Discussion
PCN time and as ever multi-layered. Expecting the usual slagging etc but any sensible suggestions gratefully received.
Started a new job this week that requires a commute into town from Thatcham. Only ever used the station once about two years ago and didn't park there then. At that time I was having a chat with the ticket geezer and he mentioned that the car park wasn't owned by GWR so if I had an issue with it to take it up with the private company. I can't for the life of me remember why we had that discussion, I think it just came up in the idle chat we were having.
Anyway, fast forward to this Monday and I went online and bought an APCOA monthly season ticket for parking from Tues 28th onwards. Rock up on Tues, park up and no issues. Same for Weds. Get back today and I've got a ticket for: 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' £50 or £25 within 14 days. Fine thinks I, it's a glitch and I'll easily sort this out, have the receipts and everything.
When I get home I open the ticket up and it's from West Berks so I was a bit WTF? Checked the websites of both organisations and it's not clear who owns what although it begins to dawn on me that the two car parks either side of the stations are probably owned by two different companies FFS and I've parked in the wrong one. When I paid for the monthly ticket, nowhere did it say on APCOA's site that their car park was on the north/south side.
Went back down there and sure enough one is run by West Berks and one is run by APCOA; I've paid for the latter and parked in the former (the sheer stupidity of having a station car park(s) run by two different companies is beyond me but whatever). The West Berks side is known as Thatcham Station Road Car Park and the APCOA side is known as Thatcham Station Car Park. In my haste I fired off an email to West Berks but realise I'm up against it, the bottom line is I've parked in their car park and haven't paid even though I thought I had.
The properly annoying bit is what I've received the ticket for, 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' To my reasoning that's complete crap:
If it had said something along the lines of, 'You didn't pay anything big lad, here's a slap round the chops for £25' it might be slightly more palatable but to be fined for something you couldn't possibly do anyway is monumentally irritating.
I suspect I'm clutching at straws but does anyone think I have a fighting chance on either example?
Started a new job this week that requires a commute into town from Thatcham. Only ever used the station once about two years ago and didn't park there then. At that time I was having a chat with the ticket geezer and he mentioned that the car park wasn't owned by GWR so if I had an issue with it to take it up with the private company. I can't for the life of me remember why we had that discussion, I think it just came up in the idle chat we were having.
Anyway, fast forward to this Monday and I went online and bought an APCOA monthly season ticket for parking from Tues 28th onwards. Rock up on Tues, park up and no issues. Same for Weds. Get back today and I've got a ticket for: 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' £50 or £25 within 14 days. Fine thinks I, it's a glitch and I'll easily sort this out, have the receipts and everything.
When I get home I open the ticket up and it's from West Berks so I was a bit WTF? Checked the websites of both organisations and it's not clear who owns what although it begins to dawn on me that the two car parks either side of the stations are probably owned by two different companies FFS and I've parked in the wrong one. When I paid for the monthly ticket, nowhere did it say on APCOA's site that their car park was on the north/south side.
Went back down there and sure enough one is run by West Berks and one is run by APCOA; I've paid for the latter and parked in the former (the sheer stupidity of having a station car park(s) run by two different companies is beyond me but whatever). The West Berks side is known as Thatcham Station Road Car Park and the APCOA side is known as Thatcham Station Car Park. In my haste I fired off an email to West Berks but realise I'm up against it, the bottom line is I've parked in their car park and haven't paid even though I thought I had.
The properly annoying bit is what I've received the ticket for, 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' To my reasoning that's complete crap:
If it had said something along the lines of, 'You didn't pay anything big lad, here's a slap round the chops for £25' it might be slightly more palatable but to be fined for something you couldn't possibly do anyway is monumentally irritating.
I suspect I'm clutching at straws but does anyone think I have a fighting chance on either example?
DanL said:
£25 seems quite reasonable compared with some charges! Annoying, but think of it as £25 for being inattentive and move on with your life, now you know which car park you should be using.
