay the £25 but it didn't work.

Before anyone says anything (hopefully it's not a judgmental forum but there's always one...) yes the worst thing she could have done is ignore it (blame the health issues that caused her to be there in the first place)...yes, she should have sorted it immediately...and yes she should have told me and I would have helped sort it out.

But we are where we are and that's for a bill of £50 to pay.

So...is there any discretion with fines etc., when they can be backed up with a reason such as being at an NHS centre to get the fine removed or at least reduced to it's original £25?

Thanks very much in advance...for obvious reasons I've kept some of the medical details vague.

McKneff

Good advice from SL there.

Keep on ignoring, there really is nothing they can do and if you need more support if you start to waiver, come back on here for it.

halibut2209

Erm, this is a council ticket. Chipside work on behalf of several councils, and according to the council websites, this is indeed a penalty charge.

BlueSkiesandClouds

Thank you both for your replies.

I've studied the letter carefully (after reading on here) and it does seem to be issued directly from the council, the quote at the bottom of the letter states:

"Chipside Lancashire is the name given to the partnership between [loads of councils in the area], who enforce and administrate civil parking enforcement on car parks (off street) in their respective districts."

It also states on the letter than representations should be made to the council in question in writing as to why the charge shouldn't be paid if we are disputing it.

Stephen_Leak

McKneff wrote: »

Good advice from SL there.

Keep on ignoring, there really is nothing they can do and if you need more support if you start to waiver, come back on here for it.

Sorry. I jumped the gun again. Post deleted.

Coupon-mad

OK so the registered keeper has a NTO and the amount being appealed against is now £50.

That's only the second stage in appealing a parking ticket so it's not that terrible AND WILL NOT INCREASE AS LONG AS THE OWNER MEETS APPEALS DEADLINES EVERY TIME NOW.

But she has almost certainly lost the chance of paying £25.

So she may as well appeal all the way to adjudication as there's nothing to lose now and possibly the ticket will get cancelled along the way. Think of it as £50 or nothing and do NOT rush to pay that £50 even if they turn down the appeal now. Be ready to go to adjudication (still £50 or nothing, and it's only an office meeting - not Court, it's not a criminal thing - but you should attend in person with your partner and hope that it will be cancelled).

Post a copy of the PCN if she still has it (both sides) and the NTO (all pages) in a new topic on pepipoo here:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Most people on pepipoo get off most PCNs and as I say, you have nothing to lose now so you may as well play the long game and get advice on appealing properly. Register and read a few threads over there first including the FAQs 'how to post pictures' as they will need to see every page of all letters.

BlueSkiesandClouds

Thank you very much for your reply and suggestion, I've contacted the forum in question and will see what they have to say.

Sorry for the very delayed reply, it's been a hectic time lately!