Genuine mistake turns £4 ticket into demand for £50, what to do?

[rhubarb101]

Hi,

 

I recently parked at a tube station car park near London. I paid for my ticket using my debit card. I placed my card into the payment machine and followed the instructions on the screen to get my ticket. The machine then printed me a ticket. I placed this ticket clearly into my car window and went on my way. When I got back to my car I had a big yellow and black striped notice on my window. It was a parking contravention charge notice for £50.

 

I since discovered that the payment that I made using my debit card did not complete and the ticket that the machine printed for me wasn't valid but instead had the words cancelled on it instead of what ever normally gets printed on the tickets. Very small print I might add!

 

So I thought nothing of it as it was clearly a simple miss understanding that I'd get cleared up pretty easily. I sent the company a letter, National Car Parks Ltd, which explained the technical fault that happened and my offering of the initial parking ticket fee. They wrote back stating that they wouldn't accept the £4 parking fee and would require me to pay £50.

 

I've since wrote back explaining that I'm not going to give them £50 as they have treated the matter with no fairness to the situation. They sent me a reply again saying that they will require the £50 and that they will get debt collection involved if I don't pay within 14 days of the response.

 

At the moment I just feel like I'm being taken for a ride here and I don't want to give them my money for a simple mistake over a £4 parking ticket. I'm really after some advise on where I stand? Do these matters get to court? Could this £50 charge turn into something much bigger?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Edited July 9, 2010 by rhubarb101
spelling error

[Consumer dude]

Hi,

 

I recently parked at a tube station car park near London. I paid for my ticket using my debit card. I placed my card into the payment machine and followed the instructions on the screen to get my ticket. The machine then printed me a ticket. I placed this ticket clearly into my car window and went on my way. When I got back to my car I had a big yellow and black striped notice on my window. It was a parking contravention charge notice for £50.

 

I since discovered that the payment that I made using my debit card did not complete and the ticket that the machine printed for me wasn't valid but instead had the words cancelled on it instead of what ever normally gets printed on the tickets. Very small print I might add!

 

So I thought nothing of it as it was clearly a simple miss understanding that I'd get cleared up pretty easily. I sent the company a letter, National Car Parks Ltd, which explained the technical fault that happened and my offering of the initial parking ticket fee. The wrote back stating that they wouldn't accept the £4 parking fee and would require me to pay £50.

 

I've since wrote back explaining that I'm not going to give them £50 as they have treated that matter with no fairness to the situation. They sent me a reply again saying that they will require the £50 and that they will get debt collection involved if I don't pay within 14 days of the response.

 

At the moment I just feel like I'm buying taken for a ride here and I don't want to give them my money for a simple mistake over a £4 parking ticket. I'm really after some advise on where I stand? Do these matters get to court? Could this £50 charge turn into something much bigger?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fight it..

[kiptower]

NCP [problem], read the many posts of how they run the [problem]

 

you owe them NOTHING

[Consumer dude]

Let them play with the traffic..

[afcwben]

are they entitled to £4?

[my-spirit-soars-free]

If they take it to court, they can sue you for £4.

 

You have offered to pay that already.

 

They will shout, scream, etc, but ultimately, you have offered them the £4 that they are owed.

 

 

If you are feeling generous, send them a cheque for £4 "in full and final settlement". If not, keep the letter where you offer it, and they refuse, and sit tight.

[rhubarb101]

I like the idea of sending them a £4 cheque. If they make the effort to send me my check back then it's insane.

[Consumer dude]

I like the idea of sending them a £4 cheque. If they make the effort to send me my check back then it's insane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What they may do is deduct the four pounds of what they think you owe them. If it was me, I would ignore them.

[afcwben]

doesn't matter if they deduct the £4 as Rhubarb101 will have mitigated their damages and that would be the end of it

[pelham9]

Are you sure that the ticket was from NCP and not from the local council?

 

Some car parls show an NCP sign but they are run by the councill whose operatives actully actually issue the tickets. These tickets are enforceable.

[rhubarb101]

Hello again, NCP have now sent the matter to a legal agency who have now sent me a nice red coloured letter demanding the money or county court action.

