PE Charge for overstay 5minutes

sugarpop

My husband is the owner of car I drive, I stayed in Kingston hospital (10 days to my due date!!!) 5 minutes over and got their standard £100 charge notice. The date of event was 15/04/2016, letter issued 04/05/2016 (over 2 weeks) and letter delivered yesterday 12/05/2016. Can I use the Protection Of Freedom Act 2012 argument they didn't comply with 14days to deliver the letter? Or should I stick to "date of the letter" as its clearly printed on it, date of receiving a letter will be difficult to prove...?

Also is it best solution to challenge it- in my opinion I have won the case, but is it wiser to contact landowner, hospital to get it cancelled by them? And if they refuse, then challenge directly with PE?
If best to speak to hospital who do I contact and does it have to be equally formal way or do I just ring and complain? How do I find person in charge who has the power to have the ticket cancelled?

My another argument is that 5min overstay for £100 (ok 50 if payable in two weeks- how genuine of them...) its proportionate, but realistically how likely this win win me the case? Should I use this or base my challenge on Protection of Freedom Act 2012 only?

The_Slithy_Tove

Use the standard appeal as per the NEWBIES sticky thread. But you could add the points that keeper liability fails due to lateness of NtK, and the BPA Code of Practice states that a 10 minute grace period MUST be allowed. DO NOT make any hint s to who the driver was.

Umkomaas

It depends whether they are trying to invoke keeper liability. PE seem to have recently issued PCNs 'late' which do not seek to invoke keeper liability. What does yours say about keeper liability?

Have you asked PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) to help get this charge cancelled? The hospital being the contracting authority will have the capacity to cancel this - but you need to get on with this in order not to miss the PE deadline for appealing (see newbies FAQ sticky for details on how and when to appeal).

Coupon-mad

You can tell if it's a non-POFA version NTK as PE leave a blank space (words missing) which is fairly obvious as a white expanse under the words. Normally a PCN from PE fills the entire front page with words!

sugarpop

Thanks, no I will not name myself!

sugarpop

The letter said:
As we do not know the driver's name or address, if you were not the driver at the time, you should tell us the name and the postal address of the driver and pass this notice to them.

sugarpop

"You can tell if it's a non-POFA version NTK as PE leave a blank space (words missing) which is fairly obvious as a white expanse under the words. Normally a PCN from PE fills the entire front page with words!"

Im not sure if I understand, is POFA standing for Protection of Freedom Act 2012?
And where is the word missing, in the title? I think it will be easier if I can post a photo

Umkomaas

sugarpop wrote: »

The letter said:
As we do not know the driver's name or address, if you were not the driver at the time, you should tell us the name and the postal address of the driver and pass this notice to them.

If they've not issued a PoFA compliant NtK they can't invoke keeper liability, and if they can't do that they need to know who the driver was, and if they don't know that (and you're not going to tell them - spoilsport!) - they're stuffed.

But they may well continue giving you hassle via debt collectors - which can be ignored (newbies sticky, post #4).

Get PALS involved and hopefully avoid the debt collector crap.

sugarpop

I will call PALS first thing tomorrow, this is so annoying I just had a baby and chasing this is the last thing I need at the moment... Hopefully hospital will help on this matter

The_Deep

I will call PALS first thing tomorrow

No, do not call them, write to them. Put a stamp on it and post it.

Telephone calls can be misconstrued, forgotten, denied, a letter is forever.

Herzlos

I'd phone PALS, you want a fairly quick turnaround. I'd follow it up with a letter though.