Railway station car park - fine

AliceBanned

OK but then how do FCC police their car parks? Based on that I could park there every day for nothing! It must be enforceable to some extent. I am going to look into it more, I have listened but I have not yet had the time to explore it fully. Thanks.

Hovite_2

AliceBanned wrote: »

OK but then how do FCC police their car parks? Based on that I could park there every day for nothing! It must be enforceable to some extent. I am going to look into it more, I have listened but I have not yet had the time to explore it fully. Thanks.

They "police" their car parks by hiring dodgy PPC companies who then use scare tactics to get people to pay their illegal invoices.

You would appear to have fallen for the scare tactics. If you follow the advice given nothing bad will happen.

What are you going to look into ? There must be millions of posts on this board by now and the advice is always the same - IT'S A CON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AliceBanned

Point taken, but I of course should weigh it all up and make my own decision. I've only read one or two threads as I only received the "invoice" last night. Thanks for the advice but hounding me into doing what everyone else does on MSE is not helpful. Thanks.

Guys_Dad

Ok - to simplify things. You have a charge notice/invoice/call it what you like but not a fine from a PPC whose source of income is from people who have contravened their conditions.

So saying you made a mistake and please let me off £75 of your income isn't going to get you anywhere. Neither will appealing on that basis to POPLA any more than if you were caught doing 90mph on the motorway and saying you didn't notice the speed.

So you have a straight choice - pay up or put in an appeal to POPLA that might just save you £75. On what you have written, you have a very good case based upon the BPA guidelines that state (a) an upper limit of £100 is thought to be a faie limit and (b) for prompt payment, a discount of 40% should be offered.

If they are demanding £75 to be paid within 28 days, that seems to me from what you have written to be outside the BPA Code of Practice and could be a cert for an winning appeal point.

But, read a bit more, make your own mind up and come back if you want some help.

Stroma

AliceBanned wrote: »

Point taken, but I of course should weigh it all up and make my own decision. I've only read one or two threads as I only received the "invoice" last night. Thanks for the advice but hounding me into doing what everyone else does on MSE is not helpful. Thanks.

It's always your decision as its your money and time. What we'd like to do is ensure you KEEP your money, and to educate you a little in this little scam that this and other similar companies do.

The reason why we are saying to do the same thing is because it works, I have seen a similar situation on here thousands of times, the general advice adapts to the situation, but one thing we are 100% clear on, and this industry is a scam, and the companies running it routinely break a myriad of laws in their pursuit of money.

AliceBanned

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Ok - to simplify things. You have a charge notice/invoice/call it what you like but not a fine from a PPC whose source of income is from people who have contravened their conditions.

So saying you made a mistake and please let me off £75 of your income isn't going to get you anywhere. Neither will appealing on that basis to POPLA any more than if you were caught doing 90mph on the motorway and saying you didn't notice the speed.

So you have a straight choice - pay up or put in an appeal to POPLA that might just save you £75. On what you have written, you have a very good case based upon the BPA guidelines that state (a) an upper limit of £100 is thought to be a faie limit and (b) for prompt payment, a discount of 40% should be offered.

If they are demanding £75 to be paid within 28 days, that seems to me from what you have written to be outside the BPA Code of Practice and could be a cert for an winning appeal point.

But, read a bit more, make your own mind up and come back if you want some help.

I think I did contravene their conditions as I had an invalid ticket. I'm a bit suspicious about how it all happened to be honest. I mean why would there be a ticket, sitting in the machine, for time ending that morning? Surely if someone had bought it they would have put it in their car.

anyway, also looking closer at the charge notice - it is pay £50 within 14 days, or pay £75 within 28 days. Otherwise possibly face further fines. I missed the £50 bit when I first read it. Does this make a difference?

AliceBanned

Stroma wrote: »

It's always your decision as its your money and time. What we'd like to do is ensure you KEEP your money, and to educate you a little in this little scam that this and other similar companies do.

The reason why we are saying to do the same thing is because it works, I have seen a similar situation on here thousands of times, the general advice adapts to the situation, but one thing we are 100% clear on, and this industry is a scam, and the companies running it routinely break a myriad of laws in their pursuit of money.

OK. I guess most people just pay up as they get intimidated - I don't particularly want to keep receiving letters etc and I don't want to risk my credit file being damaged. Is that possible? I don't particularly think it's a scam if they are charging me £50 for not paying at a station car park. The fact that it was accidental and I had little way of knowing I hadn't paid is the problem. But I'm not convinced that gives me a leg to stand on. I should have read the ticket properly, annoying though it is that they had an old ticket in the machine which confused me as I was in a hurry..

POPPYOSCAR

You seem to be saying that you could appeal to them and they might accept your story.

The chances of this happening are extremely remote IMO.

So take the experienced advice of those on here and ignore it(unless you hear from them) or pay the £50 now.

Hovite_2

AliceBanned wrote: »

OK. I guess most people just pay up as they get intimidated - I don't particularly want to keep receiving letters etc and I don't want to risk my credit file being damaged. Is that possible? I don't particularly think it's a scam if they are charging me £50 for not paying at a station car park. The fact that it was accidental and I had little way of knowing I hadn't paid is the problem. But I'm not convinced that gives me a leg to stand on. I should have read the ticket properly, annoying though it is that they had an old ticket in the machine which confused me as I was in a hurry..

You DO have a leg to stand on !

It won't affect you're credit record. The only way it could do that is if, and it won't, it went to court, you lost ( which you wouldn't ) and then you didn't pay what the court ordered ( which of course you would never do ).

You need to send the letter Storma has already suggested. If that doesn't kill it then come back once you've got your POPLA code and you WILL win at that stage with help from people on here.

Hovite_2

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

You seem to be saying that you could appeal to them and they might accept your story.

The chances of this happening are extremely remote IMO.

So take the experienced advice of those on here and ignore it or pay the £50 now.

WHAT ?????

No, nobody on this thread has given that advice and it is totally, completely and utterly wrong.

Alice - IGNORE this posters advice please.