Hello,
I am after some guidance. To summarise I received a parking charge notice dated 26/07/2025, concerning an alleged breach of the maximum stay time on 17/06/2025, the allowed time was 120 mins however I genuinely believed it was 180. I stayed for 137mins.
This occurred on the premises car park of a home bargains store, to which I then approached the store and specifically to a very polite and understanding store manager, He kindly took the original ticket, explained that he would email the parking company on my behalf, and reassured me that the charge would be cancelled.
Unfortunately, despite this, I later received further correspondence demanding an increased payment. I reattended the store and spoke to another manager, who again apologised for the error, confirmed the ticket should be cancelled as a goodwill gesture, and reassured me that he would contact the parking company. Since then, I have revisited on several occasions and spoken with multiple managers, one of whom even showed me an email sent to the parking company in front of me.
Despite these reassurances, I am still receiving increasingly threatening letters, to which now I have no right to appeal directly with the parking company, and they have now instructed direct collection bailiffs ltd. to collect payment, with a final charge of £170. DCBL state I risk a CCJ based on the letter.
Just to confirm, I have had no direct contact with DCBl or the parking company, only the store who stated they had cancelled the ticket on multiple occasions.
I have evidence of the store manager of home bargains sending emails to the parking company to cancel the ticket, as well as names of managers spoken to and dates when I attended and was told the matter would be cancelled.
I’m unsure if there has been some miscommunication between the store and the parking company, however I am still receiving parking fines.
Given the above and the promise from the store (on multiple occasions) that they would cancel the ticket, is there a leg I have to stand on in regards to not paying the fine?
Any help is appreciated.
Lesson learnt, hopefully, you get EVERYTHING in writing, especially any promises by staff that they are going to actually do something.
Do you at least have a copy of the Notice to Keeper (NtK) that you handed over to the store manager? If so, lease post a copy of both the front and back to it, redacting only your personal details, the PCN number and the VRM of the car. Leave ALL dates and times visible.
As for the useless debt recovery letters, you can safely ignore all those. Debt collectors are powerless to actually do anything except to try and intimidate the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying out of ignorance and fear.
You don't have to do anything until you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC).