Advice on potentially owing thousands 19 January at 12:10PM in Parking tickets, fines & parking 3 replies 81 views

belowaveragegamer

Hi all

Long time reader/lurker, but first time poster. Please accept my apologies if this has been asked a million times previously- I’m having a major panic at present and would appreciate some advice. 

I received a ‘notice of enforcement’ this morning from Havering council for ‘failing to comply with a restriction on vehicles. The debt is for £279 and includes a compliance stage fee. As much of a cliche as it sounds, I’ve not previously received anything in writing with regards to this at any stage. 

I checked the LA website and can clearly see my car and deduced that I drove through a road which is restricted at certain hours as there is a primary school at one end. Although not receiving anything since the date of the offence (12th July 2022) is annoying, I fully appreciate that I broke the restrictions and will of course pay the balance. 

My real concern is that there could be a huge number of these somewhere in the system; for some context, I moved house in March 2023- still within the same borough, but further away from my daughters school. I’ve used this road as a cut through and was genuinely unaware the restriction was in place. I’ve tried to get through to Havering unsuccessfully and have emailed them asking for a reply. Does anyone have any advice as to where I might possibly stand? Worst case scenario, I could owe tens of thousands of pounds if every time I’ve used the road has been logged. Again, I know it’s my fault for not realising the restrictions were in place. Had I received something in July, I would have paid the original, and assuming lower, amount and avoided the road completely.  

Any responses are appreciated, thank you. 

Grizebeck

Check with the council first before you panic ... they will be able to confirm what you need to know

belowaveragegamer

You’re right, just need to wait for a reply. Also, March 2022, not 2023- fingers were typing too quickly in the posting panic!

Umkomaas

As we major on private parking tickets here, you might get more focussed help for this particular case on PePiPoo as there is great expertise there for council tickets. Register there but please note that a Hotmail address won't work - try using a throwaway Gmail account instead if you do have trouble registering, and post a new thread; here's your link:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=30

Read the sticky 'Read this before you post' as well as reading through some of the other threads there ahead of posting your own details, to get the hang of what information they need from you in your opening post - but as a minimum you will need to post redacted photos/scans of all correspondence you've received from the council (both sides, if appropriate), as they need to see all the small print.

You might also make a note of the following, should High Court Enforcement Agents make contact/turn up:

http://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/

No charges for calls and email enquiries.