Parking fine-machine not working!

discountdude7

Dear all,

I would be very grateful for your assistance on a recent parking charge notice I received. I am a regular customer at this particular car park, as I work at the building next to it. 
Usually each morning I will go to the ticket machine, enter my reg plate and pay for the amount of parking required, and display the ticket in my window. I have a stack of all of the parking tickets I have paid for. On this particular day, the machine was not working, would not generate any paper tickets and the only thing I received when trying to pay was a paper transaction receipt. It stated the amount I paid, the date, time, a couple of ID numbers and then 'cancelled' in capital letters. 

Another person was attempting to purchase a ticket at the same time as me and told me that a parking attendant had just told her 'the machine isn't working, do not worry just put the transaction receipt into your car on display and that should be fine'. Obviously I have no proof of this but that is exactly what I did- displayed the transaction receipt in the window.

8 days later I received a parking charge notice from Minster Baywatch stating 'parking fee covering visit duration was not paid in full'. Unfortunately I was away for the first 14 days of receiving that letter so the initial fine of £60 has now risen to £100. 

I just wanted to kindly get some advice on whether I should appeal the fine, ignore it or pay it.

One thing I am unsure about is the use of parking apps. This particular machine allowed customers to use parking apps to pay. I did not have my phone, nor parking app available to me, to be able to do that. And also when I tried to pay with my card I thought I had still paid, as I received a transaction receipt, following tapping of my card. 

Thank you in advance for any advice.

LDast

You need to read the Newbies/FAQ thread. You have not received a "fine". You have received an invoice from an unregulated private parking company. The invoice was never for £60. It was for £100 with a "mugs discount" of £40 if you paid up and didn't cause the scammers problems by appealing or disputing it.

discountdude7

LDast said:

You need to read the Newbies/FAQ thread. You have not received a "fine". You have received an invoice from an unregulated private parking company. The invoice was never for £60. It was for £100 with a "mugs discount" of £40 if you paid up and didn't cause the scammers problems by appealing or disputing it.

Thank you for responding- I will have a further read of the Newbies/FAQ thread. I feel I do roughly know what they can and cannot do but it's helpful to just have some peace of mind and support from these forums. For some reason, since reading it can affect credit scores, it has made me a little paranoid! But I appreciate your comment and your way of describing it, thanks. 

Coupon-mad

It can't affect your credit score.

oldernonethewiser

discountdude7 said:

LDast said:

You need to read the Newbies/FAQ thread. You have not received a "fine". You have received an invoice from an unregulated private parking company. The invoice was never for £60. It was for £100 with a "mugs discount" of £40 if you paid up and didn't cause the scammers problems by appealing or disputing it.

Thank you for responding- I will have a further read of the Newbies/FAQ thread. I feel I do roughly know what they can and cannot do but it's helpful to just have some peace of mind and support from these forums. For some reason, since reading it can affect credit scores, it has made me a little paranoid! But I appreciate your comment and your way of describing it, thanks. 

Wherever you read that you can ignore it. 

discountdude7

Thank you all for the reassurance :-). I will ignore the invoice. 

discountdude7

So just to confirm, worst case scenario if this does go to court, there is a high likelihood that I could win, based on the evidence above? As I am worried about the potential cost if it does go to court and I do not win.

I have heard of some others who have been taken to court by Minster Baywatch. 

Gr1pr

discountdude7 said:

Thank you all for the reassurance :-). I will ignore the invoice. 

Nobody said anything about ignoring the invoice, just to ignore incorrect information 

You should be studying the newbies sticky thread, then appeal it, after checking if it complies with POFA or not , that newbies thread does not say anything about ignoring a PCN 

In the unlikely event of MB winning in court, the typical loss is about £212 for a single PCN 

Do the signs mention Bransby Wilson. ?  Or, just Minster Baywatch. ?

Of course you could win in court, machine faults etc are beyond your control 

Coupon-mad

discountdude7 said:

So just to confirm, worst case scenario if this does go to court, there is a high likelihood that I could win, based on the evidence above? As I am worried about the potential cost if it does go to court and I do not win.

I have heard of some others who have been taken to court by Minster Baywatch. 

I think you need to put your mind at rest by slowly re-reading the second post of the NEWBIES FAQS thread.

It tells you the worst case scenario is paying LESS than the claim. Please read it.

oldernonethewiser

discountdude7 said:

Thank you all for the reassurance :-). I will ignore the invoice. 

As already mentioned you ignore incorrect advice about affecting your credit score, not the invoice.

Sorry if that was not clear.

All info you need is in the Newbies Thread.

discountdude7

Gr1pr said:

discountdude7 said:

Thank you all for the reassurance :-). I will ignore the invoice. 

Nobody said anything about ignoring the invoice, just to ignore incorrect information 

You should be studying the newbies sticky thread, then appeal it, after checking if it complies with POFA or not , that newbies thread does not say anything about ignoring a PCN 

In the unlikely event of MB winning in court, the typical loss is about £212 for a single PCN 

Do the signs mention Bransby Wilson. ?  Or, just Minster Baywatch. ?

Of course you could win in court, machine faults etc are beyond your control 

Thanks ever so much. I have checked and my letter from minster baywatch is exactly the same as the one listed on the page of examples and therefore POFA compliant. 

I checked and the signs do mention Bransby Wilson-does this mean anything significant?

I guess I am unsure as to the expectation of people using parking apps if the machine doesn't work, but tbf I have loads of reasons why that can be impossible for many.

Thanks again all. My first step will be to complain (not ignore ) and then decide from there depending on the outcome.