Liverpool Airport Parking fine

Shelly_57 wrote: »

Hi, having just received a PCN from the company that runs the parking at Liverpool Airport I have responded as follows, I hope that it may help others, I am aware that I can just ignore the request for payment but did not fancy all the threatening letters and bad credit reports;-

To: The Manager
Central Payment Office,
Vehicle Control Services Ltd,
PO Box 4777,
Sheffield, S9 9DJ

Without prejudice, save as to costs
Re. Parking Charge Notice No. *******

John Lennon, Liverpool Airport.
Vehicle registration ********.
Dear Sir/Madam,

I was very surprised to receive a 'Parking Charge Notice' no.********** today from The John Lennon Airport, Liverpool for my vehicle whose registration number is set out at the top of this letter. I dispute the charge for the reasons set out below. Please note that without prejudice to the fact that I dispute the whole basis of the claim, my main beef is with what I consider to be a disproportionate and punitive level of charge.
a; You offer no photographic proof of my vehicle been in a controlled area of the airport [exact location]
b; No one stopped your agent from issuing the alleged parking/stopping infraction notice to the driver or it been placed on the vehicle
c; The vehicle used to take the photo lacked any signage as to being an official parking enforcer mobile cctv vehicle,[ entrapment comes to mind ] what’s more your employee failed in his duty of care to ascertain what the reason for the vehicle stopping was, if it was due to the driver feeling unwell or unable to drive and a change of driver was taken place.
d; Only double yellow lines are in use along the long stretch of the approach road
e; As a holder of a blue badge it is permitted to stop on double yellow lines for up to 3hrs. in fact the vehicle was only allegedly stopped according you photos for 1min. although does not specify exact location {blue badge holders are allowed to stop momentarily in red route to collect and drop off disable passenger’s and both my husband and I are disabled}

1. No contract
There was no contract between myself and either Vehicle Control Services Ltd or The John Lennon Airport Liverpool. What`s more I did not see the notices being as I did not enter the car park and at that time had no idea any charge whatsoever was required to circulate in the airport access roads. So the requirements of forming a contract such as a meeting of minds, agreement, certainty of terms, etc were not satisfied.



2. Trespass
If there was no contract, at most I was guilty of a civil trespass (though this is neither admitted nor denied). If this was the case, I would be liable to damages. Given that I did not enter or made damage to the car park or access roads, I would suggest that there was therefore no loss at all.

3. Punitive/unfair/unreasonable
Without prejudice to the foregoing, even if there was a contract (which is denied):

a. Punitive
The charge that you are levying is punitive and therefore void (ie. unenforceable) against me. The charge of £60 is arbitrary and in no way proportionate to any alleged breach of contract. Nor does it even equate to local council charges (which in any event are a completely different beast). This is all the more so for the additional charge of £40 which you say accrues after fourteen days of non-payment. This would also apply to your mention of any costs incurred through debt recovery unless it followed a court order.

b. Unfair
The charge you are levying is an unfair term (and therefore not binding) pursuant to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. In particular, Schedule 2 of those Regulations gives an indicative (and non-exhaustive) list of terms which may be regarded as unfair and includes at Schedule 2(1)(e) "Terms which have the object or effect of requiring any consumer who fails to fulfill his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation." Furthermore, Regulation 5(1) states that: "A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer" and 5(2) states: "A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term."

c. Unreasonable
The charge you are levying is an unreasonable indemnity clause pursuant to section 4(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which provides that: "A person cannot by reference to any contract term be made to indemnify another person (whether a party to the contract or not) in respect of liability that may be incurred by the other for negligence or breach of contract, except in so far as the contract term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.”

Further information
Please take this letter to constitute a written appeal in accordance with your Notice. I also make the following points. I would be grateful for answers to all questions raised and in this respect remind you of the obligations set out in the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct

1. Your cause of action: please make this clear. If you claim that I entered into a contract, please send me a complete breakdown of all the terms and conditions of that contract to which you say I agreed.

2. Your loss: please give me a full breakdown as to the actual loss you say was suffered by either yourselves or The John Lennon Airport, Liverpool,
a; As per airport web site says there is a free 5min. drop off point and the alleged stopping infraction is according to the photos 1 min. therefore your loss is NIL
b; also as per web site it says that all access roads are now a RED ROUTE but not road marked as such only double yellow lines are in place

3. The appeal: please send me a copy of the procedure which you follow, along with setting out what factors are taken into account, who is the judge or arbitrator and whether they are independent, whether you require oral submissions, whether it is governed by the Arbitration Act 1996 and any other relevant factors. In addition, please give me disclosure of any arguments being put by yourselves on this matter in the Appeal so that I might reply to any new issues which are raised. If you decide to dismiss the appeal, please send me the full reasoning in relation to each of the specific points raised in this letter.

4. Time for the appeal. Your parking charge notice says: ‘Appeals/challenges received after 28 (twenty-eight) days will not be upheld or considered unless in extreme circumstances, and at the Company’s discretion.’ Please tell me how you say this complies with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct (above)?

5. Your 'Parking Charge Notice': what do you say is the status of this document? Do you claim it is an invoice pursuant to a contract (in other words an invoice which would generally get declared to the Inland Revenue) or does it have some other status? If it is the latter, please clarify exactly what you say it is?

6. Your Notice mentions that 'A photograph has been taken of the vehicle for evidential value and will be stored in accordance with the Company's Data Protection procedures'. Please send me a copy of those procedures. Furthermore, pursuant to section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 please send me a copy of any such photo along with a copy of any other data which you hold relating to me.
a; Please advise as to how you have the right to obtain my details from DVLA as you are a LTD company
b; I will take now the opportunity of advising you of your breach of information act, been as you have sent your PCN in an open envelope which has been sent by the royal mail post and open for anyone to see and read the details of its contents especially as it has Excel Parking services Ltd.
c; What is the relationship between ‘Vehicle Control Services Ltd’ and Excel Parking services Ltd.

7. Please send me details of any Codes by which you claim to comply and any governing body or other such organization of which you are a member.

8. Please provide me with the name and address of your solicitors (if any) in order that I may copy them into this correspondence.

9. For the avoidance of doubt (and without suggesting that you would), please do not do the following:
a. Send me any document purporting to be from the County Court unless it is a valid Claim Form duly issued.
b. Write to me threatening to send round bailiffs without first going through the process of issuing a Claim Form and obtaining judgment.
c. Send me any standard letters either from yourselves or debt-collectors without addressing the specific points raised in this response.


10. If you want to make a claim , for your information you can issue online or I am sure that Sheffield County Court would also be very happy to give you a form. My address for service is set out at the top of this letter. If you do decide to issue:
a. I reserve the right to add further arguments to my Defense.
b. Please rest assured that I will be more than happy to attend any court mediation's which might be offered.


[FONT=&quot]I look forward to your earliest reply.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yours faithfully,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]:mad: :mad: :mad:[/FONT]

Shelly_57 wrote: »

Hi, having just received a PCN from the company that runs the parking at Liverpool Airport I have responded as follows, I hope that it may help others, I am aware that I can just ignore the request for payment but did not fancy all the threatening letters and bad credit reports;-