Free Traffic Legal Advice

I prepared a word document with all the evidence that I was planning to attached to the formal representation.
How does this look?

Thanks in advance!


Penalty Charge Notice Number RT38689757
Date of issue 25/06/2023 at 13:14
Location of contravention SHEEN RD RICHMOND (CPZ A1)
Vehicle Registration Number V462LGW
Contravention 06P - Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher (pay & display)

1. Parking without displaying a valid pay & display ticket/voucher

While I did not have a “pay & display” ticket, I did have a valid parking permit covering this time, purchased through Richmond’s cashless/ticketless parking provider (“RingGo”).
Contravention 06P should not apply when a ticketless voucher has been purchased.

The Penalty Charge was issued at 1:14 PM.
My parking permit covered a 1-hour period between “1:04 PM - 2:04 PM”

See Appendix A for the Ringgo Invoice, showing the start/end time of the purchased parking ticket.



2. CO2 Discount
In response to my appeal, you have changed the argument from “Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket” to having purchased a ticket with a CO2 discount to which I was not entitled.
Application of this discount was wholly out of my control.
I was in no way able to control application of the discount, or aware that you were applying one.
a. The discount was applied automatically by London Borough of Richmond / their parking provider.
b. There is/was no way for me to request/not request the discount when purchasing a ticket through RingGo.
See Appendix B for screenshots from the RingGo App when purchasing a parking ticket. None of the screens include option for
c. There is no indication when purchasing the ticket that a discount was going to be applied.
The only indication of any discount being applied would be the confirmation page showing a total of £3.05 instead of the advertised rate of £3.40. It does not state that this was a CO2 discount.
If I had noticed the discrepancy, my only assumption would be that it was due to the 10% residents discount, to which I am eligible.

3. Resolution from RingGo Customer Care:
I have contacted RingGo directly to inquire about the CO2 discount mentioned in your response to my initial appeal.
In their email response, a representative named Carolyn acknowledged that the inclusion of the wording “CO2 discount of £0.35” on my invoice was an error.
They attributed this error to the age of my car, where unfortunately, the information was not held on the DVLA website and did not automatically populate on their system. Carolyn confirmed that that I have been charged correctly for the parking session.


See Appendix C for the email dated 21 September 2023 from RingGo customer support.
• The “(including CO2 discount of £0.35)” was incorrectly showing on my invoice
• They confirm that I was charged correctly.

4. Residence discount
The discrepancy between advertised parking rate of £3.40 and charged amount of £3.05 would be better explained as a resident’s discount.
Richmond residents should receive a 10% (£0.34) discount on parking rates.

My RingGo account is correctly registered with my residents status, as I am able to book tickets up to 30 minutes without charge, as shown in the screenshot below:
<screenshot of RingGo payment confirmation for £0.00, for a 15 min ticket>


In this case, the RingGo invoice gets marked as ‘dispensation’:
<screenshot of invoice showing £0.00, description is Dispensation: Sheen Road, Richmond Town (A1) (5431)>



Appendix A - Ringo Invoice Screenshot of the RinnGo Invoice, showing the ticket was valid at time PCN was issued.
Appendix B - Screenshots of each page in the RingGo app no options to request a CO2 discount
Appendix C - Email response from RingGo customer support stating I was charged correctly.

Hi All,


I got a reply from Ringo:
https://imgur.com/a/36bSBmp

I am writing to advise that the "(including CO2 discount of £0.35)" on your invoice was incorrectly showing on your invoice.  We believe this happened because of the age of your car, where unfortunately, the information is not held on the DVLA website and therefore did not automatically populate on our system.  It appears that this was a one off error, we have checked the other invoices on your account and these are correct and no showing this discount.

The bad news ...
Today I received a Charge Certificate.
I'm certain I never received the Notice to Owner, though the certificate says it was issued on 30/08.

Do I have no options to appeal this now?
Now I have a £90 fee for a £0.35 discount Ringo says they incorrectly applied.

Appreciate the advice,

Ravi

Thanks @cp8759 .

As a test, I tried buying a few additional parking tickets, to see if it still shows co2 (and to make sure I didn't miss something in the ringgo app to request the discount).



