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Parking ticket

Fatmarley

"It appears my intelligence circuits have melted"
Came back from Devon to find we have a parking ticket.

I kept the receipt, so photographed it and sent it to them through their appeal webpage, but today I got a letter saying the amount I paid didn't cover the time I was there.

We went to the beach at Croyde bay and found out that you pay at the machine when you leave.
What I wrongly assumed was that it somehow took a record of your length of stay and charged you the correct amount of money.
I've never used a car park like that before, where you have to remember how many hours you were there, so it caught me off guard.
I paid with my card, so it wasn't like I didn't have enough cash to cover it, and it's quite obvious that It was a mistake because why the hell would I try and save a few pence.

Have I got no choice but to pay it?
 
Make them a counter offer. Explain the genuine misunderstanding, and offer to pay the difference. I think they'd be hard pressed to make a penalty stick if you did that. A court would probably think it unreasonable.
 
They wont go to court they will put in the hands of debt collectors. Potential world of grief. I agree just chalk it for experience and pay.
 
Came back from Devon to find we have a parking ticket.

I kept the receipt, so photographed it and sent it to them through their appeal webpage, but today I got a letter saying the amount I paid didn't cover the time I was there.

We went to the beach at Croyde bay and found out that you pay at the machine when you leave.
What I wrongly assumed was that it somehow took a record of your length of stay and charged you the correct amount of money.
I've never used a car park like that before, where you have to remember how many hours you were there, so it caught me off guard.
I paid with my card, so it wasn't like I didn't have enough cash to cover it, and it's quite obvious that It was a mistake because why the hell would I try and save a few pence.

Have I got no choice but to pay it?
If you did not read the signage explaining how the car park worked (I am assuming there was some clearly displayed) then I am not sure you have much of a case.

Is the penalty notice from the Council or a private management company? If the former, they will take you to court if you do not pay. If the latter, they will send threatening letters about court action but might never do it - or they might.
 
They wont go to court they will put in the hands of debt collectors. Potential world of grief. I agree just chalk it for experience and pay.

If they put it in the hands of debt collectors, they are easy to deal with. Basically, it is an unsolicited invoice, they need to prove you have a contract, signed in wet ink and independently witnessed. Otherwise, it's not valid because tacit, assumed agreement is not enough. Write them enough letters, they go away eventually because it isn't worth the hassle to them.
 
It’s not a big deal provided you have the disposable income. But if we let parking authorities take liberties, we enable them to take liberties with people for whom it might be a big deal. I still think a reasonable counter-offer, explaining why and how you misunderstood what the machine was asking for, would be a worthwhile step, even if you go on to pay up eventually.
 
Yeah I'd probably just stump up and forget about it if it's not a scandalous amount. I gotta say though that the variety & complexity of some ticket machines and their various payment methods these days means they can either be brilliant or a total pain in the arse.

Paying when you leave without telling you how much you owe is a bit pants.

I did like being able to extend the duration of my ticket whilst halfway up Helvellyn though, via an app, that was very handy.
 
It’s not a big deal provided you have the disposable income. But if we let parking authorities take liberties, we enable them to take liberties with people for whom it might be a big deal. I still think a reasonable counter-offer, explaining why and how you misunderstood what the machine was asking for, would be a worthwhile step, even if you go on to pay up eventually.

that’s well and good but a ccj ain’t great either. It’s just not worth the hassle
 
Wait a minute (squire :)) . If they know you “didnt pay for long enough” then they must know when you got there in which case could you not argue the machine was faulty in charging you what it did. Don’t see how that could stand up in court (squire)
 
Defo appeal, take it all the way, when you lose pay up, chances are they won’t have the manpower and will pull the ticket the day before the appeal is heard

I beat a double congestion charge ticket this way with Birmingham council, councils are in the crap and short of people, big backlogs, let that work in your favour

I don’t see how an appeal could be considered spurious, mine was on the basis I didn’t see the signs and most congestion zones don’t charge for cars commercials only) so having a vague awareness that Bruma has a congestion charge scheme didn’t mean I knew about my car bein* included

very happy day when I got the email to say they pulled the case, I had vowed not to return the brim ever if they hadn’t and I like going to brum
 
councils are in the crap and short of people, big backlogs, let that work in your favour

On the other hand, if you recognise councils are unable to function without income, and many of them are close to bankruptcy, just pay it rather than making life even crapper for those trying to keep local infrastructure going in the face of central government indifference to the plight of local services.
 
On the other hand, if you recognise councils are unable to function without income, and many of them are close to bankruptcy, just pay it rather than making life even crapper for those trying to keep local infrastructure going in the face of central government indifference to the plight of local services.
While I see (and to some extent agree with) your point, I don’t think allowing councils to be funded by unethical practices is a good idea. Unlikely to end well, in the longer term.
 
We don’t know if it was the council, in which case it is a fine or a private car park, in which case it is an invoice, yet.
 


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