Forum Topic

Parking fine

Today a tradesman working at my house got a PCN on his car even though I had used the RINGO ap and my visitor's permit (within the ap) to pay for parking for the entire day.The 'helpline' numbers the council advertises for parking don't have any actual live people to speak to, it just sends you around in endless circles. The email I sent to the advertised address has an auto response saying that they respond - on average - in 30 days. So helpful!Does anyone know if I can contest a parking ticket on someone else's behalf? Or should I just pay the PCN now at half price and then write to the parking office and try to get the money refunded? The tradesman is only working at my house today and tomorrow, which raises another question, how do I ensure he doesn't get another ticket tomorrow?! I'm so mad. Does anyone have any experience with this situation? I seem to remember that not too long ago there was a name/email address floating around this forum of someone in the parking office who was actually helpful, but I can't find the details now.

Claire Apthorp ● 3703d20 Comments

Good to see your appeal was a success,its worth the effort.

Harry Jay ● 3655d

"I fear that if the Ringo system goes ahead ..."I'm not sure what is being planned for Ealing, but personally I like the Ringo system which works well for me, mainly in Westminster and Merton.  I have the Ringo app on my phone, which makes it easier. The charges are logged on text messages sent to me, I get a reminder 10 minutes before the paid-for time expires, and I can extend it from wherever I am without going back to the car.  Perhaps I've been lucky ...

Richard Jennings ● 3657d

Richard,Your no reply result is common too in Ealing now. I fear that if the Ringo system goes ahead we'll be in contant struggle with correct entry, fraudulent attacks on our accounts, data sold on, and other confusion. I may be an old duffer but it looks as though if we don't fight the changes that are planned we're doomed doomed.

Arthur Breens ● 3657d

"I thought the numbering system was supposed to ignore differences such as between O and 0"The number plate font has identical characters for letter O and zero, and it is ridiculous that any system that processes car reg numbers should try to distinguish between them.  However, I raised this some time ago with TfL in connection with the Congestion Charge, and got nowhere, but that wasn't in connection with a PCN.  Anyone who gets a PCN because of confusion between O and 0 should fight it all the way.

Richard Jennings ● 3659d

I thought the numbering system was supposed to ignore differences such as between O and 0, while there should never be two plates in circulation where there could be any confusion.

Christopher Bell ● 3659d

My car reg contains a capital O and a Zero 0. On the DLV reg doc that replaced the Log Book they appear exactly the same.I am delighted to share that because of this LBE and his mate Ringo have decided to reregister my vehicle ,to buy me a mobile phone and are running a course to show me how to use them. And officers have paid me an undisclosed sum to stop me using my pen name "3Pins Breens".

Arthur Breens ● 3659d

I did actually successfully appeal the fine. Apparently I had put a O rather than a 0 in the system for the registration number. However the parking ticket clearly also has a O rather than a 0 on it, which is even more confusing because if the warden searched under that registration number the car should have shown up as parking paid for. The mind boggles.My latest bug bear is renewing my residents' permit. I sent off the email to ask to be sent the reminder to renew by email, but as you never receive a response - or even a receipt confirmation - how do you know they will actually send the reminder email. If they don't then send the reminder and you wind up with a ticket, how can you prove you signed up to receive the email alert? Why do they make everything so ridiculously complicated?? How dimwitted  and wilfully stupid can one organisation be?

Claire Apthorp ● 3661d

Yes a shambles. Last friday i had three different pin numbers for my single resident's parking permit. We're doomed.

Arthur Breens ● 3665d

Parking in Ealing is a total shambles. We had a parking zone imposed in Hollingbourne gardens when there was no need for it. Then the council gave national Grid permission to dig up the pavement preventing me from parking on the driveway. National Grid told me the parking zone was suspended and the council gave me a ticket! Totally out of order. The council have refused my appeal but I am taking it all the way to the courts if necessary. The standard Ealing approach seems to be to refuse EVERY appeal in the hope you will just pay up to avoid any hassle ... disgusting behavior for a public body.

Neville Holmes ● 3666d

I was wondering if the council or their contractor has replied to your request.The alternative method (which I use) is to apply for suspension of parking notice.Builders,removal companies,utility workers,filming,etc all know about it and it does not cost as much as you would think.