On the 11th, I first bought a ticket for 15 mins. It should have been £1, but came as as free.
The second ticket - purchased within 60 mins of the first expiring - was full price, and didn't show any co2 discount.
The third, purchased the next day, showed the co2 discount again.


This seems in-line with Richmond residents parking discount (https://www.richmond.gov.uk/richmond_card_for_parking)

If you live in the borough and hold a Richmond Card, you can get 30 minutes free parking in our:
..
You can only park for a single session for a period of up to 30 minutes. If you wish to park for longer you must pay for the total duration of your stay, but as a resident you will receive a 10% discount

The current advertised parking fees (gone up since I got the PCN):

• Up to 15 Minutes - £1.00
• 30 Minutes - £1.95
• 45 Minutes - £2.80
• 1 Hour - £3.75

When I try to book in the app, I get these prices:

• [15 mins] FREE
• [30 mins] FREE
• [45 mins] £2.80 - 10% = £2.52 (charge shows as £2.50)
• [60 mins] £3.75 - 10% = £3.375 (charge shows as £3.40)

The same link above also describes the low-emissions discount:

A 50 per cent discount applies on parking charges or parking permits* if you have a Car Tax Band A vehicle

I clearly didn't receive 50% discount.

If I try other cars with low emission number plates, the charge is £1.90 for 1 hour (same for two cars, one with residents permit, one without)


I think that they have just mislabelled the residents discount on the Ringo VAT receipt.

Hi All,

I received a PCN for parking without a ticket. The PCN states:

• Vehicle observed from: 25/06/2023 13:05:00
• Contravention date and time: 25/06/2023 13:14:00

However, I purchased the parking ticket via Ringgo.
My ringo pdf receipt states:

• 25/06/2023 1:04 PM - 25/06/2023 2:04 PM 1 hours

I contested this, providing the Ringo receipt as evidence.
It came back yesterday, with stating the PCN still stands:

The PCN was issued because your vehicle was observed parked in a pay and display bay, enforced Monday to Saturday, 8:30am to 6:30pm, Sundays and Bank Holidays 11am to 5pm without activating or displaying valid parking rights.

You say that you purchased a RingGo cashless parking session for the material time and you have submitted your RingGo receipt to support your case.

I have reviewed your receipt and can advise that you paid for a session that included a CO2 discount however after making enquiries with the DVLA, I can confirm that your vehicle is not entitled to this discount (see below). On this basis, your paid for parking session was not valid and this consequently, the Civil Enforcement Officer issued a PCN.

It is the responsibility of the motorist to ensure the correct parking rights are applied to a vehicle where relevant, if a PCN is to be avoided.

Looking at the Ringgo receipt, it does state they have given me a CO2 discount of £0.35 (ticket cost after discount = £3.05).

The receipt also shows my engine size, as Ringo have looked this up from DVLA database.


I have never requested a CO2 discount, and I can't find any setting in my Ringo Profile that would suggest I can request one.
When buying a ticket, I am only asked for location code, duration and car-reg.

If I log into the Ringgo website, I can see next to my saved vehicles, that they have correctly looked up my car engine size ("1390cc") from DVLA.
Other cars in my profile have both engine size + emissions listed (eg. "112g/km;1560cc").
Regardless, this is something that Ringgo looks up - I have no way of setting/editing this.
From the app, you can't see this information (only visible from web).


I also have a Richmond residents permit, which should have made me eligible for 30mins free parking, but they have for unknown reasons not deducted this (again, I have no manual way to request this - it was linked by the council when applying for the permit).



What to do next?
I don't see what I could have done differently, other than not use the app.
I could have just used the ticket machine, and I would have got free 30 mins parking anyway - I was back to my car within 40 mins, and could have speeded up my trip.


Should I contest this further and risk paying the full charge, or have I done something wrong here and should just pay up?


Thanks for you help!



PCN:




Response from council after appeal:






Ringgo Receipt:



Ringgo Vehicles - my car is the one at the top, and for some reason doesn't have co2 data.
I don't have anyway to modify this, as it seems to be pulled from dvla.