PE letter before action

Qwertyiphone

Have received letter before action. It says I've become liable 7 weeks after the event. Is this correct?

Hovite_2

Qwertyiphone wrote: »

Have received letter before action. It says I've become liable 7 weeks after the event. Is this correct?

No, it's not but you need to provide more detail. When did you get the ticket, are you the registered keeper, were you the driver ?

Stroma

And did you get the Notice to Keeper within 14 days of the parking incident, and importantly is this in England or Wales?

Qwertyiphone

Hi the vehicles in my company name. And I was the driver. But they do not have my name only the company's.
The ticket is for after the changes in the law!! It was England.
I will find the old letters out when I get home to see when they sent them.

Hovite_2

Qwertyiphone wrote: »

Hi the vehicles in my company name. And I was the driver. But they do not have my name only the company's.
The ticket is for after the changes in the law!! It was England.
I will find the old letters out when I get home to see when they sent them.

You say "your" company name - do you own the company ?

Stroma

Well you can reset this if you provide details of who was responsible for the vehicle on the day. Just because its your company vehicle, a company cannot drive a car, so it can be done.


Name
Address

Date
Ref


Dear Parking Eye


Thank you for your letter dated xxxxx, as the registered keeper I deny all liability to your company. So in line with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, I have given you a serviceable name and address of the keeper of the vehicle on the date of your invoice, which is below.

Name
Address

This matter is now closed, if you proceed with any spurious small claim against my company it will be fully defended.

Faithfully

Your company name (printed)

Coupon-mad

Qwertyiphone wrote: »

Have received letter before action. It says I've become liable 7 weeks after the event. Is this correct?

Stop. Just look at your letters which you will have kept I hope, the keeper liability letter would have been a follow-up to the Notice to Keeper (NTK) which you ignored. Was the NTK sent in time?

You do need to respond to a Letter Before Action but with detail about why their charge is unenforceable, with facts about the Notice the Keeper. The first letter.

bazster

To clarify what Stroma is getting at, in case anyone is wondering, POFA defines "keeper" thus:

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;

In this case the keeper is not the company (the registered keeper), it is the human being who is the OP, and if push came to shove I should say a simple "To whom it may concern" letter from the company to that effect would prove the matter.

So Stroma is being very clever by getting the RK off the hook whilst still not nominating the driver. By pursuing the RK the company is pursuing the wrong "person", they need to pursue the actual keeper.

I'm not convinced that nominating the actual keeper resets the clock though. PE was obliged to send a Notice to Keeper to the keeper within 14 days - and it didn't, it sent the notice to the registered keeper - not the same person! So they have timed out. As far as I can see POFA makes no allowance for the PPC not knowing who the actual keeper was, that is their problem.

If it were me I would refine Stroma's letter slightly:

Dear Parking Eye

Your ref: XXXXXXX

Thank you for your letter dated xxxxx. As the registered keeper, {name of company} denies all liability to your company.

As owner of the vehicle we confirm to you that the actual keeper of the vehicle on the date in question was:

blah blah blah
blah blah
blah

You will be aware that the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 prescribes that Notices must be sent to the keeper, who need not be identical with the registered keeper.

This matter is now closed. If you proceed with any spurious small claim against us it will be fully defended.

God only knows what they will do in response to that, I bet they haven't seen this before. It will certainly be interesting!

Stroma

This was run over on pepipoo, it goes like this. If the parking company is notified on who is responsible for the vehicle on the day in question. They must stop pursuing the RK and go to the person who's address has been given. The reason is that as no legal action has commenced they have an opportunity to chase the driver. So if they continue to chase the RK despite knowing they are not responsible they in theory could be done for contempt.

bazster

But nor can they go to the person whose name/address has been given, because they never served them an in-time Notice to Keeper. It's a win-win!

Stroma

They will send a notice to driver then, and the process restarts with 28 days and an appeal that can go to popla on rejection. That is the win win