Excel Parking fine Feethams Darlington

mic_mic80

Am I right to not pay the reduced fine of a combined £120 and see what happens with this?

I have used this car park alot before and paid fine. These two are repeat issues where the app/web to pay would not work for me so I attempted to pay with physical coins.

The one machine available spat out coins after £3 were inserted. 2/3 machines were out of order.

It's a £2 for 2hrs or £4 for 4 hrs.

It only shows 2hrs paid for even though it took £3 coins.

I rightly or wrongly admitted I was the driver.

I appealed to the IAS with photos of 2/3 machines showing out of order.

The appeal was dismissed.

I also all the way through this process have requested the maintenance and inspection logs of the machines but it has been ignored multiple times by the operator .

I now have the 14 days to pay the combined discounted rate of £120.

Should I just pay or stick to my guns hoping the courts will see it my way? Or chance they will not take it further as of the costs involved? Thanks in advance

Grizebeck

just await the court claim

LDast

As above, wait for a court claim where they will fcek up the process. By having paid them in the past, you were marked as a “mug” and they now see this vehicle and you as a cash cow. When they issue the claim, it will be your opportunity to get one back on them.

mic_mic80

LDast said:

As above, wait for a court claim where they will fcek up the process. By having paid them in the past, you were marked as a “mug” and they now see this vehicle and you as a cash cow. When they issue the claim, it will be your opportunity to get one back on them.

I think I confused you with the below line;
"I have used this car park alot before and paid fine"

This meant I have used the car park many times previously and paid for the actual parking via the app etc and not any actual fines.

I've never had a parking fine in 20yrs of driving until these two have been put to me. cheers

DE_612183

It's not a FINE - it's an invoice.

LDast

The advice has not changed. Wait for a court claim.

You have still not received any”fine”.

A read of the Newbies/FAQ thread is also advised.

Nellymoser

@mic_mic80 Google search...lots of articles online about the management of this car park. The most recent is :

MP Lola McEvoy has called for an urgent meeting over the “heavy-handed” approach of a Darlington car park owner and its “unacceptable” five-minute policy. 
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/24483727.lola-mcevoy-calls-urgent-meeting-darlington-car-park/

Send your MP an email. Get your paying car park tariff problems added to her list. 

mic_mic80

DE_612183 said:

It's not a FINE - it's an invoice.

I've  never had a parking notice in 20yrs of driving then if we want to get pedantic about it

DE_612183

mic_mic80 said:

DE_612183 said:

It's not a FINE - it's an invoice.

I've  never had a parking notice in 20yrs of driving then if we want to get pedantic about it

It's not about being pedantic about it - it's what it is.

A fine is issued by the court and you have to pay it or face the consequences.

An invoice is just a bill - they can try and get a CCJ, and then they have to wait for you to not pay the CCJ, then they can instruct bailiffs etc

The difference between not paying a fine and not paying an invoice is very different - the parking companies want you to think it's a fine to bully you into paying - they don't want you to think it's an invoice.

That's why they call it a "Parking Charge Notice" ( PCN ) as opposed to the fines dished out by councils "Penalty Charge Notices" ( PCN ).

mic_mic80

Nellymoser said:

@mic_mic80 Google search...lots of articles online about the management of this car park. The most recent is :

MP Lola McEvoy has called for an urgent meeting over the “heavy-handed” approach of a Darlington car park owner and its “unacceptable” five-minute policy. 


Send your MP an email. Get your paying car park tariff problems added to her list. 

Thanks for this I've mailed Lola. I am not in the Darlington constituency so unsure what she will do.

mic_mic80

DE_612183 said:

mic_mic80 said:

DE_612183 said:

It's not a FINE - it's an invoice.

I've  never had a parking notice in 20yrs of driving then if we want to get pedantic about it

It's not about being pedantic about it - it's what it is.

A fine is issued by the court and you have to pay it or face the consequences.

An invoice is just a bill - they can try and get a CCJ, and then they have to wait for you to not pay the CCJ, then they can instruct bailiffs etc

The difference between not paying a fine and not paying an invoice is very different - the parking companies want you to think it's a fine to bully you into paying - they don't want you to think it's an invoice.

That's why they call it a "Parking Charge Notice" ( PCN ) as opposed to the fines dished out by councils "Penalty Charge Notices" ( PCN ).

Appreciate this input but I'm aware of the reasons for them calling them notices.

Its the unknown to me in that I'm just refusing to pay and I was wondering if there are any experiences of people who have not paid etc..did parking firm choose to not proceed as costs would outweigh the eventual fine or did they take it all the way to court and what was this outcome etc etc