This. I fought a parking ticket and it went on for 4 years and included a court date. I won in the end, but wish I'd have just payed the £60. £25 is a bargain.When they say 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' they actually mean 'Parked without having paid to park or we couldn't find evidence that you had paid'.
Since you hadn't paid to use the car park you parked in, I think that's fair enough. You can't complain that the fixed wording of their ticket doesn't exactly match the circumstances on the ground.
Having said that, it's really silly that there are two car parks for the same station, similarly named, but run by two different organisations. I would write an appeal to say that you didn't realise there was more than one car park, that you'd paid for a season ticket to park in the other, and that you won't make the same mistake again. They might let you off as it was clearly a mistake rather than you trying to avoid paying. They might not though. If you can afford to pay for a season ticket and commute into London from Thatcham, then you likely have a job worth the commute, in which case paying the £25 fine is a much better use of your time than trying to fight it further - after all you are technically at fault. In other words I'd fire off an email and hope they let you off. But only so I didn't feel like I'd rolled over. If they don't capitulate, at least you tried.
Since you hadn't paid to use the car park you parked in, I think that's fair enough. You can't complain that the fixed wording of their ticket doesn't exactly match the circumstances on the ground.
Having said that, it's really silly that there are two car parks for the same station, similarly named, but run by two different organisations. I would write an appeal to say that you didn't realise there was more than one car park, that you'd paid for a season ticket to park in the other, and that you won't make the same mistake again. They might let you off as it was clearly a mistake rather than you trying to avoid paying. They might not though. If you can afford to pay for a season ticket and commute into London from Thatcham, then you likely have a job worth the commute, in which case paying the £25 fine is a much better use of your time than trying to fight it further - after all you are technically at fault. In other words I'd fire off an email and hope they let you off. But only so I didn't feel like I'd rolled over. If they don't capitulate, at least you tried.
48k said:
I've made a similar mistake at Milton Keynes station in the past, emailed an appeal and they cancelled the charge.
Cheers, good to know.LunarOne said:
When they say 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' they actually mean 'Parked without having paid to park or we couldn't find evidence that you had paid'.
Since you hadn't paid to use the car park you parked in, I think that's fair enough. You can't complain that the fixed wording of their ticket doesn't exactly match the circumstances on the ground.
Having said that, it's really silly that there are two car parks for the same station, similarly named, but run by two different organisations. I would write an appeal to say that you didn't realise there was more than one car park, that you'd paid for a season ticket to park in the other, and that you won't make the same mistake again. They might let you off as it was clearly a mistake rather than you trying to avoid paying. They might not though. If you can afford to pay for a season ticket and commute into London from Thatcham, then you likely have a job worth the commute, in which case paying the £25 fine is a much better use of your time than trying to fight it further - after all you are technically at fault. In other words I'd fire off an email and hope they let you off. But only so I didn't feel like I'd rolled over. If they don't capitulate, at least you tried.
Aye, that what I was planning to do, honest mistake and all that and see what they say. I'm being pedantic about the wording and know it's not going to get anywhere but I come from an organisation that enforces the point about saying what you mean, not hinting at it.Since you hadn't paid to use the car park you parked in, I think that's fair enough. You can't complain that the fixed wording of their ticket doesn't exactly match the circumstances on the ground.
Having said that, it's really silly that there are two car parks for the same station, similarly named, but run by two different organisations. I would write an appeal to say that you didn't realise there was more than one car park, that you'd paid for a season ticket to park in the other, and that you won't make the same mistake again. They might let you off as it was clearly a mistake rather than you trying to avoid paying. They might not though. If you can afford to pay for a season ticket and commute into London from Thatcham, then you likely have a job worth the commute, in which case paying the £25 fine is a much better use of your time than trying to fight it further - after all you are technically at fault. In other words I'd fire off an email and hope they let you off. But only so I didn't feel like I'd rolled over. If they don't capitulate, at least you tried.
I'll wait for West Berks to reply and see what they say, if they say 'non' I'll try one more time and if it's still the same I'll just pay £25 and get on with my life. Parked in the right place this morning...
