I was delighted to see the option to pay via RingGo app in the Perry Vale car park. I did that this morning and was less delighted to come back to a parking ticket for not displaying a valid pay & display ticket. The sign at the front of the car park clearly states you don't need to display any sort of ticket if you've paid via the app. I'm challenging the ticket, of course, but just wanted to give you all a heads-up that Lewisham don't seem to have entirely go the new system co-ordinated.
As an aside, the RingGo app has the charges wrong as well, failing to cap at £5 after 3 hours, so that's another thing I'll be chasing up.
This post was last modified: 26-08-2015 01:11 PM by rshdunlop.
RingGo drives me bloomin mad. Especially at location such as the car park in Catford where there is no mobile signal, so you have to exit the car park to get a signal to pay for parking. Great idea, badly implemented in some cases.
RingGo showed me the schedule of charges they say Lewisham gave them for this car park - completely wrong. Told me to take it up with Lewisham. Lewisham say they've passed my comments back to RingGo. Not hopeful of a speedy resolution!
At least I can appeal the PCN online instead of having to write a letter, as in days of yore.
same thing happened to me in Orpington, also a Ringo set up. Said I'd tried to pay, then a few days later send copy of phone bill, call shown but no parking charges. Letter crossed with this saying pay up. I hadn't understood about having to put your debit card details in, and had assumed it was charged to my phone bill. So down to me. Anyhow when I went to pay the ticket on line, they had in fact cancelled it. Best of luck.
Update - I appealed online, giving Lewisham the RingGo reference for the payment I made. Today I got a letter saying they can't find that transaction so the PCN stands and I have to pay or appeal further.
They're having a laugh - that transaction on RingGo is the one and only time I've ever used the app, and they can't find it on the RingGo system?
What is interesting is that when I appealed I was told that if my appeal was turned down, I'd have to pay the full amount of £60 (which is reduced to £30 if you pay within 14 days). With today's letter they said I could have another 14 days to pay the reduced rate. Hmm. Makes me wonder if rejecting the first appeal is standard practice, if they can find any wriggle room at all, in the hope that the driver will get fed up and pay the newly offered reduced rate they thought they had lost out on.
The other frustrating thing is that I can't reply to today's letter with my proof of payment. I have to wait until the (new) payment window expires, at which point they'll send another letter and then I can appeal. This is barmy. Again, how many people give up and just pay the £30 at this point?
I had the same with Bromley and an FPN, rejected the first time and told a second appeal was only "allowed" one the notice to keeper had been issued, and discounted period expired.
Needless to say I bombarded Bromley Council, Parking Services, Civic Centre etc with emails until I received a reply.
Amazingly the FPN was at that point cancelled. Not due to the strength of my appeal, but due to a "clerical error". Which I can only assume was sending me a letter rejecting my appeal in the first place.
They are a law unto their own, and occasionally need reminding they are a service and not just there to issue penalties, ignore appeals, and take your money.
Silly question, but does your bank account show the payment having gone out? Did you get the emails with your payment receipt and transaction ID?
If you log in to the Ring-Go website you should be able to see your transaction there. The app is a real PITA at the moment, going all the way through they rejecting the payment, not loading, or throwing up errors.
Worth checking there is record of it on the website and the bank (payment card). If you have that, forward it, and its end of story.
I have the email VAT receipt they sent me on the day. I have all the evidence I need. The pain-in-the-ass thing is that because I appealed online rather than in writing, they haven't had a paper copy of that yet. I gave them ALL the info - booking reference, VAT reference, the lot. But Lewisham mysteriously couldn't find it on the RingGo system. Call me a cynic, but I don't believe that for a minute. I think Lewisham are so pressed for money, they reject every first appeal in the hope they'll get a bit more cash out of people that can't be a***d jumping through the ridiculous number of hoops it takes to get to the next stage of appeal.
Oh, and the tariffs on the app for the Perry Vale carpark are still wrong. I've told Lewisham and RingGo three times now.
This post was last modified: 25-09-2015 02:15 PM by rshdunlop.
I would take your writing skills, write a lovely piece for some local publications, and raise awareness of the issue.
Meanwhile, I would revert to an appeal in writing and completely ignore the time scale they are trying to impose.
Once you have the proof, as you do, there is no need for the matter to continue any longer. Maybe suggest that either they can reverse the FPN, or you will pursue them for wrongfully taking money from you.
