Parking Eye as well!!

Saversbabe

Hi all
I've been reading the other Parking Eye thread this morning so firstly I'd like to say I'm not a troll - I've been a member of the site for ages but don't tend to sign in and haven't really needed to ask a question up until now. I didn't want to jump on the other thread because it seems to have gone off on a tangent about whether or not court papers are real etc and I thought my question might just get lost!!

Anyway this morning I received a Parking Charge Notice from them - I know its from them getting my details from the DVLA because my name is mis-spelled as it was when I received the registration document back from the DVLA from buying the car a few weeks ago. (I have sent it back to get my name corrected but they have obviously got my details before I did this).
Apparently my car stayed in their car park longer than it should have done according to "signage which is clearly displayed at the entrance to and throughout the car park". Off the top of my head I couldn't actually tell you whether there is a sign, I'm sure there will be as surely they wouldn't be daft enough to send a letter about a fictional sign?!? It'd be fairly hard to see anyway as to get into the car park you have to cross a lane of oncoming traffic so you'd be looking out for other cars rather than parking restrictions. Its a free car park on a large retail park so its not implausible that you'd be there shopping for more than the allowed 3 hours anyway and not like the car stayed longer than had been paid for so they haven't lost money. As I understand from a bit of Googling this morning they dont know whether or not I was the driver that day and it is the driver that would be liable if these things were enforceable.
I've found on a police forum a thread that says you don't have to tell them who the driver was and they have no powers to force you to say who it was.

So I'm just wondering what my best course of action is?
1. Ignore it completely?
2. Send it back telling them there is no-one of that name at this address (true because the name is wrong)?
3. Tell them I was not the driver on that day?
4. Something else?

Thanks in advance.

trisontana

Just ignore, simple as that. You are correct regarding not having to tell them the identity of the driver. On that note, it would be best to amend your post to say "my car stayed in their car park longer than it should have done". The reason I suggest that is because some parking companies read these forums to try and ascertain the identity of the driver. Don't give them that opportunity!

pogofish

Yes, they would be daft enough to try it on with incompetent sinage - even where they do display prominently, the signs themselves are usually illegal!

Ignore is the best option. They gave-up after just three letters to me last year. Any contact will prolong matters needlessly

Saversbabe

Amended, thankyou. Just really worried about getting any kind of negative on my credit file as my partner is a recently discharged bankrupt so we rely on my slightly better credit file for things like the letting agent when we started renting.

I shall ignore and come back to this if/when I get another letter. And start using the site a bit more often, found all sorts of helpful stuff whilst digging around this morning.

Thankyou.

trisontana

Saversbabe wrote: »

Amended, thankyou. Just really worried about getting any kind of negative on my credit file as my partner is a recently discharged bankrupt so we rely on my slightly better credit file for things like the letting agent when we started renting.

I shall ignore and come back to this if/when I get another letter. And start using the site a bit more often, found all sorts of helpful stuff whilst digging around this morning.

Thankyou.

Of course the only way your credit rating would be affected is if the case goes to court (very unlikely) you lose (very, very unlikely) than then you don't pay whatever the judge orders within 28 days. The odds against this occurring is so remote it's not worth bothering about.

Coupon-mad

Saversbabe wrote: »

Amended, thankyou. Just really worried about getting any kind of negative on my credit file as my partner is a recently discharged bankrupt so we rely on my slightly better credit file for things like the letting agent when we started renting.

I shall ignore and come back to this if/when I get another letter. And start using the site a bit more often, found all sorts of helpful stuff whilst digging around this morning.

Thankyou.

Your credit rating will not be affected. The other Parking Eye thread is IMHO a set-up, they don't do Court really.

Oopsadaisy

New advice fresh from the legal dept........ [not really]

Private PPC = ignore, ignore, ignore some more.