Islington Parking Services Revisited

After all that was said about Islington Parking Services last month in
relation to my "Vauxhall/Blue" parking ticket in London (This is the
one that happens to have my bike registration plate) I decided that I
should just believe the tubby that the ticket was cancelled and leave
it as a shitty letter wouldn't do anything as I was just overreacting
to the situation about my bogus parking ticket.

Yesterday I received a letter from them saying that I still haven't
paid the £100 fee and that it is now too late to appeal against the
penalty and that if I don't pay the new £150 fine they will register
the penalty charge as a debt at the County Court who will put the case
in the hands of bailiffs who will add their own costs to the penalty
charge when they visit.

Next time I'll just send the shitty letter in the first place and not
worry about overreacting as it appears that my original reaction would
have been justified.

 

Tell the cunts you'll see them in court. Point out that registering a CC
judgement against you, when it is not your debt, is defamatory - believe
me, it most surely *is* - and that pursuing this course of action will
cost them a hell of a lot of money.

 

You now send an appropriately amended shitty letter to get them to sort
themselves out. At present all that is happening is that computers are
churning out standard letters at standard timescales. You need to force
a human being to intervene and apply some common sense. I had this
complete crap with Camden council where my bike was apparently near
Euston station in a side road earning itself a ticket whereas it was
sitting 10 miles away minding its own business.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Paul Corfield belched forth and ejected the
following:

How did you get out of it, just out of interest?

Did you have to prove your bike wasn't there? It's just that I got a
ticket (in a van) a while back for parking in a restricted street but
the restrictions hadn't come into force. When I complained they said I
was parked on a double yellow. This was bollocks. I wasn't.

I paid

 

BGN wrote

According to Boris Johnson there are more of them than there were civil
servants in Rome running the Empire.

 

If it's any help, I had precisely this problem with Islington last year. It
related to my father's car, which had never been anywhere near the place
stated. And the description they gave was a totally different vehicle. I
did, however, follow the wretched statutory process, and after several
letters, the ticket was cancelled.

May I suggest that you send a recorded delivery letter to the Leader of the
Council - I have her name someplace. State (politely, if you can bear to)
precisely what has happened, and that you are entirely willing to take this
to the Small Claims Court and issue an action against the Council. Also
write to the local paper and the Daily Bile. They are putting the
frighteners on without due cause; if the ticket refers to a totally
different vehicle from that on DVLA, then they've no case to answer.

Have you also reported said fake plates to Plod? I had my number plates
nicked a year back, and I am pretty sure they were used to evade parking
fines and Bloody Ken's Tax.

Ali

 

Sorry, a PS: Islington are now supposed to be photographing all offending
vehicles. Ask them for a copy of both that photo, and the scan they
supposedly took of your tax disc.

Ali

 

The local parking wardens have a ticketing computer with GPS so you are
supposed to get an exact time and accurate location on the ticket and on
top of that a photograph is also taken. If Islington are obliged to do
the same let them take you to court, get a good lawyer and rip them to
pieces.

 

There were no fake plates involved. The idiot just put the wrong
registration mark into his/her little dinky machine - Islington
Parking Services customer services told me this when I called them
originally, but they're still wishing to take me to court.

 

You mong ;-)

I've had similar-ish tickets from Richmond where they've invented some
utterly spurious offence.

Often, simply making representations along the lines of "no I fucking wasn't"
is enough to do the trick - if it's a case of your word against theirs they
often seem to back down[1]. There's no reason not to make representations in
any case - if you do so within 14 days and you fail, you can still pay the
discounted rate, at least round here.

[1] never tried this when I've had a ticket "bang to rights", mind

 

This sounds like a cue for everyone to start carrying their camera with
them and taking pix of the vehicle and street, when you park up......
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack
B12S (The Red Mist), CB450DX (The Moped)
FRJACKUKRM AT GMAIL DOT COM
Red death, to set you free

 

I'd be tempted to ride the bike to court, up the steps, into the chamber, a
couple of killswitch backfires, flip up the visor and shout "DOES THIS LOOK
LIKE A VAUXHALL YOU TARD??!"

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, simonk belched forth and ejected the following:

The thing is, I was on a single yellow before 8am. The ticket I got was
for parking in a restricted street during prescribed hours. The ticket
was issued at 7.50am or somesuch and then they invented the yellow line.

Yes, I was on a yellow line but that's not what I got the ticket
for/what was printed on the ticket.

I don't know if I was bang-to-rights or not.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, simonk belched forth and ejected the following:

And all that before shitting on the beak's desk.

 

.....and send them the legal bill.

 

Ah, that's what happened with my father's car. And yes, IPS finally admitted
as much to me, too. They had input the wrong plate number. Go for it.

Ali

 

You know, if he does that, he might well get serious compensation.... works
for me. Seriously, the magistrates would prolly award costs. Kewl.

Ali

 

You do what I did and others have done. You write to them stating in no
uncertain terms that their version of events is completely untrue. If
you wish to up the ante in terms of being willing to see them in court
or by showing a knowledge of other applicable laws then by all means do
so.

I find writing to Managing Directors [1], Council Leaders or Chief
Executives [2] threatening BBC Watchdog [1], the Evening Standard or the
appropriate statutory regulatory body also works wonders. The burden of
proof is on their shoulders not on yours. Your job is to kick up a
complete bloody stink when they have cocked up and are threatening to
besmirch your good character (see TOG's reply).

[1] I've done this with both Currys and Comet. I will never buy from
them again.
[2] I've used this approach with Westminster City Council and also my
local authority Waltham Forest.

 

Paul Corfield emerged from their own little world to say

..

I take this approach too. I might have one attempt at dealing with customer
services. If that does not work then I track down the name of the relevant
CEO and write to him/her personally.

Disputes with Carphone Warehouse and most recently The Link have been
resolved this way.

 

Paging Veggie!