Thank you for your quick reply. So do you think that they will indeed summon my husband to court anyway but that they won't be able to prove anything? Quote: This won't get to court for many reasons, but some to reassure yourself on are; a) you DID shop in Topps therefore were entitled to use their car park. b) they will summons your husband who can categorically state he was not driving the car and did not park in the car park. End of case.

I posted on here last year about getting a ticket from Central Ticketing. Having read a lot of the posts I decided to take the action of ignoring them and I am now beginning to wonder if I have made a mistake. The 'offence' although I don't think there was one took place in November last year when I parked (my husband's car) in a Topps Tile car park which I was going to shop in but before going into this shop went to look in a window of a shop next door to it. Topps Tiles and this other shop are on a main road and the car park up until that point had previously had no restrictions on it and too be honest I never noticed the signs as I was not expecting there to be any having parked there numerous times before. Anyway I did indeed go into Topps Tiles a few minutes later and purchased some sample tiles and left (I have the receipt) only to find I had a ticket. Just to make it clear, even though this car park is now manned by Central Ticketing it is still a free car park but the rule is that you are only allowed to park there if you are going to Topps Tiles. So you don't pay to park there anyway. Anyway I chose to ignore it and recieved a collections agency letter in January the 23rd saying I had until January the 19th to pay! How stupid is that, but anyway I paniced a bit but decided once again to ignore as I was passed the due date to pay anyway as the letter from them was late. Today I have now had a letter from a company stating that it is a Legal notification and that they are going to start legal proceedings and that if we don't pay the now sum of £143.00 they will take legal proceedings. They say I would be liable for the court costs, that a Credit reference agency bureuaux will be advisedto register any judgement, that credit will be difficult for me to get in the future and that if a judgement is obtained application can be made to enforce the judgement by way of seizure of goods or an attachment of earnings or a charging order placed on property. To top it off the letter says I only have until the 27th of March to pay and I only received the letter today the 30th! Can someone please advise me on what to do? The car is in my husbands name but I am insured to drive it and he was not with me on the day but at work. I do have a reciept to prove I did shop in Topps Tiles but I don't have the original ticket as my husband binned it. I don't actually think the letter has came from a legal firm. It says that it is Charles Howard and Partners and that they have been instructed by CCS Collections to do this but at the bottom of the letter in very small print it states that Charles Howard & Partners is a trading style of Commercial Collection Services Ltd. So is this just the Collections agency trying to make themselves look like a legal firm? Any advice would be appreciated as I am not sure if ignoring this was really the best way to go. My husband thinks I should just bin this letter but I'm worried. Please help.

Did you not hear anything again after that? Could I end up with a CCJ? Can that affect your credit rating?

Thanks for the replies. Do you think I should contact Topps Tiles to complain? I'm a bit nervous about doing just nothing but at the same time there is no way on earth that I will pay this parking ticket. I've read in some posts that people have gone to the police, what can they do?

Hi there, I received a parking ticket today from Central Ticketing and I would like your advice on how to deal with it. I was parking in Tops Tiles car park, a place in which I have parked many times before free of charge and there have never previously been any parking restrictions. Today I decided to go and look for tiles for my bathroom. I noticed there were signs on the lamp posts and had a quick scan of what it said. It stated that parking was free as long as you didn't stay longer than 2hrs and you where shopping at the location and you didn't walk out of the carpark on foot. I knew I wasn't going to be very long so I got out of the car with my baby daughter and proceeded to head to the shop. The shop has closed it's entrance via the carpark since the last time I was there so I had to leave the car park on foot via the same way I drove in. When exiting on foot I noticed a sign in a neighbouring shop that caught my interest went to look at what it said spoke to someone then turned back and headed in to Tops tiles where I was in the shop for approximately 15-20 minutes. After making my purchase I came out I had a parking ticket stating Abused Patron Parking and saying I had to pay £60! I presume it was because I went and looked in another shop window for a few minutes before coming back to make my purchase at the shop I was parked at. I can't understand how I should have to pay a fine for £60 (increasing to £85 if I don't pay within 14 days) if the carpark is free in the first place and never used to have any restriction on it. Also, I didn't have any choice but to exit the carpark on foot as the shop now has the carpark entrance door stating for Staff use only and I didn't shop in the other store only looked at the window display and spoke to someone about it. It does say you can appeal but I'd like to get some advice please. I have a receipt for my purchase with the date and time as proof I was in the store and the time difference between the ticket being issued and my purchase is 21 minutes. Also the car I was driving isn't registered to me but to my husband so could he get into trouble for this? Any advice would be appreciated.