Northern Parking Services (private parking ticket)
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Hi all,
This has been covered before however I posted on an outdated thread.
Over the weekend my girlfriends' son was issued with a parking charge notice by a private company Northern Parking Services whilst stopped at Kwik Fit in Claypath Durham. After reading up a bit and researching, I'm under the impression these notices are hardly worth the paper they are written on. Therefore I have written a response/appeal which I would appreciate any comments on.
I'm hoping that this could help others who have had similar issues with this and other private company's. So if any of you have had previous experience and can advise wether there are changes needed or any othe advice in relation to the charge (I know I could ignore it as an option), but I have to admit I quite like challenging back and showing that I'm not afraid to take them on.
Here it is, bit long winded so apologies.
Mr XXXX
XXXXXXXX
29th September 2013
Northern Parking Services Ltd
PO Box 642
Wallsend
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE28 5AB
Without Prejudice, save as to costs.
Re Parking Charge Notice No. XXXXXX, Claypath Durham.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I was very surprised to have received a 'Parking Charge Notice' (no. XXXXXX) on 27th September 2013, for my vehicle allegedly contravening a contractual arrangement which you believe I entered into with yourselves at the location stated above. I write to inform you that I will not be paying your demand for payment and dispute the charge for the reasons set out below. Please note that without prejudice to the fact that I dispute the whole basis of the claim, my main beef is with what I consider to be a disproportionate and punitive level of charge and inaccurate vehicle details for which I am not attributed to.
Vehicle still 'in use' The vehicle at the time of the alleged violation was still 'in use' and therefore not parked nor left unattended for any length of time.
2. No contract
There was no contract between myself and either Northern Parking Services Ltd or any third party for whom you may act on their behalf. I did not see the notices when I stopped and at that time had no idea I may have been liable for any charge whatsoever. So the requirements of forming a contract such as a meeting of minds, agreement, certainty of terms, etc were not satisfied. Had I known when I stopped the vehicle of any impending charges, I wouldn't have stopped in the first place.
3. Trespass
If there was no contract, then at most I was guilty of a civil trespass (though this is neither admitted nor denied). If this was the case, I would be liable to damages. Given that I did no damage to the area in which my vehicle had stopped and furthermore that the third party (Kwik Fit) was closed at the time of the incident nor any damage caused on leaving, I would suggest that there was therefore no loss at all.
4. Punitive/unfair/unreasonable
Without prejudice to the foregoing, even if there was a contract (which is denied):
a) Punitive
The charge that you are levying is punitive and therefore void (ie unenforceable) against me.
b) Unfair
The charge you are levying is an unfair term (and therefore not binding) pursuant to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. In particular, Schedule 2 of those Regulations gives an indicative (and non-exhaustive) list of terms which may be regarded as unfair and includes at Schedule 2(1)(e) "Terms which have the object or effect of requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation." Furthermore, Regulation 5(1) states that: "A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer" and 5(2) states: "A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term."
c) Unreasonable
The charge you are levying is an unreasonable indemnity clause pursuant to section 4(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which provides that: "A person cannot by reference to any contract term be made to indemnify another person (whether a party to the contract or not) in respect of liability that may be incurred by the other for negligence or breach of contract, except in so far as the contract term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.”
5. Failure to comply with 'Protection of Freedoms Act 2012'
The PCN ticket no. as stated above fails to comply with Schedule 4 Paragraph 7 of the above act for the following reasons.
the location of the alleged violation isn't specific to which area of private land or indeed which third party's private land the charge notice is meant to refer, only stating 'Claypath' as a location. Claypath is in fact a road for which your company has no jurisdiction and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of police/local authority.
b) there is no record on the PCN of the 'period of time' the vehicle was in violation .
c) incorrect vehicle details (licence plate) recorded of which have no affiliation with myself. I do not own/drive nor have ever owned/driven a vehicle with the licence plate as recorded on the notice (XXXX XXX) the first letter was wrong, the second unreadable. A copy of the notice is enclose do
With reference the above mandatory set of information not being present or accurate,the Notice to Driver is invalid and the condition set out in paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 has not been complied with. Failure to comply with paragraph 6 means that the registered keeper cannot be held to account for the alleged debt of the driver.
Further information
Please take this letter to constitute a written appeal in accordance with your Notice. I also make the following points. I would be grateful for answers to all questions raised and in this respect remind you of the obligations set out in the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct ww.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct).
1. Your cause of action: please make this clear. If you claim that I entered into a contract, please send me a complete breakdown of all the terms and conditions of that contract to which you say I agreed.
2. Your loss or third party loss: please give me a full breakdown as to the actual loss you say was suffered by either yourselves or the third party on whom you are acting for (assuming this to be Kwik Fit)
3. The appeal: please send me a copy of the procedure which you follow, along with setting out what factors are taken into account, who is the judge or arbitrator and whether they are independent, whether you require oral submissions, whether it is governed by the Arbitration Act 1996 and any other relevant factors. In addition, please give me disclosure of any arguments being put by yourselves on this matter in the Appeal so that I might reply to any new issues which are raised. If you decide to dismiss the appeal, please send me the full reasoning in relation to each of the specific points raised in this letter.
