Parking fine - Pros & cons of going to court?

hirobmay

Hi,
I've just been notified that I have lost my POPLA appeal for a parking charge.
I now expect UK parking control to come back and ask me for £100 fine.
Without going into the details, if I refused to pay, and waited until the court summons (as I do have a case to be heard) what are the negatives aspects I may have missed?
I know its a day out of work, maybe a court far from where I live, (or will it be close to me?)
Can the fact of me involved in a legal proceeding go against me in any other way like credit scores or anything else?

Would they even turn up, and what would the real costs be (fine + costs etc)?

Thanks,
Rob.

Guest101

I don't know your defence, but given you've lost at POPLA, perhaps you need to re-evaluate? Either way there is a sub forum at the top of the motoring board where people can help.


1: If you win you get costs awarded (upto £95 for the day I believe)
2: it should be a local court as it's company vs individual.
3: If you lose and fail to pay within 28 days then you get a CCJ
4: Yes they do turn up (yes they often lose) but depends on what your defence is

DoaM

As above, get this moved to the Parking sub-board. (Send a PM to Crabman).

Which company issued the invoice? (That's what it was - it wasn't a fine if you went to POPLA). Knowing this will let us advise the likelihood of court happening.

hirobmay

Thanks Chaps.. here at quick over view
> Car ticketed for pass not displayed on private land
> pass fell off into driver foot well
> photographic evidence sent within the hour of this
> they reply asking for copy of the pass. I oblige sending a copy recorded, UPS.
> they reply, 'sorry, doc's not received within 14 days?'
> I have proof of delivery at there premises, signed, within
> I tell them this and they say ' as good will' they will reduce to £15, but I failed to send the docs.
>>>>this is where it all went wrong>>>
I decided to appeal, as I HAD sent my documents within 14 days.
>>28th OCT POPLA reject appeal based on no pass visible in the car..waste of time.

That's where I am with this...so thinking about waiting until this goes to court...I was happily conforming with the process until they lost my documents.

I know what your thinking... should have cut my loses at the £15... but there's strong principle here...

Also, I dunno how to move threads :-(

agrinnall

hirobmay wrote: »

Also, I dunno how to move threads :-(

Yes you do...

DoaM wrote: »

As above, get this moved to the Parking sub-board. (Send a PM to Crabman).

DoaM

You've still not said which company issued the charge.

Herzlos

hirobmay wrote: »

Thanks Chaps.. here at quick over view
> Car ticketed for pass not displayed on private land
> pass fell off into driver foot well
> photographic evidence sent within the hour of this
> they reply asking for copy of the pass. I oblige sending a copy recorded, UPS.
> they reply, 'sorry, doc's not received within 14 days?'
> I have proof of delivery at there premises, signed, within
> I tell them this and they say ' as good will' they will reduce to £15, but I failed to send the docs.
>>>>this is where it all went wrong>>>
I decided to appeal, as I HAD sent my documents within 14 days.
>>28th OCT POPLA reject appeal based on no pass visible in the car..waste of time.

That's where I am with this...so thinking about waiting until this goes to court...I was happily conforming with the process until they lost my documents.

I know what your thinking... should have cut my loses at the £15... but there's strong principle here...

Also, I dunno how to move threads :-(

Sounds like it's pretty much a slam dunk from your side. You'll need to do some research (because I suspect you missed a lot of the legal points that normally result in a POPLA win) and make your case in a court but they'll have a hard time justifying it.

Also bear in mind that even though you lost at POPLA, there's still something like a 1% chance of it going to court. You'll definitely get a flurry of junk mail, but that's usually where it ends. They'd be pretty stupid to try and bring this one to court, as I assume you've got permission to have parked there, and they have "lost" your evidence.

Plus, even if you lose in court, you won't have to pay them any more than they are asking for now, and they'll still lose money.

Don't worry about it, and definitely don't pay them.

hirobmay

Thank you Mr Herzlos,
Much appreciated info there. Here's what the letter sent on the 28th Oct said:

We understand that having submitted all of the information to POPLA, the independent appeals service, that they have
declined your appeal, finding in favour of UK Parking Control Ltd.
Accordingly, payment of £100.00 should be paid to us within 28 days of the date of this letter. Failing to do so will result
in the debt being passed to our debt recovery agents. lf that becomes necessary, the amount due from you will increase
to £160.00, in accordance with the terms and conditions of parking which were clearly displayed on our signs.
Should you then fail to pay our debt recovery agents, court proceedings may be issued against you for the sum of
£160.00 together with a claim for costs, court fee, and any interest that arises from the courts decision.
We hope that you will take this opportunity to pay the outstanding sum due of £100.00 within the next 28 days.

Do you still have the same opinion?
Rob.

hirobmay

agrinnall wrote: »

Yes you do...

No...I don't.

hirobmay

DoaM wrote: »

You've still not said which company issued the charge.

Hi, the company is UK Parking Control Ltd. PO BOX 1087, Uxbridge. Middlesex, UBB 9UB

takman

hirobmay wrote: »

Thanks Chaps.. here at quick over view
> Car ticketed for pass not displayed on private land
> pass fell off into driver foot well
> photographic evidence sent within the hour of this
> they reply asking for copy of the pass. I oblige sending a copy recorded, UPS.
> they reply, 'sorry, doc's not received within 14 days?'
> I have proof of delivery at there premises, signed, within
> I tell them this and they say ' as good will' they will reduce to £15, but I failed to send the docs.
>>>>this is where it all went wrong>>>
I decided to appeal, as I HAD sent my documents within 14 days.
>>28th OCT POPLA reject appeal based on no pass visible in the car..waste of time.

That's where I am with this...so thinking about waiting until this goes to court...I was happily conforming with the process until they lost my documents.

I know what your thinking... should have cut my loses at the £15... but there's strong principle here...

Also, I dunno how to move threads :-(

I know I'm pointing out the obvious here but you got an invoice for not displaying your pass. You admit it wasn't displayed because it was in the drivers footwell. So I'm not surprised you didn't win your appeal because the invoice they gave you was 100% correct.

Personally I would have just emailed them a picture of the pass on the dashboard as soon as I saw the invoice they left and stated I was not paying. I've done this to other companies and I've even had some good as far as "solicitors letters" but it's never gone to court.
Don't play their silly little games and just email a picture of you pass and state your not paying and leave it at that.