A reader asked:
I’ve got a parking ticket in a car park which isn’t right because you couldn’t see the signs the way I went in. I’ve been sent a letter saying if I don’t pay they will go to court and this will then show on my credit record. My partner says she got a speeding fine and that wasn’t on her credit record. Are they lying to me?
This article looks at what will happen if you don’t pay a parking fine and if it will really show on your credit record.
It’s important you know what type of parking ticket you have:
- Penalty Charge Notice (“PCN”) This includes most parking fines issued by the local authority for parking offences on public roads or council-run car parks. These are sometimes called Parking Penalty Charges.
- Privately-run car parks This includes many hospital car parks, multi-storey car parks, car parks for shopping centres or individual businesses such as shops or pubs.
- Others For example the Fixed Penalty Notices that are issued by the police.
This can be confusing.
If the car park was privately operated, you may have had something which said Parking Charge Notice. These are often designed to look like the Penalty Charge Notices you get from your local council, with the same yellow and black colours. If you aren’t sure which sort of ticket you have, talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
Contents
The parking ticket industry is massive
At the start of 2023, statistics showed that about 50,000 parking tickets are issued every day – that is one every 2 seconds.
About 20,000 of these are council-issued. They went up about 12% in 2022 from 2021.
About 30,000 are from privately-run car parks. The firms that issue the most tickets are Parking Eye and Euro Car Park.
Are people really getting worse about paying for parking? It seems more likely to me that enforcement is becoming over-zealous and parking fines are being seen as a useful source of revenue. See this article Confusing letter O with an 0 on a numberplate at a ticket machine should never be penalised for one situation which is simply unfair.
Reform has been shelved
In 2019 the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 became law. The government said:
This set out a clear vision for the regulatory system with the interests of safe motorists at its heart and a commitment to making sure that individuals who deliberately park dangerously or obstructively can’t get away with it.
The publication of this Private Parking Code of Practice is a big step towards translating that bold vision into reality.
This was supposed to be fully in force by the end of 2023. It would have improved signs, capped almost all private parking charges at £50 and introduced a fairer appeals system.
But parking operators threatened legal challenges. In the summer of 2022 the Government caved in and withdrew the Code – temporarily it said.
Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs)
The National Debtline factsheet Penalty charge notices (PCNs) for parking covers everything to do with PCNs, from disputing the debt to problems with bailiffs. If you aren’t sure about any aspect, talk to National Debtline.
It is not a good idea to pay a ticket first then try to appeal it, so check out your possible grounds for objecting before paying it. See:
If you ignore a PCN or appeal unsuccessfully and then don’t pay the PCN, the council will apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court for an Order for Recovery.
A copy of the Order is sent to you.
There should also be a TE9 form, called a witness statement, which you can use to dispute the charge. A common reason for doing this is because you never received the original paperwork, for example if you had moved. See National Debtline’s section on Objecting using the witness statement form in the Factsheet link above. and call them for advice if you are not sure what to do.
Although the Order came from a County Court, it is not a CCJ. A charge has been registered by the Court “as if it is a county court judgment” but this it will not show on your credit record.
But even though this isn’t a CCJ, you should not ignore this.
The next step in enforcement is usually to send the debt to bailiffs. That adds their very large charges to what you owe. The bailiffs may refuse to accept payments by installments anf if you own a car which is parked on the street, it is at risk.
If a letter from bailiffs is the first time you have heard of the debt, it may be possible to file a late witness statement. See the section on Bailiffs in the Factsheet link above for full details.
Privately-run car parks
I think the reader who asked the question at the start of this article had a private parking ticket.
The threat to add it to his credit record wasn’t quite lying – because it can happen.
But I bet they didn’t explain that this would only happen if your appeal fails and the firm takes you to court and you lose the court case and you then don’t pay the CCJ within a month…
In other words, you can challenge an unfair ticket and know that your credit record won’t be wrecked provided you pay promptly when lose.
MoneySavingExpert’s excellent guide Fight Unfair Private Parking Tickets covers all the options about when and how you should tackle these tickets if you feel you shouldn’t have got one. I’m not going to repeat them as there are various alternative approaches you could take.
But remember it’s the details of your case that count. You may have a GREAT case against a firm which normally wins most of the appeals, or a WEAK case against a firm that often loses appeals.
The worst case is that if your chosen approach (whichever that is) doesn’t work, the parking firm may take you to court for CCJ. Sometimes they won’t, but if they do and you then lose, you have to pay court costs in addition to the original charge. If you then pay the CCJ within a month it will not appear on your credit record.