5. Your 'Parking Charge Notice': what do you say is the status of this document? Do you claim it is an invoice pursuant to a contract (in other words an invoice which would generally get declared to the Inland Revenue) or does it have some other status? If it is the latter, please clarify exactly what you say it is?
6. Your website states that 'Offenders should note before making an appeal that all vehicles when issued with a Parking Charge Notification are photographed by digital camera, which is date- and time-stamped showing the offence committed.' In relation to your Company's Data Protection procedures'. Please send me a copy of those procedures. Furthermore, pursuant to section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 please send me a copy of any such photo along with a copy of any other data which you hold relating to me.
7. Please send me details of any Codes by which you claim to comply and any governing body or other such organisation of which you are a member.
8. Please provide a copy of the agreement between yourselves and the third party for whom you act on behalf. in this instance, (Kwik Fit)
9. Please provide me with the name and address of your solicitors (if any) in order that I may copy them into this correspondence.
10. For the avoidance of doubt (and without suggesting that you would), please do not do the following:
a) Send me any document purporting to be from the County Court unless it is a valid Claim Form duly issued.
b) Write to me threatening to send round bailiffs without first going through the process of issuing a Claim Form and obtaining judgment.
c) Send me any standard letters either from yourselves or debt-collectors without addressing the specific points raised in this response.
11. Should this appeal be unsuccessful, I will happily refer this to 'POPLAR' although as you will be aware, this will incur a cost to your company for such services. Furthermore, at a later stage should you decide to issue:
a) I reserve the right to add further arguments to my Defence.
b) Please rest assured that I will be more than happy to attend any court mediations which might be offered.
c) I will happily and robustly defend/refute and dispute the validity of the above mentioned notice throughout all processes and strongly believe that any judgment would ruule in my favour.
12. For your information, I also intend to put a copy of this correspondence on a forum blog at...forums.moneysavingexpert.com , as well as my accounts on Facebook and Twitter.
If you choose to pursue me please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer the specific points raised in my letter.
I very much look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
Mr XXXX
So thanks for reading and any feedback welcome and appreciated
Phil.
This has been covered before however I posted on an outdated thread.
Over the weekend my girlfriends' son was issued with a parking charge notice by a private company Northern Parking Services whilst stopped at Kwik Fit in Claypath Durham. After reading up a bit and researching, I'm under the impression these notices are hardly worth the paper they are written on. Therefore I have written a response/appeal which I would appreciate any comments on.
I'm hoping that this could help others who have had similar issues with this and other private company's. So if any of you have had previous experience and can advise wether there are changes needed or any othe advice in relation to the charge (I know I could ignore it as an option), but I have to admit I quite like challenging back and showing that I'm not afraid to take them on.
Here it is, bit long winded so apologies.
Mr XXXX
XXXXXXXX
29th September 2013
Northern Parking Services Ltd
PO Box 642
Wallsend
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE28 5AB
Without Prejudice, save as to costs.
Re Parking Charge Notice No. XXXXXX, Claypath Durham.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I was very surprised to have received a 'Parking Charge Notice' (no. XXXXXX) on 27th September 2013, for my vehicle allegedly contravening a contractual arrangement which you believe I entered into with yourselves at the location stated above. I write to inform you that I will not be paying your demand for payment and dispute the charge for the reasons set out below. Please note that without prejudice to the fact that I dispute the whole basis of the claim, my main beef is with what I consider to be a disproportionate and punitive level of charge and inaccurate vehicle details for which I am not attributed to.
Vehicle still 'in use' The vehicle at the time of the alleged violation was still 'in use' and therefore not parked nor left unattended for any length of time.
2. No contract
There was no contract between myself and either Northern Parking Services Ltd or any third party for whom you may act on their behalf. I did not see the notices when I stopped and at that time had no idea I may have been liable for any charge whatsoever. So the requirements of forming a contract such as a meeting of minds, agreement, certainty of terms, etc were not satisfied. Had I known when I stopped the vehicle of any impending charges, I wouldn't have stopped in the first place.
3. Trespass
If there was no contract, then at most I was guilty of a civil trespass (though this is neither admitted nor denied). If this was the case, I would be liable to damages. Given that I did no damage to the area in which my vehicle had stopped and furthermore that the third party (Kwik Fit) was closed at the time of the incident nor any damage caused on leaving, I would suggest that there was therefore no loss at all.
4. Punitive/unfair/unreasonable
Without prejudice to the foregoing, even if there was a contract (which is denied):
a) Punitive
The charge that you are levying is punitive and therefore void (ie unenforceable) against me.
b) Unfair
The charge you are levying is an unfair term (and therefore not binding) pursuant to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. In particular, Schedule 2 of those Regulations gives an indicative (and non-exhaustive) list of terms which may be regarded as unfair and includes at Schedule 2(1)(e) "Terms which have the object or effect of requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation." Furthermore, Regulation 5(1) states that: "A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer" and 5(2) states: "A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term."
c) Unreasonable
The charge you are levying is an unreasonable indemnity clause pursuant to section 4(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which provides that: "A person cannot by reference to any contract term be made to indemnify another person (whether a party to the contract or not) in respect of liability that may be incurred by the other for negligence or breach of contract, except in so far as the contract term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.”
