Author Topic: £100 "fine" for 20p underpayment in private car park  (Read 932 times)

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£100 "fine" for 20p underpayment in private car park
« on: 06 November, 2021, 08:23:56 AM »
Father, 38, hit with a £273 debt collection notice and threatened with court action over a 20p discrepancy in a car park ticket he’d already offered to PAY

Lee Taylor, 38, from Normanby, North Yorkshire, was 20p short of parking fee
He and his wife accidentally paid the weekly rate rather than the Saturday tariff on their trip to a soft play centre
When they were sent a £100 fine, they contacted Euro Car Parks, who own the car park, offering to pay the 20p difference
After not paying the initial fine, they were threatened with court proceedings
Euro Car Parks said requests for all appeals must be made in writing


By STEPHEN WYNN-DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:46, 5 November 2021 | UPDATED: 20:20, 5 November 2021


A father-of-five was served with a £273 debt collection notice and threatened with court action after accidentally paying for the incorrect parking ticket which was 20p short of the actual tariff.

Lee Taylor, 38, from Normanby, North Yorkshire, was given the penalty charge after parking in a private car park when he took his family to a soft play centre on July 17, 2021.

He paid £3.30 for what he thought was four hours of parking at the Redcar car park owned by Euro Car Parks.

When a £100 fine dropped through the letter box weeks later, the leakage technician and his wife Laura realised they had paid the Monday to Friday price instead of the Saturday price of £3.50 - 20p more expensive - and that the £3.30 only covered three hours of parking.

Mr Taylor says they contacted Euro Car Parks to appeal, offering to pay the 20p difference.


Lee Taylor, 38, from Normanby, North Yorkshire, was served with a £273 debt collection notice and threatened with court action after accidentally paying for the incorrect parking ticket which left him 20p short

But the couple received no response from the company, he claims, until another notice arrived to say the fine had been increased as he had not paid the original fine.

Euro Car Parks, which operates more than 1,000 car parks across the UK, Ireland and Europe, requests for all appeals to be made in writing.

A few weeks later, the company sent Mr Taylor another letter containing a £273 debt collection notice and also threatened court action.


The West Dyke Road car park, owned by Euro Car Parks, where Mr Taylor and his family parked in the summer

Mr Taylor told Teesside Live: 'I realised I had made a genuine mistake and had paid the Monday to Friday price instead of the Saturday price of £3.50 which meant I was short by 20p.

'I received no change from the machine to indicate we had only paid for three hours.

'There was no way of contacting this company direct and it said to appeal we must do this in writing which we did explaining the mistake and offering to pay what we owed.

'We received no correspondence from Euro Car Parks until a few weeks later when they stated the fine had increased because we hadn’t paid in a certain time.

'Again we appealed in writing stating we hadn’t received anything back from our appeal.

'Another few weeks passed with nothing then suddenly we received a letter from a debt company telling us the debt had been passed onto them and we must now pay £273 off or face court proceedings.

'We contacted the debt company and they basically said there is no way of appealing this anymore and we either paid it or face court.'


Mr Taylor paid £3.30 for what he thought was four hours of parking. However, as Saturday tariffs were 20p more expensive, he had only paid for three hours of parking and was then sent a fine weeks later

Mr Taylor said he and his wife, who have used the Redcar car park before without issues, have 'tried everything to resolve this'.

He added: 'We have been totally ignored.

'I feel this is all a way of these companies exploiting and scaring people into paying these unreasonable fees.

'This has caused us much distress and I would hate it to happen to lots of other people.'

Mr Taylor said he and his wife usually pay for parking at the West Dyke Road car park by phone but on that occasion paid using cash.

MailOnline has approached Euro Car Parks for comment.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10168731/Father-hit-fine-threatened-court-action-20p-discrepancy-car-park-ticket.html

 


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