PCN received in post, but never been there

vn900

Hi all,

Have checked around the site, but couldn't see a similar story so here goes.

A friend has been borrowing a neighbours car for a few months as theirs got written off in an accident.

a couple of weeks ago, the neighbour (registered owner) received a letter stating that a parking charge notice had not been paid - it stated the P&D ticket had expired - this was at a Hospital in Bristol and we are in Gloucestershire.

Neither the owner of the car, nor my friend has ever been to the hospital in Bristol.

The owner of the car wrote to the company to dispute the fine. They have now received another letter, with some additional detail attached. the only detail about the car is the registration number, the make, and colour. The colour stated is wrong, but the make is correct.

what would you advise on this? do the parking company need to prove the car was there, or does the owner/driver have to prove they weren't.....or should they just ignore it?

Many thanks

molerat

If this is from a private company then tell them to ignore it, have no correspondance with the company at all and they will go away. If they do eventually have the nerve to go to court the ppc will lose.

pogofish

What company is claiming this?

Bristol Uni Hospitals are served by several car parks, some of which are operated by the council, whilst others are run by private operators. Some of the designated parking is even in private retail parks.

What you/your friend needs to do next will depend on just who you are dealing with.

Can you tell us who the letter is from?

Saying that, the phrase "parking charge notice," strongly suggests to me that you are dealing with a sloppy private operator and if so, the best thing you can do is ignore it.

vn900

Hi

It's TPS - total parking solutions

I did tell my friend to ignore it, but her neighbour won't listen at the mo!

the fact they have never even been to the car park in question makes me think they wrote the reg number down wrong? and the colour doesn't match.

do they have to supply photographic evidence that she was there? could it be a cloned plate?

pogofish

OK, for TPS - ignore!

And get you pal along, do a search of this forum and they will soon see why.

Especially if they have never even been to the car park Sloppy recording by PPC staff is another thing you will find in a few threads here.

If you want to quote the text, I would lay money on it being criminally illegal under Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act. Or it soon will be in one of their letters. TPS have been repeatedly caught out on this one before, so there is little or no chance of them taking you to court.

Photographic evidence is pretty meaningless TBH - its the bottom of the evidential food chain. For most firms, it amounts to little more than another bullying tactic.

vn900

Thanks Pogofish! :beer:

I will let her know, and tell her to get her neighbour to check this site out.

if necessary, I think we can get evidence from work that she was in Glos earlier in the afternoon, and there is no way she could have driven there and have an expired ticket by the time they claim.....but as you say, it probably won't come to that!

thanks again