Other parking offences
Sometimes you can get a Magistrate’s Court fine for a parking infringement, for example if you don’t pay a Fixed Penalty Notice. For some offences, such as parking on zig-zag lines, you can also get points on your licence.
Magistrate’s Court fines won’t show on your credit record.
This doesn’t mean they aren’t important! These fines are priority debts because it is possible you could be sent to prison for not paying them. See National Debtline’s factsheet on Magistrates’ court fines.
Comments – I don’t publish any comments suggesting you ignore private parking tickets. I think this is dangerous. See the MSE article above for better options.
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Karen morgan says
Hi I got a pcn and havnt paid it since October. I’m going to pay it now but will this affect my credit rating ? Or default on my credit score ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As the article above says, a PCN will not show on your credit record, there will be no default affecting your credit score.
Dawn Hetherington says
Hi Sarah
I have received a pre enforcement letter from a company for me to pay £350 relating to a court judgement. Unfortunately all the other correspondence relating to this have been going to the wrong house number as the dvla had the house number wrong on their system, the neighbour has sent all the other letters have gone back to Royal Mail. I contacted this company who advised me to the phone the courts to get info on this matter. It turns out it is a pcn from July 2017, please can you advise me what i can do .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Contact National Debtline asap about your options and whether you should apply to have the PCN set aside. See https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/parking-tickets/penalty-charge-notices.aspx
Steve says
Hi. I received a PCN back in August 2017. I appealed to them and lost. I then appealed via Popla and they rejected my appeal. I heard nothing from October 2017 and then on 14th March 2018 received a threat of payment or legal action plus £100 + £40 charges. I parked the car on a KFC car park, actually purchased food there and have receipts. I went over the 90 minutes parking as my car had a mechanical fault. A friend of mine came to fix it but they rejected this. I am still reluctant to pay. What are my options?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like your options are to pay it or try to fight a court case – not clear you have much chance of winning. :(
Adam Bradley says
Hi, I have received a threatening email regarding a PCN dating back to 24/05/2017 the original letters were sent to an old address as I have moved (twice in fact). The letter advises that my details have been passed to the PCN ANPR database and should my vehicle be located it will be removed an auctioned immediately. As you can imagine this caused me concern so I rang the agency and was advised it was for driving in a bus lane issued by Reading council. I wasn’t in Reading I was in Gloucestershire and when looking at the evidence online its not my vehicle the pictures are of a silver Van and mine is a red people carrier. I see the mistake, they have the last letter of the number plate wrong, but when speaking to the debt collection company and the council all they are advising it to speak to Citizens advice. What do
I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That wasn’t a helpful response by Reading Council, someone should have shown some initiative and cancelled the penalty.
Here is a factsheet from National Debtline https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/parking-tickets/penalty-charge-notices.aspx. I suggest you either phone them to discuss what to do or go to your local Citizens Advice.
Ashley says
I’ve got this problem sort of now. I’ve recieved a notice of enforcement letter from Bristow and Sutor telling me I have an unpaid PCN against my name. It gives no information. I thought maybe I’d forgotten to pay council tax or something. But checking it out I get a walsall council reference number, going to their website and checking it, it’s a car I dont own or ever owned driving in a bus lane. The reg is nothing like mine though. I rung the council who told.me numerous letters had been sent out before being passed to dept collectors, they told me the address where they sent the letters to, not sure if they should of or not, but then someone changed address to mine. They’ve told I have to deal with debt collectors as they have passed it on, rung them who told.me it might be a case of someone with the same name. Dont know how they can work that, and told me they would recheck the reg and see if I come up, cant give me an update so I decided to ring back in a week. Rung back and basically told complete opposite! They cant do dvla checks and I should contact council to cancel PCN. in this time I’ve recieved a letter from the council saying exact opposite to what debt collectors have just told me. What am I supposed to do now? Stuck in a loop!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s maddening… talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about your options.
Johnny says
Looking for some advice. My car was recently clamped to my surprise. When I contacted them the hit me with a £513 fine to release the car which I paid in the end! They said it had been due to an unpaid congestion charge from June 2017! I never received the PCN but this was due to them still having my old address. I’ts the first car I have bought and when I moved address I did some online searched to see what I had to change and all I found at the time was to change the address on your license and I had no idea about the Logbook!! I have since applied for a new logbook so that I can change the address. I am not quite sure what to do now as I don’t have the original PCN or any of the notices that would have come along with the warrant of control. JBW judical services were the ones who had clamped the car. TFL mentioned I can apply for Out of Time Statutory Declaration. I mainly want to know who I need to contact and and what I should be doing next.
