I often get asked for advice on parking tickets. They are a rich soup of money, rumour, ambiguous rights, unfair and unscrupulous people, and critically important time periods of literally a couple of minutes.
A reader got in touch with me about an awful parking pickle. Do bear with me, because a large part of the complexity of this pickle was the number of parties involved.
Our reader had parked his work van at a hotel in Edinburgh. Due to the small size of the space, part of the vehicle nudged out onto the pavement outside. Exhausted from a hard day’s work, our reader checks with the reception desk that his parking wouldn’t cause an issue. ‘None at all!’ came the cheerful reply.
An escalating £135 fine and a rather eyebrow-raising missive from a bailiff later, our reader reached out to me.
Our cast of characters: standoff
A motley band of parties had let our reader down.
The hotel disowned all knowledge of a helpful receptionist that might have unintentionally got things wrong.
Edinburgh Council, who had issued the ticket, were clear the offending van was parked onto the pavement, so their Fixed Penalty Notice was ‘correctly issued’. End of.
They had passed debt collection of the fine onto a bailiff firm, who’d added lots of fees for the privilege.
And oddly, the parking operator for the hotel carpark tried to wade in, despite having no real locus in the matter whatsoever. All they’d done is confuse matters further.
What a jam. However all were in agreement: none of them could help our reader, as it wasn’t their fault, but it wasn’t our reader’s either.
It was a true standoff, and no-one wanted to talk about it.
Unpicking the knot
My first step was to find out what had happened. How had a £30 parking notice turned into a £135 (and rising) fine?
It quickly emerged that everyone involved had told my reader not to pay the fine, while they sorted out the whole misunderstanding. They actually didn’t sort it, and all the while in the background the fine level increased.
Our reader was caught in a real stew, with too many cooks and nowhere to turn.
So I stepped in.
My second step was to develop a plan.
There were four parties. Each had to acknowledge their role in the debacle and move a little. But I also knew one party was going to be a tough cookie – the debt collectors. They were just doing their job, but I needed them to forego some of their ludicrous fees if I was going to find a way through.
I decided to target a reasonable £30 from each party as a small gesture of responsibility, leaving my reader £15 to settle and walk away. I knew things would be messier, but it gave me a clear objective for each discussion.
Our debt collectors needed to waive some of their fees, but I knew I could offer them full and final payment quickly – the alternative was uncertainty over whether they’d ever be able to collect the debt. This one would be a pure negotiation.
The council would need to lean on their debt collectors and waive the original fine, in the interests of fairness. I’d need to major on the unfairness for our reader and lean heavily on how the Council had continued to accrue the fine despite their being clear evidence that our reader wasn’t paying for reasons outside his control.
The hotel would need to acknowledge that their original advice on the parking was wrong and take some responsibility for that, although they were refusing to take calls and said the person concerned had left the company. A tricky one.
And the parking operator had delayed the whole thing by months by saying it would sort the issue, hence our reader not paying. They had to acknowledge they were the key reason for the escalating fine and pay up accordingly. But the last communication our reader had from them asked him ever to contact them again.
“Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable”
It’s always important to develop your plan, even if it doesn’t survive first contact with reality. I had a clear sense of what I needed to achieve, and how I would approach each of the parties involved.
My plan didn’t survive first contact with reality.
I started with the debt collectors. If I could negotiate a reduction in the fine in exchange for quick payment, it’d make bringing everyone else along easier, and create some urgency too.
The debt collectors said no. I cajoled, I threatened and I dangled incentives – to no avail.
Well onto the Council then. They were sympathetic, but felt they had done nothing wrong. They had a process, the fine was correctly issued, and there was no grounds for changing anything. After some pushing I got them to agree they could exceptionally consider an appeal, but they were also clear they didn’t feel I had much of a chance.
So far, not good. I thought I’d make contact with the other two parties, then, and once I’d found out their perspectives I’d reassess my crumbling battleplan. But I did know what my angle was going to be with each.
The hotel was clear that the receptionist in question has gone – so they had no way of verifying that any incorrect information was given.
The parking company completely accepted they’d delayed things, but only because they’d tried to assist. They were apologetic, but it wasn’t their problem. There was nothing more they could do.
I found myself disappearing into that same thick stew of lots parties, each passing me off to another.
So I decided to target the two with the most responsibility for the delay, and to get their attention through the one thing that always hits home – money.
I told the hotel and the parking operator that ignoring me wasn’t an option, as I would pay the full fine and claim the full amount, plus charging for me time and administration, in small claims court. They needed to move, and fast. I also told them both they were the sole party responsible for the whole amount – with a view to negotiating ideally to half each.
They didn’t like it, but they had some responsibility for the issue. And both caved. My reader’s fine was paid in full by the parking company, who apologised for delaying and confusing payment. And my reader got vouchers from the hotel to boot.
So remember:
- Plan carefully, but don’t be afraid to revisit it when things don’t go your way.
- Hit people where it hurts – make it financial. Hitting people in the pocket carries real weight.
- If you’re getting passed around between parties, see if you can turn it into an opportunity.