Is it worth fighting?

[Redgate]

I had to take the train to go to London this weekend and drop the car off at the station. Since I did not have any change on me I call the automated service to 'legally' park there. The automated service confirmed over the phone that the payment had been accepted, and immediately after I received a text message (that I did not bother reading). With hindsight, I should have.

A few hours later I come back to the station to find that I have been fined. The penalty (£60 if paid within 14 days) is for parking without displaying valid payment.

When I got home I read the text message and realized I had received the approval to park ... in another station.

I know that each payment station is assigned a unique identifier which you should mention when making a payment over the phone in order to avoid confusion but I don't remember if I have been asked to key it in when I was making the call.

So, to summarize, I have paid for the right to park but it has been issued for a nearby train station (which I used maybe 6 months ago).

I appealed the decision, providing a snapshot of the text message but the car park company has decided to uphold the penalty.

Should I just take it on the chin and make sure I always have a bag of coins with me in the car? Or is it worth fighting?

[megaphone]

Does the same parking company administer both car parks? If so they should be a bit more forgiving, might be worth another go, appeal to their better nature!

[Sheepshanks]

Redgate said:

I appealed the decision, providing a snapshot of the text message but the car park company has decided to uphold the penalty.

Sounds a bit like the faded ticket thing that was in the press recently where the car park operator reckoned the railway company have told them to reject all appeals.

[walm]

Redgate said:

Should I just take it on the chin and make sure I always have a bag of coins with me in the car? Or is it worth fighting?

Forget coins - just input the right code.
Isn't it worth fighting since they usually need to show they have lost out and assuming it's the same fee they haven't lost any money!
Although the train station parking nazis are actually more of a minefield than the usual owing to completely different regs IIRC.
Worth checking with Pepipoo?

[Redgate]

megaphone said:

Does the same parking company administer both car parks? If so they should be a bit more forgiving, might be worth another go, appeal to their better nature!

IIRC yes they do. And that would explain why the system assumed I was somewhere else (the station where I used the automated service for the 1st time). I have spoken to the car park company and my only remaining option (to avoid the penalty) is to write to POPLA.

[PhillippeDuLait]

I had a similar problem a few months back with station parking (NCP admistered, if that helps).
I use Dash Parking online to pre-book my station parking each week. One week, I got off the train to see two tickets on my car, despite knowing that I had booked. I checked my text confirmation and saw that I had booked what was effectively the next numbered station on the list in error. I used their online appeals procedure, explained what had happened, with proof of my booking along with a record of booking the same parking every single week. They waived both tickets.

[Fastdruid]

I saw a similar one someone on a mailing list I'm on had, they'd parked in a car park and from the app selected the wrong car.

The best answer was

random_internet_stranger said:

Pay it, and quickly. If they're operating ticket machines at a station, they're legit and working for either the council or the rail company.
Absolutely not the same as the kind who issue fines for parking on private land etc. I worked for a year for a county council as a business officer in the parking department, and saw a fair few of these cases where wrong registrations had been put in, and the courts (when it went that far) *always* came down on the side of 'pay up' basically saying it's your own fault, you should have checked, you're a grown up so take responsibility.

Obviously it's worth a nice "Please could you cancel it, I paid but put in the wrong car park" letter but if that fails probably best to pay up.

[Redgate]

Fastdruid said:

Obviously it's worth a nice "Please could you cancel it, I paid but put in the wrong car park" letter but if that fails probably best to pay up.

That would be my approach, and reason to appeal. I did pay but for some reason I bought the right to park somewhere else. In retrospect I should have twigged that I was not prompted to enter the identifier of the location I was calling from. Not an excuse I know but I was in a rush to catch my train and the fact I had received a Text Message to confirm the payment did not make me suspicious.

[Thermobaric]

Worth posting a thread on Pepipoo I'd say.

[Red Devil]

And MSE.

[jm doc]

Send the money minus what you actually paid them?

[bad company]

I would write to them explaining why you are refusing to pay and invite them to sue you. They probably won't but if they do sue you can have the case heard at your local Court and they will incur considerable unrecoverable costs.

[Thermobaric]

It's just not worth it approaching it any other way than by the book. Appeal/do whatever the guys on Pepipoo say and you'll probably work it out. Anything else and you're asking for trouble.