Parking fine posted cheque not received

doublediamond57

Hi I have been trawling google but nothing is coming up. My son was issued with a parking ticket at Blackburn Hospital by Indigo Parking on 2nd March 2017. He had purchased a parking permit whilst working and living there as a medical student, however, when he returned with his car one day there were no spaces in the car park so he parked it where there was a spot not obstructing anyone etc. Took photos etc. He appealed against his fine and it was rejected by them by email on 9th May. He was away at the time so I wrote a cheque on his behalf and posted it on the 9th May with Penalty No. on reverse etc. Now he has just received a ZZPS Limited letter saying he owes £135 - £65 Parking charge and £70 administration fee. We are at a loss as what to do next. My bank says the cheque wasn't presented. Should we go back to Indigo and explain (I have the cheque stub) but no proof of posting. Can anyone suggest our next move??:(
Iam thinking of trying a company called appealaparkingticket.co.uk has anyone heard of them or used them??

MissPop

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

soolin

I've moved this thread to the motoring sub board which I think is more appropriate than the up your income board.

Coupon-mad

Last edited by doublediamond57; Yesterday at 2:11 PM..
Reason: I am thinking of contact a company called appealaparkingticket.co.uk has anyone heard of them or used them??

Heard of them, but you don't need to pay anyone now you have found your way here.

He appealed against his fine and it was rejected by them by email on 9th May.

It wasn't a fine! These are scams, and you should NEVER have tried to pay it. Did the rejection email include a POPLA code? Why didn't you Google that and come here sooner, to win at POPLA (too late now).

Too late to appeal again so there's no point throwing money at the firm you mention. Stick around here and just ignore the silly debt letters and certainly stop trying to send the greedy firm any money. DO NOT RING ANYONE.

Should we go back to Indigo and explain (I have the cheque stub)

No, ignore them. Count yourself lucky you sidestepped being taken for mugs.

Come back if Indigo try a small claim, easy enough to defend. We do this all the time. Indigo's unfair parking charges at Hospitals are being tested in some 'test cases' soon, in a county court in Wales, the outcome of which might be useful in future if it goes the right way. Not 'case law' but useful nonetheless if they are won by defendants.

Keep on this forum and just relax, enjoy your life and ignore the daft letters, coming back if a rare claim happens.

Castle

Write to your bank and stop the cheque anyway; just in case Indigo "find" it and decide that £65 is better than nothing.

Coupon-mad

And if you tell the Bank it seems the cheque was lost in the post (as it was) some banks waive the 'stop' fee.

DON'T, DON'T, DON'T write another cheque - this is not something to pay. You've almost been scammed.

doublediamond57

soolin wrote: »

I've moved this thread to the motoring sub board which I think is more appropriate than the up your income board.

Many thanks for moving my post to one more appropriate I have also posted in in Parking Tickets, Fines & Parking since reading this.

doublediamond57

Many thanks for your advice - I am feeling better about ignoring the letter and taking it to court if necessary he has legal cover with his car insurance would that cover us if we have to go to court do you know?

doublediamond57

Thank you for your advice about stopping the cheque

waamo

doublediamond57 wrote: »

Many thanks for your advice - I am feeling better about ignoring the letter and taking it to court if necessary he has legal cover with his car insurance would that cover us if we have to go to court do you know?

It's unlikely that the legal cover would be useful. The good news is that, to date, Indigo haven't taken anyone to court.

There is always a first time but so far they have been rather shy of court.

Umkomaas

doublediamond57 wrote: »

Many thanks for your advice - I am feeling better about ignoring the letter and taking it to court if necessary he has legal cover with his car insurance would that cover us if we have to go to court do you know?

It's only the small claims court in private parking cases, not the criminal one (wigs, gowns and juries). No need for legal representation, and even if it went to court (and apart from the South Wales cases referred to by CM above, Indigo are not litigious) the likely cost of losing would be ~£175 (inc the cost of the parking charge), so no crippling legal fees to worry about.

If you won, Indigo would be paying you. That's the chance they take as well as the one you do. But this isn't going anywhere near a courtroom, not for £35. It would cost them 10 times that to put forward a case.

Here's Indigo court appearance record:

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/Indigo_Park_Solutions_UK.html

The South Wales cases are much different to your son's one-off. There are dozens of staff involved who have ignored hundreds of tickets, so it's big money for Indigo.

This seems to be their only current foray (although I think I've read somewhere that they are likely to chance their arm in Scotland, which must be another multi-staff, multi-ticket case, because it's apparently more complicated and expensive to pursue cases there).