£40 Parking Fine

[+kewfriend]

Ok so I had a bad day with King George and his Canal - all my fault of course but it set me thinking .....

 

How much have you shelled out on a cache you failed to find?

 

 

PS .... there's a collecting box at each of my own caches

[+klaus23]

I ran my car into a ditch while trying to approach a cache. There was no damage done but I did have to go and find a farmer to pull me out. As I was then in no mood to try and find the cache, and had driven over 80 miles to get there, I guess £12 in petrol, £3 for my lunch, and a wasted 3 hours was the price I paid.

 

I've been lucky and have never had a speeding fine or parking ticket while geocaching or otherwise... but at the same time the "enforcement" of said things in Ireland does not compare to the levels in the UK. Was it the Premier of the Canadian province of Ontario that termed a local speed camera "an Orwellian Cash Machine"? He was onto something!

[AJK]

$40 for towing my rental car off a mound of earth designed to stop cars.... (AAA - the US equivalent of the RAC payed half of that). DNF the cache as it was 2 hours before my plane was leaving, though I did get a cache on the way back to the airport.

 

$120 after being towed - parked legally, but the cop thought it was abandoned. It would have been a DNF, but when I came out of the woods, and found the car missing, I instead found the owner of the cache who gave me a slight hint - went back for FTF.

 

Edit. Spelin

Edited February 11, 2005 by AJK

[JackiePenn]

Log

 

Costly Flat battery where I had to sign up for the RAC and they charged extra because I joined whilst in a breakdown situation. Can't remember the exact price, around £100.00

[+Firth of Forth]

I've had a few disasters whilst out caching - mostly involving my car (skidded on ice, speeding ticket) but found the caches I was after on all occasions. £150 excess payable; loss of most of my 9 years no claims bonus and £60 speeding ticket.

 

On this one, my injury prevented me from retrieving the cache, but luckily there was no cost involved!

[+Wadders]

did this one, fell over and broke GPS....£120 but we did find it.

Log

 

Wadders

[+Team Ullium]

From reading the logs I knew this particular multi cache was a bit muddy...so I thought no worries sidestep the walking boots and don the new yuppie wellies (bought especially in case I should get an invite to a certain royal wedding!)....big mistake....both wellies are still buried in about three foot of mud.

 

It took a young man with a ladder (he was checking out bird boxes) to retrieve me from the location and fortunately I had alternative footware to drive home with.

 

Total cost...counting petrol and loss of new wellies and 1000 mile socks ... about £40 ... however the loss of face and dignity was a heck of a lot more

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Was it the Premier of the Canadian province of Ontario that termed a local speed camera "an Orwellian Cash Machine"? He was onto something!

Not including petrol - £6 to get into St Pauls.

 

 

PS -

 

Road deaths per capita in developed world;

 

Norway - lowest (who incidently have outlawed camera detectors)

 

UK & Sweden - joint 2nd lowest

 

Eire 12th place

 

Canada 13th place

 

The Premier may win the 'Smarmy Politician with the vote winning one liner' competition, but I know where it's safer to drive...............

[+ANDYBUG&LADYBIRD]

The most it ever cost us was £50 and 2 pairs of trainers! We had our car broken into whilst we were looking for two caches-both of which were DNF's. The £50 was the excess on the insurance and the trainers were stolen out of the car. I just hope that someones feet now smell as bad as mine

[+Beds Clangers]

While looking for a cache today, stood in a very rotten badger, talk about stink!!!!!!!!

 

Not sure if I dare clean my walking boots or just chuck them and the smell in the van is so bad think I'll have to get rid of it

 

Nick

[+Zetetic]

I can't say I've run up anything other than normal caching expenses but..

 

I have been quoted £25 +VAT per year by the land owner to place a cache, can anyone beat that?

[Deego]

I have been quoted £25 +VAT per year by the land owner to place a cache, can anyone beat that?

thats shocking are you sure he was vat registered

[+Zetetic]

thats shocking are you sure he was vat registered

 

Most definitely, Forestry Commission Wales as it happens.

[JackiePenn]

Forestry Commission Wales

hisssssssss

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

Most definitely, Forestry Commission Wales as it happens

 

Which area of the FC Wales, was it, thats trying to charge, as all the rest have no problems with caching and the Gwydir Uchaf forestry area, actualy held a joint cache event in 04, which was their idea!

 

Dave

[+klaus23]

UK & Sweden - joint 2nd lowest

Eire 12th place

The 'statistical' difference between the UK and Ireland is because of better driver training and a more focused attitude to driving throughout society, better enforcement of car safety (MOT, tyres etc) not to mention better road building, development, signage and maintainance and is not because of thousands of speed cameras. I cannot speak for Canada as I have neither lived, visited or driven there.

