I am quite keen on traffic wardens. Even the nicest person is inclined to become pathologically selfish when driving and motorists are inclined to do the most outrageously anti-social things if they get the chance. So if I ever do get a parking ticket I just accept it and pay it as soon as possible without complaining. Same goes for speeding tickets, I don’t think there’s ever a justification for speeding. So when I came back to my car in Brixton last week and saw the ticket on the window I went through the five stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) in record time. I had parked in a parking bay on a Red Route and didn’t notice that it was only a parking bay until 13.00, I should have been more careful. By the time I got home I was keen to pay the £50 and get it over and done with. I went to the TFL payments site and typed in my details and that’s when it got difficult. The parking attendant had put the wrong registration number on the ticket. She had got one letter wrong.
So now I’m in a conundrum. I was quite happy to pay the fine but now that I think I don’t have to, I don’t want to. Since the wrong registration number is on the ticket and that number doesn’t exist, according to www.mycarcheck.com, they can’t send me a Notice to Owner or pursue me for the fine because they don’t know who I am. But if the traffic warden took a photo of my car then they will ultimately still be able to track me down and I may have to pay the full £100 fine. Double or quits. And what about the karma thing? Surely if I think parking tickets are fair enough I should pay anyway. I have until 8 August to decide. What do you think?
Pay, and spend the evening spending your accumulated karma points on something really despicable.
I say - take the risk. I agree with you philosophy on tickets. Do the crime, do the time. However, you seem to have a good chance of getting away with it - I bet they wipe those cameras afer a week or so, and the warden won’t know that the ticket is invalid.
I bought a van in April. A week later I got a call from the previous owner to tell me that I had two tickets (with photos) for driving in bus lanes. They had sent it to the wrong address because my details hadnt been processed yet. As of now, I still havent had the tickets sent to me.
I reckon I’m in the clear.
Send the ticket back marked “invalid registration” and request a ticket with the correct registration. Absent mindedly send it without your name and address. Then see if they track you down…
Ooooh, yes, I like Welshkaren’s suggestion, too. Kind of working with karma without *actually having to* work with the karma.
Yes, as usual Karen came up with the most attractive solution. She is the mistress of pragmatic morality. Unfortunately I was paralysed by the previous two ideas which both seemed correct and yet were clearly contradictory, so I opted for inaction. The ‘Notice to owner’ should have been sent out yesterday so I’ll just have to wait and see what happens now.
I got a ticket 2 day and they also towed away my car. i was parked outside my home i have live there 4 10 years and never got a ticket. had 2 pay £105.00 to get it out. i have just looked on my ticket and they have put the wrong street on it so should i pay it
I still haven’t heard anything and I got the ticket 7 weeks ago. However, according to parkingticket.co.uk the Notice to Owner must be sent not less that Six Months after the ticket is issued!
Anonymous, I’d suggest you have a look at them or:
http://www.nomoreparkingtickets.com
or
http://www.appealnow.com
or
http://www.ticketbusters.co.uk
After visiting my girlfriends mother in hospital I returned about 2 minutes after my parking bay had expired to find a parking warden in the process of sizing up my car. I decided the best approach was to drive off so the parking warden in a frenzied hurry started to process the ticket as rapidly as he could. Unfortunatley I was a bit boxed in so by the time I was about to drive off the warden slapped the ticket on my windscreen. However, I noticed when I got home that the registration number was missing the last letter.
I was wondering if there has been any development in your parking ticket since you wrote this blog?
Thanks.
I still haven’t heard anything about my ticket so I am currently assuming that they aren’t going to do anything about it. But then I’m not quite at the six months point yet…
Cheesed Off, I’d suggest you try paying the ticket using the registration number as it appeared on the ticket. If they can find a record of the incorrect number then they obviously don’t have the correct number.
I just got a ticket due to being 15 mins late to move my car on from a clearway which operates between 7.30-17.00. They got the last digit of my reg wrong so I’m holding out to see if photographic evidence appears through the post!
If the ticket does not exactly state your correct registration number, it is invalid. Don’t pay the fine, and appeal.
Hi everyone,
I was wondering, if a parking ticket doesn’t have my reg written on it, would it still be valid?
On the reg part of it, it just says ‘ford’.
I am trying to get out of paying it obviously, and wondered if this would stand up as an arguement.
Cheers x