Numberplate typo on my parking ticket

[Hereward]

I parked in my railway station's car park. I paid but parked outside a designated bay since it was full.

I received a penalty notice for failure to park within a bay. Annoying but fair enough.

However, they have incorrectly typed my registration. Where there should be an 8 they have typed a B.

Just wondering if I can somehow be an annoying dick and have a little fun with this?

[GasEngineer]

Hereward said:

I parked in my railway station's car park. I paid but parked outside a designated bay since it was full.

I received a penalty notice for failure to park within a bay. Annoying but fair enough.

However, they have incorrectly typed my registration. Where there should be an 8 they have typed a B.

Just wondering if I can somehow be an annoying dick and have a little fun with this?

How did the penalty notice get to you if they have your registration incorrectly recorded?

[TownIdiot]

GasEngineer said:

How did the penalty notice get to you if they have your registration incorrectly recorded?

Outside guess - it was stuck on the windscreen of the car.

[snuffy]

TownIdiot said:

GasEngineer said:

How did the penalty notice get to you if they have your registration incorrectly recorded?

Outside guess - it was stuck on the windscreen of the car.

In which case, chuck it in the bin, because to follow up non payment they would need your address, which they can only get from your reg, which they have wrong.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Hereward said:

I parked in my railway station's car park. I paid but parked outside a designated bay since it was full.

I received a penalty notice for failure to park within a bay. Annoying but fair enough.

However, they have incorrectly typed my registration. Where there should be an 8 they have typed a B.

Just wondering if I can somehow be an annoying dick and have a little fun with this?

Cost benefit analysis, how much is the penalty vs what is your time worth?

[TikTak]

Just email them and say you had paid for parking but found a parking ticket on your screen with someone else's number plate details on it and see what they say.

I'm pretty sure other people this has happened to usually get it cancelled. Not that they'd be able to trace you anyway.

[2Btoo]

snuffy said:

TownIdiot said:

GasEngineer said:

How did the penalty notice get to you if they have your registration incorrectly recorded?

Outside guess - it was stuck on the windscreen of the car.

In which case, chuck it in the bin, because to follow up non payment they would need your address, which they can only get from your reg, which they have wrong.

This, but don't put it in the bin just yet.

In the (unlikely) scenario that they look at their records and work out the correct numberplate then you'll need the ticket to prove their error.

(An aside, but how can they mistake an 8 for a B? I guess if you have an NI format plate on your car then this is possible.)

[worsy]

As reg's follow a defined format, I would imagine it would take about 2 secs to find the correct reg.

[mgtony]

worsy said:

As reg's follow a defined format, I would imagine it would take about 2 secs to find the correct reg.

Or by looking at the photos of the car they have no doubt taken!

[Hereward]

The Notice was stuck to my window.

It was after dark and the Warden may not be a rocket scientist, hence the confusion between an 8 and a B. Normal UK plate, font, spacing etc.

I assume the Warden will have taken multiple pics of the car too, which will clarify the Warden's mistake if they dig a little deeper. Someone in their office should indeed be able to figure it out in 2 seconds.

I will be a dick and email them saying I don't recognise the number.

[Super Sonic]

Do you get a reduced charge for paying within a certain period?

[MattyD803]

Hereward said:

The Notice was stuck to my window.

It was after dark and the Warden may not be a rocket scientist, hence the confusion between an 8 and a B. Normal UK plate, font, spacing etc.

I assume the Warden will have taken multiple pics of the car too, which will clarify the Warden's mistake if they dig a little deeper. Someone in their office should indeed be able to figure it out in 2 seconds.

I will be a dick and email them saying I don't recognise the number.

Yes, they will have photos, so you'll be bang to rights if/when they decided to dig deeper and look at those. (Afterall, this must happen all the time...?)

Nonetheless, you should certainly question / probe it as you have suggested, otherwise you could technically be paying a parking fine against someone else reg number.

[Hereward]

MattyD803 said:

Hereward said:

The Notice was stuck to my window.

It was after dark and the Warden may not be a rocket scientist, hence the confusion between an 8 and a B. Normal UK plate, font, spacing etc.

I assume the Warden will have taken multiple pics of the car too, which will clarify the Warden's mistake if they dig a little deeper. Someone in their office should indeed be able to figure it out in 2 seconds.

I will be a dick and email them saying I don't recognise the number.

Yes, they will have photos, so you'll be bang to rights if/when they decided to dig deeper and look at those. (Afterall, this must happen all the time...?)

Nonetheless, you should certainly question / probe it as you have suggested, otherwise you could technically be paying a parking fine against someone else reg number.

Actually I will word it "The stated registration does not match with my numberplate. Kindly double-check". Then I can ask them to re-issue.

It's a free option and the challenge stops the clock on the progression.

[snuffy]

mgtony said:

worsy said:

As reg's follow a defined format, I would imagine it would take about 2 secs to find the correct reg.

Or by looking at the photos of the car they have no doubt taken!

True, but that will involve a manual operation. i.e. when their system tries to send a letter, it will fail because it can't find the reg. Someone then has to manually check why it failed, so say looking at a photo. That may, or may not, happen.

[2Btoo]

snuffy said:

mgtony said:

worsy said:

As reg's follow a defined format, I would imagine it would take about 2 secs to find the correct reg.

Or by looking at the photos of the car they have no doubt taken!

True, but that will involve a manual operation. i.e. when their system tries to send a letter, it will fail because it can't find the reg. Someone then has to manually check why it failed, so say looking at a photo. That may, or may not, happen.

Good point. These tickets are often issued on a wholesale basis, and ones that involve any manual input are too much hassle for them to do anything with.

I wonder if there is a point about the fact that the notification at the time was incorrect and this causes the process to fail. Pepipoo would know the answer ...

[speedchick]

Hereward said:

The Notice was stuck to my window.

It was after dark and the Warden may not be a rocket scientist, hence the confusion between an 8 and a B. Normal UK plate, font, spacing etc.

I can assure you, officers mistyping a vrm happens a lot less than motorists doing it! (Mistypes, parts missing, wrong vehicle, wrong car park etc etc)

[oyster]

Go for it OP.

Morally, if you had avoided paying for parking and tried to use such an error to wriggle out of paying then I'd see that as bad form. But you paid for the parking.

And it's their error. Why should you accommodate someone else's error when they certainly would never accommodate one in reverse.

[Pica-Pica]

2Btoo said:

Good point. These tickets are often issued on a wholesale basis, and ones that involve any manual input are too much hassle for them to do anything with.

I wonder if there is a point about the fact that the notification at the time was incorrect and this causes the process to fail. Pepipoo would know the answer ...

Pepipoo no longer exists. It changed to
https://www.ftla.uk/

[Hereward]

My efforts to fight back against the system are going to meekly fizzle out.

The appeals process requires logging in to their website where there are multiple, crystal-clear pics of my car and its numberplate. A cursory check by them will result in a "It's obviously a human error, give us our £60".

I will try and get my £9 parking fee deducted from the fine, though.

[Crudeoink]

I wonder if that same company would let you off if you'd inputted your reg 1 digit wrong into their system to pay for parking? This happened to my wife before, so to return balance to the universe i'd say dont pay