Heh, oh no, it wasn't a consumer board like this, just an old gaming message board I've been a member of for years. Someone helped me rearrange my letter, and the rest were just taking the mickey.

Thanks. Yeah, I'll bet they're making a fortune. It's amazing how many people (on another board) told me to just go ahead and pay the fine as if I was being a cheapskate, instead of contesting it. It's that sort of attitude that keeps the money rolling in for these opportunists. They know that many members of the public can't be bothered and would rather just pay the fine. I was fortunate because it's very hard too really see if my wheels were inside the junction, so even if they were, obviously TFL couldn't confirm it either.

Thanks. I rang my mobile mechanic and he's happy to help me out and give me a written receipt. You're right about oil, water and fuel, that would go against me. As it happens, there actually has been an intermittent starting motor problem since he put in a new one which he was always aware of, so he's going to put down that the problem was electrical and he had to replace it. I said to him I'd meet him wherever he's working and of course I'd pay him something. Now I'm thinking, how much do I slip him, lol? I'm trying to save £50 here. A fiver? Maybe a tenner? Here is my re-edited letter, anything need reducing still? "I would appreciate if you could drop this penalty charge notice for reasons given below. Please find enclosed a copy of a photograph I have printed out from google street view. I live at xxxxxxxxx, a ground floor flat I bought in 1987, and which is approximately 3 cars length from where my car was parked when a PCN was issued. I have marked comments on the photograph between my house and where I parked. I have also enclosed a confirmation note of the fault and repair from my mechanic. I do acknowledge that double yellow lines mean no parking at any time. There was however nothing I could do to avoid it since my car engine stalled and would not restart on my approach along xxxxxxxxx just as I reached my house. All I could do was allow the car to roll back and steer it into the nearest available space to avoid obstructing the road. I locked the car, walked to my house, rang my mechanic to come asap to move it and fix it, and to retrieve pencil and paper to write a note. When I returned a few minutes later I had received a PCN. I would sincerely appreciate, given the circumstances, if you could kindly see your way to making an exception and dropping this penalty notice charge. Thank you. Regards, "

Thanks guys, I'll erase the subjective stuff and get onto my mechanic. Do you mean get something in writing right now from him and send a copy to them with my letter, or just have him prepared in case? Is this edited version of my letter ok? " I would appreciate if you could drop this penalty charge for reasons given below. Please find enclosed a copy of a photograph I have printed out from google street view. I live at xxxxxxxxxx, a ground floor flat I bought in 1987, and which is approximately 3 cars length from where my car was parked when a ticket was issued. I have marked comments on the photograph between my house and where I parked. I do of course appreciate that road markings such as double yellow lines are not for parking in at any time. However, there was nothing I could do to avoid it since my car engine stalled and would not restart on my approach along xxxxxxxx just as I reached my house. All I could do was allow the car to roll back and steer it into the closest and only available space which happened to be on the double yellow lines. I locked the car, walked to my house, rang my mechanic to come asap to move it and fix it, and to get a pencil and paper to put a note inside the car that I had broken down. In the few minutes this took, I came out to a ticket. I am not in any way disputing the legal right you have to issue me a ticket. But with all due respect, this was most certainly not an attempt to park intentionally but because the car had become immobile. I felt it was better to try and get the car against the kerb than stay double parked because it had stalled. I would sincerely appreciate, given the circumstances of me being a long time resident, of my car breaking down, and as a first time offender of contravening these new restricted lines, if you could kindly see your way to making an exception and dropping this penalty notice charge. Thank you. Regards, "

Actually, I'll go ahead and post my draft letter. What do you think, anything I should change or drop? I live in a road which has NEVER had traffic wardens come down, it's quite far down from the main high street for them to have ever bothered. All of a sudden, they've painted these bloody double yellows everywhere making it even harder for residents to park. In truth, I NEVER expected these new lines to be enforced, and when I couldn't find anywhere to park outside my house late the other night I thought sod it, I'll park there, who's gonna find out. How wrong I was. There's probably vans driving around doing inspections. So I'm gonna try it on with them. I think its only fair that barnet council let residents off for a first time offence, especially when it's right outside their house.

