Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

[jack1013]

Hi, I am new to the forum and so apart from giving a brief outline of my dilema and hoping that you guys will be able to provide some assistance, I'd like to introduce myself. I currently work as an legal clerk at a local authority and previous to this spent time as a CAB (citizens advice bureax) adviser. As my current job looks at procurement and contracts I do not have experience in the following matter but hope you guys can help. so... Around sept 2011, I managed to get a bus lane ticket captured on CCTV. I received the PCN a few weeks later. Initially I contested it with several defences but this was turned down. Ultimately, I believe that the Council did not follow the correct timescales and therefore I missed the opportunity to appeal to the Parking Tribunal. The Council pursued me for an increased charge of £202, but after making several representations they have reduced the charge back to the original of £65. I am unhappy that , although given this opportunity, I believe that I have an arguable case to have the PCN cancelled. The problem is that I am now being threatened with increased charges and bailiffs. I would like to know whether I could pay the PCN (under duress) but take it further such as taking it to Court. I would like to hear others opinion on this specific matter of reclaiming (especially whilst i have not been given the opportunity to appeal to the tribunal) and how i would do this.

[michael]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

Personally I don't think you have a hope in hell.
You did well to get the council to reduce the figure from £202 back down to the original penalty of £65, but instead of cutting your losses at that time, from what you say you let that slide and now have bailiffs after you. They are unlikely to be willing now to accept the £65.

What is the figure now?

[jack1013]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

Its still £65 but they have said the charge will increase soon if I do not pay. I want some sort of assurance that if I do pay that I can reclaim it laterbut need to hear from others who may have done that and how to do this. Any ideas???

[michael]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

Trying to reclaim it later will be an almost impossible task, which essentially leaves you with two choices:
a) Pay the £65, put it behind you and get on with your life.
b) Don't pay it and end up with bailiffs demanding many times more and clamping/seizing your car in the meantime.

[alham]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

Once paid you will most certainly not get it back. If they returned the fine back to original that means that your clock has been reset so you would have had an opportunity to appeal. But as said elsewhere, unless you have a very good defence and you are sure of your timescales it would be more sensible to pay the viper.

[jack1013]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

thanks for the posts although I still want to know how I could possibly get the money back. As far as I am concerned the reduction back to £65 suggests they admitted fault. I have written to them requesting that I am give an opportunity to take it to Patas.

[alham]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

"Initially I contested it with several defences but this was turned down. Ultimately, I believe that the Council did not follow the correct timescales and therefore I missed the opportunity to appeal to the Parking Tribunal."

What mistakes have they made? As I said, if they reset the fine to £65 you should have your chance to appeal to the Parking Tribunal now.

[acaldin]

Re: Advice on taking council to court to re-claim parking penalty charge

take it on the chin dont risk it just pay and put it down to experiance this happened to me and the bill went up even further and i am disabled with a badge you just can not win in the end you shouldnt have parked there and you compromissed your right of appeal so you would have a great mountain to climb and you just wouldnt win just pay .

Andrew