The two types of ticket – and how to fight back if you believe you have been wrongly charged
PARKING CHARGE NOTICE
THIS is the ticket you get when parking on private land. Contact the car park company if you believe the fine is unfair. If unsuccessful and it is a member of the British Parking Association you can then take your case to the Independent Parking on Private Land Appeals scheme. Alternatively if the firm is a member of the International Parking Community you can take your case to its independent appeals service.
If a private company is not signed up to either of the two trade associations it will find it hard to continue with any demand for payment. If a fine is not settled after an independent ruling against you – as in Danni Crawford’s case – it may rise if the firm decides to employ debt collectors to retrieve your money. A firm may say it is taking you to court but most car park firms are unwilling to risk this – it is used as a frightener to persuade you to pay up.
PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE
THIS is the penalty you receive if parked without a valid ticket on councilowned land. Motorists have 14-days in which to appeal.
If your appeal is unsuccessful the council must then issue a ‘notice to owner’ where you are usually given a further 14 days to argue your case. Lose again and it can demand the full penalty fee – often a penalty is halved from a usual £120 to £60 if you pay early.
At this point your can continue the fight using an independent adjudicator. This step can be taken once the council sends a final ‘appeal notice’ with a rejection explaining how you go to a ‘traffic penalty tribunal’ in England or Wales.
For London it is the ‘parking and traffic appeals service’. In Scotland it is the ‘Scottish parking appeals service’ and Northern Ireland an ‘adjudicator’. You have 28 days to argue your case. Lose and it is perhaps time to pay up.