Next Step Advice?, PPC charge notice, notice to keeper and letter before claim. Options

[jacquio]

Hello,

I joined this forum specifically to ask for advice on what my options are at the stage I'm now at.

To start off, I found a charge notice from a PPC for parking in a lot connected to an apartment complex. The charge notice was affixed to my windshield. I chose not to respond to or acknowledge it. About a month later, a Notice to Keeper letter arrived at my home address informing that payment was overdue. Another month goes by before I receive a Letter Before Claim with a Gladstones Solicitors letterhead. All mail has arrived with my husband’s name only.

I did some reading about these charges issued by private parking companies and found that if you cannot be sure of who was driving the car that day, the charge can be fought. Since the letter was addressed to my husband rather than myself, I thought the line of reasoning from this post might be viable:

--“Therefore should you receive an INVOICE from a PPC as the keeper of a vehicle and you do not know who was driving, I suggest you tell them this and tell them not to contact you again. You are under no obligation whatsoever to provide any information to the PPC. Refuse to do so,”

and,

--“I advise that if you were the driver that you ask the PPC to provide proof of who the driver was, being very careful at every stage in communication NOT to offer that you were. Should they be unable to prove who the driver was or unwilling then I would suggest that you write to them telling them never to contact you again. ”


I have done some light due diligence checking bank statements) to ascertain whether either of the registered drivers were in the area where the charge notice was given. Neither the bank statement for my husband nor myself have charges from the area. Other than that and some research, I have not reached out to the company in question, Pace Recovery & Storage Limited.

Though the case isn’t as watertight as in the one here, I’m wondering what this forum has to say about it. Should I just pay the now inflated £160 fine? Should I seek legal help to fight this? Is fighting it worth the trouble?

(Copies of the letters and charge notice are available if that would be helpful.)

Thank you all

[Advertisement]

[Jlc]

Did they comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act to pursue the keeper anyway? See here.

If so, the chat about who the driver was doesn't matter.

Your husband is going to get sued - what does he say about it?

This post has been edited by Jlc: Mon, 4 Feb 2019 - 13:57

[nosferatu1001]

No, that advice is at least 6 years out of date

There are no registered drivers
There are people who can Drive
There is the Owner
There is the Keeper, and then there is the Registered Keeper with the DVLA

All 4 can be different people.

IF the PPC has managed to comply with the provisions of POFA2012 schedule 4 (para 8 if there was a NtD) then the KEEPER, presumed to be the RK, IS LIABLE FOR THE CHARGES.

[Jlc]

...from a PPC for parking in a lot connected to an apartment complex.

Was the driver supposed to be there? What was the charge issued for? What do the signs say?

[ostell]

Is this parking connected with an apartment owned by the Registered Keeper? If so what does the lease say?

Yes post up the Notice to Keeper, suitably redacted, but leave dates.

[jacquio]

@Jlc I'm not great at interpreting legal jargon. They haven't asked for the name of the driver, just served the NtK Letter asking for £100 (gone up from the original £60). And they've since served a Letter Before Claim stating they would be pursuing the cost of £160 in court. My husband seems to want to just pay it, and I'm leaning towards that as well, but wanted to see if this forum would give me more information so I fully understand the options I now have.

The signs said that there was to be no parking in the lot without a proper permit. I did park in the lot, and have several times before, without being issued a charge. A friend of mine lives there and the lot is often empty.

I've posted the NtK Letter (2 pages)

And the Letter Before Claim

I'm wondering if I should just contact this company: http://privateparkingappeals.co.uk/legal/

This post has been edited by jacquio: Sun, 10 Feb 2019 - 18:36

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Ollyfrog]

OMG NO! Don't do anything hasty. The experts will be along shortly to advise. Let them check out the POFA compliance on that, get photos of signs if you can and post them here too. If I understand correctly, the company in that link are to be avoided! (the others will confirm). You're already outside the 30 day window to reply to that LBC so no point sweating another 48 hours. Sometimes it's quiet at weekends so don't panic!

[cabbyman]

The link that you have shown is not recommended by this forum.

[jacquio]

I will wait until others answer my post. Thanks for the advice

[ostell]

So have you been given the windscreen ticket? And does it have the same information as the NTK

[The Rookie]

The jump out failure against PoFA is that no period of parking is stated.

Have a read of paragraph 8 and check the rest off as to whether they are satisfied or not.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9...edule/4/enacted

PoFA compliance is of course pretty much impossible for patrolled car parks as they won't usually know when the car was parked nor want to hang around until it leaves to get the 'period of parking' from subsection 2c.

This post has been edited by The Rookie: Mon, 11 Feb 2019 - 08:28

[jacquio]

I've posted the Charge Notice. So everything posted in this thread is what I have received from the PPC.

And back

This post has been edited by jacquio: Mon, 11 Feb 2019 - 18:55

Attached thumbnail(s)