Meteor Parking Fine - Paddock Wood Station (South Eastern)

bethroses

I parked at Paddock Wood station Car Park on Good Friday before an overnight trip to London.

When I went to pay for a ticket it was on bank holiday tariff and as such the minimum and maximum I could pay was £1. I read the rules to check it wasn't a short stay only. It wasn't. Went to the ticket office to ask and found it closed and even looked on the self service machines to see if there were other ticket options. There weren't.

By this point I had no time to move my car and catch my train so I left it there.

Returned the next day to a parking notice for £90 (£45 is paid in a fortnight). I have to pay before I can appeal but as a graduate I'm pretty strapped for cash and really cant even afford the 45.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Coupon-mad

bethroses wrote: »

I parked at Paddock Wood station Car Park on Good Friday before an overnight trip to London.

When I went to pay for a ticket it was on bank holiday tariff and as such the minimum and maximum I could pay was £1. I read the rules to check it wasn't a short stay only. It wasn't. Went to the ticket office to ask and found it closed and even looked on the self service machines to see if there were other ticket options. There weren't.

By this point I had no time to move my car and catch my train so I left it there.

Returned the next day to a parking notice for £90 (£45 is paid in a fortnight). I have to pay before I can appeal but as a graduate I'm pretty strapped for cash and really cant even afford the 45.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Firstly, this isn't a real parking ticket and you can just ignore it - yes, even in a train station car park. Meteor are a private company and this isn't a Penalty Charge Notice is it, it's a fake PCN (a Parking Charge Notice which is a sad impersonation of a parking ticket to try to scam you into paying a private company 'invoice'). People have ignored fake PCNs for many years; myself and my relatives have ignored a dozen or so (mainly in Supermarket car parks but it's the same scam).

But there's another option now, since October (Protection of Freedoms Act). Now - for incidents in England/Wales - you can appeal it and 'win' if you appeal first to Meteor with some good legal challenge wording, and then to POPLA (read threads here about POPLA). Even if a motorist doesn't convince POPLA to cancel it, the amount is still OK to ignore because POPLA decisions are only binding on the private parking company (PPC) not on you at all!

And if you are saying that the fake PCN says you have to pay before you can appeal then they have breached the BPA Code of Practice on at least one count already which can be put into your strong appeal! Here's some informed discussion on pepipoo forum (they know their stuff!) of the sort of legal challenge to think about doing to Meteor at first, plus any breaches of the BPA Code thrown in for good measure:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=77301

And here's a nice shiny new template challenge letter for PPCs, as suggested by Parking Cowboys as a first challenge (note it's not an appeal and gives no info away):

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/appeal-letter/

We do recommend using an appeal and then POPLA; it's seen as better than ignoring because:

- it costs the PPC £27 plus VAT, so they hate it!

- it costs you nothing and is not binding on you anyway, only on the PPC.

- it can get the fake PCN cancelled, so saves you worrying about all the debt collector threatograms.

- if you choose to ignore it, like a lot of newbies you'll be wondering for YEARS 'what if they take MY case to a small claim at Court' (very rare!).

- the more POPLA decisions in favour of clued-up drivers the better because it shows this scam for what it really is, in any first year POPLA report & publicity!

Here's a winning appeal from last week with Meteor in a railway car park, which you will see involves more than just a soft appeal/mitigation:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=77951


Most of all - DO NOT PAY THIS, DON'T PANIC, IT CAN'T AFFFECT YOUR CREDIT RATING & THEY CAN'T SEND THE BOYS ROUND OR JUST GET A CCJ!

fabhead

Hi There I am a bit confused now about whether to ignore or not wondering if you could comment on my specific case? I am not adverse to ignoring (have done so successfully in the past with a supermarket one) but am a bit confused about the recent case and stuff on POPLA.

So I have recently started parking at a station carpark operated by Meteor on behalf of Southern. I never have any change/time so always pay using Connect Cashless Parking as advised on the parking ticket machines. On Friday I parked and duly phoned up and pressed all the right buttons. The call seemed to complete ok. When I got back I had a "PCN" from Meteor saying I was in breach of the terms and conditions for "Failing to display a valid ticket or voucher". I am really tempted to email them to say I used cashless parking and therefore am not required to display a valid ticket or voucher. Even if the attempt to pay by cashless parking failed for some reason. What do you think? Not sure I have the appetite for months of threatening letters.

Coupon-mad

If you have no appetite for the threatograms (but they are funneeeee!!!) then the appeal then POPLA appeal is for you. Ignoring Meteor = threatograms.

Please start your own thread if you still have queries after reading all these threads below, all saying the same thing again and again:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

Please read the current threads first, it's already there on every single thread. Your situation is no different; you've got a fake PCN issued pointlessly by a scam PPC, not a Council or the Police. All the threads here are about that situation and the only difference in the advice is if the incident was in Scotland or NI - in which case there's no POPLA so ignore is the answer in Scotland/NI.

Please don't reply here as this is someone else's thread and a parking forum can't work, can't help people, if there are mixed messages on one thread...:)

Computersaysno

bethroses wrote: »

[strike]

i parked at paddock wood station car park on good friday before an overnight
trip to london.





When i went to pay for a ticket it was on bank holiday tariff and as such the
minimum and maximum i could pay was £1. I read the rules to check it wasn't a
short stay only. It wasn't. Went to the ticket office to ask and found it closed
and even looked on the self service machines to see if there were other ticket
options. There weren't.





By this point i had no time to move my car and catch my train so i left it
there.





Returned the next day to a
[/strike]parking notice[strike]

for £90 (£45 is paid in a fortnight). I have to pay before i can appeal but
as a graduate i'm pretty strapped for cash and really cant even afford the
45.





