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Parking ticket turned extortion
Hi.
I used to park in a dead end street that still has double yellows running up to the fence that now marks the point where my company's car park boundary cuts across the road as it used to be.
I got a ticket after parking there for a few weeks and accepted that I was chancing it and paid.
Months later I saw one of the local authority enforcement officers turning in the cul-de-sac on his moped after not ticketing any of the cars that were parked exactly where I had been given a ticket for parking.
I chased him down and explained my situation to which he replied that they were "no longer enforcing beyond that point there" and pointed to a small yellow parking sign about 20 feet further along the road.
I got him to confirm it with his supervisor on his two-way radio and took that as verbal confirmation that they had changed their processes.
Two weeks later in July 2016 I was issued a ticket for parking exactly where he'd told me I was ok to park. I obviously challenged this ticket, via email, citing the conversation I'd had previously with they officer.
I heard nothing even though I'd made clear that I was looking forward to presenting this mitigating evidence in court.
Almost 12 months later in June 2017 I received a letter from a collection agency stating that I now owed them £188 for the unpaid ticket.
This prompted me to get back in touch with the council and explain the time frame between communications from them and that I was, foolishly, under the impression that they'd chosen not to pursue the case after all given the 11 month silence.
They agreed in the phone that the amount of communication from them on this case was very low and that I should mention that to the TEC in Northampton who are the only body capable of retrieving this debt from the collection agency and handing it back to the council in question.
I contacted them on 12th July this year and finally got a reply to that request on Sunday(?) 30th July. I complete the forms and returned them on Monday 31st but have still not had a response.
In the mean time, yesterday, the collection agency have been to my house and 'hand delivered' a final warning for full payment of £423. The original letter they sent demanding £188 arrived and prompted me to contact them and explain that I was still trying to get the case heard in a court and that the council should never have handed this debt over in the first place.
I've called the TEC at least 30 times over the course of yesterday and today with not a single call answered and I've sent them another email which this time got an immediate response with a link to a SurveryMonkey page that I immediately made use of.
Does anyone have any ideas what my next course of action should be?
Thanks in advance.
I used to park in a dead end street that still has double yellows running up to the fence that now marks the point where my company's car park boundary cuts across the road as it used to be.
I got a ticket after parking there for a few weeks and accepted that I was chancing it and paid.
Months later I saw one of the local authority enforcement officers turning in the cul-de-sac on his moped after not ticketing any of the cars that were parked exactly where I had been given a ticket for parking.
I chased him down and explained my situation to which he replied that they were "no longer enforcing beyond that point there" and pointed to a small yellow parking sign about 20 feet further along the road.
I got him to confirm it with his supervisor on his two-way radio and took that as verbal confirmation that they had changed their processes.
Two weeks later in July 2016 I was issued a ticket for parking exactly where he'd told me I was ok to park. I obviously challenged this ticket, via email, citing the conversation I'd had previously with they officer.
I heard nothing even though I'd made clear that I was looking forward to presenting this mitigating evidence in court.
Almost 12 months later in June 2017 I received a letter from a collection agency stating that I now owed them £188 for the unpaid ticket.
This prompted me to get back in touch with the council and explain the time frame between communications from them and that I was, foolishly, under the impression that they'd chosen not to pursue the case after all given the 11 month silence.
They agreed in the phone that the amount of communication from them on this case was very low and that I should mention that to the TEC in Northampton who are the only body capable of retrieving this debt from the collection agency and handing it back to the council in question.
I contacted them on 12th July this year and finally got a reply to that request on Sunday(?) 30th July. I complete the forms and returned them on Monday 31st but have still not had a response.
In the mean time, yesterday, the collection agency have been to my house and 'hand delivered' a final warning for full payment of £423. The original letter they sent demanding £188 arrived and prompted me to contact them and explain that I was still trying to get the case heard in a court and that the council should never have handed this debt over in the first place.
I've called the TEC at least 30 times over the course of yesterday and today with not a single call answered and I've sent them another email which this time got an immediate response with a link to a SurveryMonkey page that I immediately made use of.
Does anyone have any ideas what my next course of action should be?
Thanks in advance.
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