Unpaid ticket for nearly a year...

lm5623

Hi,

After doing a clear out I have found a letter for an unpaid ticket from last July (Islington Council). I assumed I had paid this but after double checking on the website there was still a £120 fine online. I paid it straight away.

However I also realised that I have not changed my car registration address since moving in September so I might have missed any letters that may have been sent.

I'm worried that a court date may have been sent which I have missed... but considering it was still online I'm hoping it hadn't gone that far yet?

Has anyone been as unorganised as me and had the same issue? Thanks.

Coupon-mad

You don't get a 'court date' with a council PCN.

If you forgot to appeal or pay in time, IF this was a real 'PENALTY CHARGE' for a parking event on street, you would have got a series of letters in the latter part of 2016, ending with a Charge Certificate and Order for Recovery (OFR). After that the Council could have referred it to bailiffs and maybe they've been knocking on the door at your old address!

I would be concerned though, because £120 does NOT sound right for a London Borough PCN which has gone past OFR stage. It should be three times the discounted Penalty at this stage, which would not have been £40 AFAIK. I think if this was a real penalty then you may have UNDERPAID and it should have been £180, so I would actually ring up the Council enforcement and ask them about it, if it was an on-street 'PENALTY' charge, and arrange to pay the balance if there is more outstanding, to stop bailiff action (hopefully) before it is incurred.

Thinking about the sum of £120, I do hope you haven't just paid a 'Wing Parking' fake PCN on behalf of Islington (on private land rather than on street)? If so, that didn't need paying and wasn't a real penalty, but a piece of trash.

lm5623

Thanks so much - I rang Islington council and they said that it was fine and the penalty was now cancelled... (it was £129 in total).

It sounded too little to me too but I'm hoping that's the last of it...!

Coupon-mad

Sounds like a Wing Parking one from an estate - not a real penalty - if so, you should not have paid it.