I recently got a ticket through the post for allegedly stopping in a box junction. It occurred to me, in a moment of brilliance, to check out google street view and take a look at the box junction. I contested it within the reduced rate period and won. Up yours TFL. Thank you google Here's my letter and 2 photos I posted them. It only cost me £1 to send recorded delivery. Better than paying £60. I almost decided to sue them for wrongly accusing me and getting my £1 back, but couldn't be arsed. My letter: LINKS REMOVED[/url]

I have a polite letter already prepared to contest this ticket due to my circumstances, and I will possibly photocopy it and upload it later for your opinions. But firstly, I was just wondering, would this PCN be something I can challenge due to the fact that some of the first letters and words are difficult to read in the small print paragraphs? Also, right down at the bottom on the tear off slip, there's some terrible double print going on making it pretty unreadable. Screenshot of ticket:

Thank you. If the first reply to the thread was civil and polite like yours, instead of sarcastic and arrogant, things would have turned out better.

Yes, your comment about reasonable ron giving me reasonable advice, and your comment about GE doing nothing wrong in your eyes is what prompted those angry replies to you. We have NO clue if fraud took place. My assumption all along has been that fraud took place but neither GE or Debenhams has explained anything to us or ever provided proof to us regarding this bogus transaction. All they ever did was send letters asking for payment for something my mother never ordered. My mother wrote to debenhams head office complaining in the strongest terms. 2 weeks later when they finally replied, they offered to credit my mums store account yet the idiots STILL expected a balance of money remaining to be paid to them. Again, for no reason, she owed them nothing. She also got one particular letter from GE money which had a different account number! When I spoke to the GE female last week and mentioned that, she just said "oh yes it's the same account". All GE has done is sent a crappy standard letter apologising, with 'Dear customer', like it's really hard to find her name after all the aggravation they gave her:rolleyes: , and no signature at the bottom, just a printed name of the person in charge of money collections. No offer of any compensation as goodwill. I've read a few things about GE, none of which are good. Debenhams need to sever links with them. If they don't offer any compensation after we write to them, I will very likely write to something like BBC watchdog. The money isn't the issue here so much as the principal. Because I'm sure there's plenty of other people going through the same thing with this company and they can't be allowed to get away with this.

Oh, like these you mean? His opening lines, sarcastic, uncalled for and not helpful: Another long winded waste of words. Just say leave out 'manslaughter': Nothing here to suggest I should try and get compensation for the harrassment and shocking behaviour of this company, just, 'a few quid': As has been said, none of his business and totally irrelevant: Apparently this guy thinks making an effort to get some justice when my mother was wronged is going the wrong way round this: How this reasonable ron thinks he's qualified to be here and give advice is quite beyond me.

Well I'm sorry it WAS a pathetic response. Please warn your members that sarcasm and negativity towards what was a perfectly decent opening post helps no one.

Thank you Gilbert O'Sullivan for your replies in my defence, you are absolutely spot on. {EDIT}RUDENESS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED I said in my opening post, which was well worded and polite, that she ordered a store card a FEW WEEKS AGO, and had THREAT LETTERS AND ROBOT CALLS up and till LAST WEDNESDAY. So this was NOT resolved quickly, and wouldn't have been resolved had I not wasted more time and money pushing GE sheisters to void this fraud or whatever happened. Your flippant and sarcastic remarks, casuality over this matter, accusations of ME being rude, giving credit to GE money for supposedly doing nothing wrong and for supposedly being efficient, and making out you gave sound advice which in fact you never did, is completely ridiculous. As for reasonable ron, he's obviously nowhere near 81 so what clue does he have of what my mother has gone through.

