PCS Notice to Keeper Millenium Parking Services

SR06

Hi all,

First time posting. I have read the NEWBIES thread and looking for some more advice before I proceed with the next stage.

My flatmate and I rent a two bed apartment in Swansea that has one allocated parking spot for our flat. The parking spot has one permit that any car can use.

My flat mate had gone away for the week and didn't leave the permit behind at the flat. During that period, my mother's car was parked in our parking space with 'Awaiting parking permit' attached to the front windscreen wiper on a template that contains the apartment’s details. On 25/06/2016 my mother's car had a PCN from Millennium Parking Serves for 'No permit displayed'. The piece of paper had come off the windscreen and was on the floor in front of the car.

My mother's car was then moved to the visitors spot and received another PCN on 28/06/2016 for 'Exceeded Max Stay Period'.

The PCNs were not paid and my mother has received two PCS Notice to Keeper letters with threats of debt collectors if £150 for each ticket is not paid within 28 days of notice – this is causing her a lot of stress. The first letter relating to the 'No permit displayed' PCN has a date of sending this notice of 26/07/2016, and the second letter 01/08/2016.

Millenium Parking Services are employed by clcproperty.

I've done:
1. Rang BPA to find out if they are members. BPA said that MPS are cooperate members of BPA and are members of IPC. The private parking signs state they are Member of the BPA, Accredited IPC operator, and Registered with the ICO.
I can't find them as an approved operator on the BPA website, they are listed on an aos member on theipc website.

2. Rang clcproperty explaining the circumstances. They didn't think my circumstances were exceptional and wouldn't be able to help.

3. Rang Dawson's agency – the agency we went through the process of renting this apartment. They advised to write to Millennium Parking Services directly with the hope that they'd drop one of the fines.

On the back of the Notice to Keeper letter it states:
“At the time that the parking charge was incurred, a Notice to Driver was affixed to the vehicle or sent by post. This offered the driver the ability to appeal within 21 days of its imposition.” As this period has lapsed it goes on to say “If you consider there to be exceptional circumstances as why you should be able to appeal outside of this period then you should send your reasons in writing to us at the contact details provided.”
If the appeal is considered and rejected, you can appeal to the Independent Appeals Service.


How should I proceed to appeal these parking charges? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Redx

post #4 of the NEWBIES sticky thread applies now

IGNORE

ie:- IGNORE anything except an LBC or an MCOL

the PPC or their solicitors have 6 years to try a court claim or claims

also read the IPC and IAS advice which explains why there is no "appeal"

SR06

Thanks for responding Redx.

Is the advice to ignore because the time window to appeal has passed? "This offered the driver the ability to appeal within 21 days of its imposition"

Or, because MPS are an IPC member? "- if this is an IPC member parking firm, see post #3, there is no POPLA for you, so consumers do not get a fair appeal."

What is the worst case scenario if taken to court and lose the case?

Redx

all of the above , once deadlines have passed, its IGNORE until the LBC or court stages

if you lost you should pay the judgment within 28 days (normally)

this jugment is likely to be in the region of £175 to £225 for one pcn

Umkomaas

Here's Millennium's court record to date. Can't forecast whether they will or won't in future as they've got until 2022 to pursue the charge, but at the moment they are benign on the court front.

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/Millennium_Door_and_Event_Security.html

SR06

Hi all,

After numerous PCS and Zenith debt collector letters, we have now received a letter before claim from Gladstones solicitors. Up until now, both fines have been dealt with as separate letters, the letter before claim has both fines on asking for 2x£150.

It states:
"We now require you to pay the full amount within 14 days. Alternatively, you should provide an acknowledgement of receipt of this letter and a full written response within 14 days. Your response should provide your full account of the circumstances that have led to the charges being imposed and should include confirmation as to who the driver(s) of the vehicle were at the time of each incident and a current address for service of each driver."


I'm wondering how to respond to this? And should I include my circumstances as in the original post in any response?

Many thanks in advanced.

Coupon-mad

''Your response should provide your full account of the circumstances that have led to the charges being imposed and should include confirmation as to who the driver(s) of the vehicle were at the time of each incident and a current address for service of each driver."

Whoa! Gladstones are misleading keepers by telling them they should confirm who was driving...I don't think so!!

I presume this is all being sent to your Mum if she is the registered keeper of the car? If not, then who are they writing to?

Read this:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/residential-parking.html

What does your tenancy agreement say about parking and access rights and bays and permits?

