Forestry Commission PCN

haremscarem

Hi,

I am a regular user to a car park which is run by the Forestry Commission. It's £3.50 a day for a 12 hour ticket, this is not a problem, never has been as I mountain bike a lot.

However, purely out of forgetfulness and being mobbed by a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a while, we forgot to get a ticket. Simple honest mistake, perhaps through excitement.

So I return after lunch to a PCN on my windscreen demanding £50.00 or £25.00 if I pay before 14 days are up. I see that as extortion. I see my fine as no more than £3.50. Should I go straight to the appeal page, or just ignore it/pretend I never received it on my window, contact by post demanding explanation? How do I stand and what is the best course of action to take with such an organisation?

bazster

Is it issued under byelaws? It should say if it is.

haremscarem

Yes, quotes by laws on reverse of ticket... typical, I seem to have left it in work now.

Iceweasel

I use Forestry Commission car parks a lot and haven't had that bother.

Please post a copy of the by-laws it listed tomorrow.

My first reaction is that I would be paying either nothing or the £3.50 - but not yet.

bazster

Best go and post on PePiPoo then, they cover a lot of railway parking cases under byelaws, I guess this would be similar. It's quite unlike private parking tickets and it is conceivable that doing the wrong thing could get you an appointment with a magistrate.

Orford

Forestry Commission bylaws here:
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fcbyelaws1982.pdf/$FILE/fcbyelaws1982.pdf


5(xxxi) wilfully evade payment of any charges or tolls levied by the Commissioners for the use of car parks or forest roads.

haremscarem

I have gone and left it in work. But that sounds familiar. I haven't willfully evaded payment, just a slip of the mind. Simple error that has only happened this once. As such I can't see how I have cost them £50/25 pounds... One of our party normally gets a ticket while the other unload.

I will have a spy over at PePiPoo now

haremscarem

Okay, going to try the appeal appeal appeal route I think.

haremscarem

Okay, so I went to the Pay/Appeal page this morning and I was met with this after three attempts and making sure it was all correct.


"The Parking Reminder Notice could not be found. Please check that you have not mistyped.
If the details are correct and the PRN was issued very recently then it is pending entry onto this system.
You can pay the amount owing now or you can search again at a later date."

It was issued on the 7/7/13

So, plenty of time... What do?

The byelaw 5(xxxi) 1982 it is an offence for any person to willfully evade payment of any charges or tolls levied by the Commissioners for the use of the car parks or forest roads and the Commission is entitled to prosecute for breaches of the Forestry Commissions byelaws through the magistrates courts.

bazster

Well you didn't wilfully evade anything, it was an oversight. And you tried to appeal but couldn't. I honestly don't know much about tickets of this nature, but I think if I were you I'd get a date-stamped screen grab of that page and then forget about it.

haremscarem

Okay thanks for the info, I haven't posted on PePiPoo yet, just initial research. I will see what they come back with over there.

If they want the £3.50, that's fine. Anything above is just pushing their luck in my eyes.