Any ideas?





Thanks
[/strike]!

[I've taken your post and to help clarify it I've 'deleted' the unnecessary bits, leaving those bits that are relevant.

When you do this it's easier to see what's going on....

It's private parking so the answer is simple....ignore

Guys_Dad

Computersaysno wrote: »

[I've taken your post and to help clarify it I've 'deleted' the unnecessary bits, leaving those bits that are relevant.

When you do this it's easier to see what's going on....

It's private parking so the answer is simple....ignore

I have commented on your striking out posts elsewhere. In this case, as it was parking at a station, some of which are covered by bylaws, the OP has had it confirmed that it was a private PCN because they included relevant information that enabled regular contributors to tailor their advice correctly.

Don't disagree with your underlying aims, but do think you may be being too simplistic and not appearing sympathetic to OPs.

Coupon-mad

Computersaysno wrote: »

[I've taken your post and to help clarify it I've 'deleted' the unnecessary bits, leaving those bits that are relevant.

When you do this it's easier to see what's going on....

It's private parking so the answer is simple....ignore

The second (recent) poster has already said they have no appetite for ignoring months of threatograms. We don't know bethroses' stance on this but usually we now say (unless in Scotland/NI) appeal with a legal challenge and then use POPLA to hopefully cancel the fake PCN at the PPC's expense.

What's not to like about making them pay for a POPLA appeal that whey WILL lose if we help word it? Then the person doesn't have to live in fear of all the debt collector letters and it's cost the PPC money.

'Ignore' is not the blanket response here now.

Computersaysno

Coupon-mad wrote: »

The second (recent) poster has already said they have no appetite for ignoring months of threatograms.

So they have no appetite for doing nothing [other than putting some paper in the bin] and would rather take the effort to write letters to POPLA etc....tbh this seems a somewhat bizarre sense of priorities.

fabhead

I know you said start my own thread but as roses hasnt come back i thought i'd risk it .... would appreciate some clarification if that's ok. I HAVE read most of the POPLA thread etc but the reality of my situation is that I am very busy and would prefer you guys to summarise for me a la doing nothing vibe

I am more than happy to ignore and throw the letetrs in the bin. If what you ares aying is that they will filter through gettiing increasingly irate for a year or so and then give up and stop. This is what hapenend last time but in that case I initially wrote to teh and told them I refused to pay it (the guy ticketed me for parking outside of the bay for less than 2 minutes so I could get my baby carseat out)

Anyway, what I dont understand is does the new October 2012 legislation change this at all? is there a small increased chance they may take me to court? If that is the case I would prefer to write a letter (to who? them? POPLA?) to head them off at the pass now.

The other problem I have is that my other half is the registered keeper of the car and so the letters will go to him and he will give me grief about it .... so if I can waste a few hours writing a letter or following some appeal process I might, on balance, prefer to do that this time.

OP -if you object to me posting on your post let me know and I will start a new one.

Coupon-mad

fabhead wrote: »

I know you said start my own thread but as roses hasnt come back i thought i'd risk it .... would appreciate some clarification if that's ok. I HAVE read most of the POPLA thread etc but the reality of my situation is that I am very busy and would prefer you guys to summarise for me a la doing nothing vibe

I am more than happy to ignore and throw the letters in the bin.

NO! We never suggest that. Ignore and file the letters, never throw away invoices and letters from a firm alleging you owe them money just in case of the highly unlikely event of receiving small claims papers later on (up to 6 years...!). Fairly easy to robustly defend (especially in your case) but not so simple if you've chucked out all the evidence of their misleading scamograms.

fabhead wrote: »

If what you are saying is that they will filter through gettiing increasingly irate for a year or so and then give up and stop. This is what hapenned last time but in that case I initially wrote to them and told them I refused to pay it (the guy ticketed me for parking outside of the bay for less than 2 minutes so I could get my baby carseat out).

Yes, most likely that's all that will happen. BUT we said the same about Parking Eye and Civil Enforcement for years...and they have suddenly broken the habit of a lifetime and filed small claims against old ignored cases. Can't promise you 100% that Meteor won't. They never have done but nor had PE and CE. And a small claim is defendable - but MUCH more hassle and worry than a simple couple of strong appeal emails, one to the PPC and then one really strongly worded one, with this forum's help, to POPLA to get the scam squashed flat.

fabhead wrote: »

Anyway, what I dont understand is does the new October 2012 legislation change this at all? is there a small increased chance they may take me to court? If that is the case I would prefer to write a letter (to who? them? POPLA?) to head them off at the pass now.

In simple terms, no. See this thread I started in frustration ages ago when this was asked every day!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4360185

BUT we have found that the new law has given the PPCs an excuse to try small claims in some cases, yes, but not because the law gives them special powers - more that they can use it to mislead people into believing as much. Who knows if some small claims judges will believe it too, now the PPCs have a law to cite?

fabhead wrote: »

The other problem I have is that my other half is the registered keeper of the car and so the letters will go to him and he will give me grief about it .... so if I can waste a few hours writing a letter or following some appeal process I might, on balance, prefer to do that this time.

Yep, I would! My OH gave me grief when I ignored 2 fake PCNs as well - he never can see that it's all a scam because he thinks a firm having some signs up and issuing official-looking 'parking tickets' must mean they are legit...!

fabhead wrote: »

I am really tempted to email them to say I used cashless parking and therefore am not required to display a valid ticket or voucher.

That's fine - do that! Your OH will then NEVER get any letters, you will then get them all as long as you give the PPC a name and address and make it clear you were driving. Then when you get the rejection letter and POPLA code it would be a shame to waste it. When you get to that stage please start your own thread asking for help with the POPLA appeal.

fabhead

thank you!