I was looking for advice on getting compensation. Your reply was completely negative and sarcastic. Not helpful. Don't kid yourself that you did me any favours. I do not owe ron an apology. I was rude because he was rude. The credit company is not brilliant. Wherr do you people get this stuff from?

LOL!! I hope you're not a lawyer. God help us. Or maybe you work for GE Money.

I asked for advice and got a sarcastic, eyerolling reply. If you think that's helpful you need your head testing. I'm already getting good replies on other forums, so don't waste your time on my thread anymore, this place is ****ing rubbish.

What an absolutely pathetic response.

My mother who is 81 and who has never done a dishonest thing in her life, has recently been put under a lot of worry and stress from a stupid company called GE money for something she never did and now she's received an apology letter from them. My question is about getting compensation from them. My mother took out a store card with Debenhams a few weeks ago. She never received the card. She later received a letter from GE Money asking for payment of about £12 for allegedly mail ordering clothes to be sent to some address in romford of which she has no clue about. She ended up receiving threatening letters with threats of collection agencies, and she received daily robot calls asking for the money. The debt was increasing all this time with interest being added. Trying to phone them and speak to a person is difficult enough, not to mention they're 0871 numbers at 10p a minute! Last wednesday I rang them and finally got to speak to a woman. I insisted they were at fault and that they need to stop these robot calls and threat letters immediately. She said she would cancel the letters and robot calls. Finally the robot calls stopped and today my mother received an apology letter. However, the letter is weak, unsigned and doesn't in our opinion appease the situation to any satisfaction. There has never been any explanation from them as to why they made such a massive cock up. It's cost my mother a few quid in phonecalls @ 10p per minute plus unnecessary aggravation and harassment. GE Money are not taking enough responsibility for their actions and imo, this amounts to the business equivalent of manslaughter, because they could very easily have put my mother in hospital due to the stress they caused her for something she never did. GE money should be compensating her for this and I intend to write to them with a copy of their apology letter asking for this. I also think Debenhams head office should receive a copy of the letters. I only have a PO box address in Leeds for GE Money customer service, but would prefer an email address. Could you please advise me based on what I've said here and does anyone know of an email address for GE Money? I think something in the region of £100 compensation is not unreasonable to ask for. What do you think? Thanks.

Thanks for the reply tom. Well he was knocking furiously for some time before my upstairs neighbour spoke to him but didn't let him in. I'm assuming he clamped the wheel after he couldn't get hold of me. But I can find out. But there's little way to prove what he did. The wheel clamp and warning notice was on the driver side so I couldn't see a wheel clamp from my window since the passenger side of the car was facing my house. Regarding the removal lorry, I'm sure the lorry company could provide proof and perhaps the log on the bailiffs phone. Thing is, if he can't get hold of me, how long is he meant to wait before calling a pickup assuming he's now clamped the wheel? What is the point of clamping the wheel if I'm not there as well as calling a pickup? Is it insurance in case I suddenly turn up, jump in and drive off? I presume he's allowed to do all this by law, right? Yeah, you're right, looks like he's actually undercharged.

Well that is a cost I was originally hoping to claim back but I doubt I can. The bailiff told me that he'd ordered the pickup lorry straight after he'd knocked on my door and I wasn't answering it. So apparently he'd put the clamp on, couldn't get hold of me, went back to his car, rang the pickup, and waited in his car. So even though I'd payed for the clamp to come off, the stupid moron still charged me for the lorry because it was already on it's way and arrived after I'd gone. I serisouly dont understand why there isn't more regulation on these rip off merchants costs. I know there's the argument that if you don't like it, don't get into the mess in the first place. Yeah, but it looks like they can charge what they like BEYOND the so called reasonable costs. I'm surprised he didn't add on £100 for wear and tear on his knuckles for having to knock on the door and another £50 for the use of ink in his pen when writing me a receipt. Oh and he said the £120 for the removal lorry was a reduced amount from what would or should have been £135. Wow!

