MET PCN at Chiltern Railway Station

jamieb91

Hello,

Completely my fault and I forgot to pay via the ringo app, came back to find £100 fine reduced to £60 if I pay within 14 days.. Do I have a leg to stand on at all if I have completely forgotten to pay?

The PCN doesn't mention anything about by-laws, will need to check the signs at the station to see if they do.

ezerscrooge

You've got lots of legs to stand on, so don't think about paying them.

Do a forum search on MET Chiltern and lots will pop up. Have a read of this Parking Prankster link for some background info directly relevant to your case;

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/met-parking-deceive-motorists-for-years.html

It matters not a jot what happened on the day. Wait for your NtK - they'll most likely be claiming POFA, which you can then blow out of the water.

jamieb91

Really? Every thread I have read though is from those who bought a ticket and didn't display it correctly, or the app didn't work properly but they were charged. I have no evidence to submit to appeal this case and then go to POPLA? And from what I've read it doesn't seem I can ignore these as the bye-laws will apply?

jkdd77

The chances of actually being prosecuted for the supposed bye-law breach are virtually zero, especially if the invoice is currently represented as being a 'contractual charge' or similar.

If Met or Chiltern did prosecute, then, at least in theory, they would have to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the OP personally committed the offence by personally parking the vehicle without paying.

Freedom of Information statistics: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/167465/response/440318/attach/html/4/720%2013%20FoI%2085533%20table.xls.html suggest that neither has actually done so.

If convicted, any fine money would go to the State, so there is no financial incentive for either company to being such a prosecution in any case.

jamieb91

So would you suggest I ignore this and all future calls / letters from them?

ezerscrooge

Wait and see if a Notice to Keeper arrives. Should be 29 to 56 days after the windscreen ticket.

Then wording on it will be important in determining the next steps you take..

jamieb91

But then I risk paying the full £100 if it is worded in a way they can prosecute?

Coupon-mad

jamieb91 wrote: »

But then I risk paying the full £100 if it is worded in a way they can prosecute?

Risk paying? Nope

£100? Nope

Prosecute!! Nope - MET cannot prosecute. By contrast, a Train Operator has just 6 months to that the keeper personally committed a byelaws offence by personally parking the vehicle without paying. But to do that, the TOC would have to issue a penalty charge notice first, to the driver, whereas you've got a bog standard private parking charge notice (not the same thing and will go nowhere).

Wait for the Notice to keeper or first letter, whatever it's called, whoever it's from on the letter-heading. You would be so much better informed by getting off your own thread and reading others that have already been done & dusted & got past the 6 months (nothing happened except letters). Did you read the Prankster's blog about Meteor and MET misleading people like this? Have you searched the forum for the keywords 'MET station' which will find umpteen results like yours - well worth you sitting down to read some to see what letter will arrive and what people did by way of a response.

jamieb91

Yeah I've checked all those and many threads but my concern was all the other threads are for overstaying / not presenting their ticket correctly, whereas my case I haven't paid a penny to park and I couldn't find any other scenarios that matched this.

So the best thing to do is just ignore the letters in this case?

Umkomaas

Oh dear, NO - never, now, ignore.(it's almost 2 years since this was the received wisdom). You must wait for the NtK, and then appeal as per the NEWBIES FAQ sticky.

'Circumstances' are generally irrelevant, so don't get hung up on what you did (or didn't) do. Be patient!

You seem intent on making this tried and tested process painful for yourself (and us!).

Coupon-mad

jamieb91 wrote: »

So the best thing to do is just ignore the letters in this case?

Where did we say that? I said wait for the first letter - obviously that's when you appeal as per the Newbies thread.

Yeah I've checked all those and many threads but my concern was all the other threads are for overstaying / not presenting their ticket correctly, whereas my case I haven't paid a penny to park and I couldn't find any other scenarios that matched this.

You haven't read the Newbies thread then - one of the first things I say is THE CIRCUMSTANCES DON'T MATTER and there's an explanation of why mitigating circumstances and talking about 'the story of what happened' is pointless. Why are you looking for a similar instance - who CARES what happened? You could have parked sideways across 3 bays for a week and the answer would be the same.