Wrong digit entered on RINGO

MartinH1

Back in 2015 I was studying at St Mary's College Southampton. I parked in church next door and entered my VRN into the RINGO App but got a digit wrong. This happened twice on different vehicles i used. I got in contact and showed I had paid for the tickets I and there was no loss. The rejected this. So I ignored the letters. I started getting letters From Wright Hassle. I ignored these, then out of the blue I got a letter from before court and now I have county court hearing.
I want to defend this.I seen somewhere a section of no loss or damage occurred as a defense. Does anyone have a copy of a defense that I could copy and paste please?

tacpot12

Can't help with a predefined defence, but are you being sued for parking charges on the two different vehicles? If so you need to be extra clear how you made the same error twice!

Your defence might describe the process that Ringo uses to enter your VRN and highlight any deficiencies in the process, e.g. if it doesn't read back the VRN to you and allow you to correct it. You have to show that your mistake was reasonable, one that anyone could have made, and that Ringo's process did not ask you to confirm the VRN you entered was correct.

The defence that no loss occurred sounds correct to me, but I'm not an expert in this area. If you contacted Ringo and gave them the correct VRN, they had an opportunity to check your story - if they have a payment from a VRN with one digit different to your vehicle, then they should accept your story is correct, and should have done so at that time. You might argue in your defence that you should not pay any of their costs after the time you told them about the mistake.

Coupon-mad

The defence that no loss occurred sounds correct to me,

Nope, that's the very thing to avoid saying, due to the ParkingEye v Beavis case.

then out of the blue I got a letter from before court and now I have county court hearing.

QUESTIONS:

1. Which parking firm?

2. What was the issue date of the court claim?

3. What do you mean you have a hearing...eeek, are you saying you have already written a defence about 'no loss' in the claim form box ages back (without coming here first) and now have a hearing date soon?

Sounds like you need to read the NEWBIES thread post #2 before replying, please.

tacpot12

I would agree that the ParkingEye v Beavis case rules out the fact that no loss occurred as a practical defence. However the decision in ParkingEye v Beavis now allows a Parking Charge to be penal providing it ‘serves a legitimate purpose’ and is not ‘manifestly excessive’.

In the OPs case, I think she can ask whether the Parking Charge is serving a legitimate purpose if it penalised her for entering her VRN incorrectly. In not upholding an appeal, the parking company is saying that the only purpose of the charge in this customer's case is to penalise them for making a mistake. There is a commercial reason to penalise customers who make mistakes, because mistakes impose additional costs onto the business, but is the penalty manifestly excessive? Is it reasonable to penalise customers for their first mistake, or only for subsequent mistakes. Should users who change their car frequently be allowed more mistakes, etc.? Do the systems encourage mistakes, or not allow mistakes to be spotted and/or corrected?

All of these might form the basis of a defence, even if the absence of loss does not.

The_Deep

Many judges regard these wrong VRN claims for BOC as a trifle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis

a waste of court time, so if this went to court the PPC might struggle.

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.