pcm (UK) parking charge Options

[muppet9966]

Hello,
The Driver of this car received a parking charge from pcm (UK), while visiting their old parents (the wall the car is packed against is the parents flat).
However there are no clear signs that where the driver parked was an enforced parking area - there is a single parking sign on the left.

Also the parking charge states the site name as Hughendon Court, but I believe this is also a council road - Chamberlain Cl (Google maps link)










I don't believe the signage is adequately clear (there are no signs at all for the 4 'bays' against the wall).

[Nosy Parker]

Apologies for this, all files have been removed now and on imgur.com.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I still see all the uploaded files on PePiPoo and only one page on www.imgur.com.

Either way, you now need to respond to the LBC which I suggest you do a bit closer to the sated deadline of 22 December. Explain (again) that as PCM chose not to avail themselves of the right to transfer the driver's liability (if any) to the keeper they can't pursue you as keeper. Also state that you are seeking debt advice (which means whatever you want it to mean, including the advice in this forum) which obliges them to wait an additional 30 days before commencing proceedings. Use the time to start preparing your defence.

As regards your reply to the LBC, you don't need to fill in their form. Just say what you want to say in a letter. I recommend emailing the letter rather than posting it, especially in view of the upcoming Christmas postal delays. I usually write to them at info@shma.co.uk though they have other email addresses. If you don't get a response (an automatic acknowledgment is a good enough response) forward the letter to their head of compliance Chris Randall at chris.randall@shma.co.uk asking him to ensure that it is delivered to the right person. I would use snail mail only as a last resort.

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[hcandersen]

So OP, you are now at the business end of this alleged contract i.e. Letter of Claim.

So, you'll get your day in court.

Your defence: the creditor may not hold you liable as keeper for any charge incurred by the driver.

Their case: we're pursuing you as driver, not keeper and so a NTK was not required. This position seems clear from their reply dated 9 Sept. - missing from your timeline for some reason- in response to your (as far as we're concerned) undated letter challenging the charge - see post 7.

As the registered keeper of the vehicle of registration ****, who has been handed a PCN, I am challenging your parking charge notice dated 14* August 2020 on the following grounds.
Please respond to each individual point that I state. •

There was not sufficiently clear, and additional signage in the location where the vehide was parked, or at the entrance to the area where the vehicle was parked. The requirements are that clear signage must be erected at each entrance and additional signage installed throughout the area. Therefore, the driver has not entered into a contract with you and all tickets are issued illegally. Please see attached evidence.

........

What would a judge make of this? I don't know and neither does anyone else. The proof threshold is balance of probabilities, so on whose side would this balance fall? You have not once told the creditor that you were not the driver. Indeed, the clarity with which you have asserted that the signage was inadequate and recounted details (without any caveat such as I have been told that etc) could make a judge think that you were the driver, in which case the main plank of your defence falls IMO if the creditor claims against you as driver.

But if they claim against you as keeper, then this is a different ball game.

So, as your defence depends upon knowing the basis of their claim against you and as you only have limited time in which to submit a defence once a claim is issued and as you know that this is destined for court and you need to get your defence prepared then I suggest you write to their legal representatives to find out. It doesn't need to be and shouldn't be confrontational, but you need to get the request in play e.g. I refer to your Letter of Claim dated **** and please find enclosed the completed forms. In order to be able to prepare my defence, I require you to advise me on what basis your client believes that I am indebted to them. If you refer to the repeated demands which have been sent by or on behalf of your client since Sept. 2020, you will note that at no time have they stated why they believe I owe this debt. Indeed, as this approach was continued in your letter, thereby suggesting they have not been explicit in their instructions to you, I anticipate that you might need to seek further instructions from your client but I would hope that this should not lead to undue delay in responding to my request.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not need to know why they believe that a debt exists(if indeed it does), but on what legal basis they believe that this debt is owed by me e.g. as registered keeper, as the keeper who submitted the initial challenge, as the car's insured party, as the driver etc.

Yours..