 

You may also notice a difference in how "Road Deaths" are calculated, as some countries calculate deaths at the accident scene only and not those resulting from a collision after the person has been removed to hospital.

[+Stuey]

I'm not going to mention the name(s), but a local cacher(s) managed to reverse his/her/their car into a tree at a cache near me. The car was almost new, and needed considerable repairs.

 

Ouch!

[+Ashaaria]

My most expensive thing has been a new pair of boots after completely walking the soles off my last pair in just 6 months!

[+Zetetic]

Most definitely, Forestry Commission Wales as it happens

 

Which area of the FC Wales, was it, thats trying to charge, as all the rest have no problems with caching and the Gwydir Uchaf forestry area, actualy held a joint cache event in 04, which was their idea!

 

Dave

It was the Resolven Neath area.

[+Team Ullium]

I was preparing to plan my weekend caching when I discovered that last weekend I appear to have lost my Garmin Marine GPS 76 GPSr

 

This of course is my most expensive cache loss....and I feel berieved as my big heavy Garmin was like an old friend to me....and it usually managed to get a signal when more expensive GPSr's had given up the ghost.

 

I have no idea how I managed to lose (or get stolen) this old friend ... I doubt my household insurance will cover this loss

[+Naefearjustbeer]

I was preparing to plan my weekend caching when I discovered that last weekend I appear to have lost my Garmin Marine GPS 76 GPSr

 

This of course is my most expensive cache loss....and I feel berieved as my big heavy Garmin was like an old friend to me....and it usually managed to get a signal when more expensive GPSr's had given up the ghost.

 

I have no idea how I managed to lose (or get stolen) this old friend ... I doubt my household insurance will cover this loss

My insurance replaced my missing etrex, After a long battle they paid out approx £110 towards a new unit. that was £160 -£50 excess, Which I put towards a 60cs . Its worth reading the small print of your insurance policy before phoning and if you even think it might be covered. hassle them until the pay up I called mine twice a day every day until they posted out a cheque

[+Team Ullium]

Thanks Naefearjustbeer

 

I will give it a good go....don't I have to report it to the police to get an incident number before I can have a go at the household insurance people???

 

Gee sorry guys I am dragging this thread off topic....though it might bear some very useful info for all of us who might experience a similar misfortune???

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

Most definitely, Forestry Commission Wales as it happens

 

Which area of the FC Wales, was it, thats trying to charge, as all the rest have no problems with caching and the Gwydir Uchaf forestry area, actualy held a joint cache event in 04, which was their idea!

 

Dave

It was the Resolven Neath area.

Mancunians internet connection is down and will not be fixed till tomorrow so he is unable to post on here at the moment.

[+Pengy&Tigger]

Mancunians internet connection is down and will not be fixed till tomorrow so he is unable to post on here at the moment.

He must have the same ISP as us then. Our ADSL is down at the moment. It's lucky we also have a dial-up account with a different ISP as back-up.

 

T

[+Wadders]

I'm not going to mention the name(s), but a local cacher(s) managed to reverse his/her/their car into a tree at a cache near me. The car was almost new, and needed considerable repairs.

 

Ouch!

spill the beans Stuey, i need a good laugh

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

I would suggest that you query them as to why they want to charge you, for permission to place a cache. As one of the remits of the FC, is to incurage recreation on their land. As no other area is charging a fee, I would be interested in hearing their reply. Also this is something that should be brought to the attention of GAGB, as with negotiations, this area might realize, that the aggrements with other FC areas, regarding our reviewers contacting them before approving a cache on FC land does work.

 

Dave

[+Naefearjustbeer]

Thanks Naefearjustbeer

 

I will give it a good go....don't I have to report it to the police to get an incident number before I can have a go at the household insurance people???

 

Gee sorry guys I am dragging this thread off topic....though it might bear some very useful info for all of us who might experience a similar misfortune???

I lost my etrex at the 2nd annual scottish cache bash in aviemore, I reported it missing with the aviemore police and posted a note on the cache page of the cache I was near when I lost it but it never turned up. Many people spent some time coaming the area with no luck! I had the misfortune of keeping it in a nice cammo green coloured neoprene gps case I think it must of fallen down an animal burrow.

[+klaus23]

I'm not going to mention the name(s), but a local cacher(s) managed to reverse his/her/their car into a tree at a cache near me. The car was almost new, and needed considerable repairs.

 

Ouch!

