Parking fine at Bracknell station

richardm87

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

Charges from PPCs in railway station car parks are a bit of a hornet's nest, with deliberate confusion and obfuscation by the PPCs, trying the threaten prosecution if you don't pay a bribe to a private company. How daft is that.

Over on Pepipoo, the user Gan has the approach of forcing their hand by responding succinctly, suggesting a letter "in order to clarify your legal position" with some questions :

1 Has the ticket been issued for breach of a byelaw, or the terms and conditions of parking ?
2 Who do CP Plus hold liable for payment - the owner or the driver ?
3 If the ticket remains unpaid, who if anybody is liable for prosecution - the owner or the driver ?
4 Under precisely which Byelaw(s) and Paragraph(s) would a prosecution be brought ?


Question 1 is important, as normal PPC charges are incurred by the driver, whereas the Byelaw refers to the owner, and only in specific circumstances (look it up).

So I wrote back to them with the above and also an offer to settle for the outstanding £2 that is actually owed (as a ticket was bought at a reduced rate), and they have ignored it completely and come back with the following: i.imgur.com/BCL7isy.jpg
What next, just ignore?

bod1467

http://i.imgur.com/BCL7isy.jpg

Ignore anything from DRP. As Redx commented elsewhere, DRP = Don't Reply, Period.

richardm87

Ignore anything from DRP. As Redx commented elsewhere, DRP = Don't Reply, Period.

Lol! Thanks for the URL. The only but I was unsure about is the first mention that this is a 'Penalty Notice' rather than a Parking Charge or similar.

bod1467

I'm not aware of DRP ever being involved in collecting real penalty notices.

richardm87

I have a reply to my original letter:
i.imgur.com/JWYmqN0.jpg
And:
i.imgur.com/n8fOFst.jpg

The_Slithy_Tove

http://i.imgur.com/JWYmqN0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/n8fOFst.jpg

What did you actually ask/say in your correspondence to them? Their response doesn't seem to answer any questions at all. Did you ask for clarification, as they are still claiming a "penalty" for breaching Ts&Cs, and then go on to waffle about Byelaws. As I stated before, they deliberately confuse, and unless you ask really pointed questions of them, they will continue to do so.

You may want to ask that of SWT, who run the place. But then again, may be best not to get them involved. After all, it's SWT who would prosecute any Byelaw case, not some PPC.

richardm87

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

What did you actually ask/say in your correspondence to them? Their response doesn't seem to answer any questions at all. Did you ask for clarification, as they are still claiming a "penalty" for breaching Ts&Cs, and then go on to waffle about Byelaws. As I stated before, they deliberately confuse, and unless you ask really pointed questions of them, they will continue to do so.

You may want to ask that of SWT, who run the place. But then again, may be best not to get them involved. After all, it's SWT who would prosecute any Byelaw case, not some PPC.

I asked the four questions pretty much word for word. The letter is on my work PC so I can get it on Monday. Sounds like I'm still in the ignore it stage?

The_Slithy_Tove

If the questions you asked were pretty much as I put them in post #11, then we have from their response:


1 Has the ticket been issued for breach of a byelaw, or the terms and conditions of parking ?
They start by talking about breach of Ts&Cs, then their last paragraph states Byelaws. It can't be both, so their letter is contradictory and therefore nonsense.
They go on to say about recommending legal action to recover the money. This is clearly a civil thing, e.g. small claims for an alleged debt. Any case brought to the criminal court would not result in money going to PCS or SWT, a fine goes to the treasury (which is why they won't prosecute - they get nothing out of it).

2 Who do CP Plus hold liable for payment - the owner or the driver ?
They fail to state this.

3 If the ticket remains unpaid, who if anybody is liable for prosecution - the owner or the driver ?
They fail to state this.

4 Under precisely which Byelaw(s) and Paragraph(s) would a prosecution be brought ?
They do not specify.


Their lack of response to 2, 3 & 4 and lack of clarity on #1 is because
a) they don't actually have a clue
b) they are being deliberately vague
c) they know they are on very shaky ground
You choose.

richardm87

It's like dealing with politicians - you ask a question and they give you a lengthy answer to the question they wish you'd asked! I'll wait for my day in court

richardm87

New letter today!
i.imgur.com/uFg7I7I.jpg

Will this be the last one as we're a month away from the 6 month cut off point?