Appealing a parking charge.

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pingin

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My car was clamped at work last week.

I bought a new car but, unfortunately, I forgot to change my details on my parking permit account. Having paid the €80 release fee, I lodged an appeal, since I'm fully paid up for the yearly parking charge of €150.

The clampers came back this morning to say that the appeal had been rejected because 'At the time your vehicle was clamped it was not registered as a valid permit holder for this vehicle.' It would have been fair enough if I was in default and hadn't paid the yearly charge.

This can further be appealed to the National Transport Authority but I don't hold out much hope there either.

Do you think it's worth trying?
 
Good luck with trying.
The vehicle did not have a valid permit at the time. That is pretty much the long and short of it.

Of course, if you think your time to appeal further is potentially worth €80 to you, go ahead. The best that can happen is that you get 80 euros back, and have righted a wrong. At worst, you have wasted a couple of hours of your time, in addition to a lot of taxpayer's money.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Sure what have you got to lose other than pen and paper. You will probably regret it later if you don't give it a try and you won't know unless you try would be my motto.
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Absolutely agree. It might be helpful to have a look at the NTA website and see if there's any appeals reported. If there are, it might give you an idea of what arguments do and don't succeed at appeal.
You should also do a comprehensive written submission - appeals bodies like that sort of thing!
 
pingin said:
My car was clamped at work last week.

I bought a new car but, unfortunately, I forgot to change my details on my parking permit account. Having paid the €80 release fee, I lodged an appeal, since I'm fully paid up for the yearly parking charge of €150.

The clampers came back this morning to say that the appeal had been rejected because 'At the time your vehicle was clamped it was not registered as a valid permit holder for this vehicle.' It would have been fair enough if I was in default and hadn't paid the yearly charge.

This can further be appealed to the National Transport Authority but I don't hold out much hope there either.

Do you think it's worth trying?
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This is totally unreasonable by the clamping company. Strictly speaking, your car was unregistered. But you made a small mistake in not transferring the permit from one car to another. Any reasonable person would allow that and refund the money. They are being :mad: about this. I'd appeal on the grounds that you shouldn't be €80 out of pocket for something slipping your mind. It's not as if you forgot to pay it!
 
First mistake you made was to pay the €80. Who arranges the clamping contract? Get onto them and say that the service you received was unsatisfactory and get them to make a formal complaint and threaten clamping firm that contract will not be renewed unless you are refunded.
 
sharkattack said:
First mistake you made was to pay the €80. Who arranges the clamping contract? Get onto them and say that the service you received was unsatisfactory and get them to make a formal complaint and threaten clamping firm that contract will not be renewed unless you are refunded.
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A lot of (if not all) clamping companies require you to pay the fine before they release the car.
I think the OP should submit an appeal to the NTA. While strictly speaking they don't have to refund they may look more favourably on it than the clamping company. You would need to provide them sufficient details, though, to clearly show that it was a genuine mistake/oversight.
 
sharkattack said:
First mistake you made was to pay the €80. Who arranges the clamping contract? Get onto them and say that the service you received was unsatisfactory and get them to make a formal complaint and threaten clamping firm that contract will not be renewed unless you are refunded.
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I didn't have much choice as I needed to get to an appointment and the clamp had to be released. The clamping company is APCOA Ireland. My employer is UCD. They've washed their hands of it, saying clamping is handled by a third party. I'll get on to them again though.
 
On Friday last I wrote a strongly-worded email to UCD Estates in which I stated that I had already paid for a full year's parking and that the clamping charge effectively amounted to paying extra. Today I received an email from the clampers saying 'The appeal has been reviewed, and it has been decided to accept your appeal and issue a full refund of the paid clamp release fee.'

Delighted! Thanks for the help everyone.
 
pingin said:
On Friday last I wrote a strongly-worded email to UCD Estates in which I stated that I had already paid for a full year's parking and that the clamping charge effectively amounted to paying extra. Today I received an email from the clampers saying 'The appeal has been reviewed, and it has been decided to accept your appeal and issue a full refund of the paid clamp release fee.'

Delighted! Thanks for the help everyone.
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Well done you. Power to the people. Now off we all go to the nearest pub to celebrate at your expense and your parking fine fee will pale into insignificance compared to the price of the rounds ;););)
 
pingin said:
On Friday last I wrote a strongly-worded email to UCD Estates in which I stated that I had already paid for a full year's parking and that the clamping charge effectively amounted to paying extra. Today I received an email from the clampers saying 'The appeal has been reviewed, and it has been decided to accept your appeal and issue a full refund of the paid clamp release fee.'

Delighted! Thanks for the help everyone.
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Well done! A win for the good guys!
 
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