£170 fine for 6-minute overstay at Euro Car Park Worcester – Blue Badge holder, advice please

BSTER123

Hi all,

I need some advice after getting a really harsh parking charge.

Back in July 2024, I parked at the Euro Car Park in Worcester and apparently overstayed by just six minutes. I now have a £170 demand hanging over me.

I’m a Blue Badge holder and explained this to the debt collection agency chasing me (DCBL). The call handler I spoke to was, frankly, outrageous – I tried to explain my situation and the response I got was: “If you’ve got a disability, why didn’t you park in a disabled bay?”

That was not only offensive but completely missed the point – it was only a six-minute delay in returning to my car. The lack of compassion was shocking.

I also mentioned that I’d be more than willing to let this go to court if necessary, but all the handler said to me was: “You’ll receive a CCJ, I suggest you seek legal advice.”

I’m really upset at how this has been handled. For such a small overstay it feels incredibly unfair, and I thought there was meant to be a grace period anyway.

What are people’s thoughts on this?

• Do I have a defence, especially as a Blue Badge holder?

• Can they really slap me with a CCJ just like that?

• Is it worth fighting this in court?

Any advice would be massively appreciated – I don’t want to be bullied into paying an unfair charge.

Thanks in advance.

Brie

Don't pay. And yes after a very long time you are likely to get a court document to say you might get a CCJ at which point you file a defense and the scum chasing you will likely just not continue with it.  Most people cave before then unfortunately.

When it does get to filing a defense that's when you can play the disability discrimination card.  It took you longer as you are disabled and they therefore should allow more time.  

You might try going back to the store/wherever you went to when parking and ask that they intervene on your behalf but after a year I think they will say they can't do anything.

Gr1pr

Name the location 

Complain in writing to the business or landlord or landowner,  citing the Equality Act 2010 

Everyone is allowed to have a grace period of a minimum of 10 minutes grace period to leave,  so I cannot see you receiving a pcn for 6 minutes,  plus under the Equality Act you are allowed a reasonable adjustment 

Parking in a disabled bay doesn't mean anything,  ECP normally record the in and out times only,  not the bays 

Please post redacted pictures of the NTK PCN letter,  leaving all dates and times showing,  plus we can see the actual reason for this pcn

Ignore the powerless debt collectors 

BSTER123

BSTER123 said:

Hi all,

I need some advice after getting a really harsh parking charge.

Back in July 2024, I parked at the Euro Car Park in Worcester and apparently overstayed by just six minutes. I now have a £170 demand hanging over me.

I’m a Blue Badge holder and explained this to the debt collection agency chasing me (DCBL). The call handler I spoke to was, frankly, outrageous – I tried to explain my situation and the response I got was: “If you’ve got a disability, why didn’t you park in a disabled bay?”

That was not only offensive but completely missed the point – it was only a six-minute delay in returning to my car. The lack of compassion was shocking.

I also mentioned that I’d be more than willing to let this go to court if necessary, but all the handler said to me was: “You’ll receive a CCJ, I suggest you seek legal advice.”

I’m really upset at how this has been handled. For such a small overstay it feels incredibly unfair, and I thought there was meant to be a grace period anyway.

What are people’s thoughts on this?

• Do I have a defence, especially as a Blue Badge holder?

• Can they really slap me with a CCJ just like that?

• Is it worth fighting this in court?

Any advice would be massively appreciated – I don’t want to be bullied into paying an unfair charge.

Thanks in advance.

Gr1pr

Name the location in Worcester 

Post a redacted picture of the NTK PCN letter,  clearly showing the alleged contravention and location 

Post any pictures you have of the signage 

BSTER123

Brie said:

Don't pay. And yes after a very long time you are likely to get a court document to say you might get a CCJ at which point you file a defense and the scum chasing you will likely just not continue with it.  Most people cave before then unfortunately.

When it does get to filing a defense that's when you can play the disability discrimination card.  It took you longer as you are disabled and they therefore should allow more time.  

You might try going back to the store/wherever you went to when parking and ask that they intervene on your behalf but after a year I think they will say they can't do anything.

Thank you, I really appreciate your advice. This was the first correspondence I'd ever received about this parking penalty. So it comes as a massive shock to me. After a bit of investigation and finding out that the maximum stay on this car park was two hours, I couldn't believe that they were really chasing me for going six minutes over the maximum stay. I also couldn't get over how soulless the call handlers were. They showed definite signs of scaremongering people into paying. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.