Where did you get that interpretation from? I didn't mention byelaws once in my appeal. You have been consistently negative about my approach, and you were wrong and you don't have the good grace to admit it. They backed down because they didn't want their hidden SMS charges [problem] aired in front of a judge.

Message from Indigo: Good Morning I am writing in relation to the above Penalty Notice. Indigo have withdrawn the case from POPLA. I can confirm that the notice has been cancelled and the case concerned has been closed on this occasion with no payment required. I trust the above is satisfactory and I’m sorry for any inconvenience caused If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us further.

I'm not moaning about my phone credit, I am legitimately concerned about hidden charges which I would not have found out about otherwise. The only time I have mentioned my credit is when I explained how I found out about the hidden charge in my first post. I am sharing the information so we all have a fuller picture of how these people operate, which MAY open up another course of attack. It may not, we will see.

Arguably there WAS no other means of paying. National Rail advertise the wrong amount on their website so I turned up with insufficient cash, leaving cashless payment as the only option. They will probably counter claim that there is a help number to call if there is a problem, but that doesn't help if you are on the platform at this point, after having paid. I am where I am, and will happily make my case in court if necessary, even if I loose.

My main point in posting here was to let people know about the hidden charge when replying to 68680 SMS, as I have not seen this discussed before. I am not paying Indigo anything. I will keep you informed with developments as they happen.

Thanks EB. I have submitted the POPLA appeal. I pointed out that I had paid, and the reason for not sending my vehicle reg was ultimately due to Indigo not disclosing the cost of replying to the SMS. I also pointed out Indigo had not replied to my appeal within the 35 days allowed by BPA, although I realise that is not a legal requirement. I may have slipped up here, we will see.

Thanks dx and eb. I totally get your point about byelaw 14 and maybe I should just have ignored the penalty notice, but I was curious to know why I could not reply to the 68680. A further point is that before travelling I checked on the National Rail website to find out the cost of parking. National Rail state the daily cost is £4.80, reduced to £4.20 off peak. As I was travelling after 10am I reasonably assumed this was off-peak and took the right change with me. At the car park the displayed rate is £4.90 daily and £4.30 off peak, with off-peak starting after 2.30pm! That definition of off-peak does not coincide with the railway companies use of off-peak. I'm not sure who is responsible for keeping this information up to date, but the mis-information forced me into having to use the cashless parking system. The more I look at this the smellier it gets.

Thanks BankFodder. I will keep you updated. It would be interesting to know if this is an O2 issue or whether all phone operators are affected.

Hi All. I'd like to share my experience to date with this: On 13 Dec 2016 I parked at Battle rail station and paid using my mobile phone. I successfully paid but my phone would not reply to the 68680 SMS I was sent and had to reply to with my vehicle reg. When I returned I found a Penalty Notice quoting Rail Byelaw 14 for £100. My appeal with Indigo through their web based appeal system was rejected and I am now in the process of appealing through POPLA. I have been investigating why my phone would not reply to the 68680 SMS. I only had 7p credit on my phone and the 68680 SMS short code is classified as a premium rate number by O2, and is therefore excluded from my pre-paid phone bundle. The cost was more than 7p (I believe it to be 10p) so it would not send. The car park placard with payment instructions states that there is a 20p charge for using the service, which is added to the parking fee and is paid when you call the 0345 number. No where does it mention an additional fee for replying to the SMS. O2 have 68680 as operated by Mirada and listed as a premium rate gaming number. I have also spoken to OFCOM and they say because the charge is no more than 10p it is not classified as a premium rate number, and is therefore unregulated. This looks like an operator exploiting a loophole to me. The number is listed as premium rate, so is excluded from pre-paid packages, and because the charge is 10p, OFCOM say it is unregulated, therefore there is no need to display charges. If I had had more than 10p credit the SMS would have gone and I would most likely never have noticed the additional charge. To rub salt in the wound Indigo make a big play on their web site that there are no hidden charges. I have informed trading standards through the consumer advice phone line.