Cardo
Active Member
I would personally advise against the “ignore everything until court proceedings” tactic. Courts don’t take kindly to this behaviour.
Here’s somewhat more “professional” advice:
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PCN in electric car bay
- Thread starter Doudeau
- Start date
Here’s somewhat more “professional” advice:
I’ll start by saying I’ve now paid the fine.
Interesting to see the mindset of those contributing to this thread trying to shame me into paying. The YTA comment from Chicago a particular highlight.
At no point did I try to excuse the mistake my daughter made and I think I made that clear. It was only a mistake and a minor one at that. Fortunately I don’t need to ask her to pay the fine (although she offered) as I know she appreciates the etiquette and rules now without me doubling down on her embarrassment. It appears some on here have a different approach to teaching their kids a lesson - I can’t help think some would suggest I beat her soundly too.
Thanks to those who helped with rationally considering my OP with special mention to @Mrklaw
Interesting to see the mindset of those contributing to this thread trying to shame me into paying. The YTA comment from Chicago a particular highlight.
At no point did I try to excuse the mistake my daughter made and I think I made that clear. It was only a mistake and a minor one at that. Fortunately I don’t need to ask her to pay the fine (although she offered) as I know she appreciates the etiquette and rules now without me doubling down on her embarrassment. It appears some on here have a different approach to teaching their kids a lesson - I can’t help think some would suggest I beat her soundly too.
Thanks to those who helped with rationally considering my OP with special mention to @Mrklaw
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Nope. But they've taken my wife to court, twice, and lost, She didn't turn up on either occasion (but no doubt submitted a very able document)
I was miffed that the court, whilst finding in her favour, did not agree that she had been "entrapped", but apparently she hadn't expected to win that particular point.
Do they have any photographic evidence to prove the car wasn't charging? It may be possible to argue that the car was plugged in but later got mysteriously removed by another user who might have detached your cable from the charger. This is morally wrong, but one could use it if one cannot afford the fine.
Hi. Pretty pointless posting this on here as the self righteous will always have a go and you will be no further forward and will feel wound up etc. I see you’ve paid.
They did and, to be clear, I do support them fining those who park in the wrong place in a car park whether EV, disabled etc… if people have breached the T&Cs of use.
I’m sure she won’t have been the first nor the last person to not appreciate that charging bays have different restricted hours to the rest of the car park and that they are not there for EVs with the bonus of charging if you’d like.
I had a car towed many years ago by a local council and I didn't cave in and went to the independent adjudicator to recover my fines. I won and they were instructed to change the signage and their parking enforcement practices. My default stance now is that it’s not always in the interest of the council or car park operators to make the rules transparent. That situation was £100s and worth fighting for.
They can be beaten (I've done it myself three times so far) but just ignoring their BS is a dangerous tactic. IIRC, they send out tens of thousands of court notices per year.
There's a reason why Capita bought ParkingEye in 2013 for £57.5M and then found a buyer 5 years later that paid £235M to acquire PE. They are a money-making machine.
I agree that many people just cough up. Then again, many people park incorrectly, just as the OP's daughter in this case.
Regarding court cases it's not correct to assume that they dont actively pursue cases. A Freedom of Information request was lodged with the Ministry of Justice in 2014. Of the 252 County Court cases that the request identified, 217 went in favour of ParkingEye, 12 were struck out and 23 were recorded as "other". That's an 86% success rate in favour of PE, which is why is is not wise to ignore them.
Far better to take them through their own processes and beat them with their own rules as long as you are confident that you didn't park incorrectly.
fancealot
Member
It's a shame you had to pay up, and you're a good person for telling your daughter what she's done wrong in a constructive manner, just a shame others still get away with ICE'ing bays or parking whilst not charging, looks like a change may come albeit due to crooks like parking eye!
I would also have suggested the money saving expert link for disputing the charge, but it's a lesson learned for your daughter, maybe if she gets the job she could chip in for part of the fine with her first paycheck (fingers crossed she got the job!).
I would also have suggested the money saving expert link for disputing the charge, but it's a lesson learned for your daughter, maybe if she gets the job she could chip in for part of the fine with her first paycheck (fingers crossed she got the job!).
I have to say I thought the issue was typically the other way around, people thinking parking fees didn't need to be paid when charging rather than thinking the bays become general purpose when payment for parking isn't required. I said it earlier, and I still think of a charging bay like a disabled bay, it doesn't matter whether you need to pay to park at that moment or not, you respect the bays for what they are at all times. The ticket was also issued afterwards so the suggestion that it might be different and linked to the parking payment hours seems to be knowledge gained in retrospect, unless I'm mising something in the story
Either way, I wasn't there so don't know, and I trust the OPs decision to pay was the right one, but I would also understand if there were grounds to complain and they chose to. The positive is It's a good sign (no pun intended) that enforcement of this is starting to happen, I can only hope signage is appropriate and there is no ambiguity like this rather than courts become full of arguments, and that the bays end up being better respected.
Either way, I wasn't there so don't know, and I trust the OPs decision to pay was the right one, but I would also understand if there were grounds to complain and they chose to. The positive is It's a good sign (no pun intended) that enforcement of this is starting to happen, I can only hope signage is appropriate and there is no ambiguity like this rather than courts become full of arguments, and that the bays end up being better respected.
The other type of behaviour I’m starting to notice is people “fake plugging” (i.e: without starting a charge) simply to benefit from free parking, (I see that especially in PHEVs) and confusing parking attendants which typically won’t issue tickets if they see a cable and won’t see if the charger is effectively delivering power.
With EVs spreading we’ll unfortunately see more and more antisocial behaviour as they won’t be owned by “true believers” or people who feel they belong to a community anymore, but just back to regular poor motorist habits…
With EVs spreading we’ll unfortunately see more and more antisocial behaviour as they won’t be owned by “true believers” or people who feel they belong to a community anymore, but just back to regular poor motorist habits…
I can see this happening a lot, and have observed it once myself. It is complicated slightly by the fact that Podpoint chargers give you 15 minutes free vend while you confirm the charge, so any car plugged in will charge (and show as charging).
Perhaps Podpoint et al will need to come up with some visual cue to show that someone has never authorised a charge, rather than a vehicle that has stopped charging due to an error or because of reaching a charge limit (i.e. the person who parked hasn't done anything wrong as such).
Like everything I imagine legislation and enforcement will lag far behind any technological solution, and will be reliant on the general public to not be knobs about it, and will therefore fail.
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