Parking Charge Notice - Help

Talal said:

snowinberlin said:

That's this country where compassion and common sense is in ever short supply

Like this story I heard on the radio this morning

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-hounded-over-parking-ticket-18931361

Just read through that. It seems all the council are asking for is a copy of the death certificate and then the ticket will be cancelled, which I don't think is unreasonable. 

I suspect they had a copy of the death certificate at the outset but lost it somehow.

The newspaper would have asked that basic question before they went to town with the story. 

This is just a cynical attempt to deflect the bad publicity by the council concerned with something that appears to be reasonable in order to justify their inhumane attitude. In my opinion of course!

If it was really that simple why wouldn't she or another family member have supplied the death certificate previously? Doesn't make sense.

snowinberlin said:

Talal said:

LenGlover said:

Talal said:

snowinberlin said:

That's this country where compassion and common sense is in ever short supply

Like this story I heard on the radio this morning

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-hounded-over-parking-ticket-18931361

Just read through that. It seems all the council are asking for is a copy of the death certificate and then the ticket will be cancelled, which I don't think is unreasonable. 

I suspect they had a copy of the death certificate at the outset but lost it somehow.

The newspaper would have asked that basic question before they went to town with the story. 

This is just a cynical attempt to deflect the bad publicity by the council concerned with something that appears to be reasonable in order to justify their inhumane attitude. In my opinion of course!

If it was really that simple why wouldn't she or another family member have supplied the death certificate previously? Doesn't make sense.

Of course if a death certificate has already been supplied then that's a completely different matter. Though you would think, in her questioning, this would be something she would mention to the newspaper and would've been included in the article. 

Kinda missing the point though, compassion doesn't seem to come into it, it's fairly obvious she isn't making it up, I know some people try to wangle out of these things but someone's hardly going to fake their husbands death to get out of a parking fine.  

Not sure I agree with that. There are people that will lie about anything. 

MuttleyCAFC said:

Chizz said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

When my son was with the Spurs academy a few years back, my wife got a fine and points for going through a red light near the training ground in Chigwell. A week later she got a letter rescinding the fine and points, saying the information gained from the camera has been shown not to be reliable or something to that effect. 

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that a few Spurs players must have been caught out, and they have the dosh to employ expert legal people to get them off. And then everybody else has to be let off too. So the moral of this story is, if you want to avoid these things, live near rich people.

Yeah.  Or "drive better". 

My wife was adamant at the time the lights were not red and she hasn't had any points before or since. I would say she is a pretty good driver - maybe not up to you great standards - but decent enough.

I'm sure she is.  I just have a thing about morals derived from stories about driving.  Whenever I hear a story about someone being fined for jumping red lights near an academy full (one presumes) of kids, I tend to think the best moral to draw from that is to drive better, not to be concerned about neighbours.  

If she didn't jump the lights, that's great.  And I hope she continues not to do so.  If she did and got away with it, I prefer the moral I draw, to yours, with the greatest respect. 

I work in housing in an inner London Borough.
People lie about anything to get housed.
I used not to be cynical but...
Only saying.

@Sage  Good luck with this. I had a similar incident albeit a different company (Britannia) and a different location (Chelmsford). Mine took about 2½ years before it was finally settled. It is my opinion that these parking companies are nothing but money grabbing scum, unfortunately such assertions are unlikely to help you. In my case we were in the car park for a total of seven minutes - we had planned to stop far, longer but didn't see their prices until we were in. At that point we did, we had a little family contretemps about their charges and how we might pay before deciding to leave and go somewhere else cheaper.  Anyway, here's my advice based on this experience:

1. Do not respond to them in any way; ignore their letters.
2. Do not throw anything away. We did after a period of almost a year of hearing nothing. As soon as we did we got another letter from them. I'm sure it was a deliberate pause on their part.
3. Expect to feel under considerable pressure. It's horrible, but it's what they do. Just remember, you are in the right and they make their money by making you want to give in.
4. If you've got a good MP, ask for them to get involved. You never know, they might be able to add some useful weight to your side. Unfortunately my MP, James Duddridge, is more useless than a chocolate teapot, so there was no help there.
5. If it goes as far as court, be prepared to stand your ground. We had to fill in forms stating our legal defence. Mine, which I cobbled together using advice from Money Saving Expert was that to charge you, they have to have a contract with you. Given that we left because we thought their charges were too high, there couldn't have possibly been a contract. Your defence will need to be a little different but the fact that you were turned away from the restaurant should mean that there was no contract.
6. When they do give in, don't expect an apology for the worry, stress and wasted time (as I said these people are scum and care nothing of you) but do expect to feel bloody great because you've done the right thing and have beaten them. 
   
Good luck!

Glad to hear that they've agreed to cancel the charge :-)

Please do read the other thread on this..

Chizz said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

Chizz said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

When my son was with the Spurs academy a few years back, my wife got a fine and points for going through a red light near the training ground in Chigwell. A week later she got a letter rescinding the fine and points, saying the information gained from the camera has been shown not to be reliable or something to that effect. 

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that a few Spurs players must have been caught out, and they have the dosh to employ expert legal people to get them off. And then everybody else has to be let off too. So the moral of this story is, if you want to avoid these things, live near rich people.

Yeah.  Or "drive better". 

My wife was adamant at the time the lights were not red and she hasn't had any points before or since. I would say she is a pretty good driver - maybe not up to you great standards - but decent enough.

I'm sure she is.  I just have a thing about morals derived from stories about driving.  Whenever I hear a story about someone being fined for jumping red lights near an academy full (one presumes) of kids, I tend to think the best moral to draw from that is to drive better, not to be concerned about neighbours.  

