Dear lifers, having seen the good posts this week on another topic.
This morning we have just received a Ticket for a parking offence that happened on the 20th December, 2011 in Welling.
My partner parked up in a pay and display bay and when to get change for the parking machine, leaving our 9 year old girl in the car. After a few minuets getting change she returned to the car to find a traffic warden banging on the window trying to get our daughter to open the window, this was distressing her quite a lot.
My partner explained to the guy what had happened but because of the distress this guy caused she decided to take her home right away.
This morning we got a PNC notice in the post but they never issued a ticket and the behaviour of the traffic warden is at best disgusting at worst criminal?
What can I do, about the whole situation.
Comments
If it was issued by camera then you won`t have much joy I expect. Good luck with it anyway and make sure you put in a complaint against the warden.
Has this man been checked against the Sex Offenders Register ? His actions were disgraceful, and now you have had the cheek to send me a parking fine. Before I approach the Police and the Local Paper, could I please have an immediate response from you.
I always go for the jugular, but it usually works.
Thank you.
Ask them to produce the images as proof the ticket was issued.
Is it an offence to park your car and then go to the ticket machine? How long are you allowed to get a ticket?
And no she returned to the car because of the traffic warden before buying a ticket. As our daughter was so upset she decided to take her home, right away.
Going for change not an allowed appeal as Leroy says but councils can instruct wardens to give a period of grace, ours are supposed to give 5 minutes. They can log a time when they see your vehicle and the time they issued a ticket to counter claims if you appeal on those grounds. As he never issued a ticket he can make up whatever times he chooses, so be prepared to dispute how long you were away getting change, it's his word against yours.
It's down to shaming the council to drop the penalty and you have to try and get to the Council chief, as a formal appeal is likely to get dismissed at the outset by the traffic department. I've always found councils don't like the local MP getting involved, because it has to be taken seriously at a senior level by the Council. So a line to the MP as well as the press doesn't hurt.
Although you can express anger there is nothing to be gained by being abusive and rude, being factual and reasoned carries more weight.
Do as Grandpa suggests but why not ask the specific question "what did he intend to do if the daughter had unlocked the door?" because I can't think of a legitimate answer to that. The Council is likely to take notice of a complaint on behalf of child safety. They should be asking that question of their warden. Hopefully that warden will get the tin tack.
You can write - but if you did not buy a ticket even when you returned and drove out they will look at it as though you left your daughter in the car while you nipped off to get a few bits.....did you come back with a bag?
Also if you reported it now that he banged on the window --they will think the only reason your bringing up is to avaoid paying -- you should have reported the incident at the time
I would pay it and put it to bed
I ended up with one that went out of hand last time and cost me £444.
I want the guy called up for the way he behaved.
If that happens I would expect the ticket to be refunded at some point ~(but less important)
I got a ticket myself yesterday in Dartford. Parked in a 30 minute bay at 10.49 (checked my phone) and got a ticket just 23 minutes later at 11.12! Scumbags. Obviously I've appealled.
Obviously, you'll feel sick having to be polite about it, but this approach has worked in the past.
just paid a parking ticket for nonsencial fine in tower hamlets (parking a motorbike on the pavement...next to a load of bike racks but whatever)
paid it through the internet; said my card had been declined. Thought it was weird as i enough money in my account, so tried it again. Checked my bank, and then rang them; they said that £65 had been taken out of my account just now, twice. So now i'm in a position where i haven't got a receipt from tower hamlets as they thought the transaction was declined, and now need to chase them to get £65 back, which I know is going to be a massive hassle. this is not what i need. Plus - it's right near the end of the limit before it goes up in price, so wouldn't be surprised if I get a court summons for non payment.
Pretty big flaw in their website and the woman on the phone was no help at all...
When a card transaction begins, one of the early steps is to check that the funds are available and freeze them - subject to all the security PIN and stuff being OK.
You may find the 2 transactions just disappear from your account in a few days.
Get that over to TH and get a refund from them and notice that the account is settled.
Best bit after that you can then use the distance selling act to get the payment returned to your account via the bank (due to no payment receipt being provided) and you have a settled ticket from TH and the money back.
All legally correct (as they have put you in this situation) however morally you might feel about it.
Can I just say morally I think that parking in a dangerous way or causing an obstruction to other road users is wrong. But being done for every little thing that you can be by a TW is even more so.
I am still fighting our ticket.
Back in the day it was an offence for wardens to remove it as it was seen as tampering with your bike....or so I was led to believe
I got a parking ticket the other day at one of those new bays where you have to register the car and then text to pay, I accidently sent the text to a number with 1 too many digits and got a ticket, sent them a screen shot of the text and an explanation and it was wiped straight away.
Edit: whilst Granpa's email is great and the way we'd all want to go, Uboat's suggestion is far more likely to get a sympathetic response, go this route first
Every single day without fail I will have problems trying to carry out my job due to the "parking laws" in London.
There are thousands or residential streets that have plenty of empty parking spaces but without residents permit it is illegal to park anywhere and no pay and display system. This is devised for one reason only and that is to catch people out!
Parking in London is a racket that employs a hell of a lot of people and there they must take huge amounts of money through fines etc to be able to sustain it!
Pond life scum, hope it was true what I wished on her.
Expensive cake.
Best thing to do is email the Council today (put the ticket ref in the subject line) and say you attempted payment today using your card, and it appears that the payment has been authorised twice but you have not received any receipt, and are concerned that it's not gone through correctly causing you to incur additional charges.
Ask them to put the case on hold until this query has been resolved, and request that they contact their merchant services provider to confirm
1) what the authorisation codes of any payment attempts made on the card around the time you tried to pay were
2) whether their system will actually be able to claim the money from your account and pass it to the council - if not, the council's system wil still show you as not having paid.
You will need to give them the last 4 digits of your card number, the expiry date and the approximate time (say a 1hr slot) you attempted to pay.
If the payment has authorised but there's been a glitch on the system that means they can't claim the money, the "hold" that the authorisation puts on the funds in your account should eventually expire, but it can take ages, depending on who your card issuer is. If they confirm in writing that they can't claim the money, then you can pass that info on to the bank and request they remove the hold from the funds so you can make the payment again.
Sadly this is not an uncommon problem, so they _should_ be able to get an answer for you but it might take a couple of days depending on how complicated their supplier relationships are. Whatever you do, DON'T follow Strasburger's advice about the distance selling act, as what'll probably happen is the card company will claim the money back off the council, the council will trace the original payment, and start pursuing you for payment again in a few months.
many thanks; i'll send an email.
I have never used it in this type of situation and can see if they audit to that level it could well come back and bite you later down the line.
If so, your bank are telling you fibs. Trouble is none of their staff (deliberate policy maybe) are trained to be aware of the Visa chargeback scheme. If you have not received goods or services (a parking fine counts as a service) that you have paid for they are obliged by their codes to refund you. Ask to speak to someone competent.
This is what the BBC has to say, but there's plenty of other stuff about it online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/7347146.stm
whatastate.org.uk/car-parking-penalties has good advice and letter templates