Parking Eye... again

kathwales

Hi,
I'm a newbie on here so please be nice. I know that there are a lot of threads on Parking Eye but I can't find the answer to my question so help would be really appreciated.

I parked at Fistral Beach car park for 40 mins one damp, cold May evening so the kids could watch the surfers. Never realised it was a monitored car park. Never saw the signs. Only saw the ticket machine but as we were saying in the car didn't get a ticket.
Yep, Parking Eye got me.

I've had the initial you owe us £100 but pay now and its £60. And also the reminder.

I'm in two minds to pay as its a company car and so its the companies name on the parking fine so i'm a little worried that the company could end up in court (worst case scenario).

The date of 'event' is the 27/05/13 but the date issued is 14/06/13 so its taken them 19 days to issue it plus it arrived a few days after this in the post so about 21 days after the 'event' i received the first notice.

Is there anything that says I must receive the notice within 14 days?

Hoping this could be the backup I need if anything further happened and also i need to put a case to my boss today as its due to be paid today.

Thanks

bazster

The law says that the notice must be delivered within 14 days - or, to be precise, if it's not delivered within 14 days then they can't hold the registered keeper (your employer) liable.

So that's a slam-dunk as far as your employer is concerned, and if your boss is obliging he will have the company write to Parking Eye and tell them to get stuffed on the basis that their Notice to Keeper was out of time.

However, if your employer can't be faffed with it then you might have to take the heat off them by writing to PE yourself and confessing to being the driver - in which case, they can no longer chase your employer, even when you refuse to pay.

If you take the latter course, make sure you tell Parking Eye that you are challenging the charge on the grounds that it is a penalty and therefore unenforceable, so they must either cancel the charge or send you a POPLA code.

hoohoo

bazster wrote: »

The law says that the notice must be delivered within 14 days - or, to be precise, if it's not delivered within 14 days then they can't hold the registered keeper (your employer) liable.

So that's a slam-dunk as far as your employer is concerned, and if your boss is obliging he will have the company write to Parking Eye and tell them to get stuffed on the basis that their Notice to Keeper was out of time.

However, if your employer can't be faffed with it then you might have to take the heat off them by writing to PE yourself and confessing to being the driver - in which case, they can no longer chase your employer, even when you refuse to pay.

If you take the latter course, make sure you tell Parking Eye that you are challenging the charge on the grounds that it is a penalty and therefore unenforceable, so they must either cancel the charge or send you a POPLA code.

Never admit to being the driver!

Write to them as the keeper (which you are under POFA definitions), tell them that the notice was served too late for keeper liability and you therefore challenge them on the basis they have not identified the driver.

Guys_Dad

hoohoo wrote: »

Never admit to being the driver!

Write to them as the keeper (which you are under POFA definitions), tell them that the notice was served too late for keeper liability and you therefore challenge them on the basis they have not identified the driver.

But keep your company in the picture by sending them a copy of the letter to PE saying you are taking responsibility and, if needed, offering to show them the relevant bit of POFA/BPA.

bazster

hoohoo wrote: »

Never admit to being the driver!

Write to them as the keeper (which you are under POFA definitions), tell them that the notice was served too late for keeper liability and you therefore challenge them on the basis they have not identified the driver.

Interesting point.

POFA:

“keeper” means the person by whom the vehicle is kept at the time the vehicle was parked, which in the case of a registered vehicle is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be the registered keeper


Pretty easy for a company car user to prove that they are the keeper of the vehicle assuming that the vehicle is for their exclusive use. So what you are suggesting is a letter along these lines:

The registered keeper of the vehicle has passed the Notice to Keeper to me because I was the keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged event. I see that the Notice to Keeper was sent/delivered outwith the 14-day period following the alleged event as prescribed by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. The Notice to Keeper is therefore invalid and I now require you to either cancel the charge or to provide me with a POPLA code so that I may further appeal it.

I like it! It relieves the employer of all responsibility whilst at the same time majoring on the invalidity of the NtK!

Guys_Dad

I agree with bazster and his wording is fine. I would add, however, a modified version of the last paragraph from stroma's standard letter to this

The keeper has nothing further to add, and will not respond to any correspondence from your company unless it contains the popla code.

The challenge will be deemed accepted if there is no popla code on any rejection that you supply.

kathwales

Thanks so much for your replies. Letter written and ready to send.

What do you think will happen? Do you think they will appeal?

Bit of a stress head when it comes to things like this!

bazster

kathwales wrote: »

Thanks so much for your replies. Letter written and ready to send.

What do you think will happen? Do you think they will appeal?

Bit of a stress head when it comes to things like this!

I think there is every chance they will cancel the charge. When they look they will realise they have screwed up on the dates and are on a sure-fire loser at POPLA.

But they're not very bright and there is a possibility that they could miss the point and continue to hassle you or your employer. Or they might try to bully you into naming the driver (you are under absolutely no obligation to do so, whatever they might say to the contrary).

Of course, if they don't fold and don't send you a POPLA code then their entire claim times out in a few weeks, but it's better if you do get a code from them so you can kill it off at POPLA.

Coupon-mad

kathwales wrote: »

Thanks so much for your replies. Letter written and ready to send.

What do you think will happen? Do you think they will appeal?

Bit of a stress head when it comes to things like this!

My bet is they will send you a POPLA code and rejection letter. So read ahead and learn what makes a strong, winning POPLA appeal wording:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/61968045#Comment_61968045

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4610773

and here are other recent Fistral Beach cases people are appealing, you might find more useful specific points to copy into your POPLA appeal:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4631097

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4632455

and even more before that, which was when we used to advise people to ignore these fake PCNS (that is not the current advice so I'm only posting these to show you people's experiences and how common the scam at Fistral Beach is:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4439353

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4349079

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4245373

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4171959


...and read the last page (most recent results) on the 'POPLA decisions' sticky thread at the top of this forum too. You will soon see what works and you will be ready to draft your appeal for POPLA at the time. We can help you to tweak it.