Is there any point in me challenging this parking charge notice?

Growlybear

I've read through the newbies' sticky, and have also read Paragraph 9 of POFA 2012, but I'm sorry, I'm still confused about whether it would be worth me appealing against the PCN received recently. If anyone could give me some advice please, I would be so grateful.

My car was parked in a private car park above a small shopping centre, and the driver used the parking app on their phone to pay for one hour's parking. They had used this app several times before, but it now appears that something went wrong, and the payment didn't register. The driver didn't realise this at the time, and went off to do their shopping.


Last week, as the registered keeper, I received a parking charge notice through the post saying that payment was not made in accordance with the terms displayed on the signage. Having checked the driver's bank and credit card accounts, it is clear that payment for the parking didn't go through, and they realise now that they should have waited to get text confirmation before leaving the car. I was going to pay the charge, but, having read the advice on this forum, it appears that the Notice to Keeper should have been received within 14 days of the incident. The PCN is dated 28 October, and was received on 30 October, but the incident was on 10 October.


Please could someone give me some advice on whether this would automatically invalidate the PCN? or should I just accept the driver's stupidity in not making sure payment had been processed and pay the parking charge notice?


Thank you!

Coupon-mad

Which parking company?

Growlybear

It was issued by Civil Enforcement.

The_Deep

Of course it is worth challenging. Why should you pay a large sum of money because, when you tried to pay, their technology was not up to snuff.

Jim_AFCB

Looks like it was out of time to be POFA compliant.

It is very important, when you appeal to CEL, that you do not give any indication as to who the driver was.. so no "me", "myself" or "I"... but only "the driver" in the third person.

They will probably reject the appeal, but should (must!) give you a POPLA code. Once you have that, (or not as the case may be) come back to this thread.

Redx

Growlybear wrote: »

Please could someone give me some advice on whether this would automatically invalidate the PCN?

or should I just accept the driver's stupidity in not making sure payment had been processed and pay the parking charge notice?

Thank you!

its an invoice from a private company, not a legal document from the council

little if anything invalidates a pcn

its invalid if the PPC cancels it
its invalid if popla rules against it
its invalid if a court ruled against it
its invalid if the landowner cancels it

you can and should challenge it, but I fail to understand why people think a piece of paper from a private company can be invalidated by errors etc

it may not be worth the paper its written on, but it needs appealing and if it fails certain rules or codes of practice or the law then it may fail to gain a profit from you by being ruled against at some point in the future

look to appealing it and beating them, dont look to try to nip it in the bud by looking for tiny flaws at this stage

the time to beat them in writing is at popla if they dont cancel it or if you dont get the landowner to cancel it (a two pronged approach)

Growlybear

Thank you so much for the helpful replies. I'll get my challenge done this afternoon.

Guys_Dad

I think you have a slam dunk on out of time on this one, but spell it out and keep it simple, referring them to Paragraph 9 of POFA 2012, and actually quoting the relevant sub-paragraph.

If this is an appeal to the PPC, leave it at that one point and ask for a POPLA code if they want to dispute. Point out that you are quite willing to go to POPLA and the court, if necessary, at their expense if they don't cancel.

But I repeat, I would, using the 3rd person as advised, keep it to the one point that you were not the driver at the time and that they can not enforce keeper liability if they don't follow the strict timescales in POFA 2012.

I have not seen any threads on here where a keeper has had to pay if the PPC fails the POFA timescales, although the IAS run a coach and horses through any appeal.

Growlybear

Thank you so much to you all for your advice. I've just emailed my challenge and will keep my fingers crossed.

Growlybear

I sent my challenge to the PCN by email on Sunday night and requested a read receipt. I haven't received the read receipt yet, and have sent a further copy of my email this evening asking for confirmation that my challenge has been received. Can anyone please advise me where I stand if I don't get any response and if at a future time CE deny having received my challenge? I'm mindful that it's 14 days tomorrow since the PCN was received.


Many thanks.

Fruitcake

Growlybear wrote: »

I sent my challenge to the PCN by email on Sunday night and requested a read receipt. I haven't received the read receipt yet, and have sent a further copy of my email this evening asking for confirmation that my challenge has been received. Can anyone please advise me where I stand if I don't get any response and if at a future time CE deny having received my challenge? I'm mindful that it's 14 days tomorrow since the PCN was received.


Many thanks.

Can you do a screen grab/print to show you sent the appeal?


What is the relevance of the 14 days? *confused*


If there is a postal address to send the appeal, do it first class from a Post Office and get a free certificate of posting. By law this is proof that it was sent on that day and is deemed to have been delivered within (I think) one working day. Never send anything recorded delivery.