5. Failure to comply with 'Protection of Freedoms Act 2012'
The PCN ticket no. as stated above fails to comply with Schedule 4 Paragraph 7 of the above act for the following reasons.
the location of the alleged violation isn't specific to which area of private land or indeed which third party's private land the charge notice is meant to refer, only stating 'Claypath' as a location. Claypath is in fact a road for which your company has no jurisdiction and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of police/local authority.
b) there is no record on the PCN of the 'period of time' the vehicle was in violation .
c) incorrect vehicle details (licence plate) recorded of which have no affiliation with myself. I do not own/drive nor have ever owned/driven a vehicle with the licence plate as recorded on the notice (XXXX XXX) the first letter was wrong, the second unreadable. A copy of the notice is enclose do
With reference the above mandatory set of information not being present or accurate,the Notice to Driver is invalid and the condition set out in paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 has not been complied with. Failure to comply with paragraph 6 means that the registered keeper cannot be held to account for the alleged debt of the driver.
Further information
Please take this letter to constitute a written appeal in accordance with your Notice. I also make the following points. I would be grateful for answers to all questions raised and in this respect remind you of the obligations set out in the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct ww.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct).
1. Your cause of action: please make this clear. If you claim that I entered into a contract, please send me a complete breakdown of all the terms and conditions of that contract to which you say I agreed.
2. Your loss or third party loss: please give me a full breakdown as to the actual loss you say was suffered by either yourselves or the third party on whom you are acting for (assuming this to be Kwik Fit)
3. The appeal: please send me a copy of the procedure which you follow, along with setting out what factors are taken into account, who is the judge or arbitrator and whether they are independent, whether you require oral submissions, whether it is governed by the Arbitration Act 1996 and any other relevant factors. In addition, please give me disclosure of any arguments being put by yourselves on this matter in the Appeal so that I might reply to any new issues which are raised. If you decide to dismiss the appeal, please send me the full reasoning in relation to each of the specific points raised in this letter.
5. Your 'Parking Charge Notice': what do you say is the status of this document? Do you claim it is an invoice pursuant to a contract (in other words an invoice which would generally get declared to the Inland Revenue) or does it have some other status? If it is the latter, please clarify exactly what you say it is?
6. Your website states that 'Offenders should note before making an appeal that all vehicles when issued with a Parking Charge Notification are photographed by digital camera, which is date- and time-stamped showing the offence committed.' In relation to your Company's Data Protection procedures'. Please send me a copy of those procedures. Furthermore, pursuant to section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 please send me a copy of any such photo along with a copy of any other data which you hold relating to me.
7. Please send me details of any Codes by which you claim to comply and any governing body or other such organisation of which you are a member.
8. Please provide a copy of the agreement between yourselves and the third party for whom you act on behalf. in this instance, (Kwik Fit)
9. Please provide me with the name and address of your solicitors (if any) in order that I may copy them into this correspondence.
10. For the avoidance of doubt (and without suggesting that you would), please do not do the following:
a) Send me any document purporting to be from the County Court unless it is a valid Claim Form duly issued.
b) Write to me threatening to send round bailiffs without first going through the process of issuing a Claim Form and obtaining judgment.
c) Send me any standard letters either from yourselves or debt-collectors without addressing the specific points raised in this response.
11. Should this appeal be unsuccessful, I will happily refer this to 'POPLAR' although as you will be aware, this will incur a cost to your company for such services. Furthermore, at a later stage should you decide to issue:
a) I reserve the right to add further arguments to my Defence.
b) Please rest assured that I will be more than happy to attend any court mediations which might be offered.
c) I will happily and robustly defend/refute and dispute the validity of the above mentioned notice throughout all processes and strongly believe that any judgment would ruule in my favour.
12. For your information, I also intend to put a copy of this correspondence on a forum blog at...forums.moneysavingexpert.com , as well as my accounts on Facebook and Twitter.
If you choose to pursue me please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer the specific points raised in my letter.
I very much look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
Mr XXXX
So thanks for reading and any feedback welcome and appreciated
Phil.
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Comments
-
Seems to be a long winded appeal for the first appeal
1 - Wait until the notice to keeper arrives
2 - Do a soft-appeal which they will reject and issue a POPLA code
3 - Hit Popla with a hard-appeal, regarding losses/contract etc
That way it will cost them money0 -
You have now posted in the wrong forum!
So how about having a look at the Parking Tickets Forum at the top of this one to get some real help?0 -
Obviously you can tell I'm not a seasoned pro at this 'posting' etc. Is there any way of copying it to a another forum as its taken the best part of half hour to post it in the wrong place!!
Guess I need more practice!0 -
Yes - just copy it. That is not a "posting" issue.
And before you do, how about going and actually reading the posting and board etiquette guide that you indicated your understanding of and agreement with as part of your signup.0 -
Well hopefully it's now in the right place! If not then I've lost the will to live with it!!0
This discussion has been closed.
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