Parking fine...treating hypo!!!

eventhorizon said:

If it's a council car park contact them, they'll probably waive the fine. If it's a private car park ignore the letters. You've had the first letter, you'll get another with the fine doubled. Then cos they're such nice people they'll send another offering to accept some reduced amount or further action will be taken. About 2 weeks later you'll get a letter from some made up debt recovery service. Just a different letterhead but from the same parking company. Do nothing and that will be the last you ever hear from them. At least that's been my experience from quite a few parking mistakes.

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Don't ignore the parking fine letters anymore,the law has changed( England).Write to the company explain the issues and reasons surrounding your overstay ,but don't ignore them.

What a marvellous thread. Absolutely classic.
Chinese whispers, with misquoting and false accusations adding to the mix.

This is what the original poster actually said in their posts on the subject:

stellson said:

Today i received a £70 parking fine from a private company for overstaying by 20 minutes. My reason for overstaying and not moving my car within the time allowed is that I was legally not safe to drive as I was abiding by the DVLA regulations and treating my hypo to raise it to 5mmols and then waiting 45 minutes to ensure the safety of me, my baby and other drivers.

I've not contacted parking company as im waiting on a call back from citizens advice about this however if I don't pay within 8 days they'll increase the charge and take it further....so was I to risk all these lives and break the law???? Confused.....

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stellson said:

Thanks very much, I'll have a look at that. No obe with me except my baby...i do have my libre as evidence i was under 5mmol at the time i was parked there. I've not contacted the company yet as just got the fine letter through the door today after work. My plan is to contact them tomorrow. Don't hold out much hope tbh but I'm gony fight this.

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stellson said:

Why not?

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stellson said:

Although not sure of legalities around driving with a wrenched ankle i would see this as a genuine medical reason for not being able to move the car and expect some leniency.. of course i wouldnt try to avoid paying if i was simply late back from shopping however in the case of it not being legal or safe at the time I felt the was the right choice, I bet all the other drivers on the road at that time would agree. Either way I wasn't going to win I suppose.

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stellson said:

Thanks ladybird

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That is it. That is all the original poster has said on the subject.
- no mention of where their hypo took place
- no mention of whether they were anywhere near the car or the car park when the hypo took place
- no mention of a car park attendant being present
- mention of a letter being the first they knew of the fine.
- mention of having Libre evidence that they were under 5mmol during the time they parked there.

But that hasn't stopped various other posters have taken these few facts and run with them to an amazing level.
- we've had declarations that the original poster should have got out of the car (the car we don't know if they were in)
- that the parking attendant should have seen the hypo and been lenient (what attendant?)
- that this situation is directly comparable to the original poster dying or being rushed to hospital (huh?)
- out of date legislation has been quoted (everyone is a pub lawyer, apparently)

Poor original poster. I would love them to come back and say how they got on with the Citizens Advice Bureau, and what the outcome of their appeal has been. But if I were them, I wouldn't come near this thread again. The amount of twisting and inaccuracies, and false interpretations that have gone on, must be shocking to them.

And as for the comments that have been aimed at me - good grief.
If anyone can be bothered to go back and read what I have actually posted, they will see how most of the attacks aimed at me are based on not reading properly, or taking the exaggerated claims elsewhere on the thread and enlarging them. Putting words in my mouth that other people have claimed I said, when my posts did not say that.
Bizarre, but definitely no reason for insults and petty sniping.
(Edited to add: most of these have now been edited out by mods, so you can't see them in all their glory now)

Only one of the criticisms aimed at me is actually reasonable - the one by @jharding telling me that I had over simplified things.
Yup. Guilty as charged, m'lud.
You work with the tools at hand.

Anyway, 'nuff said.
I just hope the original poster doesn't think that this is what the forum is really like!
Bye.

Please could the bickering stop. The OP started this thread for support and understanding. It's a pity that some members feel unable to provide that.

Any further comments that are not relevant to the OP's situation regarding a possible waiver of a parking fine due to unforeseen circumstances may be deleted.

These private parking companies have sprung up all over the place;usually on motorway service stations. They have no statutory enforcement powers like police and councils and rely on scare tactics and mimicking fixed penalty notices. The only way they could recover a payment would be through civil courts as a debt. This is a time consuming process and is unlikely to be pursued. I've never known that happen; but that's not to say it won't.They'd have to prove the identity of the driver and other evidential require ments and for the amount involved it wouldn't be cost effective. However once you make contact and admit responsibility it makes it easier for them if they wish to pursue you through the courts.

While I appreciate you would not have thought about this in the moment, I would have asked one of the other passengers to simply get a new parking ticket.

But that is easier said than done.

Dorgeler said:

While I appreciate you would not have thought about this in the moment, I would have asked one of the other passengers to simply get a new parking ticket.

But that is easier said than done.

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The OP says her only passenger was her baby. She acted correctly prioritising treating her hypo, in my opinion, and hopefully the parking company will understnd that.

Have a look on the Martin Lewis site. Im sure theres a part on there about parking and fines..