I know now that it is quite a big deal not changing your address on your logbook but up until now I never even knew about this!
Hope you can help.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
National Debtline 0808 808 4000 can talk you through the process.
Sarah says
I have received a CCJ for not paying a private parking fine. I followed advice online at the time (2014) of ignoring all correspondence and moved house afterwards. I did not pay the CCJ within 30 days because correspondence had gone to my old address, so had to beg the private company to remove the CCJ so my credit rating wouldn’t be ruined for 6 years. They agreed if i paid the fine of around £800. Just a warning to everyone- do not ignore- it doesn’t work and private companies do have the ability to destroy your credit rating for 6 years.
sara khan says
Hi, i received a Penalty charge notice of £195. The problem is we never received any PCN which the council of havering claims they sent a month ago. We spoke to them and they are saying we cant dispute it now the only time we can do now is after recovery order. So my question is if we dont pay £195 and wait for recovery order will the recovery order appear on my Credit report? Or should we pay the £195 and then dispute it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it won’t. Contact National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 for more information about how to dispute it.
Richard Mercer says
I live in southport.
I have a London borough council chasing me for a parking ticket. It is £450, I couldn’t tell you what car park it was because it wasn’t me. I had sold my car threw eBay. And it was the new keeper that got the fine. I have forwarded them proof of my eBay transaction, sales receipt and also confirmation from dvla explaining that I had sold the car and that they had the log book in their possession and was ammending the log book for the new keeper, this has been goin on now for over 18 months. They keep harassing me with threats and demanding money. I have never driven to London and certainty would not park with out proper payments.!I am trying to buy a house at the min. Could do with out receiving any bad marks on my credit file
Any advise would be great as I’m banging my head against a brick wall
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Richard, your local Citizens Advice will be able to help with this, or you could telephone or use the webchat at https://www.nationaldebtline.org/
ex London private hire driver says
Really sad about that young lad who took his own life because he was mercilessly hounded over a couple of penalty charge notices. This all comes down to the fact that local authorities are under great financial pressure (because their central government grants have been reduced drastically) and so they send out PCNs on an industrial scale in a desperate effort to boost their revenue. Also, it was interesting to note that a lot of the bailiffs themselves are self-employed/on zero hour contracts so they are also under a lot of financial pressure to get money off people to earn a living. Of course, all this pressure gets passed down the line and NO ACCOUNT IS TAKEN TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THE WON’T PAYERS AND THE CAN’T PAYERS.
In something else I saw on line about this matter Camden Council tried to make out that had Jerome contacted them about his financial position they would have called off the bailiffs. I tried that with a local authority once and was told by the council (no doubt from their script) there was nothing they could do as it had been passed over to the debt collectors. Pleading poverty does NOT put things on hold and the whole process just grinds on. The pressure just builds and builds: initially the PCN is for the ridiculously disproportion amount of £130 (“very generously” reduced to £65 if paid with 14 days) and if not paid after 28 days increased to £195 and eventually it goes farmed out to the bailiffs (with, of course, additional costs). And guess what, £130 was deemed not to be a big enough deterrent (because, so it was said, too many people were being caught by the cameras) so a proposal was put forward to increase the PCN to £160 to act as a bigger deterrent (but, no doubt, in the hope that a similar number of motorists will be caught by the cameras so increasing revenues). For a few, money makes the world go round; for many others it’s a completely different story.
Stacey says
Hi,
I have just revived a letter from a private company following a ticket I was issued as I was unable to pay due to machine being unable to take my change (the private car park is in a secluded spot with no phone signal so I couldn’t phone them to report this besides I didn’t have my phone on me as I don’t take it with me on dog walks) I have no way of proving this was the case so feel I would be unsuccessful in appealing therefore am not sure what I should be writing to respond to the letter I’ve had from the parking agency
Many Thanks
S
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you don’t appeal, you need to pay it – that’s my opinion. But read http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets and decide what to do.
Stacey says
I wanted to appeal but feel I have no evidence to do this and advice I was given that by responding I would be accepting liability. It is not a council fine, it’s from a company called lps who are employed by the owners of the private land. If I were to appeal I wouldn’t be sure what I needed to put in it
Thanks
S
michael says
I was unaware that there was a penalty charge notice outstanding against my name and old address. The penalty was issued on 16th April 2018. The notice was Order for Recovery of unpaid penalty charge.