You're right. Letter sent to Lewisham. Not sure any other publications (or anyone else here for that matter!) would be that interested. But if anyone HAS won an appeal on first try, I'd love to know!
Always worth throwing it at the local rags, they are usually the first ones to get the complaints from unhappy people who have had their tickets upheld.
Just throws the matter into the public domain and gets the parking people a little more willing to get the matter sorted out.
Would be interesting to get the stats, and see how many appeals are overturned vs made.
Good luck with it. I have no doubt that it will be cancelled in the end, but its the time and energy that is the real cost. Quote them an hourly, and letter rate for subsequent replies required. If they can impose admin fees for things they do, the same should apply both ways. Time is money, in all walks of life.
If you have the evidence then you don't really need to do anything further. You have told them you have paid, if they wish to pursue the matter tell them to take it to court. There is no doubt that with a dated receipt the judge will dismiss the case, and they know it.
Local councillors? While in a sense it may suit them for Lewisham to get as much cash as it can and repay it as slowly as possible, I suspect no councillor will want to be tainted with such practices.
If there's a fundamental problem with using the app in Lewisham parking areas, they really ought to be raising this on your behalf with the council executive. Kind of their job to do so, I'd have said
I'm going to check the tariffs RingGo offer when I park tomorrow. I THINK there may be a 20p admin charge per booking when using RingGo, which is making the tariffs looks as if they are still incorrect. Don't know about anyone else, but I'll walk to the machine with a pocketful of coins rather than pay an extra 20p for 'convenience'. Especially if I'll be in the 30 minute free-parking period!
*edited* This is a charge for text confirmation and reminders. You have to opt out of these. I've done that and now the charge for up to 3 hours looks right, although it's still 1p for free parking. I guess the system can't cope with no charge at all! I wonder if I should risk using RingGo tomorrow. Will I get another PCN or won't I?
This post was last modified: 28-09-2015 02:59 PM by rshdunlop.
Okay, apologies to Lewisham parking - checking my RingGo account this morning, it turns out my car details are not properly recorded on the app (no idea if it's my fault or theirs) and my registration number did not appear against that payment. So that's why Lewisham couldn't find it. Hopefully the details I've sent them will be enough, but technically they can probably argue I didn't pay properly therefore I didn't pay.
I can prove I paid for A car on the date in question, same make, model and colour as mine. The only thing the app didn't have was the registration number. Not sure how that happened as I remember entering it. They don't use the DVLA database to autofill your details, so mistakes will not be picked up until something like this happens!
Where my registration should have been, the make of my car was listed. I assumed this was the nickname for the vehicle and the rest of the details were in my settings. Not so.
I was most annoyed to see this crappy, scribbled notice stuck to the Sainsbury's car park ticket machine the other day. I decided to chance it on the basis that it would take me more time to download the app and do all the necessary stuff than to actually go in and buy the 3 things I needed.
I also felt no inclination to stand in a public place and read out my credit card number over the phone.
My bad-tempered mood and determination weren't helped by the fact that this is hardly any kind of official notice, so I felt very little inclination to comply with what is little more than graffiti.
Also, a woman in front of me said the RingGo charge was 21p - but as the ticket machine says the first 2 hours are free, I felt that that there wasn't proper notice of the charge so again I felt angrily righteous in taking my chances.
Got away with it, fortunately - but I'll admit I've downloaded the app to my BlackBerry this morning. Just in case I'm not so lucky next time.
Reading further up the thread, apparently 20p of the charge is for text alerts or text confirmation.
Edit: Heck and blast. I've just looked more closely at my own photograph. At the bottom of the official parking notice it says "Please use other machine or pay by RingGo if this machine is broken". Grrrrr. Still annoyed that you have to have a working, charged phone with you just because their machines are broken.
This post was last modified: 08-04-2016 07:58 AM by Mr_Numbers.
RingGo charge a penny for free parking - I assume it's because their system isn't set up for zero charges or it's a holding charge against your card in case you add more time later and there is a charge to pay. It peeves me every time! Some online retailers show a £1 holding charge on orders that are not yet fully paid for, but that is voided. RingGo keep all those pennies.
They automatically add the text charge unless you go into your account and deactivate the text alert service. A lot about the RingGo app feels very outdated already.
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