I bought a car park (NCP operated) ticket at Manningtree station yesterday at 11.06 am, opened my drivers door and put the ticket on the ledge. bought my rail ticket at 11.12am and went back to my car, opened the passenger door to put something in my glove compartment, locked up and got my train. Got back to my car at 8.30pm to see a penalty notice attached, and found that the non adhesive ticket was lying on my drivers seat probably blown there as it was a windy day when I returned to my car briefly to put something in my glove compartment.
£75 fine reduced to £50 if paid in 14 days however I have written to appeal. Anyone have any experience as to whether it is likely to be upheld or will it been seen as frivolous just like Osei Sankofa's sending off at Arsenal?
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Then again if it's privately operated, it's not legally enforceable and if they argue - just don't pay it.
Contest it call them and let them know what happended -they then marked the fine as contested and they will ask you to send info in ... happeneded to me and they cancelled it. - but call them first
The fine was cancelled
Dippenhall - where do you live? I find it bizarre that you should get a refund of the fine, because there isn't a single piece of parking legislation that supports your view. I worked for the Parking Appeals service for two years (in IT, I hasten to add - not in the appeals process itself). Not a single appeal was ever considered on the basis that a legitimately purchased ticket 'blew off the dashboard' for the reasons I've highlighted above.
I guess some councils actually DO exercise proper discretion - and this just highlights that the vast majority of time, if it gets to the independent appeals process, the council have pretty much been sensible all the way - if it's gone that far and they still don't accept the appeal, then it seems they're mostly correct.
A council is under no legal obligation to enforce penalties for violations, it is a civil action. Of course the reason why the offence is not displaying a ticket rather than not buying a ticket is that there would be chaos if you were allowed to appeal on then grounds of losing a ticket or it being on display. The system is set up to ensure motorists can be fleeced with minimum effort not to protect law abiding citizens who breach technical violations.
It was only the fact that I could show I must have been in possesion of a ticket that they exercised discretion and the penalty was refunded, but they had every legal right to uphold the penalty and I could not have succesfully taken it any further. I actually didn't ask for the penalty to be refunded when I wrote to the CEO, I asked for a detailed explanation of why discretion was not being exercised in my circumstances and what public good was being supported by rigidly enforcing the penalty for a technical violation where proof of payment of a parking permit was supplied.
The trick is to appeal it and take it to a tribunal with the NPS
I gave a simple story that I had a valid ticket and provided photocopies. I argued everything, even acusing
the NPS of prejudice for allowing the tribunal in Essex County Council premises.
I won both appeals and took Chelmsford Borough Council for over two hundred pounds in costs and expenses
that I plucked out of thin air.
So, just ignore everything, even the court threats, and they will eventually go away. DO NOT PAY THIS.
There's plenty of discussion on the forums at pistonheads.com and you can check out pepipoo.com
Or if you've plenty of time on your hands and want to wind up NCP, write this letter:
{[Add their title and address, Miss Jones}
I am in receipt of your letter dated [insert the date Miss Jones] alleging that a vehicle registered to me overstayed an arbitrary duration in a vehicle park attached to one of your {insert location}.
As I am sure you will be aware, it is the driver of the vehicle with whom any contract to park was made, not the Registered Keeper. You will also be aware that the terms of any such contract must be set out in such a manner as to be obvious to anyone with whom you wished to make the contract. These terms must comply with all applicable contract law, such as the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
Should you wish to pursue this claim, please supply evidence that the person parking the vehicle you allege to have overstayed the set duration would have had the opportunity to read the contract terms. Such evidence must be, as a minimum:
(i) a detailed route and timings of the vehicle's travel into and through the vehicle park;
(ii) a detailed route of the driver's passage out of the vehicle and into the {insert location} - this and the evidence listed immediately above are to show that the driver had reasonable opportunity to see and read the contract terms;
(iii) photographs of all relevant signage in situ in locus in quo at the time of the alleged overstaying so as to show that the signs were actually readable;
(iv) an accurately-drawn, scaled, map showing the location of each sign and indicating which you believe the driver would have had the easy opportunity to read (the routes of the vehicle and driver should be superimposed upon the map);
(v) details of the weather conditions at the time, in particular the visibility (all to be confirmed by the Meteorological Office);
(vi) sufficient details of the driver with whom you claim to have made a contract to enable their unique identification;
(vii) a detailed description of the processes followed to record and analyse the evidence of the alleged overstaying; and
(viii) a notarised statement from a senior manager at the [insert location} to the effect that your recording and analytical systems were working normally at the time of the alleged overstaying.
Without the above, I cannot entertain your claim and any further demands for payment will be considered harassment and will be reported to the police with a view to your criminal prosecution under s1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1998, s85 of the Postal Services Act 2000, s127 of the Communications Act 2003, and/or s2 of the Protection from Harrassment Act 1997 - this last with a view to the court issuing a Restraining Order against you. Additionally, civil action will be taken against you personally and your employer to cease and desist and for the recovery of all costs, together with a substantial payment in compensation for the mental pain and suffering caused.
I expect your reply by return, either providing the evidence requested above or indicating simply your termination of this correspondence.
Be warned though - NEVER do this when the council have issued you with a fine. Local Authorities have dozens of people sitting around twiddling their thumbs just waiting for people to try and waste their time.
Didn't get anywhere but if someone owed me money and I couldn't contact him, what would happen if I knew his wife's car registration asked DVLA to send me details of her home address so I could contact her to get details of where her husband was. Why is a civil parking dispute so serious that car park operators have been granted statutory powers to obtain personal information on a member of the public they have not met and do not know who may or may not have read a notice in a car park in order to assist progress of a civil dispute.
Council parking is different, the system is governed by statute and they have powers to fine the REGISTERED KEEPER regardless of who was driving, so details from DVLA can at least be justified at one level.