Count Steer wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 2:43 pm
Parking penalty charges and the appeals process. Got back to the 'shopping trolley' to find car park attendant warden standing behind it and a ticket on the windscreen. 'Woah!' says I, 'I paid on the app'. He looks a bit annoyed and says something about their rubbish system and I show him confirmation of booking on my phone.
I'd booked the wrong car in. Doh. He's v nice about it but can't rescind the ticket and tells me to email the council at the address on the back of the ticket. So I get home and do that. Get a confirmation that they try to respond to emails within 14 days....UNLESS it's an appeal against a ticket, in which case it's up to 30 days. The charge goes up from £50 to £75 after 28 days.
I'll pay up after 27 if I haven't heard from them. If I stop using the app I'll save 30p each time so it'll only take 167 parkings to claw back the £50. I'll need a large bagful of 20p's though.
Sod's Law though...never used the wrong car in the app before, was only gone 15 mins - and they must have heard I got £50 on the Premium Bonds this month. *sigh*
I use a couple of those payment apps to save carrying fecking change with me at all times, and the really annoying thing is that they never send you a text or a reminder when you're 5 minutes away from the end of your allotted time,Over xmas we got a ticket because we'd missed the end of the period and hadn't extended the permission. bah humbug!
Edit:
Just took a look into the settings on one of the apps.. and yes there IS an option for reminders.... but only via SMS, which are (of course) chargable! Why not code in a reminder to the app itself so when you're in an area with fuck all signal you still get notified!! Double Bah Humbug!!
Mine (RingGo) let's me know when there's 10 mins left....do I want to pay more? (I usually need less than 1hr but sometimes can get held up...particularly if it's a docs surgery trip). If you do add time straight away, the clock starts again ie you lose 10 mins AND you pay the 1 hour rate again rather than the reduced rate for 2 hours. Bloody thieves!
PS I think Dorking changed recently so it never costs more on the app than it would cash.
Count Steer wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 4:02 pm
If I stop using the app I'll save 30p each time so it'll only take 167 parkings to claw back the £50. I'll need a large bagful of 20p's though.
Ditto, but I reckon if I asked my bank branch to get me £20 in 20p's and gave them a day or two notice they'd do it (they don't actually carry much in the way of coins). PO used to be able to provide coinage (they have/had a cash handling unit - quite profitable it was too). Shops must still be able to get change from somewhere?
I collected a parking certificate ('not wholly within a bay', but I had paid) in Cumbria.
Couldn't argue it, so paid the £30. In several £1.50 cheques. Hopefully it cost them business banking charges to cash them in
Count Steer wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 2:43 pm
Parking penalty charges and the appeals process. Got back to the 'shopping trolley' to find car park attendant warden standing behind it and a ticket on the windscreen. 'Woah!' says I, 'I paid on the app'. He looks a bit annoyed and says something about their rubbish system and I show him confirmation of booking on my phone.
I'd booked the wrong car in. Doh. He's v nice about it but can't rescind the ticket and tells me to email the council at the address on the back of the ticket. So I get home and do that. Get a confirmation that they try to respond to emails within 14 days....UNLESS it's an appeal against a ticket, in which case it's up to 30 days. The charge goes up from £50 to £75 after 28 days.
I'll pay up after 27 if I haven't heard from them. If I stop using the app I'll save 30p each time so it'll only take 167 parkings to claw back the £50. I'll need a large bagful of 20p's though.
Sod's Law though...never used the wrong car in the app before, was only gone 15 mins - and they must have heard I got £50 on the Premium Bonds this month. *sigh*
I use a couple of those payment apps to save carrying fecking change with me at all times, and the really annoying thing is that they never send you a text or a reminder when you're 5 minutes away from the end of your allotted time,Over xmas we got a ticket because we'd missed the end of the period and hadn't extended the permission. bah humbug!
Edit:
Just took a look into the settings on one of the apps.. and yes there IS an option for reminders.... but only via SMS, which are (of course) chargable! Why not code in a reminder to the app itself so when you're in an area with fuck all signal you still get notified!! Double Bah Humbug!!
