Hi All
This is the first time I have posted to a forum, I am usually a lurker, so here goes...
I parked at the Red Lion carpark in Coulsdon, operated by Civil Enforcement Ltd trading under Star Parks (I think!?!). It's one of those call and pay car parks where there are no ticket machines and you pay a flat rate of £1 per hour by phone with your card. So I park, call and after some trouble connecting, register the car and my card and pay for an hours parking. Or at least I think I did given the recorded woman said 'thank you' and the call disconnected.
Then on Friday, my husband receives a Parking Charge Notice from Civil Enforcement for £150 or £75 if paid in 14 days. Car is registered to him so that's where they have sent the notice. Naturally, first thing I did was check my credit card and the charge hasn't been taken off so it didn't go through.
I have a record of the call on my mobile bill showing the length of time I was on the phone so I know I called them and went through the necessary steps, something must have gone wrong during payment.
So should I:
1. Call them and explain the situation? I am more than happy to pay the £1 I thought I had already paid but no way am I paying more than that!
2. Have my husband respond with the 'please contact the driver, I am not the driver' response
3. Ignore them
4. Any other option I haven't mentioned?
I don't want to ignore them and end up receiving nasty letters / ccj's / have bailiffs knocking down my door etc but then from what I have read on other posts these guys do this a lot and don't really accept challenges (there isn't even a note on how to challenge this as there is from a Penalty Charge Notice which I think they need to provide?) and also have no clout?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks Kindly