Harry Jay ● 3668d

Kevin Hagan is no longer at Serco.He's moved on

Andy Pease ● 3671d

The guy at Serco who apparently has proved to be really helpful in these circumstances is Kevin Hagan - kevin.hagan@serco.com.As for appealing I think you need to be very careful. If you have made a minor error when entering details on RINGO it was the case that the adjudicator would treat this as a de minimis matter and waive the charge. Now however they seem to be reluctant to do that so rule in favour of the Council even for the most trifling of technical breaches. If you entered the details accurately there will be proof and you should get a refund but I would be cautious about appealing even if you have made a minor mistake.It's a daft way to run the system because it will discourage people from using RINGO which is a good system. This smells like the parking department thinking in terms of short term revenue targets.

Andy Jones ● 3681d

Yes, they hope that people will not bother to contest and will just pay up...  So it is worth taking something further if you have paid etc... Don't feel rail-roaded into paying a fine if you were in the right! 

Philippa Bond ● 3684d

If you have received email confirmation that you have paid, and you still received a parking fine, it is time to take court action with a summons to accuse the responsible person (parking services? Ealing chief financial officer?) of fraud. Someone I know was sent a ridiculous electric bill and did just that. Two gentlemen in suits arrived at his door to sort it within a couple of hours because it froze the accounts of the entire company.

Christopher Bell ● 3684d

The same thing has happened to me on Tuesday 29th and again on the 31st don’t know what happened on the 30th as the car was in the same place. I use ringo everyday mainly because the council will not allow me a parking permit in the area that I live so I have no choice. It’s not a matter of putting in the wrong rego number as I only have the one registered it’s either the parking inspector cannot be bothered to check or is taking the chance that I will not contest so as to boost his bonus. Fortunately ringo send an emailed conformation but I still have to go through the process.

Tony Maxey ● 3685d

Thanks for the advice. I have challenged the ticket, but am still so ticked off to have had to waste my time on this. Do they just go around issuing tickets on the assumption that some people will forget to challenge and will just pay the fine? I swear, if someone were run for council in Ealing based solely on the platform of doing away with the utterly useless idiots that run the parking office they would get voted in!

Claire Apthorp ● 3695d

Sorry if my post wasn't useful Peter!

Colin Goodman ● 3701d

Colin says: They usually only settle for that 50% charge anyway even if found against youThat may once have been true but no longer - if you lose an appeal to PATAS, they will enforce the full amount.If you have proof that you paid the correct amount for the right time period and entered the number plate accurately, then an appeal will succeed.Posting on the Chiswick forum often generates more useful responses re parking fines.

Phil Kay ● 3703d

And this is what the franchises and local authority parking departments trade on -- a good percentage of people simple say "it's too much trouble, I'll just pay it".I contested a ticket earlier this year but a bit different as it was one of the "Private Land" one's and I was really surprised that these externally sourced private firms actually have no legal standing to issue tickets! I'm really happy to report that my case actually cost Parking Eye Ltd money even though they did try to use bully boy tactics on me. I was fairly confident the research and advice I gleamed from the web was solid enough so I went for it and resolved myself I was going to have to write a couple of time consuming letters and accept a couple of written threats would come my way.There was some other advice out there being "just ignore it" but its not in my nature to take that totally maverick approach.However, Local Authority issued tickets are a different kettle of monkeys. These cannot be ignored and need to be treated differently. I personally wouldn't hold out much hope but at the end of the day it's always worth appealing. They usually only settle for that 50% charge anyway even if found against you.Good luck with it all and I hope you get a result.What annoys me more than anything is the bullshizen they give us that the CPZ rules are for the good of the residents and, laughably, the environment!!! If they are simply worried about me having my parking spot then dont make my CPZ run from 11.00am to 6.00pm and 11.00am to 1.00pm ON SATURDAY!!! Even two 15 minute slots during the day would be enough to discourage commuter parking; all they are doing is causing me to swell the council coppers when someone pops in for half an hour or someone calls round to do some work. Jokers!

Colin Goodman ● 3703d

This happened to me when I had typed in the wrong vehicle registration details. I wrote to the Council by email (using their generic email) with the evidence that I had paid - log into the RingGo system or take a screen shot to prove that you paid.Make sure you actually paid for the right day and times as I have managed to pay for the next day too.

Sue Buchan ● 3703d