The reason this has not been paid is I’ve been living as a resident in Holland since Feb 2017 and the notice was sent to my old address in the UK, which I assume is because of where the vehicle was registered at the time. I have all evidence to prove I’ve not been living at the address where the post was sent and the reason this has not been paid.
I’ve been issued now with a bailiff debt of £513.00 from Marston Debt Collector, when the original amount owed was £278.00 – please could you advise me what can be done.
Kind regards,
M.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So had you sold the car before you left the UK? Or was the car in Holland and so the PCN can’t be right? I suggest you talk to National Debtline about your options.
Zoe Hanwell-Purves says
Hi, i have just recieved a letter today stating that i have failed to respond to a PCN that was issued over 30 days ago, this is the first time i have heard about it today. I have tried to call the company (Civil Enforcement Ltd) but no reply and despite several messages the have not come back to me. They state if i don’t pay within 14 days they will have no choice but to recruit debt collection agents. I parked in a Burger King car park for approx 45 minutes on 9th June ( i believe the time span is 90 minutes allowed) and they state i breached the terms and conditions but don’t say how. I visited Burger King and i also visited Starbucks which is close by but has i separate car park. I feel helpless now and bullied into paying £100 which i don’t believe has been charged fairly but have no way of knowing how they have come to this decision. The letter also states it is too late to appeal so i have written them a letter and posted it to be signed for for a response. Please can you advise what the best course of action is, i understand people will use that car park because it is near a motorway and the temptation is to leave it all day but i was only there about 45 minutes.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could start by sending them a Subject Access Request – email dataprotectionofficer@ce-service.co.uk and ask for all information they hold about you, give your name, address, reg number of the car. Until you see what you get back, it’s not really possible to say how this could be challenged.
You could go to your local Citizens Advice for help, or there is useful information here: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-appeal-a-parking-ticket-on-private-land. I am afraid I can’t help look at your case.
Paul Brown says
My son had two parking charge notices with NCP at a car park that recently changed from pay and display to ANPR enforced. He took all the advice online which was to ignore all correspondence except the initial contact to appeal. Now 12 months later the request for £60 each has got to £250 each and is now registered with the Northampton County Court. The action was brought about by NCP, then Trace Recovery, then solicitors letters from Gladstone solicitors and finally BW legal. I have done the Acknowledgement of Service in order to extend my time to submit a defence to 28 days. Its £500 so please please help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“He took all the advice online which was to ignore all correspondence except the initial contact to appeal” well let’s be exact here, he took the advice he found online that he liked the sound of. That is not “all the advice online”, reputable advice would never suggest that.
I can’t tell if you are being sued or if he is. Whoever is needs to talk to National Debtline about whether you have any defence to the CCJ. And start saving up to pay the amount claimed just in case you lose the case.
tishe says
hi sarah i received a notice for parking in a private car park actually a casino i joined and i was advised to put reg in computer which i did and few weeks later received a pcn i wrote to them recoreded delivery and had no response explaining i was a member at casino and was allowed to park for free, i heard nothing until end of october with a judgement ordering me to pay fine. i had a letter from soilicitors threating to ccj my name. my car is registered to sisters business can they take her stock out of her shop
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you talk to the casino and to National Debtline about your options.
Gareth says
Hi Sara,
Sorry to sound like a broken record. I now have a £425 order against me from Marston for an unpaid Dart Charge fine.
Long story but I thought my car had been placed on my company’s dart tag and I hadn’t changed my V5 logbook.
Just to confirm, this will not be a CCJ places against my name, address etc. That’s my main concern.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, like a PCN a Dart Charge penalty isn’t a CCJ – even though it went through the Northampton County Court – and it won’t show on your credit record.
Emma Coutts says
Hi
I wonder if you can help me.
I am a nurse and pay for parking monthly out of my salary. I have to use my id badge to enter into a closed car park you cannot gain access to this unless u have paid monthly to park there.
Whilst on my nights I got a parking warning and the second night a ticket for not displaying my permit. And now they are trying to charge me £130 for both nights.
What should I do ? This seems really unfair especially as no one can park there without a fob to enter !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is very specific to your employment and tht car park. I suggest you find out at your work who to complain to – your union may be able to help. Have any of the other nurses had a similar problem?
