I parked a hire car at a train station before Christmas and paid the parking charge online from my phone on the train as I was running late. A few weeks later the hire company contact me to say that they have paid a PCN on my behalf and they’d like me to pay them back plus an admin fee.

I knew that I’d paid so appealed it with the parking company along with all the evidence. They’ve come back to me today to say that my appeal has been rejected as although they accept that I paid for the correct amount of parking, I entered a 0 (zero) instead of a O (letter O) on the registration …

Now I think this is bang out of order. Especially as the parking company consider the case closed as they have been paid by the car hire people!

Any tips? Is there an ombudsman for this kind of cowboys?

Contact POPLA – but you have to get some special reference number from the Parking Company before you do this – and all within a certain time period. I think in this case POPLA would side with you – simple clerical error.

You might just have to take it on the chin as he hire car company have paid up. Is it a big fine?

I agree it sucks though – that’s quite pedantic still fining you if the whole numberplate is correct with just a 0 instead of an O.

Wonder if an actual person ticketed you – sounds like it could be an automatic numberplate recognition type scenario. Computer says no basically.

Pay the car hire people and chase the parking company for it back.

I’d say your not liable, if the hire company just blindly paid for it, that’s thier own stupid fault really.

I’d get advice from POPLA in the first instance though, but don’t delay.

surfdad
Any tips? Is there an ombudsman for this kind of cowboys?

Does ombudsman actually work (I mean effective) for ordinary people?

Parking company won’t have ‘paid blindly’ – there’ll be somewhere in the T&C’s that say you are liable for any fines incurred and they aren’t going to examine and contest any that come in before reacting, they have your details / CC and will just bill you as per the T&C’s on the assumption.

Normally I’d say that your point of appeal is to the land owner (even though technically you are in the wrong for putting the wrong reg in, they might be reasonable about it), so I’d approach them with the situation and ask them to ask the parking co to cancel it, but as said if the parking co have been paid already even if that works then chasing it back to get them to reimburse the hire car company so they can reimburse you, will probably take an eternity and more stamps than currently in circulation!

I would also be approaching the hire car company with the details too and getting them to chase it from their side, but it’s on their goodwill to do that really…. and as they’ve got your card details and have been reimbursed, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Morally you are in the right, technically in the wrong, so relies really on someone doing the right thing as far as I can see. And from my experience of both PPC’s and Hire Car companies…….. sod all chance.

I don’t know if you can POPLA a fine that’s already been paid, but might be worth trying.

I don’t know if you can POPLA a fine that’s already been paid, but might be worth trying.

Good point, now that I think about it. And having considered it, unless there’s a way you can stop the hire company getting money off you (report card as lost, get new, explain situation to hire and tell them to get their money back), and they get the charge plus admin, then I wouldn’t be too hopeful. Between you, parking cowboys and POPLA, I reckon you’d be ok. Between you, hire company and parking cowboys with the invoice paid, not much hope I think, sadly.

Get onto Watchdog on the Beeb, they like this sort of stuff.

Regarding the miss typed reg no, I did something similar at  Stoke waterworld  years ago and they let it slide. I was very surprised as the place was full of loathsome notices telling how they’d come after you for any and every parking transgression.

My conclusion was that they knew that if it had gone to court then they knew that they’d lose.

I reckon you’re in the same boat with your 0/O

Hire company complicates it somewhat, but hopefully answers part answers part of your query.

Get onto Watchdog on the Beeb, they like this sort of stuff.

Tell them it was a potential death trap.

I had a similar experience in Cheltenham with a hire car. Wrong location code entered due to some glitch in app. I paid up including the admin fee then claimed it back thru the appeals process

Thanks all. I’m going to speak to the hire car company and explain the situation, see if they have any appetite to help me take on the fine (pigs might fly, I know)

Regarding the miss typed reg no, I did something similar at  Stoke waterworld  years ago and they let it slide.

Applause.

I did something similar.

I was staying overnight in the Travelodge in Tamworth Service station – nothing but the best for me!. I had a hire car and used the Reg written on the key fob when I checked in. I’m not sure where the error was but it was one character different from the Reg on the car. Two weeks later I get a letter from Avis saying they’ve charged £250 to my credit card. £200 penalty charge from the car park owners and a £50 Avis admin fee!

I got on the phone to the Manager in the Tamworth Travelodge and he said this happens all the time. He in turn spoke to the car park operators who immediately refunded the £200 charge. The thing is they refunded Avis who had paid on my behalf. This is when the fun started.

Avis were now up £450. The £250 they had taken from my credit card and the £200 refund they had received from the car park. After dozens of emails and calls to Avis they finally confirmed that they had received the £200 refund but even then they wanted to keep the admin fee. After another few stroppy calls they finally relented and gave me the £50 as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

I got there in the end but it was a ball-ache. Good luck to the OP.

Surely your dispute is with the hire firm now, not the parking company. By paying up the hire firm have effectively taken away any right to an appeal on your behalf. I’d say let them come after you, they’d probably soon give up. Even if it means requesting a new card so they can’t take a payment automatically.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of it, it’s a standard clause in a hire car contract that they will pay any fine on your behalf and then pass the costs onto you (plus an admin fee). By the time you’ve found about it they will have already charged your card.

Check the contract small print.   If it refers to paying “fines” then argue that a parking charge is not a fine. It is an invoice for breach of contract, or a charge.

I’d be trying a chargeback if the Hire company won’t refund you.

Eddiethegent wrote:

Avis were now up £450. The £250 they had taken from my credit card and the £200 refund they had received from the car park.

Sorry to be picky, but they were only up £250 net, as they’d paid £200 originally.

takisawa2 wrote:

Surely your dispute is with the hire firm now, not the parking company.

Good luck with that – as mentioned they are just following their T&Cs. The only way to get this resolved is through the parking company appeals process – the fact the hire company have paid shouldn’t affect that process (though it will clearly make it more difficult to get the money back).