Appealing a PCN ticket if you're not the registered owner

Fruitcake wrote: »

Complain like mad to the hire company. I bet the Ts and Cs mention penalty charges and fines, but not parking charges from private companies. That would be like Enterprise paying a bill for a plumber's invoice for work that was never carried out, then charging you for it. They are not allowed to do it.

You must first as a priority contact your credit card provider and put the charge in dispute, as an unauthorised payment, then contact the hire company to tell them what you have done and why.

I believe they are a member of the BVRLA, (hire company trade association) and therefore they MUST follow the BVRLA guidelines that tells them to send the PCN to the hirer and NOT pay it.
You will have to do a bit of research on the BVRLA website to find the correct wording to quote, and also (I think) their chairman sent out a letter telling all members that they MUST follow this policy. Hopefully one of the regulars may be able to help with this bit.

So, contact the credit card company today, research the BVRLA requirements, then complain very forcefully to the hire company demanding a refund quoting their own trade association code of practice as for your reasons why. In addition, tell Enterprise that they had no liability themselves (unless it was a byelaws case) and by paying it they have denied you the right to appeal it which you were in the process of doing.

Was this at a railway station by any chance? If so, the owner, not the keeper or driver or hirer would have been liable as byelaws would have applied (and only for trespass, not a parking charge) so Enterprise were liable in the first place not the hirer. Point out that you were prepared to deal with this yourselves as a gesture of goodwill. Now they have lost all your goodwill as a result of their actions.

Sorry I should have said. The payment was taken from a debit card. Can this still be disputed.? Your reply has been very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to send all that information, I'm really grateful

I sent this letter to Enterprise and below that is their response. I'd really appreciate any suggestions of where to go from here. Thank you 👍

LETTER SENT TO ENTERPRISE

I am writing to complain about a letter received from you, dated 21/04/2017 concerning contract no 6RCHVR.

My complaint is that you have made charge to my card for a PCN. This was not an authorised transaction as it was not a traffic violation, it was a parking charge from a private company. You are simply not allowed to do this.

As a member of the BVRLA you must follow their guidelines. In their guidelines it states that 'the customer must be provided with supporting evidence and made aware of the amount before their nominated method of payment is charged. You did not follow these guidelines. The BVRLA also states that you 'will advise customers of the steps they should take if they wish to dispute the charges, including details on how to contact any relevant customer service department'. You also did not follow these guidelines.

You have also denied us the right to appeal, which we were in the process of doing.

In addition to this the PCN was issued at a railway station which therefore meant the owner of the vehicle is liable, not the keeper, driver or hirer as bylaws would have applied. Hence Enterprise were liable in the first place, not myself. As a gesture of goodwill I was prepared to deal with this by appealing. However you have now lost all of my goodwill as a result of your actions.

I therefore request you refund the £159 in full.

LETTER RECEIVED IN RESPONSE FROM ENTERPRISE

I understand that you would like to have appealed the PCN, although as I was trying to explain Enterprise is within its rights to charge the renter for any traffic violation as you would have signed on our Rental agreement where it states " Traffic violations are not permitted under the terms of the hire and are the responsibility of the hirer. a charge of up to £35.00 may be made to compensate us for incurred handling cost".



I hope this make it clear as to why we have charged you for the traffic violations, if you have any further questions or queries please reach out to me.

This is the letter I sent to Enterprise

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

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The reason why we are making a claim for £159 is for the refund of a charge made against my card is because it was not an authorised transaction. Firstly you made a charge for a PCN which was issued at a railway station. In this instance the owner of the vehicle is liable, not the keeper, driver or hirer as bylaws would have applied. You have not respected this bylaw and hence the charge to my card is not lawful. Hence lawfully you must refund the amount in full.

Although your terms and conditions state 'As a reminder, your signature on the rental contract allows Enterprise full authorisation to process any applicable charges for
penalties and / or administration fees for violations incurred during your rental period' they do not specifically mention parking charges from private companies.



Thirdly the BVRLA states you 'will advise customers of the steps they should take if they wish to dispute the charges, including details on how to contact any relevant customer service department' You did not follow these guidelines.



In order to put things right I would like you refund the charge of £159.



If I do not receive a satisfactory response from you within 14 days of this letter, I intend to issue proceedings against you in the county court without further notice. This may increase your liability for costs.



I look forward to your acknowledgement,

THIS IS THEIR REPLY

Thank you for your email.



As stated in my previous email you signed our rental agreement allowing us authorise payment from the debit or credit card presented at the time of rental.



If you please see below the contract that states “Any charge or penalty charge for parking or bus lane contraventions”. This is signed by you on the date of hire.



We are more than happy to help if you wish to appeal your parking notice.



All appeal processes are different. We can’t state the whole process on our letter as it is different with every issuing agency. We did provide on the bottom of our letter our customer service number in case you have any queries or questions. If we do not know you wish to appeal the penalty we can’t advise you of this information.



SHOULD I RESPOND? OR SHOULD I START PROCEEDINGS TO RECOUP THE MONEY? I CAN'T LODGE A DISPUTE WITH MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY AS THEY HAD MY DEBIT CARD DETAILS. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE SO FAR. I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED OF HOW THIS PROGRESSES. MANY THANKS