Ongoing G24 woes

Bacardi.84

Okay it's probably about time I posted here about my current situation. !Back in April this year I received the typical PCN from G24 for 'overstaying' in a free car park. !As per the advice around at the time (on here and elsewhere) I ignored it. !They followed up with a few more letters (3 in total including the first) and eventually I started getting a couple of letters from a Debt Recovery company. !These letters are still arriving (3 to date) and are now talking about court action etc. The age old threats. !Thing is, having read the more up to date threads since, and having now heard about the rule changes, have I messed things up and made things tricky for myself by not appealing? What advice would you give?!

zzzLazyDaisy

More info required:

Date of parking 'event'
Windscreen ticket or PCN through the post (with photos of car)
Date of Notice to Keeper through post (first letter from PPC)
Do you or the driver live in scotland or NI or was the parking event there

When you say 'they are talking about court action -

Is this a letter from a debt collector headed 'notice of intended litigation' or

A letter from G24 or solicitors acting on their behalf headed 'Letter Before Action' 'Letter Before Claim' or something similar? (Not very likely because as far as I am aware G24 have no history -yet- of doing court, but still need to check as they have 6 years from the parking event to change their MO and start issuing proceedings)

Was the reason for the overstay related to an Equality Act factor - pregnant/elderly/disabled person needing more time?

Was this car park a service for a retail park/supermarket/hotel/cinema/leisure centre/or what? And have you contacted the landowner/retailer to complain?

Come back with the above info and we will have a better idea of which direction to point you in.

D

Bacardi.84

Parking event: 13/04/13
PCN through the post - issued 19/04/13
Location - retail park car park in England.
Reason for overstay - was shopping in the retail park before walking over to the adjacent cinema complex (separately owned) for a film and food, before returning to the car and getting held up in traffic exiting the car park due to a One Direction concert finishing nearby at the same time....

I actually only got 2 letters from G24; first was a Contractual parking charge notice on the 19th April, the second a final notice on 13/06/13.

The first Debt Recovery Plus Ltd letter arrived 06/09/13 headed 'Demand for payment of an unpaid parking charge £110'.

The second arrived 23/09/13 headed 'Notice of intended court action - unpaid parking charge £110'

I haven't complained or appealed to anyone.

Edit: if it's of any use, I was accompanied by my girlfriend at the time who is on DLA.

zzzLazyDaisy

Okay, you are too far down the line to appeal (unless the RK and the Driver are different people?).

You can ignore the debt collectors - they bark loudly but have no teeth.

If you get a Letter Before Action or a Letter Before Claim (or similar) from the PPC or a solicitor acting on behalf of the PPC DO NOT IGNORE, come back to this thread straight away for further advice.

In the meantime, COMPLAIN to the owner/managing agent of the retail park, and the various shops that you visited about the way their parking agents are treating genuine customers who spend too long shopping in the retail park (when you say the cinema is separately owned - does it share the same car park?). Also your gf is on DLA, that means she is disabled and protected under the Equality Act 2010. So explain in your letter that the Driver's passenger is disabled and how this affects her (she gets exhausted quickly? She walks slowly? She needs to rest frequently? etc) and remind them that as disability is a 'protected characteristic' under the Equality Act, they must make reasonable adjustments which means allowing her more time and not enforcing an arbitrary time restriction. (Was the vehicle displaying a blue badge? It doesn't matter if it wasn't, but if it was remind them that their parking agent is bound by the BPA code of practice which expressly states that a parking charge must not be levied against a vehicle displaying a valid blue badge). If you have proofs of purchase - receipts or card statements showing you were genuine customers enclose copies (delete all personal info and just show the relevant entries)

See Coupon's Hall of Fame listing organisations that have cancelled these charges for genuine customers - you may even find 'your' retail park there

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4766249

Get writing - a few clicks and a couple of stamps could see this off for you.

Daisy

Hovite_2

Just as a crumb of comfort - G24 don't do court - mainly because they're too stupid to even use the correct signs in their car parks. Filling in a court form would be well beyond them !

Coupon-mad

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Okay, you are too far down the line to appeal (unless the RK and the Driver are different people?).

You can ignore the debt collectors - they bark loudly but have no teeth.

If you get a Letter Before Action or a Letter Before Claim (or similar) from the PPC or a solicitor acting on behalf of the PPC DO NOT IGNORE, come back to this thread straight away for further advice.

In the meantime, COMPLAIN to the owner/managing agent of the retail park, and the various shops that you visited about the way their parking agents are treating genuine customers who spend too long shopping in the retail park (when you say the cinema is separately owned - does it share the same car park?).

Also your gf is on DLA, that means she is disabled and protected under the Equality Act 2010. So explain in your letter that the Driver's passenger is disabled and how this affects her (she gets exhausted quickly? She walks slowly? She needs to rest frequently? etc) and remind them that as disability is a 'protected characteristic' under the Equality Act, they must make reasonable adjustments which means allowing her more time and not enforcing an arbitrary time restriction. (Was the vehicle displaying a blue badge? It doesn't matter if it wasn't, but if it was remind them that their parking agent is bound by the BPA code of practice which expressly states that a parking charge must not be levied against a vehicle displaying a valid blue badge). If you have proofs of purchase - receipts or card statements showing you were genuine customers enclose copies (delete all personal info and just show the relevant entries)

See Coupon's Hall of Fame listing organisations that have cancelled these charges for genuine customers - you may even find 'your' retail park there

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4766249

Get writing - a few clicks and a couple of stamps could see this off for you.

Daisy

Well said Daisy - just corrected the date of the Equality Act (my bold, above). The OP should certainly be complaining about this as it's disability discrimination, as we know from lots of other threads, some of which have ended up as successful cancellations on that linked 'Hall of Fame' complaints about PPCs sticky thread.

zzzLazyDaisy

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Well said Daisy - just corrected the date of the Equality Act (my bold, above).

Grrrr! Thanks! Blame the sleep deprivation!!!!