Edited by Osinjak on Friday 31st July 09:41
Osinjak said:
I'll wait for West Berks to reply and see what they say, if they say 'non' I'll try one more time and if it's still the same I'll just pay £25 and get on with my life. Parked in the right place this morning...
Sounds like a plan. I used to work in Green Park in Reading and considered buying a house in Thatcham four years ago. Even that felt like too much of a commute. Which is odd since I'd been commuting much further for years! Not sure I'd fancy a train to London every day. Will you have to do that daily or will WFH a few days a week be possible?LunarOne said:
Sounds like a plan. I used to work in Green Park in Reading and considered buying a house in Thatcham four years ago. Even that felt like too much of a commute. Which is odd since I'd been commuting much further for years! Not sure I'd fancy a train to London every day. Will you have to do that daily or will WFH a few days a week be possible?
Fast train is 45 mins or so which is doable and currently going in daily, don't like it but needs must and all that. Will WFH eventually, at least two days a week prob three. Funnily enough I've just had reply from West Berks thanking me for my informal challenge but pointing out that the two car parks are run by different orgs but also that both are located at Thatcham Station. Edited by Osinjak on Friday 31st July 11:57
LunarOne said:
When they say 'Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock.' they actually mean 'Parked without having paid to park or we couldn't find evidence that you had paid'.
Since you hadn't paid to use the car park you parked in, I think that's fair enough. You can't complain that the fixed wording of their ticket doesn't exactly match the circumstances on the ground.
Having said that, it's really silly that there are two car parks for the same station, similarly named, but run by two different organisations. I would write an appeal to say that you didn't realise there was more than one car park, that you'd paid for a season ticket to park in the other, and that you won't make the same mistake again. They might let you off as it was clearly a mistake rather than you trying to avoid paying. They might not though. If you can afford to pay for a season ticket and commute into London from Thatcham, then you likely have a job worth the commute, in which case paying the £25 fine is a much better use of your time than trying to fight it further - after all you are technically at fault. In other words I'd fire off an email and hope they let you off. But only so I didn't feel like I'd rolled over. If they don't capitulate, at least you tried.
I think this just about sums it up nicely.Since you hadn't paid to use the car park you parked in, I think that's fair enough. You can't complain that the fixed wording of their ticket doesn't exactly match the circumstances on the ground.
Having said that, it's really silly that there are two car parks for the same station, similarly named, but run by two different organisations. I would write an appeal to say that you didn't realise there was more than one car park, that you'd paid for a season ticket to park in the other, and that you won't make the same mistake again. They might let you off as it was clearly a mistake rather than you trying to avoid paying. They might not though. If you can afford to pay for a season ticket and commute into London from Thatcham, then you likely have a job worth the commute, in which case paying the £25 fine is a much better use of your time than trying to fight it further - after all you are technically at fault. In other words I'd fire off an email and hope they let you off. But only so I didn't feel like I'd rolled over. If they don't capitulate, at least you tried.
As annoying as it is, lesson learnt and at only £25, great value for money!!!
Inspire said:
I’d talk to someone in the station to start with. I bet it happens all the time and they’ll know what to do to sort it!
Thanks
Rob
You've obviously never been to Thatcham station! There is no one in the station!!Thanks
Rob
There's a ticket machine which causes as much grief as the car park machines, and that's it!!!
(Even if there was anyone in the station they wouldn't get involved with a parking company or the council)
NGee said:
I think this just about sums it up nicely.
As annoying as it is, lesson learnt and at only £25, great value for money!!!
Until very recently, a friend of mine living in Purley on Thames used to park at Tilehurst station to commute into the city. But often sometimes there were no free parking spaces, meaning she had to carry on to Reading station to get the fast train to Paddington, paying £21 for the privilege of parking for longer than four hours. In comparison paying a £25 fine for parking doesn't seem quite so bad!As annoying as it is, lesson learnt and at only £25, great value for money!!!
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