Mine (RingGo) let's me know when there's 10 mins left....do I want to pay more? (I usually need less than 1hr but sometimes can get held up...particularly if it's a docs surgery trip). If you do add time straight away, the clock starts again ie you lose 10 mins AND you pay the 1 hour rate again rather than the reduced rate for 2 hours. Bloody thieves!
PS I think Dorking changed recently so it never costs more on the app than it would cash.
The main gripe is that they use SMS to send you your "running out of time" notice - which both costs you money (you pay for the SMS), AND is not guaranteed to reach you in time (if you are out of signal range... eg in a shop/cinema etc)
Conducting 7 or 8 searches of the garage for a small bag of M4x10 c/s allen screws over 3 days.. & looking for same at Lowes, but not having my fucking glasses to read the labels in the hardware aisle before finally finding the bag RIGHT FUCKING THERE on my workbench.
I use a couple of those payment apps to save carrying fecking change with me at all times, and the really annoying thing is that they never send you a text or a reminder when you're 5 minutes away from the end of your allotted time,Over xmas we got a ticket because we'd missed the end of the period and hadn't extended the permission. bah humbug!
Edit:
Just took a look into the settings on one of the apps.. and yes there IS an option for reminders.... but only via SMS, which are (of course) chargable! Why not code in a reminder to the app itself so when you're in an area with fuck all signal you still get notified!! Double Bah Humbug!!
Mine (RingGo) let's me know when there's 10 mins left....do I want to pay more? (I usually need less than 1hr but sometimes can get held up...particularly if it's a docs surgery trip). If you do add time straight away, the clock starts again ie you lose 10 mins AND you pay the 1 hour rate again rather than the reduced rate for 2 hours. Bloody thieves!
PS I think Dorking changed recently so it never costs more on the app than it would cash.
The main gripe is that they use SMS to send you your "running out of time" notice - which both costs you money (you pay for the SMS), AND is not guaranteed to reach you in time (if you are out of signal range... eg in a shop/cinema etc)
Horse wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 4:15 pm
I collected a parking certificate ('not wholly within a bay', but I had paid) in Cumbria.
Couldn't argue it, so paid the £30. In several £1.50 cheques. Hopefully it cost them business banking charges to cash them in
Many, many years ago I got a parking fine in Cumbria in similar circumstances. I had followed the signs to "FREE CAR PARK" which directed me to a pay and display . So I paid and displayed, went about my business and returned to find a parking fine: "Not in an allocated bay" on the Cortina's windscreen. Bang to rights, so I went to the town hall and paid the £5* fine, minus the 10p* I'd already paid for the pay and display,
I was in the Peak district last year and went past Mam Tor quite a lot and used to think "Look at all those cheap skates parking on the road when there's a nice big car park right there".
Then I went to Mam Tor myself and parked in the car park. You couldn't pay by cash or card but had to go on a website to pay. But you can't just pay, you have to create an account, whilst you are standing in the middle of a car park, and then you have to create a password, but that password isn't recognised, and that password isn't recognised, and that password isn't recognised, or that, or that.
Horse wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 4:15 pm
I collected a parking certificate ('not wholly within a bay', but I had paid) in Cumbria.
... returned to find a parking fine: "Not in an allocated bay" on the Cortina's windscreen. Bang to rights ...
What really pissed me off - and probably a few dozen other people - was that parking wardens were stood at the top of the access road, happily letting a stream of drivers go into the car park.
Then, when everyone was parked, paid and left to spend more money in the town ... down they went spreading tickets widely.
Horse wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 4:15 pm
I collected a parking certificate ('not wholly within a bay', but I had paid) in Cumbria.
... returned to find a parking fine: "Not in an allocated bay" on the Cortina's windscreen. Bang to rights ...
What really pissed me off - and probably a few dozen other people - was that parking wardens were stood at the top of the access road, happily letting a stream of drivers go into the car park.
Then, when everyone was parked, paid and left to spend more money in the town ... down they went spreading tickets widely.
I heard it said, but haven't confirmed it, that some councils get more income from parking charges than they do from Council Tax. It seemed so absurd I never followed up on it.
Central MK has more than 20k parking spaces, and that's just the city centre. They're between 50p and £2/hour. Presumably at the peak time in the weekends they're making tens of thousands per hour.