Emma Coutts says
I’m not sure if they have.
I know about a year ago a number of tickets got issuesed and lots of people complained and they all went away.
I will try my Union. The company perusing the fine are threatening a CCJ . This has made me worried but equally I don’t have £260 to pay out immediately .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to find out more about what the people did last year that got their tickets resolved. Sorry that is much more likely to work for you than asking on internet forums as this is not a typical private parking ticket situation.
Adam says
hi, I have got a charge notice on my hire car and the pcn with a discounted rate and right to appeal was never received by me. When i wrote to them the said i don’t have the right to appeal and must pay £195 that’s with admin charge and late fees. I argued that i never received a letter before so why should i pay all. Then the asked me to wait for CCJ and then i can appeal there in court. But a CCJ will mess up my credit file. Wht should i do ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is complicated – it depends on whether this was a PCN or a private parking tickets, what the rental T&Cs, whether the rental company has already paid this and debited your credit card, and whether you have any grounds for appeal.
See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5844237 and you could post further details on that forum or talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about your options.
Vicky says
Hi I have just received CCJ form for my private parking ticket advising me to go down the mediation route. Long story short I received 2 parking fines from Total parking solutions. I have admitted part of the claim and I have offered them £10 for the claim. As the time of the parking was after 8pm so there would be no financial loss to the private owners. On 1 ticket I was an hour over due to sustaining a minor injury at netball but they are still advising that I still have to pay the full amount. Can you please advise what to do next as?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Vicky – you left your question in reply to someone called “Sarah” who said 2 years ago that she could help people with legislation on PCNs as she worked in appeals for about 5 years. That was not me. And she has never replied to anyone leaving Questions, so I am deleting her comment.
As you have a court case in progress, good places to go for advice are to talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 or post on the Legal Beagles forum: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/motoring-parking/ppc-s-parking-charge-notices
Harriet says
Hello. I have paid off a parking fine which I also got a CCJ for. I need to get a certificate of satisfaction (N443) however I have desperately been trying to find out which court to send the N443 form to but I haven’t had any luck. I have contacted HM courts and tribunals and I have visited The court in the same town where I received the parking fine but apparently HM courts and tribunal need a Penalty charge notice number to find out and not the parking charge notice number which is all I have. Civil Enforcement Ltd haven’t replied to my emails so how can I find out which court was used for the CCJ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It would normally be the Northampton County Court.
You can check using Trust Online: https://www.trustonline.org.uk/help-topics/england-and-wales-ccj/
Jul says
Hi,I’ve got a letter from a debt recovery agency called Trace saying I need to pay £160 over a parking fine. They write that their client has written to me before demanding payment but I have never received any letter from anyone except this one demanding 160 from Trace debt recovery. I didn’t know about any fine. What can I do now as they are threatening to take me to court? Why should I pay all this money if I never received the initial letter? What are my options? Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you tell them you have never had any previous correspondence and ask for details of the alleged offence.
Jul says
I called them and they are saying that now because the situation has gone to the debt recovery agency Trace that the people who gived me the penalty in the first place can’t deal with me anymore. Is this a scam? They are saying I need to pay in full no other options and if I don’t they said they give me a ccj.
Andrew says
Hi Sara,
I got a letter in from Stirling park debt collection on behalf of Glasgow city council for 13 unpaid parking fines totalling £1200. They range from 2011 to 2018. Do these ever become defunct? Can they freeze my wages? I don’t live at my registered address (parents house) and rent a flat not in my name.
Thanks
Andrew
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I will ask a Scottish adviser to reply.
Alan McIntosh says
Hi Andrew
These are legal parking fines, know as Penalty Charge Notices and can be registered by Glasgow City Council through the Courts to enforced, which they presumably have as they are now with Sheriff Officers, who are officers of the Court. They can arrest your wages, and also freeze your bank account (the first £529.90 is protected). They may also attempt to attach your car if it is not subject to a finance agreement like hire-purchase.
You should seek advice about negotiating a repayment plan with them.
The debt can be recovered for up to 20 years under the laws of prescription now they have been registered with the courts.
Andrew says
Thanks for the reply.
I was hoping at least half of the 13 tickets would be statute barred (sp?), as half were over 6 years old.
Though looking at your reply it seems I am liable for the lot.
Would there be any reason why they have have taken 9 years and not frozen my wages yet?
Finally if I do need to repay, how low a repayment do you guess I can achieve?
