MetroPark ticket - passed 28 days?

uklondoner

Hi everyone
I picked up a friend from the hairdressers one afternoon and stayed in a a very small carpark outside the shops and a small block of flats (bays allocated for no more than ten or so cars - bays apparently assigned to the flats above) and received a ticket in the post giving the times of entrance and exit.

What I am unsure of is that 28 days have expired (I was told by the receptionist in the hairdressers that I should ignore it - it was only when I checked online that I realised this was actually bogus advice.

Should I appeal as normal? I have just received a notice to keeper saying the amount has increased to £100.

The company is metropark.
Contravention" Your vehicle was waiting in a restricted zone.
I was there for a total of 11 minutes!!

I am at a loss as to what to do right now...
Thanks

Redx

read the NEWBIES sticky thread and appeal it , if they dont cancel use the popla code and draft a popla appeal and win it there

uklondoner

Thanks for the reply Redx...
But from the sticky I understood that it has to be within 14 days of receiving the letter? The issue date was (just over 28 days ago). Do the normal rules still apply?

Also, I am unsure what my appeal should be based on in the first instance?

Thank you soo much

Stroma

This is what you appeal with, get it to them via email right now, and send it off in the morning through the post office with a proof of postage.

Dear {company name of this member of ''PPC World''},

PCN number xxxxxxx
As the registered keeper, I have received your parking invoice which of course, I decline your invitation to pay. I wish to invoke your appeals process, since all liability to your company is denied on the following basis:

1) The amount being claimed is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss to your company or the landowner
2) Your signage does not comply with your ATA Code of Practice and was not sufficiently prominent to create any contract
3) You are not the landowner and do not have the standing to offer contracts nor to bring a claim for trespass

Please issue your standard cancellation letter or a specific, detailed rejection letter. If you choose to send the latter, it must state:

- the legal basis of your charge (i.e. breach, trespass or contractual fee?) as your signage was not seen/accepted by the driver and your recent Notice failed to make the basis of the charge clear. As keeper, I cannot be expected to guess the nature of the allegation.

- if alleging breach of contract, with your rejection letter I require a breakdown of the liquidated damages suffered, and by whom, and when this calculation was determined and how this particular 'loss' arose. Please also explain how/why you charge a fixed sum no matter whether the alleged contravention was trivial or more serious and how that can amount to a genuine pre-estimate of loss.

- if alleging trespass please enclose evidence of the perpetrator and proof of the liquidated damages alleged and the calculation of this sum.

- if alleging 'contractual fee' I require that you now send me a VAT invoice by return and explain the daily rate for parking and service provided for the fee. Failure to provide this information and a VAT invoice now that I have requested it, will be considered evidence that this was not in fact a genuine offer to park for a fee and is merely a penalty which is not recoverable in contract law (as found by Mr Recorder Gibson QC, on appeal at Luton County Court in the case of Civil Enforcement v McCafferty 3YK50188 (AP476) 21/2/2014).

Take formal note:

(a) Your unsupported, unsolicited invoice and any further letters if you persist, will constitute harassment. If you continue, your contact and that of any agent will be deemed a 'serious and persistent unwarranted threat' as found by Lord Justice Sedley in Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 46 (10 February 2009) and I reserve the right to take the matter further. You have been informed that I consider this to be harassment so any decision to send further letters rather than cancel the invoice will reinforce the evidence of your persistent unwarranted threat and you may be required to justify your actions in court.

(b) Any obfuscation on your part, such as pretending I have to name the driver, alleging I am too late or unable to appeal as keeper or requiring more evidence when clearly I have already set out my full challenge for this stage, will be reported to the DVLA and to your respective ATA, as a sanctionable breach of your Code of Practice.

(c) If you reject my challenge and insist upon taking the matter further I must inform you that I may claim my costs from you and my time at the court rate of £18 per hour. The expenses I may claim are not exhaustive but may include the cost of stamps, envelopes, travel expenses and legal fees as well as liquidated damages for distress arising from harassment.

By continuing to pursue me you hereby accept liability to pay my costs when I prevail and you acknowledge and imply full understanding of the above.

Yours,



{the registered keeper's name}
ADD A SQUIGGLE IF POSTING IT - NO NEED TO USE A REAL SIGNATURE

uklondoner

Wow! Thanks!

Just to confirm, even though 28 days have passed since the date of the 'contravention' is it still okay to appeal? Should I make mention of this in the letter or should I use a previous date in the letter?
Thanks!

uklondoner

Also I forgot to add, the letters are being sent to my brother, the keeper. However I was the driver on the day. Does this affect anything? Should the appeal be written in my brother's name with no mention of driver being different to keeper?

Stroma

Well that opens another avenue to you, there is an option for the registered keeper to name the driver, that discharges his liability and lets you deal with it. If you are sending this letter right it must be in your brother's name. If it was me I would name you

uklondoner

Thanks but I am not sure I understand is it better to say that I am the driver am not the registered keeper?

Also, do I have 28 days from when the second letter was sent to me (i.e. notice to keeper) or 28 days from when the first 'PCN' was sent to me?
Thanks

Stroma

What you do is up to you, the parking companies give 28 days from the NtK to appeal, but that is their timescales only. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 allows the Registered Keeper to name the driver right up until a small claim is initiated, though the parking companies scream blue bloody murder if you name someone after THEIR time-scales.

So whatever you decide to do, your brother must be involved in this, he's the one to appeal this if he doesn't name you. And its him who must name you as the driver if you are too deal with this.

The only difference to the appeal if you send it is that instead of being the Registered Keeper , you name your self only as the Keeper. And that is it.

uklondoner

Ok I see now!

So even though 28 days has passed - if after 28 days the keeper says this is the driver, does the clock then begin from the beginning again (according to their timescales?)

In any case even if 28 days has gone from date of issue should the same appeal (as outlined in the template letter) still be made?
Thanks

da_rule

What should happen is that once the parking company know who the driver is they issue a PCN to the driver giving them the same discount and appeal time as they gave to the registered keeper.

As has been said, the 28 days to name the driver thing is a rule that has been made up by the parking companies and has no grounding in the legislation which relates to this matter.