Oh dear - I almost forgot that the same thing happened me.

 

I reversed back a country lane to make way for an oncoming car (which contained local cacher "The Quiet Man" who had just found the cache I was heading to.

 

I had to reverse back onto the main road, and managed to hit a concrete flowerpot that some thoughtful person left outside their house. I only got it repaired last week (the car, not the flowerpot) and the total bill for the painting of the bumper and back panel was 180 euro!!!

[davester]

Ok so I had a bad day with King George and his Canal - all my fault of course but it set me thinking .....

 

How much have you shelled out on a cache you failed to find?

 

 

PS .... there's a collecting box at each of my own caches

Parking fine. Pah. Don't pay it, they're illegal.

 

Check out this website for details.

 

Worked for me.

[+minstrelcat]

Ok so I had a bad day with King George and his Canal - all my fault of course but it set me thinking .....

 

How much have you shelled out on a cache you failed to find?

 

 

 

PS .... there's a collecting box at each of my own caches 

Parking fine. Pah. Don't pay it, they're illegal.

 

Check out this website for details.

 

Worked for me.

Hmm... might be worth a shot if the situation should arise.

 

Meanwhile this thread has reminded me of a Tommy Cooper joke:

 

Somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.' So that was nice.

 

Lisa

[+Stuey]

I'm not going to mention the name(s), but a local cacher(s) managed to reverse his/her/their car into a tree at a cache near me.

 

spill the beans Stuey, i need a good laugh

I really can't, sorry Terry... but if you know the common name for the chemical element Fe, and remember a cache that you have done near me, reading through the logs may reveal something . That's almost a 5/5 difficulty hunt in itself!

[+Skate and Jane]

 

spill the beans Stuey, i need a good laugh

I really can't, sorry Terry... but if you know the common name for the chemical element Fe, and remember a cache that you have done near me, reading through the logs may reveal something . That's almost a 5/5 difficulty hunt in itself!

5/5 took me about 2 minutes to work it out

[+steviep]

5/5 took me about 2 minutes to work it out

it was a 5/5 for me

 

poor picasso

[Documentally]

After watching 'the programme' i logged on and was so inspired by the site and the forum that even though i had an ok GPSr i ordered a Garmin eTrex Legend C online... So i guess it has cost me £240 without even having found one...

 

(Found two yesteday, my first day out, and am off out today... )

[+DomHeknows]

Parking fine. Pah. Don't pay it, they're illegal.

 

Check out this website for details.

 

Worked for me.

they're discussing this on radio2 at the moment (13:43). Councils are claiming its a ticket NOT a fine...

[+Stuey]

Councils are claiming its a ticket NOT a fine...

The Council where I work issue "standard charges" not car park fines, so yes, that is correct.

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

Two of the local county councils, here in Wales, have just taken over responcability for Parking control, from the Police. This involved having illegal parking, changed from a criminal offense (dealt with by the Police, or Traffic Wardens under their control) to a civil offense dealt with by employees of the County Council. All tickets are now worded to state a "standard Charge" is payable. The knock on affect is, that they are now more relaxed about were Blue Badge Holders, may park. Even though its still the same people doing Parking Control.

 

Dave

[davester]

Parking fine. Pah. Don't pay it, they're illegal.

 

Check out this website for details.

 

Worked for me.

they're discussing this on radio2 at the moment (13:43). Councils are claiming its a ticket NOT a fine...

In which case, the way to go would be send a nominal sum for parking based on the nearest pay & display car park.

 

In my case, I was booked by Stoke on Trent City Council. I sent a letter similar to the pro forma on that website but also stated a (very weak, in my opinion) defence.

 

I received a letter back saying something to the lines of "We have decided to let you off the parking charge but are unable to comment on the other points raised", which I believed to mean "Ah, you've rumbled us. We'll let you off so we don't have to admit it."

[+DomHeknows]

I was booked by Stoke on Trent City Council. I sent a letter similar to the pro forma on that website but also stated a (very weak, in my opinion) defence.

 

I received a letter back saying something to the lines of "We have decided to let you off the parking charge but are unable to comment on the other points raised", which I believed to mean "Ah, you've rumbled us. We'll let you off so we don't have to admit it."

well stoke seem to be book anyone they can for any dubious reason so I guess they are used to letting people off.

[Documentally]

I live in Rugby and we are due to have thekind of remorseless parking wardens they have in Northampton *shiver* They move around in packs (i have a photo somewhere of six ticketing one car).

 

So far i have recieved three car parking tickets and written a letter for each resulting in the charges being wavered on all three!

 

It is definitely worth taking the time to write.