Parking Eye charge notice - can they take a foreign tourist to court?

getmishaout

Hi all,

I have read through numerous posts but wasn't able to find anything related to our sticky situation.

In January/February, my family and I visited England and rented a car from Enterprise. We are all European nationals with permanent addresses in Slovakia, however I live in Scotland.

February 2, 2015 - We parked our rental car at a free shopping center parking lot in Cambridge for 4 hours instead of the allowed free 3 hours. I do admit it was my fault, as I assumed we would be fine due to the fact we shopped at most of the stores in the shopping center and even had a dinner there - I simply assumed the signs were there to deter people from dumping their cars there and going to the city center.
February 7 - The charge notice for £85 was issued.
February 17 - Enterprise forwarded the notice and charged my father's card £35 for doing so. (We still did not know about anything at this point.)
March 3 - My father (who hired the car) received a letter from Enterprise with the charge notice. Seeing as none of my family speak English and I was busy with school work, in a different time zone and on an entirely different daily schedule, it took us a few days to establish what the letter actually meant. By then, the final deadline (the 28-days appeal phase, which ran out on March 7) has passed.
March 14 - My father received another letter from Parking Eye, demanding the £85, describing the way to pay the notice, and threatening with court action if he does not pay before the March 7 deadline.
March 15 - I wrote an appeal to Parking Eye (I stupidly did not use a template as I assumed all the letters published here were for the POPLA appeal, but too late now). I provided the bank statement stating we spent money in 3 different stores in the shopping center (unfortunately, there was no time stamp to show that we shopped as soon as we arrived and right before we left as well). We have also dined in a restaurant there, but unfortunately paid with cash. I also provided a proof that the first letter did not arrive until 5 days before the final deadline (4 working days including the day the letter arrived to be exact) and that the final letter arrived on the 14th.

I know I was late for the 28 day appeal, however, as you can see, our period was in reality much, much shorter. I hope to overturn the whole charge, but at the moment I am most worried about the court threat.
How would they even take a foreigner to court - would my father and I have to travel all the way to Cambridge for a hearing?


Thank you for help!

Jim_AFCB

I assume you mean Parking Eye, not Ian Hislop's lot....

I don't know how PE trying to take a Scottish resident to court for a parking event in England would work. I will leave that one to the experts...

Who was driving? Someone who lives in Slovakia?

getmishaout

Jim_AFCB wrote: »

I assume you mean Parking Eye, not Ian Hislop's lot....

Yes, I've been messing that up since this whole debacle began... My brain has long since given up. :undecided

Jim_AFCB

You're not the first, and probably won't be the last!

Half_way

Lets get this straight:

Hire car from Enterprise
Driver is Slovakian, with a Slovakian address
Parking charge from Parking eye
Admin Charge from Enterprise
You live in Scotland
Was the Car park also in Scotland, or Was it in England ?

enfield_freddy

Cambridge,,

Half_way

enfield_freddy wrote: »

Cambridge,,

Didnt spot that, skim reading the waffle.

As far as i know even if the driver was/is Scottish then they can go for the RK under POFA.
However if the driver is Slovakian as hinted at above then as soonas PE are told who the driver is and supplied with a serviceable address in Slovakia then that should re-set the clock.
It will also be worthwhile looking at the Terms for the hire car company as it probably says nothing about private parking company charges.

Castle

Has your Father ever received a Charge Notice in his name, (if so what date was on it?), because I would assume that the Charge Notice issued on 7th February would have been in the name of Enterprise.

forgotmyname

What address on the rental agreement?

getmishaout

Half_way wrote: »

Lets get this straight:

Hire car from Enterprise
Driver is Slovakian, with a Slovakian address
Parking charge from Parking eye
Admin Charge from Enterprise
You live in Scotland
Was the Car park also in Scotland, or Was it in England ?

Yes, your summary is correct.
And the car park was in England (I only mentioned Scotland as a way of explaining why I am dealing with this matter instead of my father).

Redx

it seems that the driver and keeper are one and the same, so no chance of naming the driver (you would assume the hirer was the insured and driving)

if this went to court, PE would put it through the bulk centre in Northampton and so Cambridge would not be involved unless the person receiving the court claim nominated cambridge

they could just as easily nominate liverpool or carlisle or newcastle or durham etc for the court to actually hear the claim

cant see how PE can take somebody who lives in Slovakia to court here , or would want to, but I suppose it all depends how they are serving the notice and where to ?

Enterprise should have followed BVRLA guidelines from jan 2014 and notified PE of the hirers (keepers) details , not passed on the NTK , otherwise PE could END UP TAKING THEM TO COURT as RK , due to invoking POFA 2012 upon Enterprise