I need a rant

[cazyoung]

Well time to resurrect this thread. This morning I received a very official looking and cleverly worded letter from a Bailiff Company. Who are working on behalf of the parking company who issued the original parking ticket and have refused to acknowledge all correspondence. In very small words at the bottom of the back page is "This case is not subject to High Court or bailiff action"

Just trying to decide whether to hand it to a solicitor and sue for the costs or let them try to take me to court and sue for the costs.

ETA This is the company featured in Can't pay we'll take it away. TV trash

[Wibs]

Send them an invoice?

[Finless]

Well time to resurrect this thread. This morning I received a very official looking and cleverly worded letter from a Bailiff Company. Who are working on behalf of the parking company who issued the original parking ticket and have refused to acknowledge all correspondence. In very small words at the bottom of the back page is "This case is not subject to High Court or bailiff action"

Just trying to decide whether to hand it to a solicitor and sue for the costs or let them try to take me to court and sue for the costs.

ETA This is the company featured in Can't pay we'll take it away. TV trash

Is it possible for you to resend everything again by a ‘signed for’ service so that they have to acknowledge receipt?

[Allan Carr]

Is it possible for you to resend everything again by a ‘signed for’ service so that they have to acknowledge receipt?

We submitted a formal complaint to the local Police Professional Standards by signed for service. I also took another copy into the Police Station where they were based and got a receipt signed by the desk officer. Professional Standards denied ever having received it even when I provided both receipts. Said I must have addressed it wrongly. Don't assume just because you have evidence that it was delivered that they will accept that.

Dealing with parking issues can be a real PITA. We had an issue in Copenhagen last September when we got a parking ticket for parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid permit. We had paid the parking fee, it was simply the bay that was the issue. When I checked on the website to challenge the 'offence', my wife's Blue Badge is clearly visible in the photograph 'supporting' the offence. This is supposed to be a standard EU permit. I submitted the challenge, got an acknowledgement that it had been received but heard nothing else. Then my credit card was hit with a £104 charge via the car rental company. I tried to challenge this but was told by both the car hire firm and the parking authority that no correspondence would be entered into.

[Finless]

We submitted a formal complaint to the local Police Professional Standards by signed for service. I also took another copy into the Police Station where they were based and got a receipt signed by the desk officer. Professional Standards denied ever having received it even when I provided both receipts. Said I must have addressed it wrongly. Don't assume just because you have evidence that it was delivered that they will accept that.

Dealing with parking issues can be a real PITA. We had an issue in Copenhagen last September when we got a parking ticket for parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid permit. We had paid the parking fee, it was simply the bay that was the issue. When I checked on the website to challenge the 'offence', my wife's Blue Badge is clearly visible in the photograph 'supporting' the offence. This is supposed to be a standard EU permit. I submitted the challenge, got an acknowledgement that it had been received but heard nothing else. Then my credit card was hit with a £104 charge via the car rental company. I tried to challenge this but was told by both the car hire firm and the parking authority that no correspondence would be entered into.

Surely it would be acceptable if the case went to court?

[Allan Carr]

Surely it would be acceptable if the case went to court?

I think it would cost a lot more to try and take it to court in Denmark than I would ever get back. Not sure that they have a small claims system.

[GaleForceEight]

I got a couple of parking tickets out in Germany a few years ago from not waking up before the free parking area became paid... I admitted the offence and tried to pay them, but the person issuing the ticket had put E009 rather than EO09 when they issued the tickets. The office wouldn't accept payment as they had no tickets issued to my actual vehicle reg number. Not heard from them since.

[Jay_Benson]

We submitted a formal complaint to the local Police Professional Standards by signed for service. I also took another copy into the Police Station where they were based and got a receipt signed by the desk officer. Professional Standards denied ever having received it even when I provided both receipts. Said I must have addressed it wrongly. Don't assume just because you have evidence that it was delivered that they will accept that.

Dealing with parking issues can be a real PITA. We had an issue in Copenhagen last September when we got a parking ticket for parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid permit. We had paid the parking fee, it was simply the bay that was the issue. When I checked on the website to challenge the 'offence', my wife's Blue Badge is clearly visible in the photograph 'supporting' the offence. This is supposed to be a standard EU permit. I submitted the challenge, got an acknowledgement that it had been received but heard nothing else. Then my credit card was hit with a £104 charge via the car rental company. I tried to challenge this but was told by both the car hire firm and the parking authority that no correspondence would be entered into.

As your contract was with the credit card company they may have been a suitable route to challenge the ticket. I would have thought that they carried more weight with the car hire company than you, as an individual, would.

[BcDiver]

I would have thought, as others have mentioned before;
1. Report the matter to your local police and get a crime reference number.
2. Send this along with a copy of your V5 and a copy of photographic id (addresses should tally with each other), you could even take a photo of your car with the reg showing and then the evidence you have which states you were not in France on the dates of the speeding tickets, send this all off to the appropriate french authorities and DO NOT pay the fines.
It may be a bit of a ballache but essentially should be a task which can be done without having to leave the confines of your house which may well work out ok at the minute. Good luck!

[GaleForceEight]

I would have thought, as others have mentioned before;
1. Report the matter to your local police and get a crime reference number.
2. Send this along with a copy of your V5 and a copy of photographic id (addresses should tally with each other), you could even take a photo of your car with the reg showing and then the evidence you have which states you were not in France on the dates of the speeding tickets, send this all off to the appropriate french authorities and DO NOT pay the fines.
It may be a bit of a ballache but essentially should be a task which can be done without having to leave the confines of your house which may well work out ok at the minute. Good luck!

The police service may not give you a crime reference number. This is why I think that might be the case.....

I got a penalty notice from dartcharge once after someone cloned my plates.

I called them to let them know that the plate on the picture of the car that they sent me as proof, did not in fact match the 1957 BSA Bantam in my garage; that the car in the picture couldn’t be the motorbike in the description text. 4 wheels should have been something of a clue....

She then started telling me what I needed to do to fix it to stop them escalating the fine they said I had to pay. Calling 101 to notify the police and get a crime reference number, then send them a copy of it for them to review the penalty notice together with a picture of my bike with its number plate showing.

“That’s okay, you can do what you want. I called you as a courtesy, you can see from the information you sent me that it isn't the vehicle registered to me, besides which the vehicle the plates are registered to is exempt from paying the dartford crossing toll anyway - you can swivel on it before I give you anything for something that isn’t any fault of mine. If you want to, you call the Police.”

She then got all petulant amd said if I failed to pay or contest they would take me to court.

“That’s fine.... see you in court. I’ll ride the bike to the court so the magistrate can see it before he dismisses the case and bollocks you for wasting everyone’s time!”

Anyway, I stewed over it for a half hour and called the police anyway, in case of other incidents that may arise from the cloned plate. I was informed that they would not normally issue a crime reference number over cloned plates so Dartcharge were wrong to ask for one, and that they had not followed the Dartcharge guidelines as detailed on both the Essex and Kent police websites (and emailed me a link to the relevant bits).

Okay so having gone around the houses, my point is that even though you notify the police they may not give you a crime reference number.

The end of the tale.... they escalated the fine to the point where they threatened court action, so I phoned them up and asked them if their team looking at this had an IQ that only reached three digits if expressed in binary or whether it was because the lobotomy made it difficult to read and remember to breathe at the same time, and pointed out the obvious discrepancy. The lady I spoke with couldn’t understand why it had got that far and sorted it, but i did get a letter from them (a standard one size fits all retraction) stating that ”following extensive investigations they will he taking no further action on this occasion.” Not an apology or anything vaguely human, just corporate bolleaux.