RingGo Mix-up - Penalty Notice

christaitfife

I was in the Lake District recently and paid for parking through RingGo. It was a new car so I entered the registration and proceeded to pay. The app stated I needed to enter a 'nickname' for my car so I did. Somehow the nickname and registration switched boxes (may have been my fault, may not have been - I'm unsure). The app accepted the details ad charged me.

I returned to the car to see a Penalty Notice. The car park is owned and run by the Lake District National Park.

I have sent in my appeal with:
1. proof of payment by a PDF receipt
2. A screenshot from the app showing the confused Nickname and Registration - evidencing payment was made for the car stated

I suppose my question is, has anyone else been in a similar situation, and what was the outcome? Also, is there another route I can use to fight this?

I think I will be going back to searching for free parking instead of trying to do the good thing and financially supporting the National Park after this!

Coupon-mad

National Park? So was this a private PCN or a Local Authority penalty?

Who issued it?

christaitfife

Coupon-mad said:

National Park? So was this a private PCN or a Local Authority penalty?

Who issued it?

Thats a good question!

The title is "Notice of Intention to Prosecute". It is followed by "Parking Penalty. Bylaws for cars parks, national parks and access to the countryside act 1949." I read this to be on-par with a Local Authority penalty - but may be wrong.

It was issued to my vehicle which is owned by me - ie. it was stuck on the window.

Umkomaas

Looks like a council-issued ticket. 

 As we major on private parking tickets here, PePiPoo will be your best bet 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.

pustit

Asking for a nickname for your car?  Just another hoop to jump through and to increase their chances of catching you out.

Castle

The Byelaws for the Lake District National Park:
Car Parking (lakedistrict.gov.uk)

christaitfife

I felt it right to let you all know the Lake District National Park have canceled the Intention to Prosecute. Dealt with quickly and without any fuss. The response did pack up the parking officers decision to issue the ticket, but went on to say that as I could prove that I had paid and it was a genuine error they would cancel the charge. The letter even finished "Thank you for paying for your parking" - sounds daft, but I felt that was a nice way to end. 

By reading through so many threads with regards to private parking companies, I am amazed at how simple my experience was. I guess that the moral of the story is, if you are going to make a mistake with parking - do it in the Lake District (the views are pretty good too)!

Umkomaas

Thank you very much for your feedback which nicely rounds off this thread with a positive conclusion. Well done you, and  a good response by the Lake District National Park in seeing sense and cancelling (pity you had to put up with their crap in the first place!). 

Coupon-mad

christaitfife said:

I felt it right to let you all know the Lake District National Park have canceled the Intention to Prosecute. Dealt with quickly and without any fuss. The response did pack up the parking officers decision to issue the ticket, but went on to say that as I could prove that I had paid and it was a genuine error they would cancel the charge. The letter even finished "Thank you for paying for your parking" - sounds daft, but I felt that was a nice way to end. 

By reading through so many threads with regards to private parking companies, I am amazed at how simple my experience was. I guess that the moral of the story is, if you are going to make a mistake with parking - do it in the Lake District (the views are pretty good too)!

That is great news!

Could you tell us how much the penalty was?

A redacted pic of the NIP itself would be great for us to learn from and assist others in future.