Rogue council failing to take discounted PCN payment to charge you more

Londonian001

We all know that Croydon council is broke and cash-strapped and there have been several attempts to use motorists as cash cows to pay off their debts (they have publicly said this as part of their strategy). Living in south London, I had the misfortune of driving through this dreaded borough and made a wrong turn into an LTN and got the £65 fine. I paid this well within the 2 weeks discounted period (well at least I thought I had). 

Knowing that I’ve paid, I didn’t bother to chase payment confirmation, thinking my statement will show it anyway, I then went on holiday for 2 weeks and it was the last thing on my mind. 

However, the council did not claim the money from my bank in the following days and has now sent me a £195 charge for failing to pay. Annoyingly, the bank can’t prove the payment was attempted if the council (the merchant) don’t claim the money and all I have as proof is my internet browsing history showing my step by step payment process on the date I thought I had paid.

Apparently, the Croydon council is known for using trickery like this on PCNs, and there have been several reports in their local papers: 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/insidecroydon.com/2024/02/14/council-finally-cancels-dodgy-tickets-issued-during-pcn-fiasco/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/insidecroydon.com/2024/02/03/pcn-fiasco-council-has-failed-to-cancel-single-ticket-in-a-week/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/insidecroydon.com/2024/01/22/kerrr-ching-unsuspecting-drivers-hit-with-no-notice-190-fines/amp/

So my question is what recourses are available to me, now the council has said it is outside the appeal period, I doubt they will accept my web browsing history as proof. This is so unfair and given their history, I firmly believe Croydon council did this on purpose to extract more cash from me. 

Umkomaas

As we major on private parking tickets here, Free Traffic Legal Advice (FTLA) forum will be your best bet for council penalty charges. Register there but please note that a Hotmail address may not work - try using a throwaway Gmail account instead if you do have trouble registering, and post a new thread; here's your link:

https://www.ftla.uk/index.php?board=3.0

Read the sticky 'Read this first before posting your case' 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.