Glasgow City - Parking fine how do I fight it?

[rb67]

Hi

I received a parking ticket from Glasgow CC after the parking sticker I had purchased ran out of time, by 15 minutes. The machine would only accept my £1.00 coin and would not recognise the addition 2x20p pieces that I put in.

 

The machine was marked £1.00 per hour but also showed smaller denomination coins.

 

I wrote to them explaining the situation using the following text:

 

I received a parking ticket on the 19th December 2012, while parked in the car park located at Collins Street in Glasgow. When parking the car I tried to pay the sum of £1.40 into the parking machine (an equivalent of just over 80 minutes), but the machine would only recognise the full £1.00 coin value, and allow for the 60 minute parking period.

I believe the ticket was unjustly issued for the following reasons:

 

1. An hourly parking rate is provided on the ticket machine but this does not specify that parking is to be paid on a flat hourly fee.
   
2. The location does not allow any form of flexibility if further monies are required and is therefore not fit for purpose in the location which it is located. I would suggest a more flexible system would be a debit card system.
   
3. I would not have been recorded as staying beyond my allotted time if the machine had accepted the £1.40 payment made at the first attempt.
   

I am a law-abiding citizen, who looked to park his car in a designated parking area, and who has fallen fowl of the inflexibility of the parking arrangements in this car park, and I would ask that the penalty charge notice be waived in this case.

I enclose photographs of the ticket machine and other relevant information, and hope for a speedy resolution of this matter.

 

I received a negative reply to my letter today with a demand to pay up by the 03/02/2013 or miss the reduced rate charge.

 

Any help or guidance as to how to fight this ticket would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Edited January 24, 2013 by rb67

[johnjordan]

Pay up. You only paid for one hour, you overstayed. The fact that the machine wouldn't accept smaller coins is irrelevant.

[scotgal68]

I agree - you won't win with that excuse, take advantage of the reduced rate. GCG are ruthless, if you don't pay, even if you are still disputing it, their pals Scott &Co will send you a wee reminder x

[maroondevo52]

You can usually see how much time you are getting when feeding the machine, I take it you never noticed or does this machine not show you.

[rb67]

The reason I looked to fight it is I tried to pay the extra and had no other change on me. There's nothing adjacent to get more cash.

The machine only registered the large coin and although it recognised the 20p it didn't add to the time.

[maroondevo52]

The machine only registered the large coin and although it recognised the 20p it didn't add to the time.

 

Trying to prove that's going to be the problem.

[ims21]

Don't these councils charge for whole units.

 

I mean up to one hour is, say £1 - up to 2 hours is, say £2.50.

 

So if you put in £1.40 it is not enough to get you to the next chargeable period i.e. 2 hours. You have effectivley given them 40p as a gift because you haven't paid enough to pay for the next hour.

[green_and_mean]

If its marked £1 per hour then it would be £2 for 2 hours, if you used a drinks vending machine that was £1 for a coffee would you put £1.50 in and then expect a cup and a half of coffee to come out?