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What are my chances of getting out of this parking fine?
Hugh Jboobs
Posts: 15,316 Forum Member
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On Friday afternoon I drove my family into the local town for tea and parked the car in a pay and display car park. It was slightly stressful as my newborn baby was noisily getting ready for a feed and my two older ones were whingeing and whining! I went to purchase a ticket and ran back to the car. I hastily put the ticket on the dashboard (I always put tickets on the dashboard as I hate cleaning off the resultant residue when you tear the sticky part off the screen/window) and started to help my wife get the baby and kids out the car. Then we left.
Upon returning to the car I saw that I had been served with a parking notice for failing to display a valid ticket. Puzzled, I checked the dashboard. To my annoyance, I realised I'd put the ticket face down so that none of the info about times etc was visible. I put this down to human error on my part and being distracted by other things e.g my noisy kids!
Obviously on the ticket there is information about how to challenge the fine. There is a postal address to write to and also an email address. I'm thinking my first port of call is to email them to explain the situation and attaching a scan of the parking ticket I'd paid for. Then, if they say they'll let me off, I'll provide the actual ticket through the post to them. I'm thinking that if I just send it off straight away, they'll conveniently lose it so I would have no evidence were I to appear in person to challenge it.
So I wondered what the chances were of them letting me off the fine? I did actually pay for a ticket after all and can provide that ticket. Will common sense prevail and they'll realise it was a simple mistake which doesn't deserve a fine? Or will they doggedly stick their guns and insist that my behaviour warrants monetary punishment?
By the way, it is a council car park, not a private one.
Thoughts welcome.
Upon returning to the car I saw that I had been served with a parking notice for failing to display a valid ticket. Puzzled, I checked the dashboard. To my annoyance, I realised I'd put the ticket face down so that none of the info about times etc was visible. I put this down to human error on my part and being distracted by other things e.g my noisy kids!
Obviously on the ticket there is information about how to challenge the fine. There is a postal address to write to and also an email address. I'm thinking my first port of call is to email them to explain the situation and attaching a scan of the parking ticket I'd paid for. Then, if they say they'll let me off, I'll provide the actual ticket through the post to them. I'm thinking that if I just send it off straight away, they'll conveniently lose it so I would have no evidence were I to appear in person to challenge it.
So I wondered what the chances were of them letting me off the fine? I did actually pay for a ticket after all and can provide that ticket. Will common sense prevail and they'll realise it was a simple mistake which doesn't deserve a fine? Or will they doggedly stick their guns and insist that my behaviour warrants monetary punishment?
By the way, it is a council car park, not a private one.
Thoughts welcome.
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Comments
pay the fine, move on.
Scan the ticket and email or write with a copy. Who is to say shutting the car door didnt cause a draught that blew the ticket over.
You should check after closing the door that it's still displayed properly
I don't think you've got much chance. You could have found a valid ticket for that time period on the floor after you got back
I went all the way through the procedure of contesting the fine, all the while thinking that an honest mistake would eventually receive some leniency. I got nowhere!
The only good thing was that the procedure of contesting the fine took almost nine months and hopefully cost the council more than the fine I eventually had to pay.
If you've been offered a reduction to pay early, I would probably just pay up as I lost the initial reduction after exhausting the appeals process.
I guess the council and parking companies are wise to a lot of the tricks and providing a ticket doesn't prove you bought it unless it was one of those car parks where you need to put in your reg.
Of course that means your fruitless appeals cost the council taxpayer lots of money. You call that a good thing?
Yes I do.
The council had the opportunity to take a common sense approach and give me the benefit of the doubt.
They chose not to do this and I used the appeals process that was offered. I didn't have a history of anything like this before.
Again, it's your responsibility to make sure the ticket is displayed properly. It's not difficult to check after you've closed the door
I'd have never thought of that - I was thinking if you bought a ticket and they didn't see it you would have a good case to fight it - but from what you say I can understand why now.
It worked for me, albeit a long time ago.
I hear what people are saying about it being your duty to ensure you've displayed the ticket properly and that there's no excuse for not doing so. However, I'm of the opinion that there are sometimes circumstances where human error means you just don't do that - and I believe in such circumstances a bit of common sense should prevail. Whether it will or not....well it seems from the experiences of people on this thread that it probably won't. I shall definitely be trying however, and hoping that my email goes to someone who is able and willing to apply said morsel of common sense.
As for the idea that I could be using someone else's ticket to try and weasel out of the fine. Well I would take exception to that if they suggested that's what I'm doing. I would see that as them questioning my integrity and I would definitely pursue it and "have my day!"
Thanks again for the replies. And for any more that may come.
It's always worth trying and I once helped someone get their fine cut in half (long story) and in this case I'd suggest emphasising that the ticket was on proper display on the inside of the window but became detached of its own accord while everyone was out of the vehicle.
I think the difficulty for the council is how do they distinguish between those who genuinely did pay for the ticket but through human error, didn't display and those who are clearly chancing their luck.
unfortnately the only real answer is that they can't distinguish between the two, at least not without setting a precedent and therefore they have to have a black and white policy on it!
although i can feel your frustration, it is a 'pay and display' so admittedly although it was a mistake, you didn't display the ticket and therefore they're completely within their rights to fine you.
Of course they're questioning drivers' integrity. That's why they check the tickets! Otherwise it wouldn't be "pay and display", more "we'll just trust you to pay".
I see a difference between checking tickets and actively accusing someone of lying and being deceitful though.
They're not though, are they? They may well believe your excuse, but that still doesn't get you off.
I know they're not. The post you quoted me on was my thoughts on the idea that I might be accused of such a thing.
If however it was a private parking company then you may have a chance depending on which company it is but it's important you don't email them anything! Read through the threads on the forum below.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163
I once received a PCN for overstaying at Luton airport which with their help was cancelled.
I was able to give them ticket number, details etc. and they let me off.