Can I get out of this parking ticket?

[Gilhooligan]

Ok so yesterday I had a bit of an intelligence fail and managed to incorrectly fill out a temporary parking permit whilst visiting my grandmothers which resulted in a nice £30 fine. You have to scratch out what time you arrive at and its valid for an hour and a half from then.
I arrived at 15:30 and filled out the card scratching out the 30 in the minutes section and instead of scratching out the 3 in the hours section I somehow managed to scratch out the 15 also in the minutes section.

This was the only thing I did wrong as I was parked in the correct place for the permit to be valid etc. It's a council ticket so I cant just 'file it in the bin', but if I write to them explaining the mishap what do you reckon the chances are of me getting of with it?

Picture of the permit showing my stupidity.

[Einion Yrth]

Edinburgh? You're screwed.


HTH

[shandyboy]

It must be worth ringing them and explaining politely how you scratched off the 15 in the minutes section as you were there at 3pm and got confused, what have you got to lose?

[mrmr96]

shandyboy said:

It must be worth ringing them and explaining politely how you scratched off the 15 in the minutes section as you were there at 3pm and got confused, what have you got to lose?

Dat. But don't cry if they say 'no'.

[herewego]

If it got out that they were letting people off for not using the ticket correctly, would other people do the same thing? Surely not.

[Gilhooligan]

mrmr96 said:

Dat. But don't cry if they say 'no'.

I think you've spelled 'that' wrong.

I've filled out an online form challenging the ticket. Fingers crossed!

[ging84]

if you were over due from the 15 minutes past time then you've probably not got much chance, but if you were not over due on either of the times you filled out then this would seem completely unfair to give you a ticket just because the ticket was no correctly scratched out

[mrmr96]

Gilhooligan said:

mrmr96 said:

Dat. But don't cry if they say 'no'.

I think you've spelled 'that' wrong.

I've filled out an online form challenging the ticket. Fingers crossed!

Sorry the "D" and the "th" keys are very close together on my keyboard.

Good luck.

[grumpyscot]

But if you were parked at 15 minutes past, then you were obviously still there at 30 minutes past, so they should ignore the 30 minutes past part.

But its Edinburgh - where you have a better chance of an AIDS cure than getting off a parking ticket

[AREA]

Explain to them nicely in the first instance what happened and you may get a good response. You acted in good faith and had no intention to avoid legit parking charges, misrepresent etc. etc.


If not, then call up the news desk on what ever the local paper is. I did this with my daughter when she got a parking ticket having paid (there was a cock up on the 'pay by mobile phone' service; technically she was in the wrong but things weren't clear)... news editor got involved, it made a nice little story (parking, dopey daughter, annoyed Dad, local council after money) he contacted the council who let her off.

You've the makings of a nice local news article: parking, old grannies and money grabbing councils. [If you can get your granny's cat stuck up a tree as well it'll be even better ;-) ]

[Cyberprog]

Good luck with the Council, doubt you'll get anywhere, but I could be wrong

Anyway, I do love these scratch off tickets. I guess they don't realise that it's childsplay to replace the scratched off areas, allowing a good couple of uses if you're careful

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230845233083

[premio]

Gilhooligan said:

I think you've spelled 'that' wrong.

I've filled out an online form challenging the ticket. Fingers crossed!

Looks like they also spelled 'Edinburgh' wrong too at the top of the voucher, maybe tell them there is one mistake each and call it a draw?

I personally think its worth appealing, they would have to be pretty tight fisted not to understand it was an honest mistake, and they will have a photo of your voucher too from the warden.

[Papa Hotel]

From the council that brought you the billion pounds trams fiasco and the statutory repairs scandal, I wouldn't expect them to do the small guy a favour. It's all about revenue and they wont give you any leeway. I think you know you don't have much of a case anyway but good luck.

[AGK]

Contest it online. Explain the circumstances.

I've had several cancelled as "goodwill" from Edinburgh council.

[tbc]

so it's not just the National Lottery scratchcards that shaft you

[Prizam]

Looks like the worlds worst parking system. What a joke!

[vodkalolly]

David Begg is slime

[Terminator X]

Not a hope in hell of getting off, they are there to extract money from as many people as possible.

TX.

[Gilhooligan]

AGK said:

Contest it online. Explain the circumstances.

I've had several cancelled as "goodwill" from Edinburgh council.

That's good to hear and is exactly what ive done, currently waiting for their response. I shall remain hopefull. Just thinking though, if I had to pay it and didn't, what would be the outcome? For the sake of one parking ticket what measure would they go to to get the money?

[User33678888]

Gilhooligan said:

That's good to hear and is exactly what ive done, currently waiting for their response. I shall remain hopefull. Just thinking though, if I had to pay it and didn't, what would be the outcome? For the sake of one parking ticket what measure would they go to to get the money?

A magistrate? That's where I'd be going if you owed me money. (I actually wouldn't for £30 and the council is unlikely to early on)
What they do is send a series of menacing letters warning you that you will be liable for their costs chasing payment. Then once you owe them over X amount (say £100) then they actually litigate as there is actual money to be had.

You can hope for the best, and I wish it to you but if they decide to play hardball you will have to pay it so keep £30 available.

Edited by User33678888 on Friday 3rd May 00:04