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I realized post factum that I forgot to pay for parking at a country park in the UK. There were signs and payment machines, but for various reasons I forgot to do it.

Today I got a payment notice from, it seems, the outsourced manager of the parking, initialparking.co.uk . Their digital footprint is of a genuine parking enforcement company, but using unpleasant practices, such as fining even over tiny overruns, fining people who entered carparks but left without finding a free space, or placing broken payment machines and then fining people. It is the only company I ever saw on Trustpilot with a score of 1.1

Looking at their webpage, payment options are by phone (card), online by card via their own card processor (no 3rd party option like PayPal or stripe), or via cheque. The payment processor (econ6) has 0 online reviews, or any presence at all. The letter includes pictures and timestamps that tally with my visit. It is the only time I have been there, so it would be very hard for someone to spoof these details.

So... I know I forgot to pay, and I am happy to pay a fine. The letter itself appears legit. However, I don't want to part with my debit card details, given the scammy appearance of the company. Payment by cheque would be possible, if awkward, but I cannot get confirmation of payment - again, I don't trust the company to act in good faith.

Any suggestions as to what can be done? Do I have a good chance requesting payment by bank transfer (where they never handle my card details)? I'm contemplating paying, then cancelling the card, but that is of course somewhat inconvenient.

Another idea I just saw is that apparently Klarna (which I don't otherwise use) does do a one time Visa card, with a spending limit. I can't find any reviews of this particular service though. Might that be a good option?

Danny Beckett
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Bennet
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5 Answers5

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A credit card is the best form of payment in this scenario, except for paying cash in person of course if that were an option. A credit card gives you several benefits:

  • Immediate confirmation of the payment and amount. Then final confirmation a few days later.
  • Much easier to deal with fraud if your account numbers do get leaked. Especially compared to giving your bank account details for a draft or using a debit card.
  • Like you said, you can pay the fine then zero the card and cancel it. But in my opinion, that is a bit of an overreaction.

You may even be able to use a service (from your CC-issuing bank or a third-party) to generate a one time use, temporary card number. This essentially removes any chance of fraud on the parking companies part. Or at least moves it to a more scrupulous company.

Nosjack
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Another option could be Revolut, an online bank based in the UK, which also offers single use, throwaway virtual cards for online transactions. You would need to get an account with them first, and then you can create your virtual card.

Even if you don't create a virtual card, you are free to transfer only the funds you need to pay your charge into the Revolut account, meaning that nobody can steal any more than that anyway.

Revolut are a trusted company, they have a 4.1 rating on Trustpilot as of this writing, and I have personally been using them for several years, both privately and at work (the company I work for uses them to issue company cards and pay employees).

terdon
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Write the cheque.

The nice thing about cheques is that if the payment is disputed then there is a record of who cashed it and where the money went. If they claim they didn't get it then just tell them you paid. If they try to make a court claim the record will show they deposited it. Also, because you are in the UK, they cannot make withdrawals from your account just using the info on the cheque. If you want to pay extra for additional peace of mind, send it recorded delivery.

You should not be as concerned as you seem to be be about the reputation of the company. They may not be concerned about their reputation, but the "country park" that contracts with them probably is. If they start stealing people's money, and it becomes public knowledge then their customers will drop them like a hot brick. High pressure and devious tactics is one thing, and probably accounts for the low TrustPilot score. Stealing money is something else again.

DJClayworth
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For that sort of thing (and relatively trustworthy recipients) I tend to use Paypal if the recipient accepts it- avoids giving CC or bank account information out for a one-time transaction. But if that's not an option..

You could get a postal order (in the US it would be called a "Postal Money Order").

You can check whether it has been cashed by filling out this online form.

Similarly, in the US you can check the status from this online form.

Spehro 'speff' Pefhany
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I have a special card for this kind of payments. In my country it's called "Visa Debet", and can not be over drafted.
When buying something from a website I do not completely trust, I place the amount + approximately 1$ on this account, and pay with the card.
Anyone trying to draw more than that will be rejected.
This was also very useful when I bought an app for my daughters phone with my regulary card, and later was billed for some music subscribtion costing me 15$ a month (she thought it was free and signed up).
I could not get my card erased from her phone because "there were a subscription" even though it was cancelled, but I could change it to my visa debet card! After some time with warnings that the service would be cancelled (!!) they stopped the service, and that was it.

Klaus Nielsen
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