Am I just going to have to pay this parking fine it seems excessive

askyfullofstars

Basically my son has had a bit of trouble at school. He's struggling to cope with family tragedy after family tragedy...seriously you couldn't make it up.

I was waiting all day for a call from his teacher not long ago and she finally called as I was leaving work.

Obviously it's not safe to use mobile while driving so I pulled into a car park. As I was leaving I noticed a sign saying "customer parking only 15 minutes drop off" TBH I thought I'd been less than 15 minutes. Turns out I'd been 19. Get a ticket from some parking company through the post today.

I know my reasoning for pulling into the car park may not have sounded important to some people but I was worried about my son and thought I was doing the right thing. But sixty quid for four minutes seems excessive.

Any advice or do I just have to pay up?

waamo

You need to post in the dedicated parking tickets sub forum found here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

Before you post read the FAQs thoroughly first, it answers lots of questions you may have. That thread is found here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

RickRastardly

can you look up you're call log on you're phone, see how long you were + 2 mins for driving in and out of the car park. They might be trying to pull a fast one.

pogofish

waamo wrote: »

You need to post in the dedicated parking tickets sub forum found here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

Before you post read the FAQs thoroughly first, it answers lots of questions you may have. That thread is found here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

This - Post in the right forum and you will get all the help you need.

Crabman

Welcome to MSE :hello:

I've moved your thread over to the Parking sub-board

Coupon-mad

Which parking firm? Of course you don't pay a private parking ticket!

Tell us what's not answered about how to challenge and win, when you have read the NEWBIES FAQS thread at the top of this sub-forum.

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.

No you are not going to have to pay it.

Tis post is now in the right place to receive the help you need. Please start by editing your post to remove infoemation abouut who did what. We only need to know about The Driver and The Keeper. Unfortunately parking companies monitor the parking ticket forum, and if too much information is given, a driver can be identified, which is a bad thung in most cases.

Please tell us the name of the parking company, the date of the alleged event, and the date you got the NTK through the post. (Acronyms are explained in the NEWBIES thread which you need to read once you have edited your original post.)

Your next step will thn be to send a template appeal to the parking company. There are two to choose from but it depends which company The Keeper is dealing with which will determine which template to send.
Don't panic. You have plenty of time to do this, between 3 and four weeks, again depending o which company.

You should contact the landowner or retailer explaining The Driver had a family emergency, giving relevant information about the resons why they puled in to take an urgent call but without revealing the driver's identity, and please will they cancel the PCN. You don't know if it will work unlss you try.

Do not pay, do not ignore, do not reveal who was driving, do not 'phone the parking company, ever.

iammumtoone

I am going to say something which wont be popular on this board.

NO you dont have to pay it, people on here will help you but this will also involve you having to read up a lot and putting in your time to fight it, it may also involve a court case which again you can win with help from here but will take up your time having to prepare for it. (with more detail people can tell you how likely it is to go to court).

You sound like all your available time and energy at present needs to be directed to your son. I would say you need to decide how much your time is worth to you at the moment, and how much you can take further stress of received threatening letters at this difficult time (some people feel more comfortable/confident ignoring them than others).

If you decide that the time you are going to need to spend on this is worth more to you than the invoice is for then pay it. Have a read of the stickies before you decide.

Fruitcake

The above is true, but we are nowhere near court yet. The important thing is to engage with the parking company with a first stage appeal. This will slow everthing down and give the OP time to work out how best to deal with this.
This site has a very good record of beating unfair parking tickets, so give the regulars a chance to do that first.

Coupon-mad

iammumtoone wrote: »

I am going to say something which wont be popular on this board.

NO you dont have to pay it, people on here will help you but this will also involve you having to read up a lot and putting in your time to fight it, it may also involve a court case which again you can win with help from here but will take up your time having to prepare for it. (with more detail people can tell you how likely it is to go to court).

Not necessarily - it could be a pushover firm like Smart Parking or Civil Enforcement or Highview, who skedaddle as soon as they see a forum copied template appeal!