Im sure i read that parking fines are not enforceable if its not issued by a traffic warden.

Just because you can't drive, doesn't mean you can't go and buy another parking ticket. I doubt a parking company would quibble if you at least tried to pay for the extra parking.

Having said that, it would seem worth writing to the parking company and explaining what happened.

I think the logical thing to do would be to contact the car park company (in writing by Recorded Delivery) and explain what happened and also send any documentation to support the problem). If they accept it then fine, if they don't accept it then it would really be best to pay the fine as it can get very expensive letting a debt go to Court for recovery.

I think the best thing all round would be for all carparks to change their payment system. Some round here use the "pay as you leave" system rather than "pay as you arrive". Our hospital uses this system, and it works brilliantly.

Jacquihogan said:

Just because you can't drive, doesn't mean you can't go and buy another parking ticket. I doubt a parking company would quibble if you at least tried to pay for the extra parking.

Having said that, it would seem worth writing to the parking company and explaining what happened.

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We don't know how far the OP was from a ticket machine. I imagine her priority was her baby and correcting her hypo - and rightly so.

Jacquihogan said:

Just because you can't drive, doesn't mean you can't go and buy another parking ticket.

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It can be difficult for a diabetic to walk or even think clearly during a hypo, and might be unsafe depending on the circumstances.

stellson said:

Today i received a £70 parking fine from a private company for overstaying by 20 minutes. My reason for overstaying and not moving my car within the time allowed is that I was legally not safe to drive as I was abiding by the DVLA regulations and treating my hypo to raise it to 5mmols and then waiting 45 minutes to ensure the safety of me, my baby and other drivers.

I've not contacted parking company as im waiting on a call back from citizens advice about this however if I don't pay within 8 days they'll increase the charge and take it further....so was I to risk all these lives and break the law???? Confused.....

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Hello

This happened to me at Lidls not only do have I have Diabetes T1 in addition I am disabled with a Blue Badge. I was fined £90 for 5 mins over the time. They ignored all my responses. Lidl uses a different parking company so they threw their hands-up 'nothing to do with us' #lidlsurprises

stellson said:

Today i received a £70 parking fine from a private company for overstaying by 20 minutes. My reason for overstaying and not moving my car within the time allowed is that I was legally not safe to drive as I was abiding by the DVLA regulations and treating my hypo to raise it to 5mmols and then waiting 45 minutes to ensure the safety of me, my baby and other drivers.

I've not contacted parking company as im waiting on a call back from citizens advice about this however if I don't pay within 8 days they'll increase the charge and take it further....so was I to risk all these lives and break the law???? Confused.....

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This happened to me a few years ago on a council car park. I appealed the fine within the 8 days and was told that if my appeal was rejected then I would be given 8 days (from the day of the decision) to pay the fine amount before it gets increased after the 8 days. I hope that makes sense? That was a council and not private company though. However I did win my appeal and didn't have to pay anything. Good luck with it, it would be so unfair if you still had to pay for trying to be a safe driver.

les74 said:

These private parking companies have sprung up all over the place;usually on motorway service stations. They have no statutory enforcement powers like police and councils and rely on scare tactics and mimicking fixed penalty notices. The only way they could recover a payment would be through civil courts as a debt. This is a time consuming process and is unlikely to be pursued. I've never known that happen; but that's not to say it won't.They'd have to prove the identity of the driver and other evidential require ments and for the amount involved it wouldn't be cost effective. However once you make contact and admit responsibility it makes it easier for them if they wish to pursue you through the courts.

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I agree with this. I roundly ignored one of these companies. They sent many letters including some threatening to take me to county court. We don't even have these courts in Scotland. This company had no jurisdiction or power and had wrongly assumed I was driving. They eventually gave up. Moneysavingexpert is a good forum for advice as it can vary depending on which country you live in.

Good luck OP

@stellson is there a method of payment at the car park if staying over the free 2hr limit? rightly so you were by law unable to move the car, however once you had recovered from the hypo and returned to the car could you not have paid for the extra time? That's the only thing the company could pull you up on.

If using the 'unable to drive by law' get out clause works I can see some people trying it on saying they had to wait until their blood alcohol wasn't over the legal limit!

I hope common sense prevails.

stellson said:

Today i received a £70 parking fine from a private company for overstaying by 20 minutes. My reason for overstaying and not moving my car within the time allowed is that I was legally not safe to drive as I was abiding by the DVLA regulations and treating my hypo to raise it to 5mmols and then waiting 45 minutes to ensure the safety of me, my baby and other drivers.

I've not contacted parking company as im waiting on a call back from citizens advice about this however if I don't pay within 8 days they'll increase the charge and take it further....so was I to risk all these lives and break the law???? Confused.....

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If you telephone or write to the parking company, explaining your circumstances they will probably cancel the fine. They are usually quite sympathetic if they know the situation, of course the best way of avoiding this is to make sure you are above the limit in plenty of time before the parking time is up. The law states you should carry a testing kit with you when driving.