PCN from private firm whilst parked on main road

kgs290680

It says "parking charge notice"

Stroma

kgs290680 wrote: »

It says "parking charge notice"

Well it's on a private road probably , I would advise asking the council if its a public road or not, if it is then a complaint to the dvla , trading standards, bpa , local and national press would be the order of the day.

Coupon-mad

kgs290680 wrote: »

It says "parking charge notice"

This is indeed a scam and is NOT a fine - a real parking fine is ONLY issued by a real authority like Council/Police/TFL/Train Operator, and has the word 'Penalty' instead of 'Parking'. Confusing eh? Wonder why?!!

You only think it is a real PCN because it impersonates a parking ticket. You will probably get the usual letters just as other posters do, but Britannia are very tame as you will see from the links below. In fact, I got a Britannia fake PCN in the Summer and they never sent me any letters to follow up at all (most people only get two or three letters from them).

Your choices are to ignore it or (if this was in England or Wales only) to appeal, then insist on a POPLA appeal, where you can then ignore it if you don't win the appeal. Explained here by pepipoo forum:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46975

and here's a thread about POPLA:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4263959

and a thread discussing a successful appeal to POPLA:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4447137

But basically, like all the other posters on this board, you have a fake PCN, a misleading invoice. Almost every thread is about this scam if you care to read some.

The whole scam of fake PCNs relies firstly on people's ignorance of the fact that a random private company can't fine anyone, and secondly on their natural fear of parking tickets and the escalating costs/bailiff scenario. So PPCs copy the look of a real parking ticket and - hey presto! - the cash rolls in from victims who know no better.

But this is not a penalty at all. It's rubbish, there are no bailiffs letters, just debt collector standard template threatograms (all hot air, we can tell you this for certain).

Tick off the threatening letters as you get them, here.

Watchdog clip with expert Solicitor's opinion here.

Barrister's opinion on a legal Q&A website here.

Thread about the Protection of Freedoms Act - and parking tickets still being as unenforceable as ever - here.

The letters are actually quite funny when they arrive at the address of someone who knows it's all hogwash and not a real parking ticket at all.

My 18 year old niece has EIGHT fake PCNs so far - and laughs & texts me every time she gets one. She is just a new driver, a teenager, and she knows this is all a con like a series of phishing emails. Boy does she get a lot of junk mail!

I would happily collect more fake PCNs than the 2 that I already have for overstays (more than an hour overstays, both times when shopping at Supermarkets at busy times). Plus I have a nice collection of amusing/alarmist debt collector letters from the first one which I carry in my handbag to show friends & colleagues if the subject crops up.

Shame Britannia never bothered to send me a set of letters after the fake PCN; I was looking forward to laughing at them! See the 'letters' link and be ready.

Kipper06

Thanks for the hard work, I am now confident that my parking ticket is from one of these companies and thy there is no obligation to pay.

However I only realised that I had this phony parking ticket this morning (which was issued yesterday) but it got soggy as it has constantly rained since. Since I am a new driver I naively contacted them to check where the "offence" was committed to see whether I agreed.

I can see that the advice was to have no contact at all, but I never disclosed that I was the driver and I didnt give them my name just the registration. Also I can see the notice has not been filled out properly but due to the bad state of repair, it would make it unappealable!

Do you think I can still get away with not paying?