What's the cost of parking fines? Poll Results/Discussion

Former_MSE_Lawrence

Poll between 17-25 March 2008: Results

What’s the cost of parking fines?

The free Budget Planner microcategorises spending, but the car section doesn’t include fines. Are these now such an annual part of people’s expenditure that they should be included?

Are parking fines so unavoilable in a clamping culture that they should be factored in?

What’s your typical annual spend on parking fines?

A. Nothing. I’ve NEVER had one. - 42% (3144 votes)
B. Limited. I’ve only EVER had one or two. - 43% (3260 votes)
C. Up to £50/year. - 4% (309 votes)
D. £51 - £150/year. - 5% (401 votes)
E. £151 - £299. - 1% (89 votes)
F. £300 plus. - 1% (88 votes)
G. I don't drive - 3% (261 votes)

Voting has now closed, but you can still click reply to discuss below.

nephilim

I dont get fined, because I know where to park without paying and without getting fined!

usa1

I have been given 2 tickets in the past. Now I always park on side roads when I go to town. I know that I have to walk a bit further than if I pay to park. Parking Attentants are like vultures round here and have been know to hide in bushes etc.

Moneymonkey_2

I've been fined a few times now. But my car parking fees are huge! I'm glad I don't have to commute & park at the station! £6.50 a day now!

McSaver

I dont get fined because I dont drive

GizmoBradwell

It depends where you drive.

Could we include which town each voting person drives in? All the votes beyond B; will most likely live in LONDON, where parking regulations are a viable, high-profit-buisness sub-culture.

Even the conjestion charge is synonymous with conjestion fine

peekay_2

We were fined £50.00 for overunning our parking time by five minutes. No problem with being fined, but I do think that the punishment does not suit the crime. Has anyone ever questioned if the level of parking fines are justified? Bear in mind the original parking fee was £2.50, so the fine is twenty times this fee. Seems reminiscent of other unfair fees eg. banking charges. (Apologies for going off on a tangent!)

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

Poll Started 17 March 2008:

What’s the cost of parking fines?

The free Budget Planner microcategorises spending, but the car section doesn’t include fines. Are these now such an annual part of people’s expenditure that they should be included?

Are parking fines so unavoilable in a clamping culture that they should be factored in?

What’s your typical annual spend on parking fines?

A. Nothing. I’ve NEVER had one.
B. Limited. I’ve only EVER had one or two.
C. Up to £50/year.
D. £51 - £150/year.
E. £151 - £299.
F. £300 plus.
G. I don't drive

Vote here or click reply to discuss below.

sparrer

I've only ever had one, for £110. I was unwell - later diagnosed Norovirus - so pulled into Moto Services on M6 south of Preston, took a couple of flu pills and fell asleep. I was there 3 hours 10 mins. 2 weeks later I got a letter from Parking Eye saying parking is 2 hours max. I didn't know service areas had a max time limit, and I certainly wasn't well enough to think of wandering about looking for notices! As I'm contesting the original £50 fine it's now £110, £30 of which is 'admin fee' :mad:

Grumpy_old_git_3

I avoid the potential for parking fine like most people, I avoid even more the new style 'Traffic Enforcement Officers' (another branch of the plastic policemen).
The answer to what's the cost is that my spending is done out of town whenever possible, so the cost is to the city centre retailer and ultimately to the inner city centres regeneration programs that councils promote in order to get more people in their city centres.
Those that benefit - me (less stress) and retailers with associated parking places.
Incidently the 'Car' is the income target for Government and Councils because car identity is so tied up now in law and along with Numberplate readers makes it easy to trip up the poor motorist. Just wait till id cards come in with biometric data then all the 'authorities have to do is perfect stand off retina identification techniques and we've all had it.

Mozette

I got a parking fine the first time I ever went out on my own! The only one ever, I learnt my lesson. Don't own a car now, it costs too much, I hire one if I need to and it's shedloads cheaper.

jonathan_james

WHY HAS NOBODY ON MARTIN'S TIPS SAID THIS EARLIER?
DO NOT PAY THAT FINE YET!

I started a thread once about parking fines and I am amazed nobody could help me out. They basically just said that I would have to be careful more in the future. However after purchasing an orange book on amazon "fight a motoring ticket", I discovered unless a parking ticket is issued by the council, they are not legally entitled to charge any more (or fine) than what they did not make in lost revenue for the time that you were there. Sorry if I put that across in a long winded way.

I protested for two parking tickets that my wife got about 9 months ago. One had escalated beyond the original figure (about £60), the other about £30. When I explained what the law says on this as outlined in the orange book, I was interested in the outcome. One of the companies never replied and they never hassled us with any more letters demanding money. The other company wrote explaining they disagreed with my interpretation of the law and they thought we should pay. However, after that they never wrote back and it seems that they conceded that they could not get anything out of us.