Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

[Miss-]

Hello,

I received a parking ticket from Lambeth Council in September 2011. Admittedly, I stopped in a bus lane for all of 30 seconds to a minute to let a passenger out out of my car who was feeling sick. The footage was caught and recorded. The original ticket was for £65.

I appealed the ticket within 14 days by email and I received an automated acknowledgement and then I heard nothing until Jan/Feb 2012 when I received a letter to inform me the debt had not been paid and it had increased by 50% to £185! I was furious and emailed them on 15th February 2012 to remind them that I had infact made an appeal and they could not increase the fine without responding to my appeal. Lambeth referred my parking fine to Northampton County court on 16th February. I appealed via the court, and explained that I had made an appeal. Lambeth provided a 'statement of truth' which is basically a pack of lies and said they had responded to my appeal in December 2011 and a further letter was sent to me in 02/2012 which I acknowledged on 15/02/2012 without payment. My claim was refused based on the misleading information they submitted.

I have since written to Northampton County Court with no response and written to Lambeth's complaints department regarding their collection policy as no one has acknowledged my letter and they are using bullying tactics to get more money for a fine which was originally £65. I have received a letter on 5th May 2012 to further advise the fine is now £202 and I have 28 days to pay this or it will be referred to a bailiff. I have made a complaints under their complaints procedure to advise I am happy to repay £65 as this is what I would have paid before if they had sent me the rejection of appeal, but not a penny more. I have received no response.

I have written to my local MP in the hope that he can help - but I have not received a response, but I am really at a loss and I am not sure what to do? I can not afford to pay £202! Is there anywhere else I can go to get help?

Lambeth are notorious for bullying people for extra money and giving unfair parking tickets and 'sending letters' which never actually reach people so the bill goes higher.

[labman]

Re: Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

Hi,

Click on the Bailiffs tab at the top of the page. At the start of the section are several 'Stickies,' one of which is entitled Parking Fines. Have a read of this, it will tell you what you need to do.

[Miss-]

Re: Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

Thank you I will have a look at this,

Also just to give a further update, I received a letter from a caseworker on behalf of my MP who has advised he has sent a letter on my behalf to the chief ex. of Lambeth Council in regards to my issue with the parking fines and then today I received a letter from Lambeth acknowledging my complaint, they apologised for the stress they had caused, however said they felt they had followed their procedures but would allow me an additional 14 days to repay the debt at the discounted rate of £65 (instead of £202) by 24th May 2012 and if this was not paid they would revert the debt back to the original balance and refer to the bailiffs.

I think I am going to pay.. I am happy with this result that someone has at least looked into my complaint and given me the benefit of the doubt especially as someone has not done their job and sent previous responses to my letters/emails.

[labman]

Re: Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

Good, pay the fine and make sure you get a full written receipt for it just in case they try any other silly tricks.

[Miss-]

Re: Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

I've paid this now and the matter is closed.

I have received a receipt and I have a copy of the letter to confirm I had to pay £65 by today 24/05/2012

[Galahad]

Re: Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

I've paid this now and the matter is closed.

I have received a receipt and I have a copy of the letter to confirm I had to pay £65 by today 24/05/2012

Now that you've paid it, and don't have the threat of bailiffs on your back, now you might want to fire off a letter to get your money back.

The reason for them fining you whilst correct does not take into account your mitigating circumstances, of which you need to make them abundantly clear on.

If necessary, you need to start the complaint again, reminding them that you had an unresolved complaint from them before, and go through the procedures until you get to the independent tribunal, which, actually has a pretty good success rate for people like you, 7/10, people get their money back, because councils won't go that far and contest it.

So, unless you're happy to give money away, start firing some letters off, you'll feel empowered, better and 65 quid better off.

[Miss-]

Re: Lambeth unfair parking fine increases

The only problem with that is, they have on their records that they responded to my complaint in December 2011. I did not receive this response and to date do not know what was inside this letter? However when they referred this to Northampton County Court, a member of staff has written this in the notes and signed it off.. so if this was referred to tribunal based on that lie, I would probably lose. There is no way for them to proof or disprove the letter was sent as its probably just a word document on the system which to be fair could have been written at any time, but probably was not sent due to their incompetent staff


However, I have written to the MP. So it will be interesting to see if he gets a different response than me!