Parking Charge Notice

roundthebend

Last month I parked in a car park at the town centre shops. I was going for lunch with colleagues. After lunch I got back in my car and drove off. A week or so later I got a letter through the post saying I had overstayed the free 1 hour, I'd been there for 92 minutes.

I can't believe I missed all the signs about paying for parking, but I went back to check and sure enough there's signs everywhere and they even state that the first hour should be 50p.

I thought about contesting it, because there's some grey area about whether these things are enforceable or not. I've left it too long to get the discounted rate of £30, now it's £60 they want.

Thing is, I know I've done the wrong thing. If I'd seen the signs I'd have paid my fee. So, I really should pay. I think.

I'm wondering if anybody can explain a good reason why I shouldn't?

joeyowen

Is is council owned land, or private with a private parking firm?

roundthebend

Private I believe

MagicPigDetective

Which parking company is it? 

roundthebend

S & K Car Park Management Ltd t/a Secure Parking

TheMarlin

If it’s an council issued PCN, best to pay it. If its private, just ignore it. 

roundthebend

TheMarlin said:

If it’s an council issued PCN, best to pay it. If its private, just ignore it. 

But why?

blobb

Private co's are getting hot on this at the moment. They will chase you and issue a cc judgement for failure to pay their 'invoice'. Pay it and be done.

Wazmeister

Just pay it. 

EricTheWeary

Used to be you could ignore it but there was a High Court ruling in favour of the private companies ( end of 2016 I think) so generally speaking now they can take you to court and they will win. The letter should include the appeals process although from the sound of it you might not bother. 
There was a private members bill to get the rules changed ( primarily that at the moment the clock on how long you have to pay isn't frozen when you initiate the appeals process) but hasn't gone through due to lack of parliamentary time. So, you can blame this on Brexit.   

JDE

Why wouldn’t you pay it?

heavyrocker

Well if you get taken to court you can always say some bloke off the internet told you not to pay it

revsorg

I got a parking ticket in Sevenoaks when I missed the ridiculous temporary notices they'd posted in the town centre car park.  The way I have got my own back is by promising to myself I will never ever go to Sevenoaks again.  Their loss.

MagicPigDetective

I didn't pay CP Plus last year even though I had no defence. Got a few threatening letters from a debt collector which I ignored, not heard anything for months now. But doing this is a risk of course. Some companies are more keen than others on prosecuting - it's a civil action so it costs them.

The best advice is on the moneysavingexpert forum

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

roundthebend

MagicPigDetective said:

I didn't pay CP Plus last year even though I had no defence. Got a few threatening letters from a debt collector which I ignored, not heard anything for months now. But doing this is a risk of course. Some companies are more keen than others on prosecuting - it's a civil action so it costs them.

The best advice is on the moneysavingexpert forum

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

I've had a look at that, admittedly not a long look. It seems that there is a tactic for appealing but it doesn't really explain on what grounds. If it was a strong case, then why don't they advocate just not paying for parking ever?

I'm gonna pay it. And swear to never go back to Corby town centre again. Actually, I've sworn to never do that again anyway. Absolute dive.

danishbacon

I've had a similar problem, though overstayed limit. Got tonnes of scary looking red bolded letters. I waited for a few to accumulate, printed out photos of a couple of the tiny signs in the lot and argued the signs were not sufficiently visible and fuck off. Did it a couple of times and eventually the letters stopped. 

SRich

Wiz'd.....pay and move on a little wiser. I deal with a load of traffic contraventions and some ''authorities' are complete chancers, some very litigious.

Watch for the little signs..... 

Nitefly

... and check your credit rating...

RaymondLin

If you know you’ve done wrong then pay up. 

Strangefan

RaymondLin said:

If you know you’ve done wrong then pay up. 

The dad brigades back in force I see. 

MagicPigDetective

Nitefly said:

... and check your credit rating...

Scare tactics from the parking companies. They are all about threats and intimidation.  If they were to take you to court and you lost, your credit rating might be affected if you didn’t pay the court fine within a given time limit. Otherwise not at all.