Penalty Charge Notice

[Bob's Orange]

I got done for parking illegally in Edinburgh when I was over, my car is a registered Luxembourg car so if I don't pay can they trace me for the money or will I get away with this?

[JPC82]

they will trace u im afraid

[Sippo]

A LOOPHOLE over foreign registered vehicles has left the city council tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Almost 1,500 parking tickets issued to drivers in foreign vehicles since 2003 are still unpaid, with countless written off because the authorities cannot track down those responsible.

In fact, just 312 tickets issued in the city to foreign vehicles have been paid – out of 1,886.

At £60 a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), the council has lost out on £86,160.

Today, The Evening Telegraph can reveal that while about 17 per cent of tickets issued to non-UK registered vehicles have been paid, 63 per cent of those issued to UK registered vehicles have been paid for the same period.

Parking services manager at Peterborough City Council Rob Saunders said: "These figures reflect the frustration we feel about this issue, which is by no means unique to Peterborough.

"The DVLA keeps information on UK registered vehicles and requires non-UK registered vehicles to be registered within six months of arrival.
"However, this is not happening with all vehicles, which results in it being impossible to trace the driver.

"The lack of a European wide DVLA style registration system is something the British Government is pushing for, but until that is in place, councils, police and other such organisations will suffer similar problems."

That frustration was echoed by the police after countless speeding fines have gone unpaid because of troubles tracking down those responsible.

A police spokeswoman said: "It is always more difficult to trace vehicles registered abroad than it is British registered vehicles, but we will always work hard with other agencies on this matter.

"Although it is harder to trace foreign registered vehicles in relation to speeding offences detected by static cameras, we do have tactics in place to enable us to trace the registered keeper, such as the use of our Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology."

Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson said: "I think that it's a very serious concern because it discriminates against local
people who, when they park incorrectly, are forced to pay a parking fine, whereas people who aren't from Peterborough get away scot-free.
"I will be writing to the Department of Transport asking how it plans to rectify this unfairness and make sure that everybody is treated the same."

It is a problem across the country and has led to a project called Sparks being launched to lobby the European Union to create
a Europe-wide database.

Programme manager Bill Blakemore said: "At the moment this is a major problem.

"It's very difficult to get the information about who owns the foreign registered vehicle.

"Even if you can trace the owner, there is no legal framework to force people to pay if they choose to ignore it."

Research commissioned by the project revealed that three million foreign registered vehicles enter the UK each year

So I wouldn't bother.

[JPC82]

a mate of mine got done in London, his car was registered in Poland, he got traced

[Sippo]

Even if you can trace the owner, there is no legal framework to force people to pay if they choose to ignore it

[JPC82]

Even if you can trace the owner, there is no legal framework to force people to pay if they choose to ignore it

haha mint

[Bob's Orange]

I just went on the website to pay online and the pictures on my reference are of the Range Rover parked behind me!

[SwindonTartanArmy]

Up until recently, if a portuguese car got done for speeding/parking illegally the british authorities would contact their portuguese counterparts. The Portugwwzers would then contact the vehicle owner and ask if it was ok to give out ytour details. And you were perfectly within your rights to say "erm, i think no, actually"!

[blinkpip]

I just went on the website to pay online and the pictures on my reference are of the Range Rover parked behind me!

Maybe it was the range rover getting done, and they stuck the ticket on yours?

[Arriba]

i'd try to avoid it unless it becomes impossible to.

[Power to people]

I'd see if they send you a 'final notice' and then pay up, you can denie knowing anything about it as someone could have removed the ticket from your vehicle

[Bob's Orange]

I just went on the website to pay online and the pictures on my reference are of the Range Rover parked behind me!

Maybe it was the range rover getting done, and they stuck the ticket on yours?

I noticed that there was a ticket on the Range Rover and on mine even though the description was silver Audi they still got the photos wrong!!

I just paid it as it was £30 if I paid before 14 days.

[Gazza's Fat Mate]

I wouldn't bother.

[Phil_S]

My son driving my car got a penalty notice stuck on the screen. He swore blind he'd bought a ticket & showed it to me so I wrote to the council enclosing a copy of the valid ticket. They responded with a photo of the car windscreen with no ticket showing (little git still says the ticket was displayed & they covered it up with the notice).
They did however waive the charge, so hats off to them.