Parking Charge (Bit Unusual)

[MattHall91]

So I parked at Queenswood Park in Herefordshire in December. The park is owned by the council but the car park is managed by a 3rd party.

Long story short, I paid for an hour and stayed 45 mins (the times on the photos of me arriving and leaving on CCTV prove this).

Now obviously I haven’t kept the ticket, but I can guarantee I had it displayed correctly and my number plate was correct).

I’ve received a parking charge for £100 for this for ‘not displaying a valid ticket’.

Interestingly, if you read reviews of the park on TripAdvisor you’ll see I’m far from alone.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g5...

I will contact both the park and the car park company, but interested to hear advice on how to approach this? I am 100% sure I adhered to all car park terms, but don’t have my ticket anymore.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Ask for photographic evidence of your dashboard that you had failed to display correctly?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

My Mrs' ticket flipped upside down when she shut the car door. When she came back the warden had just issued the ticket. Even when she retrieved the ticket & showed it to the warden it was "nothing I can do". Council refused to waive the fine too.

Oh how I laughed

Not really, I showed much understanding.

[Oceanrower]

Where is the "bit unusual" part?

[MattHall91]

Oceanrower said:

Where is the "bit unusual" part?

I’m not going to sit here and try and pass off that a UFO came and landed on the car park, furiously blowing my ticket away just as I’d paid, but it’s not the norm that a park has that many negative reviews purely because of its questionable parking terms and enforcing.

[MattHall91]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Ask for photographic evidence of your dashboard that you had failed to display correctly?

This doesn’t feel unreasonable.

[konark]

Was the ticket ( the fine) on your windscreen when you returned as is usual in pay and display?

[MattHall91]

konark said:

Was the ticket ( the fine) on your windscreen when you returned as is usual in pay and display?

No, ANPR so received it in the post afterwards.

[Sheepshanks]

MattHall91 said:

konark said:

Was the ticket ( the fine) on your windscreen when you returned as is usual in pay and display?

No, ANPR so received it in the post afterwards.

So, how would ANPR know you hadn't displayed a vaid ticket?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

MattHall91 said:

konark said:

Was the ticket ( the fine) on your windscreen when you returned as is usual in pay and display?

No, ANPR so received it in the post afterwards.

That’s odd. So they are saying that you didn’t pay rather than didn’t display.

[TonyF1]

MattHall91 said:

Now obviously I haven’t kept the ticket, but I can guarantee I had it displayed correctly and my number plate was correct).

As you don’t have the ticket you can’t guarantee you keyed your number plate in correctly and this is likely why you’ve got a ticket.

You could ask them to review if a similar number plate was keyed but didn’t register on ANPR. Will they look, probably not.

[the tribester]

Looking at the first couple of pages of reviews on Tripadvisor, complaining about the parking, none are from people claiming they have recieved a fine whilst displaying a valid ticket.
A couple who thought it was free to park, a couple who overstayed their time, and one who keyed in the incorrect reg.
Could you be similar?

[Countdown]

In my limited experience they always provide evidence of whatever they are accusing you of. So....

if it's "Not displaying a valid parking ticket" - they include pictures of your dashboard.

If it's overstaying your time its time-stamped pictures of you entering and leaving the car park

Has the PCN been issued by the Council or the parking Company?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

OP, did you pay by cash or card?

[the tribester]

Countdown said:

In my limited experience they always provide evidence of whatever they are accusing you of. So....

if it's "Not displaying a valid parking ticket" - they include pictures of your dashboard.

If it's overstaying your time its time-stamped pictures of you entering and leaving the car park

Has the PCN been issued by the Council or the parking Company?

or one digit wrong when entering your reg number, so it won't match with their ANPR records, and hence No Ticket Displayed.
Should have kept the ticket, where's MilkRound when you need him!

[Sheepshanks]

the tribester said:

or one digit wrong when entering your reg number, so it won't match with their ANPR records, and hence No Ticket Displayed.

Sounds likely to be that, but it can't be as he's guaranteed he had the number correct.

[Uncle Meat]

I've had a parking charge in that car park. It's ANPR in and out so there will be no-one to take a picture of your car with the parking ticket.

In fact I'm fairly sure you don't get a paper ticket from the machine (which was why I didn't buy one as it was Boxing Day 2019 and no-one else had a paper ticket so I assumed you didn't need one lol).

Odds on you fat-fingered your reg.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Come back OP!

[silverfoxcc]

Countdown

It has been successfully won at POPLA that ANPR cameras DO NOT show time of parking only when the car entered and left

They may have driven around for 5 mins to find a place and likewise been waiting in a queue for 10mins to exit

Petty but thats how it works.

[the tribester]

So should he write back and say he was driving around for 55 minutes? They appear to have no record of a ticket being bought for that registration, so I don't think he could try that.

I've never visited the POLPA site, but that's an interesting get out. I like it.