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Parking Charge

I know you guys love parking fines.

July last year parked in one of the car parks run by Excel Parking ... it was a horrendous day weather wise, and I got soaked walking to 3 separate pay & display machines as first 2 were out of use.

Bought a ticket put it on my dashboard ... returned well before expiration times to find big yellow sticker on window ... for parking violation. Along with a 'Parking Charge Notice" for £70

I took my pay & display ticket to the 'operator' he advised it was not correct way up on the dash, therefore I had not displayed a valid ticket.

The ticket said I had 7 days to appeal .... I sent off proof of ticket, and that it was only the awful weather that had caused me to put it on dash upside down - wind was blowing a gale, and it was lashing it down. Explained the fee had been correctly paid and I could prove that - with the copy of ticket sent to them.

They responded ... "we expect to let you have our decision by 02 Sept 2016"

No response .. so Mid Sept emailed again .. I have proof they received it as auto acknowledgement received - no response at end of Sept., I wrote advising if I heard nothing within 7 days I consider the matter closed.

Today 196 days after the parking notice issued they responded advising the appeal had been rejected, I can however cancel the charge if I pay £10, otherwise it increases to £100 in 7 days.

My view is, I paid correct fee, parked correctly, returned within allotted time, therefore they have suffered no material loss. I have made no financial gain.

Comments ?

Reply to
rick
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You may get more authoritative replies in uk.legal.moderated

Reply to
Judith

Was it a council etc car park or a private one?

If a private one tell them to go stuff themselves.

I failed to get my parking authorised at a Lidl - where the checkout asked for your car number and entered it. Except on this occasion they didn't. I'd paid for the shopping by credit card so had proof I'd shopped there at the time in question.

The car park operator sent me a penalty notice. I emailed back explaining things. They wanted me to send them the till receipt - not a copy.

I told them to get lost and ignored any subsequent posts.

And, of course, they gave up.

If it is run for the council, they *might* have more powers. And may take you to court many many miles away. If you don't attend, send in the bailiffs.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

by "not correct way up" do you mean "face down" or simply that the printing was visible but upside down.

The parking company will (if they intend to follow up) have taken a photo of your car with the errant ticket not displayed properly

A face down ticket could easily be out of time, this is not proof that you have validly paid

That you now have a ticket could have easily come into you possession by picking up a ticket discarded by a leaving motorist, it is not proof that you paid

This is a civil case, It will be decide on balance of probability, not beyond reasonable doubt

the judge will be asked to decide. "Is it more likely that you paid, or that you used subterfuge to avoid paying?"

Whilst you know that you are an honest person, the judge does not. And an awful lot of people who have turned up before him on parking "charges" in the past, will have been pulling a fast one. He will be habituated to that.

Do you feel lucky!

The evidence to that is not overwhelming, it is circumstantial.

This legal argument has been tried many times before,. It has now been considered all the way to the SC and was lost.

If the company can show (on Balance of Probability) that you didn't pay, they are entitled to their "fine" provided it is set at a reasonable level (which It seems to be)

Irrelevant, this is a no fault "offence".

However, anecdotal evidence suggest that the parking company will take this no further if you don't pay

HTH

tim

Reply to
tim...

Use a free robot lawyer?

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Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

Take it to the parking appeals body (Google it and uk.l.m had a thread recently).

Someone won an appeal on exactly this scenario (upside down ticket).

Reply to
Tim Watts

And the case to which I alluded in my other thread was won on appeal (to the appeals body, not a court IIRC) on the basis that she had paid for the correct ticket and displayed the ticket.

There were no posted instruction in the carpark as to which orientation the ticket must be displayed.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Complete crap. The company only has to show that you didn't display correctly.

The penalty is not for failure to pay, its for failure to display (correctly)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I'd just ignore them but keep the ticket. I've never heard of such twaddle. If its private and ythey took you to court they would lose. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

the actual evidence of court results suggest you are wrong

tim

Reply to
tim...

Was that before the November 2015 Supreme Court judgement in the case of Beavis v ParkingEye? Since that, car park penalty clauses have been enforceable in law.

Reply to
Nightjar

I paid for the ticket so they had no loss of revenue, no loss of parking space, so on a fairness position they had what was due.

I will stick with not paying ..... they put in writing that they would respond on my appeal against charge by 2 Sept 2016 and did not in fact reply until 25 Jan 2017

They state that you are required to respond to them within 7 days, yet themselves set a 2 month target and then fail to meet it ... by almost 5 months !

Reply to
rick

Depends. If the ticket was upside down so the attendent had to turn his head to read it then I have every sympethy and you have not violated any condition of use.

I suspect however, that you put the ticket-face down on the dash. Clearly they are going to treat that as failiure to display. What else would you expect?

If they are indeed just going to charge a nominal £10 for doing that, I would pay up while the offer stands.

Reply to
Graham.

The Supreme Court has ruled otherwise.

Reply to
Nightjar

Rick, you still haven't told us if the ticket was face down or merely upside down from the attendants POV.

If former, they are doing you a favour by reducing the charge to £10 and you would be a fool not to pay it.

Reply to
Graham.

I'll find out - why does it make a difference

Reply to
rick

It was on the dash but upside down

I have the ticket so proof that I had paid.

Is it fair & reasonable that I should pay a £10 charge for putting it upside down. They also took such a long time to reply, even exceeding their own advised response time by 5 months ... which seems unfair & unreasonable.

Reply to
rick

Whether it's upside down depends where you are looking at it from. Through the driver's door window? Or through the windscreen? Through one of these, it will be upside down no matter how you orient it.

Reply to
Tim Streater

FFS Rick, was it A) face down so the attendant could not possibly see the expiry date & time or B) upside-down so the attendant could see the date & time albeit upside down.

A or B

Reply to
Graham.

He means face down so it was unreadable but doesn't want to say so.

There was a similar argument on local radio a few months ago and it was a while before the caller admitted he put it face down.

Reply to
dennis

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