Parking Charge Notice

wolfgirl

Evening all. Last week i received a 'parking charge notice' from a firm called 'Parking Eye' for over stay in a supermarket car park.

I have read through several threads on this forum but i still have one query - i understand that the general opinion is to ignore, however i have read some comments regarding if the parking charge notice happened after 1st October 2012 (which mine did) then i need to respond to them.

So basically my question is am i ok to ignore the letters or do i have to respond?

taffy056

Nope you don't have to respond to them at all, providing you are the registered keeper of the vehicle. It's still the recommendation to ignore completely.

RENEGADE_2

Hi Wolfgirl.
To clarify, ignoring is not the "general opinion", it is the correct course of action. To call it an "opinion" suggests that we might not be completely sure that it is the best action.

ParkingEye will - if the alleged incident happened post-October - mention Protection of Freedoms Bill 2012. If in your invoice they do, can I recommend you write to them to deny the legality of the charge in that it exceeds landowner losses and hopefully they will cancel the demand. If they don't, they will give you a POPLA reference number: you then make a complaint to POPLA using that number, discard their reply because it won't matter on whose side they come down as it is not binding for you, and take pleasure in knowing this venture will cost ParkingEye a mandatory £32.

wolfgirl

thank you so much for your responses.

Renegade - Yes they do mention the Protection of Freedoms Bill in the letter so i will look at putting a letter together next week

RENEGADE_2

Thanks for telling me.
Keep it simple, write something to the following effect:

Dear ParkingEye
Thank you for your invoice matching the above sequence dated xx-xx-xx. Since you mention Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, I have conducted a thorough investigation of both the alleged event and your claim.

Upon analysing the matter, I conclude that your demand does not reflect losses suffered by your client as a result of the alleged incident and thereby it remains unlawful, therefore unenforceable. I fear however that you have misinterpreted the stipulations of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 which nowhere state that a keeper becomes liable for a de facto penalty issued by an operator. I am well aware of what you may pursue from the registered keeper, however it is not my task to provide you with this information. To this end I suggest that if your team have difficulties in comprehending the terms, please seek legal advice.

Take note that I have addressed this case in accordance with the terms of the protocol and refuse to assist you further in the affair. Your claim has been perused carefully from every angle and if you are unhappy with my position, I invite you to take the case to adjudication. Please also note that any attempts to sidestep the correct legal channels by calling upon collection agencies, solicitors or any other third party shall be discarded.

Your option has been clarified. I hereby declare this matter closed.

Yours sincerely
**your name** < Do not sign


This way, you have addressed the matter as keeper but you have not named a driver, have not admitted the event and nor have you denied it. If you send this very piece but modify the personal details, you may find they cancel their demand. That is what they did with me.

TYH_2

Hello,

Firstly thank you to all you lovely people taking the time to help and reassure!

I have the exact same query as wolfgirl, that being the law amendment on 01/10/12 - My 'fine' was from 26/10/12. The company in question with my letter is 'CP Plus'. They have not mentioned the protection of freedoms bill 2012 - but I am only on the first letter. I also have not contacted them as yet.

I know you have very kindly written out a letter, but do I need to write to them if they haven't mentioned this new bill?

I know you have clarified this in black and white, but I am a born worrier! I can afford the £50, but any hit to my credit rating, (need to renew my mortgage soon), or CCJ's would be disastrous.

If it wasn't for the law change I'd happily be lighting the fire with the letters!

Huge thanks again!

taffy056

TYH wrote: »

Hello,

Firstly thank you to all you lovely people taking the time to help and reassure!

I have the exact same query as wolfgirl, that being the law amendment on 01/10/12 - My 'fine' was from 26/10/12. The company in question with my letter is 'CP Plus'. They have not mentioned the protection of freedoms bill 2012 - but I am only on the first letter. I also have not contacted them as yet.

I know you have very kindly written out a letter, but do I need to write to them if they haven't mentioned this new bill?

I know you have clarified this in black and white, but I am a born worrier! I can afford the £50, but any hit to my credit rating, (need to renew my mortgage soon), or CCJ's would be disastrous.

If it wasn't for the law change I'd happily be lighting the fire with the letters!

Huge thanks again!

You may be able to afford the £50, but let me put it like this, who would you prefer to have that money? You or a parking company with no legal right to your money? You don't owe them anything at all, so stop worrying. Also this will NOT effect your credit rating, how can it when you don't have a credit agreement with them?

The only way it can is if they take you to the small claims, they win the judgement, you don't pay what the judge orders within 28. This will not happen without your knowledge, and by the way CP Plus never took a single person to court in 2011, we know on here as we have a FOI request of the courts.

See post #12 on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4070423

The_Slithy_Tove

TYH wrote: »

I have the exact same query as wolfgirl

Then the answer is surely exactly the same.

TYH wrote: »

that being the law amendment on 01/10/12 - My 'fine' was from 26/10/12. The company in question with my letter is 'CP Plus'. They have not mentioned the protection of freedoms bill 2012 - but I am only on the first letter. I also have not contacted them as yet.

I know you have very kindly written out a letter, but do I need to write to them if they haven't mentioned this new bill?

There is a lot of misinformation around concerning the Protection of Freedom Act. This is largely pedalled by the private parking companies in an attempt to add some kind of legitimacy to their charges, not helped by sloppy and lazy journalism which regurgitates what the parking companies say without checking if it's true or not.

Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 introduces the concept of Keeper Liability for private parking charges if the registered keeper fails to divulge who the driver was. That is all.

• It does not make parking charges enforceable (or any more enforceable than they were before, which, on the whole is not enforceable at all)

• It does not require the registered keeper to name the driver on request - there is no obligation. If the keeper fails to name the driver, the "liability" (such as it is) reverts to the keeper (see previous point). If the driver and keeper are the same person, then there is no difference anyway.

• It does not set out any kind of statutory framework for parking charges, they are still based on contract law or trespass, and in that respect nothing has changed

• It does not define the wording that must be used to make parking charge notices "legal" or "enforceable". The Act sets out wording and points that must be included in order for the parking company to be able to apply keeper liability, but using all the correct words does not make the notice any more legally enforceable than it was before (see point 1)

TYH wrote: »

I know you have clarified this in black and white, but I am a born worrier! I can afford the £50, but any hit to my credit rating, (need to renew my mortgage soon), or CCJ's would be disastrous.

Who mentioned CCJs or credit ratings? Not paying an unenforceable invoice (which is what this is) CANNOT affect your credit rating. A CCJ, as it's name implies, is a judgement from a county court. A parking company would therefore need said county court to issue such a judgement. This is not a trivial matter, and actually requires them to sue you in court (which they won't do), you to lose (which wouldn't happen), and then for you not to pay up. Just forget it. It's just another part of the misinformation storm they bombard you with.

TYH wrote: »

If it wasn't for the law change I'd happily be lighting the fire with the letters!

You can still do so.

bargepole

TYH wrote: »

... If it wasn't for the law change I'd happily be lighting the fire with the letters! ...

The law change only applies to tickets issued from Oct 1st onwards, so doesn't apply to yours in any case.

Happy firelighting!

TYH_2

Thanks again all! 'bargepole - I was recorded post oct 1st, but feel happy I can proceed and light my fire!

Consider me reassured! (which is no mean feat).

pawlala

Is there any benefit in writing letter as suggested in #5, when in actual fact the better course of action for OP is to ignore?

Just an interested reader here rather than someone who has received a ticket