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A question on Personal Finance & Money asks for options to pay a parking "fine" when the recipient is not trusted. The asker is not arguing that they owe the money but, for security reasons, they do not want to use any of the methods offered by the parking company to make the payment. The comment below on one of the answers raised a good question.

This is a fine i.e. there is an obligation to pay: surely this implies that the Legal Tender rules are relevant and they are obliged to accept cash?

My understanding is, that legal tender must be accepted when a debt exists. Even though, in strict terms, the charge is being made by a private company and, again to my understanding, is not a fine, does this create a debt that cannot legally be refused to be settled with cash?

Toby Speight
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BWFC
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2 Answers2

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A parking penalty charge or penalty charge notice or parking charge notice creates a civil debt.

The person has accepted they owe some money to the car park management - the person is in debt to the management.

Legal tender is Royal Mint coins (with some limits) and Bank of England notes.

Cheques, debit card payments, credit card payments, contactless payments, electronic transfers etc are not legal tender.

If you're in debt to a creditor, you offer to pay a debt in 'legal tender' and your offer is refused, your creditor can't then sue you for not paying off the debt.

Legal tender doesn't mean a shop is obliged to sell you something just because you want to pay in cash.

Lag
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To answer the headline question: no

See Collection agency trying to collect on parking ticket? (Is this advice accurate?)

Only the government can issue fines and thereby create an enforceable debt. Private parties cannot just assert that a debt exists by calling it a fine; there has to be a legal basis for the creation of the liability - a contract or a tort, for example.

Even if you agree that you owe the debt, you and the creditor have to agree (in the contract or subsequently) how it will be paid. If you can’t agree, then you don’t have to do anything. The creditor is unlikely to be happy with this state of affairs, so they may choose to sue for recovery. The debtor can then contest the suit or accept the judgment debt. There will then be an enforceable debt (which will now include the additional costs of going to court), which can be paid into the court in legal tender.

You misunderstand what legal tender means

Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if they pay into court in legal tender. It does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to take place in legal tender or only within the amount denominated by the legislation.

The debtor does not have to accept cash. However, once there is a judgment debt, the creditor can pay the court in cash, who will then pay the debtor using a sensible payment mechanism.

Dale M
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