Thanks
Andrew
Asha says
hi I am Asha, last week we are been given a parking charge from PCM for parking in disable parking in our apartment parking area in Reading. We are new to this place and this apartment. I don’t drive and its my husband who drive who works in Bexhill from Monday to Friday and back to Reading on Friday evening.. 29th Wednesday I got a house bell ring and tree cutting guys wanted our car to move as they can work.. I said I cant drive and gave them keys and they parked car in that area.. They said not to move as they are coming again tomorrow.. Later they didn’t inform me when they left but on 31st I was given this parking charge on our car where I was helpless to move that car anywhere as I wont drive and no one at home to ask. Even those tree cutting boys never told me when they left without giving me any notice.. Kindly help me what to do now.. I don’t want to keep any credit history as we want to buy a house yet . Advice please thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds a difficult situation. I suggest you go to your local Citizens Advice and ask for help.
SK says
Hi,
The operator has issued a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) to me for the following reason, by either not purchasing the appropriate parking time or by remaining at the car park for longer than permitted.
The appellant (myself) parked the car and overstayed by 56 minutes. I told POPLA that while leaving the car park, I attempted to make payment at the pay machine, but both machines were not working. I had spoken to the security at Lidl and Farm Fresh at ILford, but they do not have any knowledge how the payment works when the machine is not working. I telephoned Parkingeye customer services at least 6-8 times on the same day and the following day however, Parking Eye do not have a customer service option to connect with anyone unless you receive a parking charge notice and enter their PCN number. I asked Parking eye should check their machines and will be able to see from the camera if a customer attempted to make payment. To support this appeal, I had provided evidence of the PCN received along with photographs showing the machine was not in working order.
My appeal is refused, and I still don’t want to pay to ParkingEye, as its unfair to me. I wanted to file against ParkingEye and get claim back for unnecessary pain and time spent with ParkingEye company.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
SK
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you read http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets which goes through what your options are. If you would like help with this, talk to your local Citizens Advice.
Thomas says
I recently started work in a retail store and received a Parking Charge Notice seeking £60 for parking in the retail carpark while at work. I appealed to Smart Parking Ltd on the basis that I am an employee in the retail park who was at work. I also sent them my employee ID number. They rejected my appeal and sent me a POPLA verification code. I didn’t feel the need to appeal to POPLA because I raised the issue with management at work who assured me the matter would be resolved. After hearing nothing for 6 weeks I assumed the issue had been resolved by my employer but I have now received a letter from a debt collection agency on behalf of Smart Parking pursuing me for the sum of £170 and threatening my credit rating with a CCJ if I don’t pay soon. My manager at work has assured me that they have contacted Smart Parking via email to inform them that I am an employee who should be exempt from paying for parking. I can no longer appeal to POPLA because the verification code expired after 28 days and Smart Parking Ltd will not issue another code. Do you have any advice for me? I’m really concerned my credit rating will be affected sooner or later.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you may have good grounds to defend a court case. If you are sent court papers (and hopefully the intervention by your employer will prevent this) then contact National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 and/or post on Legal Beagles forum: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues
In the worst case and you lose the case, your credit record will not be affected if you pay the CCJ within a month – then the CCJ is removed entirely from your record.
A P says
Hi today i got a letter for “order for recovery of unpaid penalty charge. It states “an order to recovera penalty charge has been made aginst you at the traffic enforcement centre at Northampton county court Business centre”. It also states i must pay within 21days. Court registration fees £8 and pcn charge £195. I have now made the full payment but just need to know if this will affect my credit score at all.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. As the article above says, this will not show on your credit record.
Tracy says
I recently received a pcn in a council car park, I had paid for parking on the parking app as the machines would accept any of my card. However i accidentally muddled my reg number with my partners (both recently changed our cars) so instead of KV I input KM. I appealed showing I’d paid the parking fee and included photos of both our cars to substantiate my mistake. They have rejected my informal challenge, accepting I made a mistake but essentially saying that’s your problem. I now have the option to pay the 50% charge or formally challenge it. I don’t really know if I stand a chance at formal challenge but do feel that this genuinely honest mistake should not be penalised. If I do formally challenge and then lose again do I get the option to pay or will they then take me to court? What affect will all this have on any records about me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you lose the appeal, you should be able to pay it then and the council will only go to court if you don’t.
As this is a PCN from the council, if they do go to court it will not show on your credit record.
You can talk to National Debtline about whether your appeal has any chance.