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Yawn again - parking fines
You must be tired of questions to do with parking fines but I would appreciate your advice. In January I parked in a Premier Parking Solutions car park near Exeter station to go to London. On my return I was surprised to find a ticket on the car as I was well under the 12-hour limit I thought I had paid for.
On examining my ticket it appeared that the machine had only registered £3.00 not the full £3.50 that I had inserted in the machine. This allowed me 1 hour parking instead of 12 hours but unfortunately in my hurry to get off I had not noticed this. I wrote to Premier explaining that I had paid the correct amount and that the machine had not registered the last 50p.
They replied that I should have checked the ticket and if I had noticed that the machine was at fault I should have phoned them and that the £70 fine still applied. I replied on 25th January that I was disappointed with their response and did not intend to pay the fine. Today I received a letter from BPA acting for Premier saying that if I did not pay £130 by 22nd March further action will be taken.
Should I pay and be done with it? If I don’t which my principles tell me not to, is a Court Summons likely to follow or will the Bailiffs turn up on the doorstep?
On examining my ticket it appeared that the machine had only registered £3.00 not the full £3.50 that I had inserted in the machine. This allowed me 1 hour parking instead of 12 hours but unfortunately in my hurry to get off I had not noticed this. I wrote to Premier explaining that I had paid the correct amount and that the machine had not registered the last 50p.
They replied that I should have checked the ticket and if I had noticed that the machine was at fault I should have phoned them and that the £70 fine still applied. I replied on 25th January that I was disappointed with their response and did not intend to pay the fine. Today I received a letter from BPA acting for Premier saying that if I did not pay £130 by 22nd March further action will be taken.
Should I pay and be done with it? If I don’t which my principles tell me not to, is a Court Summons likely to follow or will the Bailiffs turn up on the doorstep?
Asked on 14 March 2010 by TS, Dunchideock, Devon
Answered by
Honest John
Bailiffs cannot turn up on your doorstep without a court order. You could write back stating that you did pay the £3.50 but due to the negligence of Premier Parking Solutions in failing to maintain its machine properly the full payment did not register.
Tell them that if they dispute this you are happy for the case to go before a Small Claims hearing at a County Court convenient to you and you will accept the ruling of the court. Further, tell them that if this is not acceptable, they must refrain from any further harassment of you or you will report this crime under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 to the police.
Tell them that if they dispute this you are happy for the case to go before a Small Claims hearing at a County Court convenient to you and you will accept the ruling of the court. Further, tell them that if this is not acceptable, they must refrain from any further harassment of you or you will report this crime under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 to the police.
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