But then again....couple of hundred thousand residents paying a hundred quid or two a month in council tax.
It's not clear cut either way.
Edit: Loadsamoney! But it's spent on highways rather than going into the general council pot.
Explains them spiffy new streetlights and surprising lack of potholes.
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 7:55 pm
I can believe it.
Central MK has more than 20k parking spaces, and that's just the city centre. They're between 50p and £2/hour. Presumably at the peak time in the weekends they're making tens of thousands per hour.
But then again....couple of hundred thousand residents paying a hundred quid or two a month in council tax.
It's not clear cut either way.
Edit: Loadsamoney! But it's spent on highways rather than going into the general council pot.
Explains them spiffy new streetlights and surprising lack of potholes.
Meanwhile business rates and rent costs are creating High Streets that aren't worth visiting where, even in loadsamoney places a significant number of shops stand vacant. So less people need to park because parking is free at the out of town places and they might as well go there.
Councils are starved of cash by the government and hooked on the teat of car parking money so they put the charges up/'fine' you if you're a mm over a line etc.
You can see how this ends up...empty High Streets and half empty car parks - which, being unprofitable, you may as well sell off...then they'll need to bring in 'Par£ing Permi£s' to park outside your home...while they work out how to charge extra if you park on/in your own drive/ garage.
When I first moved here there was loads of free parking...it was dead simple. Green spaces free, purple 20p/hour, red 50p/hour. Those days are long gone! It was like that as recently as 2011. They actually painted around my car (while I was on holiday) when it was parked in a green space and made it into a purple one
True about the shops though. CMK has typically been pretty immune to "boarded up shop syndrome" IME, but even here there are 5 or 6 empty units in the big centre.
Thankfully there is no paid parking over here.
They did try it a few years ago around a big shopping centre. Nobody paid. All the locals stuck together.
KungFooBob wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 8:34 pm
I live in a small town, there's quite a thriving Highstreet, with a 'Spoons and a Poundland
There's three car parks all free.
The local train station car park is free too.
There has to be some benefit to living in the Northern Wastes.
Really?! Blimey. Are there many spaces and can you actually get parked when you need to? Most of them in this neck of the woods charge £lots and, even then, if you turn up late you're stuffed.
KungFooBob wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 8:34 pm
I live in a small town, there's quite a thriving Highstreet, with a 'Spoons and a Poundland
There's three car parks all free.
The local train station car park is free too.
There has to be some benefit to living in the Northern Wastes.
Really?! Blimey. Are there many spaces and can you actually get parked when you need to? Most of them in this neck of the woods charge £lots and, even then, if you turn up late you're stuffed.
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 9:37 pm
£11 here, take it or leave it Doesn't matter if you stay 5 mins or 23 hours 59 mins.
Unsurprisingly, I very very seldom stay any minutes.
Still....s'not as bad as Heathrow, £5 to drive past the front door please, even if you don't stop. Then a ULEZ charge if you're lucky too
You know you are supposed to walk or cycle everywhere don't you?
Locally a new crematorium was refused planning permission. One of the reasons given for refusal was that it didn't offer easy walking or cycling access. Does anyone do a bicycle hearse?
Come to Daventry, free parking in every town centre car park. They charge silly money to park in the Country Park though, which seems a bit arse about face tbh.
I think they are sorting out paying in one car park, all the rest remain free!! Hospital is just out of the town centre and they charge, so when I visit the hospital I park in town and walk for two minutes. We don’t have a railway station very local.
Mick.
I'd booked the wrong car in. Doh. He's v nice about it but can't rescind the ticket and tells me to email the council at the address on the back of the ticket. So I get home and do that. Get a confirmation that they try to respond to emails within 14 days....UNLESS it's an appeal against a ticket, in which case it's up to 30 days. The charge goes up from £50 to £75 after 28 days.
. So I paid and displayed, went about my business and returned to find a parking fine: "Not in an allocated bay" on the Cortina's windscreen. Bang to rights, so I went to the town hall and paid the £5* fine, minus the 10p* I'd already paid for the pay and display,
Doesn't matter if you stay 5 mins or 23 hours 59 mins.
