Fine given after payment reversed by bank - days after parking

ChrisG84

Hi all,

I parked at an NCP pay and display car park in Worthing a few weeks ago.  I paid at the machine using my phone.  I had a notification on my phone pop-up as I would normally do after paying this way, but didn't pay too much attention to what it said.  A ticket didn't print, but it didn't for the person in front of me either, so I assumed that it was all managed by cameras on departure, rather than having a warden who inspected tickets on dashboards.

I since have received a PCN letter from NCP.  In fact at the time of writing this I have received two, because the above happened on two seperate occassions.

Upon looking at my bank statement, I can now see that the payment was reversed by NCP, days after parking.  If I had looked closely at the message on my phone, I think it would have probably said Pending rather than Paid.  Even if I had noticed this, I doubt that I would have ever thought it would have been unsuccessful.  At that time, I had no reason to believe that my payment wouldn't go through.

I have spoken to my bank, and they have confirmed that NCP didn't accept the payment on the day, the transaction was left as Pending for a few days, and then they reversed it.  I have this in writing from them.

When trying to appeal based on the fact that I had no reason to believe my payment was unsuccessful, they rejected it saying "They had no record that I had paid that day".  As the payment wasn't successful, I guess they're right, but I can't help but feel a bit stitched up here.  I wonder if this is faulty machine and is affecting others too.

Does anyone think I have grounds to contest this further?

Many thanks,

Coupon-mad

Yes, we’ve seen this before.  Get an email from your bank confirming that NCP returned or rejected the payment and do a POPLA appeal as the 3rd post of the NEWBIES thread tells you.

no one pays when a PPC rejects!

D_P_Dance

Have you complained to your MP?

Mumm75

I am currently fighting the exact same battle! I have been in touch with the bank and the responsibility clearly is with the merchant. I appealed, sending them the screenshot and they still rejected it. Numerous letters and emails later and they want to take me to court! 

fisherjim

Mumm75 said:

I am currently fighting the exact same battle! I have been in touch with the bank and the responsibility clearly is with the merchant. I appealed, sending them the screenshot and they still rejected it. Numerous letters and emails later and they want to take me to court! 

I don't know why you have tacked on to this ancient thread, however the best place for this scam to be sorted IS in court!

Coupon-mad

Mumm75 said:

I am currently fighting the exact same battle! I have been in touch with the bank and the responsibility clearly is with the merchant. I appealed, sending them the screenshot and they still rejected it. Numerous letters and emails later and they want to take me to court! 

Very good. Exactly how to sort it out.