Parking eye - county court claim

E34M5

We have been ignoring letters from Parking Eye as per the advice of this forum and now my wife wants to pay, I can't attach the letter as I am a new user but I would value any advice on what to do. Do you think I should seek legal advice?

LETTER BEFORE COUNTY COURT CLAIM

Basically it says at the end of the letter that, "unless payment of £85 is made within the next 14 days further action will be taken and court proceedings will be issued, which will incur further costs. These costs will include, but are not limited to £50 solicitor's costs and £15 court claim issue fees."

jeanraffio

As a starter for 10, no do not ignore just yet, read a few RECENT threads to get some background on how these companies operate. Get used to the jargon (PPC, LBCCC etc, it's used a lot).

ParkingEye are very well known on these forums. One of the worst offenders using these shady tactics to extort money out of you. Unfortunately, they are also notorious for taking non payers to court. With the right approach and the advice from people on this forum these tickets can be won.

You're not Scottish or under 18 either are you?

Start reading the forums now (it will seem overwhelming at first), come back here and suggest your plan of action. Do not ignore the 'fine' - they will not go away away and you will be served court papers. Also, do not pay it, these fines are nothing more than invoices that can be quashed at appeal level.

pogofish

E34M5 wrote: »

We have been ignoring letters from Parking Eye as per the advice of this forum

This has not been the advice of this forum for quite some time now, unless you are in Scotland or NI!

E34M5

I sort of wish I had paid to make the thing go away, I actually tried to pay on line and the website crashed and didn't except my payment.

I am not in Scotland and over 18. I was the driver of my wife's car so she is getting stressed because the letters are addressed to her.

1. I would firstly have to challenge the claim and then probably get rejected
2. I have a template for a letter from another forum that I could send to POPLA

Not sure what else to do but pay up and make it go away.

E34M5

pogofish wrote: »

This has not been the advice of this forum for quite some time now, unless you are in Scotland or NI!

I suppose I was reading old posts, Is it best to pay up then?

jeanraffio

E34M5 wrote: »

I sort of wish I had paid to make the thing go away, I actually tried to pay on line and the website crashed and didn't except my payment.

I am not in Scotland and over 18. I was the driver of my wife's car so she is getting stressed because the letters are addressed to her.

1. I would firstly have to challenge the claim and then probably get rejected
2. I have a template for a letter from another forum that I could send to POPLA

Not sure what else to do but pay up and make it go away.

Congratulations, you would have done exactly what the PPC would have wanted you to do. Their speculative invoicing method (send enough baseless invoices and some will pay!) is their business model and they use twisted legislation to instil the fear into you. Do NOT be scared by their empty threats. If I knocked on your door every night asking for money, gradually increasing it every day you wouldn't pay me, you'd call the police! This is exactly what this company is doing.

Granted, you have missed the POPLA appeal and a soft appeal would be pointless. You have to be prepared to put together a case for court for this but it CAN be won easily with people's help on here.

In the very first instance, who is the landowner of the car park? They can still get them cancelled up to the point of going to court. Appeal to them aggressively, do NOT take no for an answer and pursue the top dogs, not Customer Services or receptionists (they will fob you off).

E34M5

The store was Home Bargains

Address: New Road, Pwllheli, Gwynedd LL53 5HG
Phone:01758 701422

and their parent company is TJ Morris:

T.J. Morris Limited
Portal Way
Axis Business Park
off East Lancs Road
Gillmoss
Liverpool
L11 0JA

Are there any letter templates out there already that will help?

Coupon-mad

This is so easily sorted out. Really not sure why you've been ignoring it, this late in 2013 when that's not been the advice for months, but this can be unpicked.

1. Complain to Home Bargains like in the 'successful complaints about PPCs' sticky thread. I wrote a strong letter of complaint linked in post #3 there but do also read the success threads against Parking Eye (I think there might be a Home Bargains one there, if not there are plenty of other threads!). Top of this forum, did you miss it?

2. Look at ordinaryJoe's thread where zzzLazyDaisy has posted her 'I was not the driver and this is who was' letter. That letter is actually on LOADS of threads here. But anyway, use that short letter and send it in your wife's name as keeper, giving your name and address as driver - even if the address is the same (personally to differentiate the driver from the keeper I would plump for a different address if you can, like a work address or family address, but that's just an idea for you).

3. Job done, you then get a Notice to Driver and the clock is rewound. You then appeal the thing like you should have done in the first place and then send a forum-advised POPLA appeal and win.

jeanraffio

E34M5 wrote: »

The store was Home Bargains and their parent company is TJ Morris:

T.J. Morris Limited
Portal Way
Axis Business Park
off East Lancs Road
Gillmoss
Liverpool
L11 0JA

Are there any letter templates out there already that will help?

It wasn't a Home Bargains that is on a retail park, with other retailers and a communal car park? - the majority round here are like that. If so, it could be a double pronged attack against HB, who can then out pressure on the landowner (who probably actually employ the PPC).

E34M5

I take this is the one

ParkingEye Ltd
Legal Department
40 Eaton Ave,
Buckshaw Village,
Chorley,
PR7 7NA

17th October 2013

[Insert the reference quoted on their LBCCC]

Dear Sir

Vehicle Registration Number [insert reg number]


I am the registered keeper of the above mentioned vehicle.

I am writing to acknowledge the letter before county court claim dated [insert date] and to inform you that I was not the driver of the vehicle on the date of the alleged 'parking event'. Therefore you must pursue the driver, whose details are:

[INSERT NAME]

[INSERT ADDRESS]

Please note: this discharges my obligation as Registered Keeper under PoFA 2012 and any court proceedings will be defended on that basis.

Yours faithfully

PRINT NAME

E34M5

Okay letter drafted, emailed via their on-line appeals form and will put in the post tomorrow to two addresses I have for them.