Thanks but I'm not sure of your point. I don't believe anything is out of time? Bailiffs appear to have been instructed by the county court in july which is when I first got a letter from them.

£607 to take a clamp off this morning, all because I stopped in earls court road last year for a few minutes on a red line, and TFL sent me a letter /fine with photographic evidence. What a criminal I am! Breakdown of costs: (EDIT) What's the difference between a visit fee and attendance to remove goods fee? Seems like these retarded monkeys are charging another amount for the same thing but apparently it's the law. God knows why. Another £120 removal cost because a removal lorry apparently turned up this morning 5 minutes after the clamp was removed and I'd left. The bailiff had turned up at 7.30am and I saw him about 8.45am as I left my house and he was sitting in his car, with clamp on the wheel. You'd expect about £300 to £400 for something pathetically petty like this, but over £600? These bailiffs take the f****** p*** with all these extras. What makes me laugh is how the county court warrant says "The bailiff is also entitled to include his reasonable costs for executing this warrant." Reasonable costs, LOL!!

I rang citizens advice bureau. My impression was that if the money isn't collected within 180 days then the warrant expires. This is not the case. As long as the bailiffs act on the warrant within the 180 days, ie, send a letter or just turn up at the door, then the warrant remains unless the court cancels it. With the fact that they can renew warrants, I would say it's game over and I'll have to pay the final amount.

tom, I've made tons of phone calls today to these courts, and NONE of the people of the various court enforcement teams know ANYTHING about this 180 days expiry clause. Not to mention how rude most of them are. When I rang up one court about the fine I've agreed to pay in june, the woman I spoke to (admin officer in the enforcement section) was a bit clueless. First she said I could pay her instead of the bailiffs, and then she said she'd been told by her colleague that was wrong, I still have to pay the bailiff. Then when I enquired about the warrant, she said it was first issued 22/8/06, then cancelled 9 months later in may 2007. Another one was issued 15/6/07 and then cancelled 2 months later 17/8/07. Another one was then issued on 17/8/07 and apparently hasn't been cancelled yet. She didn't know why they were cancelled and why there is so much inconsistency between issue and cancellation times. I said I NEED to know why they were cancelled so she is going to try and find out from her manager and call me back. It seems all the bailiff has to do is request an extension or a new warrant and the courts just give it to them. Why would they cancel these warrants, and why one cancelled after 9 months and one after only 2 months? Doesn't make any sense. An enforcement team woman at another court I rang is getting back to me in the next 2 or 3 days after she finds out more about the legal implications of the warrant. She said this is the first time she's ever heard of the 180 days thing. The warrant was first issued 23rd october 06. And at the 3rd court, the warrant was first issued 25th january 07. The people there were useless and just said to find out if there were any extensions to the warrant or what the contract agreement is between the court and the bailiffs, I have to write in to the enforcement office. The whole thing is becoming a farce, and the courts are not much help. How come NONE of these court people have heard of this 180 day expiry? Basically, it doesn't look like I've got a leg to stand on, does it. It would seem that between the court and bailiffs, they can keep warrants going indefinitely, so the chances of me getting a refund are virtually nil.

Thanks for the info tom. What would be the best course of action to go about claiming a refund on what I paid today? Which was £491. I'm sure the bailiffs will do everything they can to not pay me back. Damn, I'm such an idiot paying that money before checking about the warrant expiry. Yep, if it's ok with you I'll remind you about the 180 day clause. I don't recall getting a summons and no didn't attend court, so I guess I didn't get one. I imagine I would have been arrested if I hadn't attended a court summons? My address and postcode is correct on the final notices put through my letterbox. Interesting though that marston told me today that they had a slightly incorrect postcode. Where do I get a statutory declaration form? Yep, I will definitely let you know details after I've called both remaining courts tomorrow. Thanks for your help!

Is there anyone here than can throw some light on this? I feel like I'm talking to myself, lol.