Unfair parking ticket...can I do anything??

first78

I have received in the post today a letter from Highview Parking with CCTV pics of my car entering and leaving a car park where they state I did not pay for a ticket.

The date of the 'offence' was 22/2/14 and of course I have thrown the ticket away. I know without a doubt that I paid for a ticket that was valid for 24 hours and I was only in the car park for 3.5 hours. I remeber it clearly because my partner and I had planned to return the following day while there was still time left on the ticket, but in the end we never did.

Is there any way to successfully void this charge notice? I have to pay £50 within 14 days or the fine goes up to £85

tykesi

You missed this thread at the top of the forum. It contains everything you need to know in order to deal with this.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

spacey2012

It would not make any difference if you had saved the display reciept, who you will have to appeal to POPLA do not take payment as an excuse.
This may shock you but they are as crooked as the parking scammers themselves.

Luckily the pundits do know how to beat them, so do nothing but start reading recent stickies at the top and start preparing a standard soft appeal to the parking firm to obtain a popla code.

Then you must follow the popla advice fully and ignore the I paid line, POPLA dont care, the parking firm is always right .
However there are a few tricks that can beat them.
Start reading.

ColliesCarer

Follow the advice in the first reply to read the Newbies thread

But also
Am assuming you did not get a windscreen ticket - if that's the case the letter you have received is a Parking Charge Notice and has been sent to you as the keeper of the vehicle (often referred to here as a NtK (notice to keeper).

In order to obtain your details as keeper the Parking Company have to comply with the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 (POFA) which states the notice must be received within 14 days (counting from the day after the offence) By my reckoning that means you should have received it by 8/3/14 - so check the date on the letter you received today - and add 2 days - if that comes to more than the 8/3 the notice was received too late for them to pursue the keeper.
(if the envelope is post marked (very few of them are) then add 2 days to the date of posting.

This will be an additional appeal point for you - No keeper liability as Notice received out of time

You can appeal this charge - you need to do so as The Keeper and not divulge who the driver was - you are under no obligation to do so.

first78

Thank-you all for your great responses, however it now looks like I am at fault My partner found the ticket. We went back to the car park to check I'd followed the correct charges bu I haven't

The car park charges state it's £2.60 for all day parking (this is what I'd paid at 4.3pm), however in brackets it then states 6am- 6pm After 6pm you then have to pay again

I'm guessing now I don't have a leg to stand on?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

first78 wrote: »

Thank-you all for your great responses, however it now looks like I am at fault My partner found the ticket. We went back to the car park to check I'd followed the correct charges bu I haven't

The car park charges state it's £2.60 for all day parking (this is what I'd paid at 4.3pm), however in brackets it then states 6am- 6pm After 6pm you then have to pay again

I'm guessing now I don't have a leg to stand on?

You have as many legs as you had before.

They simply are not entitled to charge you the excessive amounts of these notices and that is what the system is based on. The parking companies are not interested whether excuses are valid or not, they reject appeals all the same.

So in the same way, we are not interested in whether excuses are valid or not, we simply say (well, in a complicated way say) prove your charges are valid and we will pay, knowing 100% of the time that they cannot.

Although you are feeling guilty, is it fair that the charging scheme is confusing? I'd say that if I'd paid for all day parking I'd reasonably interpret that as 24 hours or as long as the car park was open. It isn't necessary, but a picture of the sign would entertain us as we might find that it has lots of errors in wording that can be used as additional points, but it is not necessary.

For the effort of two or three letters, already written out in the sticky threads you need pay nothing.

Redx

read this https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4835943 post #6 about standing on legs etc

first78

Thanks for the responses, I do agree with what IanMSpencer says, a £50 charge seems ridiculous

ColliesCarer - The date on the charge notice is 7/3/14 and although there is no postmark it has been sent second class...is this enough to argue against paying the charge?

If I appeal this, is there any way I can come out owing more than £50 - £85? I just don't know what to do but I don't want scammers to get away with these things.

I took a photo of the 2 signs that are up:

http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/InkSpot3/media/misc375.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/InkSpot3/media/misc374.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

first78 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses, I do agree with what IanMSpencer says, a £50 charge seems ridiculous

ColliesCarer - The date on the charge notice is 7/3/14 and although there is no postmark it has been sent second class...is this enough to argue against paying the charge?

If I appeal this, is there any way I can come out owing more than £50 - £85? I just don't know what to do but I don't want scammers to get away with these things.

I took a photo of the 2 signs that are up:

http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/InkSpot3/media/misc375.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/InkSpot3/media/misc374.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

Typical not well worded signs. You'll note the breach that they are claiming is that you must purchase a ticket from the machine. It doesn't say what sort of ticket you have to buy, so it isn't a valid contract in the sense that you bought a ticket and therefore there is no statement on that sign you have not complied with. On these contracts, the onus is on the writer to get it exactly right, if they don't it is interpreted against them, not on the basis of a good guess as to what it means.

However, don't worry about that. The track record at this site is 100% appeals successful when following the advice here. Write the letters as advised and you will win. Follow the stickies and relax!

first78

From looking at this: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/63678135#Comment_63678135

Am I right in understanding the first thing to do is write a letter of complaint to the landowner?

I'm sorry to keep asking questions but there is so much info & I want to make sure I get this right.

Redx

ideally you should ALWAYS do that as its the best way to get a cancellation

but do not let doing this distract you from appealing to the PPC and/or to POPLA or the IPC within the set deadlines and time frames

but landowner appeals should always be pursued no matter what else is going on

as for Highview, read the parking pranksters blogs about them, they are one of his "favourite companies"