3. Brent Council have fined me 3 times in a week for not understanding their new third party parking system
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Brent Council have fined me 3 times in a week for not understanding their new third party parking system
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Hello.

I have been parking (with a resident permit) in front of my house in Brent (NW London) for over 8 years, and have always renewed my resident permit when needed. In May 2025, I received an automatic email notifying me my permit would expire soon, and I went online and renewed it for a further 2 years.


For the whole of June, my car remained parked in front of my house with no problem, and suddenly, last week, in the space of 7 days I received 3 parking fines. I challenged the first one (still waiting for a reply), and the further 2 were put on my windowscreen after that. When I went online to my council account to double check, the online portal displayed the (attached) message, stating the permit "expires 26 May 2027", and so I understood from that it was fine. The only option when clicking into the permit "edit" page is to "cancel", and the "renew" button is greyed out. There is no information there suggesting I needed to do anything further.


So I phoned the council last week to report I thought they had issued the fines in error, and they informed me I had been granted the permit but had not "validated" it by paying their new third party provider (RingGo). Apparently it is now a 2-step process, but this is very unclear. I have since submitted an FOI request to see how many other Brent residents have renewed their permitted but failed to go on to complete this second step, and am waiting to receive the information.


Is there a way I can challenge the 3 parking fines? I can prove that I renewed the permit and uploaded the required proof of vehicle ownership documents by the deadline, and clearly I thought I had completed the process. The council's newly designed permit process (outsourced to RingGo) is VERY user unfriendly, and I note others have clearly also struggled with this recently (see: https://www.ftla.uk/civil-penalty-charge-notices-(councils-tfl-and-so-on)/brent-council-parking-charge-3-consecutive-days-due-to-change-of-vehicle-new-rin/)!


All advice very gratefully received, thanks!


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Re: Brent Council have fined me 3 times in a week for not understanding their new third party parking system
« Reply #1 on: »
Please post your representations to the first PCN. If you have now found out how to "validate" your permit by paying Ringo, can you tell us how this works on the website. Show screen captures if necessary. You say it is now a 2-step process but is unclear. If you are to win at London Tribunals, you must show how unclear it is.

Before this process, how did you make payment ?

For PCNs 2 & 3 you must submit reps or pay; don't miss that deadline or you'll lose any appeal options you may have. So just submit similar reps as for PCN 1 but this time point out that you sinced your received a previous PCN was not informed of this change as a customer of the council, nor is the Ringo payment process clear.
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Re: Brent Council have fined me 3 times in a week for not understanding their new third party parking system
« Reply #2 on: »
In May 2025, I received an automatic email notifying me my permit would expire soon, and I went online and renewed it for a further 2 years.

This is the council's web page which sets out clearly that permits must be purchased from RingGo to do which a person needs a RingGo account.

'To buy a resident parking permit you will need a RingGo account.'

https://www.brent.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/parking/parking-permits/resident-parking-permit

How did 'I went online and renewed' compare to this? How were you even able to purchase a permit direct from the council, which is implied in your post? What did the renewal email state(pl post it, don't attempt to describe)?

This web page suggests the system has been in place since 2023.

https://www.northwesttwo.org.uk/brent-council-new-parking-system-ringgo/

Lots of unknowns.
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Re: Brent Council have fined me 3 times in a week for not understanding their new third party parking system
« Reply #3 on: »
Thanks All.

So I totally accept that I got something wrong here, my only contention is that this is because the process is very unclear on their web platform. The council has since advised me that I received this email (copied below), and it does indeed state that I needed to go to this third party to make a payment and 'authorise' the permit. I didn't spot that bit, I saw that it also states "valid from May 2025 - May 2027". NB: the random characters are in the original email I received.

"Dear xxxx,Â

Your permit application has been authorised ready for you to purchase your parking session.

We will check any documentation provided and we will contact you if we need any more information.

How to use your permit

You can buy sessions using the RingGo App* on iOS and Android, via your RingGo account on the website or by calling 020 3046 0005.

*The RingGo App can be downloaded for free in the Apple Store for iOS devices and in the Play Store for Android devices.Â

How will I know when my permit is due to expire?

You will get reminders that your permit is due to expire 14 and 7 days beforehand so you can renew your application. Â

To ensure that you renew your permit, we suggest entering the expiry date onto your smartphone calendar now, which we have found has assisted many other permit holders.

The information below shows the details of your permit. This is important information that you may need to quote or use when managing your permit.

Permit type: Resident for zone: CPZ MW (47804)
Permit application valid from:Â 27 May 25 00:00Â to:Â 26 May 27 23:59

Permit Reference ID:Â 28923846

Kind Regards,

Brent Parking Team

Healthy Streets and Parking"

Meanwhile on the web platform itself, as in the screenshots I provided, "Renew" appears blacked out. A council representative has since emailed me explaining "At that point if you selected renew or purchase you would have successfully purchased your permit". I have since done that.

The last time I bought my permit was in 2023, via a different system, and when the new system was introduced I received this email: "Parking permits you have purchased on the old parking permit system (DASH) have successfully been transferred across to the new permit portal (RingGo). You are unable to view your permit, but the permit is valid and can be seen by parking enforcement officers on their hand-held devices when they check. You will not be ticketed if you have a valid parking permit, even if it does not show on the RingGo system. We will contact you by email when your existing permit is close to its expiry date." So, I didn't think much of the fact this new permit wasn't showing up on my online account, because I had been told it wouldn't.

My challenge to the first PCN (submitted before receiving the more detailed instructions from the council by email earlier this week) reads "I have a residential parking permit (28923846) valid until 26 May 2027 for BT16NFH in CPZ MW, see attached screenshot from my Brent resident parking account."

I haven't yet challenged the other 2 PCNs (my vehicle wasn't move between PCN 2 & 3, so not sure if they're allowed to double fine me for the same contravention?), but will do now.
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  3. Brent Council have fined me 3 times in a week for not understanding their new third party parking system