Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac

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Mon 23 Nov 2015 12:49
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - Timmus

in October of this year, we parked in a Penance car park to go to the beach. We got our 2 small children (3&5) out with buckets, spades, picnic, change of clothes etc. and I went some way down the beach, away from the car park, with all the equipment and the children, while my wife went to buy a ticket.

When she got the the ticket machine, it was 'Out of Order' (I have a photo of this). She didn't realize at the time there were other machines in the car park and assumed that the whole system was out of order. She decided to come along the beach to the children and me.
When my wife arrived at our chosen spot and explained the situation, I settled them all down and I walked back along the beach to the car park (20 minutes since parking the car) and bought a ticket at another ticket machine that was in order, for our vehicle. When I went to the car to put the ticket in I saw we had a parking ticket.

I emailed them an appeal with the photographic evidence of the ou of order ticket machine, and proof of my paid ticket some 20 mins later, and they have replied saying they reject my appeal.

My question is can they legally charge me, and if I just ignore, will I get bailiffs around, or get taken to court?!

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Mon 23 Nov 2015 13:28
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - slkfanboy

It depends on how hard you want to push it. I not sure if the car park is a private or not. That does make a difference as if it's private they have only issue an Invoice, to which they would have to go to court first. No many companies to this any more as it costly, council are more likely to do so.

I guess the bottom line is what is a reasonable amount of time to purchase a ticket and how much out of pocket the company/council is for your delay in puchasing a ticket.

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Mon 23 Nov 2015 13:30
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - RobJP

Popla.co.uk - go there, look through it all, and take it through their process if you feel your case is strong enough.

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Mon 23 Nov 2015 15:02
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - daveyjp

ARMTRAC are IPC members. IPC are far from striaght and their appeals system a joke.

Visit pepipoo.co.uk first and do some reading.

Edited by daveyjp on 23/11/2015 at 15:08

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Mon 23 Nov 2015 15:16
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - FP

Pepipoo.com is the site of choice for info on this, but there's plenty of stuff on the internet if you search.

If the land is council-owned you may have received a Penalty Charge Notice and the status of this is different from a ticket received after parking on private land, which may be called a Parking Charge Notice and may be dressed up to look like the council version.

You need to be careful when dealing with council-originated tickets.

The other sort you can defy with a fair chance of success - the worst that can happen is that you may be taken to small claims court and this is not likely, though a recent judgment suggests private parking firms may now be more willing to do this.

On Pepipoo you can do a search on Armtrac. (I see they have abandoned some cases after pressure was put on them.)

Edited by FP on 23/11/2015 at 15:21

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Mon 23 Nov 2015 15:30
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - skidpan

Our local ASDA car park is split into 2 sections seperated by a road. They recently did some major work in the carpark and adjacent filling station which put the ticket machines out of operation for several weeks. There were clear notices on the machines and pedestrian exits informing parkers that the machines in the other car park were working as normal and tickets should be bought there.

Major outcry when many locals were issued tickets for ignoring the signs.

Beggars belief really because when you spend £2.00 you get the £1.00 fee back.

Hope they all get exactly what they deserve. Why should they get away with paying when a vast majority obey the rules.

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Tue 24 Nov 2015 14:14
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - gordonbennet

I have no expertise in this *, but from a common sense point of view i think you, the OP, are on a loser here, and i'd be inclined to just pay this one up at the reduced rate for early payment and lump it.

*earlier this year we had a speculative invoice from Smart Parking ltd, which was surprise cos i cound't tell you where Asda Bloxwich is seeing as we live about 80 miles away, went on their website to view the evidence...had i caught SWMBO out having a romantic tryst with her fancy man at Asda?:-)

anywhere there's a Pug 307 in the pic with a completely different number plate to the Subaru she drives, so after a little while i rang them and got the surprisingly amenable lady on the other end to view the evidence, no problems says she i'll sort this out.

(Quite why i'm doing their job for them i don't know, the last time we dealt with a door kicker they phoned us snottily on the Orient Express, i ask you, demanding monies owed to NTL for a service NTL couldn't provide at our address...not as their service was anything to write home about where we lived previously.)

Saturday what comes through the door but a demand for £120 from SPL's nominated door kickers Debt Recovery Plus, to whom i've sent a right snotty email, no reply, so phoned them thismorning to be told that SPL sent the forms, no they didn't you did, well they've told us not to send it out now...if this is the standard of their communications, i shall keep all notes and enjoy hearing the judge summing up on the appointed day.

By coincidence, as i type this Ruby our lovely little Cocker Spaniel has just thrown up and i managed to catch the effort on DRP's demand, are you thinking what i'm thinking?

Edited by gordonbennet on 24/11/2015 at 14:15

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Wed 25 Nov 2015 08:47
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - Brit_in_Germany

Don't do it GB, I think it might be illegal!

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Thu 26 Nov 2015 17:34
Ford C-MAX - Parking fine from Armtac - concrete

Well GB. I think the sight of their letter made your dog laugh so hard it caused it to throw up. Definitely cruelty to animals. I would write to them demanding compensation for the distress caused and the cleaning material required to clean up because of this!

Timmus. The way you describe this makes it seem as if you have been harshly treated. If what you describe is a true and accurate picture of events then I would pursue this through the appeals procedure. Council PCN or private invoice it matters not. Armtrac have to provide you with the information to appeal. I have been through this and although a drawn out process it does work in your favour if your situation is genuine. So you will need to steel yourself for some letter writing and copying over the next few months, but stick at it. If you do I guarantee that they will withdraw before the hearing or not attend and you will win by default. Best of luck.

Concrete

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