 

What should I do?

[DBC]

What do you mean by a "legal agency". Are they pretend solicitors or a debt-collecting firm? Either way, just ignore

[rhubarb101]

This company industrialcredit.co.uk

 

The letter says:

 

Failure to pay in full will result in immediate issue of legal proceedings without further reference.

 

Please not the issue of legal proceeding may:

1) Lead to a judgement being awarded against you which will effect your credit status

2) Lead to a warrant of enforcement by the county court bailiff

 

I'm assuming they are saying it'll go to a county court if I don't pay?

[DBC]

The usual hollow threats. Nothing ever comes of these letters. Just keep ignoring.

[rhubarb101]

A lot of people told me that about the NCP letters but now I have this latest threat. I'm losing faith in the advice to be honest.

[Al27]

What do honestly honestly expect to happen?

 

Bearing in mind NCP have never ever taken anyone to small claims court ever.

[DBC]

Why are you losing faith in the advice? By believing these threats you are falling for their nasty tricks. Please beleive me, just ignore. You have nothing to worry about.

[rhubarb101]

I just can't help thinking that if NCP have got another business involved then they must feel they have something in their claim. On the other hand I can't see how a court would be interested.

[DBC]

it's not "another business" as such. It's probably another department of NCP. Many parking companies use debt collectors and tame solicitors in this [problem]. It doesn't mean that it will ever get to court.

 

Just look at this NCP letter chain. As usual it all came to nothing. Don't fall into the trap that anything is going to happen to you.

[lamma]

Looks like the PPCs are bailing out of the 'G.White/Roxburghe' set up.

 

news of it being 'looked at' is obviously out there on planet PPC.

 

Will them changing to new companies/names make a difference. No it won't

[DBC]

This is the new company:- Industrial Credit Consultants. Note the words "private parking fines" on that page. Naughty, naughty!

 

Another gem from a different page:-

 

This process takes the form of a pre-action Final Notice Letter to the point of payment within a defined period of time and then a decision to prosecute and Issue Proceedings on the remainder or, abort and close the action based on legal or commercial grounds.

 

Since when have a debt collection agency been allowed to "prosecute" anyone?

[seen the light]

Have faith in all previous postings; I have been ignoring similar from excel parking and they went away months ago. Similarly with NCP, I am now at the stage where I have recieved this week from ICC Legal Services Ltd NOTICE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS. This is a different organisation as showin the the NCP chain of letters as mentioned in a post earlier today, however this was for a pccn not a pcn in a private NCP car park. Whilst I can find no mention of ICC in any other threads on here I am not worried, I imagine as forum members no longer even respond to Graham White solicitors & Roxburgh debt collections, they are using another lmethod of extracting monies as part of this very proffesional ongoing [problem]. have faith !!

[rhubarb101]

To be honest I'd not read through the ICC web site fully. As mentioned earlier, they refer to private parking "fines" but also say they are a member of the british parking association. They are not only going against the BPA guidelines but I think are also going against the consumer rights act in offering me false information that may alter my judgement.

 

Think I'll carry on ignoring.

[Al27]

Name & Registered Office:

I.C.C. LEGAL SERVICES (UK) LIMITED

HALES COURT

STOURBRIDGE ROAD

HALESOWEN

WEST MIDLANDS

B63 3TT

Company No. 05270447

 

 

 

 

Status: Active

Date of Incorporation: 26/10/2004

 

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Nature of Business (SIC(03)):

9305 - Other service activities

Accounting Reference Date: 31/10

Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/10/2009 (TOTAL EXEMPTION SMALL)

Next Accounts Due: 31/07/2011

Last Return Made Up To: 26/10/2009

Next Return Due: 23/11/2010

Last Members List: 26/10/2009

Previous Names:

Date of change Previous Name

20/08/2007 INDUSTRIAL CREDIT CONSULTANTS LIMITED

[rhubarb101]

Just been looking through the list of BPA members from their published list here http://www.britishparking.co.uk/files/Images/Members%20of%20the%20AOS%20-%20August%202010.pdf

 

ICC Legal Services is not on the list although they display the BPA badge on their web site.