If she didn't jump the lights, that's great.  And I hope she continues not to do so.  If she did and got away with it, I prefer the moral I draw, to yours, with the greatest respect. 

I take it you have never got any points on your license and never will. I got three points in 2001 for speeding, I don't think that makes me a bad driver. A lot of posters will have gained points at some point and not be bad drivers. 

Also, if you want to imply the lights were outside the academy with lots of kids crossing the road fine. But you ought to know full well that is a fabrication. Not wishing to be pedantic, but not sure what the point of digging was in the first place. My wife has been driving since she was 17 and has never had a accident, nor any points. She is a better driver than me and could possibly be better than you - I don't know that of course.

My point was about rich footballers being able to challenge authority and win because they are rich. I don't think there was sufficient information about what happened for you to draw a moral from it bar from your own fantasy world.

My dad died when I was 22 and my employer gave me a week's leave and I didn't have to prove it. A couple of months later, my Grandmother died and they insisted on giving me another week off -probably because they could see I was not in the right mental place to work. Again, I did not have to prove it. Of course I could have, but being asked to would have been very traumatic for me at the time.

It was terrific management by the way. I really appreciated the support I got from the office manager and would have run over hot coals for him after that.

MuttleyCAFC said:

Chizz said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

Chizz said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

When my son was with the Spurs academy a few years back, my wife got a fine and points for going through a red light near the training ground in Chigwell. A week later she got a letter rescinding the fine and points, saying the information gained from the camera has been shown not to be reliable or something to that effect. 

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that a few Spurs players must have been caught out, and they have the dosh to employ expert legal people to get them off. And then everybody else has to be let off too. So the moral of this story is, if you want to avoid these things, live near rich people.

Yeah.  Or "drive better". 

My wife was adamant at the time the lights were not red and she hasn't had any points before or since. I would say she is a pretty good driver - maybe not up to you great standards - but decent enough.

I'm sure she is.  I just have a thing about morals derived from stories about driving.  Whenever I hear a story about someone being fined for jumping red lights near an academy full (one presumes) of kids, I tend to think the best moral to draw from that is to drive better, not to be concerned about neighbours.  

If she didn't jump the lights, that's great.  And I hope she continues not to do so.  If she did and got away with it, I prefer the moral I draw, to yours, with the greatest respect. 

I take it you have never got any points on your license and never will. I got three points in 2001 for speeding, I don't think that makes me a bad driver. A lot of posters will have gained points at some point and not be bad drivers. 

Also, if you want to imply the lights were outside the academy with lots of kids crossing the road fine. But you ought to know full well that is a fabrication. Not wishing to be pedantic, but not sure what the point of digging was in the first place. My wife has been driving since she was 17 and has never had a accident, nor any points. She is a better driver than me and could possibly be better than you - I don't know that of course.

My point was about rich footballers being able to challenge authority and win because they are rich. I don't think there was sufficient information about what happened for you to draw a moral from it bar from your own fantasy world.

I don't have points on my licence, but that's entirely beside the point.  Your post was not about my driving, but about someone else's and, more importantly, the moral that person drew.  Specifically, someone who " got a fine and points for going through a red light" concluded that "if you want to avoid these things, live near rich people". 

I didn't dig anyone out.  I simply and specifically suggested that, instead of deciding that a better way to "avoid these things" than living "near rich people" would be to drive better.  

I am sure you would agree that we would all be better off if we all drove better.  And, if you don't agree with that, frankly, I don't want to continue with this conversation. 

Rudders22 said:

Looking for advice. As people know I have had a right hip replacement and my knee is a bit sore and tight at the moment. I also drive a car and have a parking permit. Only by chance (as I am at home recovering) since March, I noticed an orange triangle pop around a lamp post near my window which is 5ft up. Really helpful as I am 4ft 11. This went up on 19th August last week to advise something on the lines of "From August 26th to Sept 8th - no loading, parking, waiting". I was very "lucky" as I had seen the orange triangle "by chance" by looking out a window from my flat. Surprise, surprise on Monday 26th August Bank Holiday a parking attendant has just booked 2 cars who have residents parking in the said bays. A) Is it not a legal requirement that they should notify residents about any roadworks? How much notice should you give? C) How can they put a sign up from Monday 26th August (when it is a Bank Holiday. When is any work carried out? And being 4 working days notice?   I managed to move my car despite being in a lot of pain last week.  I did phone the council parking, but they didn't have a clue what was going on and put me through to Highway Agency, who then didn't have a clue as to what work was being carried out and had to refer. All they know it is something sort of gas company?? 

Parking suspensions for anything other than meters are one area where local councils are generally deficient. They're the only area where appellants regularly win appeals that go to adjudicators (other than when the council has been deficient, negligent or sent notices to owners out of time).

Pop over to Pepipoo and post there - someone will give you a pro forma response for your neighbour tk send in as their appeal. It's a risk, because the Council or agency digging up the road may have applied correctly for the suspension - in which case your neighbour may end up losing and paying the full penalty instead of the discounted rate for paying early. 

If it is for roadworks the council would only have told the contractor to do that upon them accepting a streetworks permit, which would be the contractor telling the highway authority what they were planning on doing, which means the authority would know about it. Stay on their case mate, contractors do stuff like this all the time as do skip companies and scaffolders who all need permits to put skips or scaffolding up or to do invasive work on the road

Bye the way it is Greenwich Council parking attendants that have done it.  I am glad I moved my car on the 19th as parking is very limited around here anyway and moved mine whilst people were at work.