What did the email or paperwork that might have come with the permits say (exactly)? Or were they handed over with no comment or paperwork about contractual agreements?

Did you sign for the permits and were you given a copy?

Do you have the contact details of your actual leaseholding landlord, if you rent from an individual rather than a corporate owner of the entire block? If you do, can you email that landowner and ask please, can he/she kindly show you a scan of the lease about parking or does he own/is he assigned the bays under any deed?

I am helping a tenant (AST) OP whose landlord actually owns the bay under a deed and it seems the managing agent has forgotten that and allowed a PPC to run roughshod around the whole site, owned bays and all.

SR06

Than you for the quick response Coupon-mad.

Yes, all letters are being sent to my mother. The latest letter before claim was written on the 28/12/2016 and sent by second class post, therefore, the 14-day period ends this Tuesday the 11th. We received the letter yesterday which gives us little time to write a response and send it off.

I'm assuming l need to send my response by tomorrow am first-class?

I don't have the tenancy agreement with me at the moment, will check it once I get back and respond.

When my flatmate and I were in Dawson's signing for the flat, we had a conversation about the permit to which we were told to send the registration number of one car by email and one permit would be handed over. We used my flatmates car registration, none of us signed for the permit.

I believe the contact details of our lease holding landlords are in the tenancy agreement. Will contact them this afternoon.

Could you please point me in the direction of an example template I can use when writing the response?


Many thanks.

SR06

What does your tenancy agreement say about parking and access rights and bays and permits?

There is no information in our tenancy agreement about parking and access rights and bays and permits. I've had this confirmed with Dawsons.


What did the email or paperwork that might have come with the permits say (exactly)? Or were they handed over with no comment or paperwork about contractual agreements?

The permit was handed over after we sent my flatmates car registration number to Dawson by email.


Did you sign for the permits and were you given a copy?

No.


Do you have the contact details of your actual leaseholding landlord, if you rent from an individual rather than a corporate owner of the entire block? If you do, can you email that landowner and ask please, can he/she kindly show you a scan of the lease about parking or does he own/is he assigned the bays under any deed?

Dawsons are unable to give us contact information of our landlords. Dawsons are going to contact our landlords for us and ask about the lease about parking or if the bays were assigned under any deed.


When writing the response to Gladstones, can I write and sign on behalf of my mother? (registered keeper of the car)

SR06

Update:

Another letter has been sent from Gladstones solicitors, dated after the LBC was sent, requesting £300 to be paid within 14 days. This letter does not have 'letter before claim' on it.

This letter states:
"You have previously been written to by Debt Recovery Plus (DRP) on behalf of Millennium Door and event Security Ltd requesting settlement of your outstanding charges(s). Due to the absence of payment or a valid appeal our client has instructed us to recover the total amount due to them as shown above.

As all other attempts have failed, our client may now instruct us to take legal action against you. To prevent such action, we invite you to make payment to DRP immediately or confirmin writing to DRP your proposals in respect to this debt. Please note: all proposals should be sent directly to DRP, proposals sent to Gladstones Solicitors may not be considered."


This is very confusing. Anyone able help?

SR06

The response to the letter before claim (sent first class free proof of posting) has been ignored and we've received a claim form from county court Northampton. The response was similar to Gan's on pepipoo.

I've managed to get hold of the lease obligation and general matters (dated 4th Oct 2011) from the landlord. Regarding parking it states:

Parking

As you will no doubt be aware now, the parking enforcement is in place and the parking area is constantly being monitored. Please ensure your parking permit is displayed on your car when parked in your space on site as failure to do so could result in your vehicle being clamped.

The following rules relating to parking must be adhered to:

1. Residents are permitted to park one car within their allocated parking space.
2. Parking permits must be displayed within the car at all times.
3. Visitors spaces are for the use of Visitors only.
4. Disables spaces are for the use of Disabled visitors only.
5. Retails parking spaces are for the Retail units only.
6. Residents who own a “second” car are not permitted to park the car within the Site boundary.

If for any reason you have not contacted us to arrange delivery of your permit, please do so with immediate effect.

The parking enforcement was implemented purely to endure that all residents have the ability to parking in their own allotted car parking space without being impeded by residents or non-residents parking in the wrong places.


In Oct 2016, the property management company changed the rules to:

Parking Enforcement To create a fairer system, there is now a policy in place whereby the first parking transgression will receive a warning ticket which will be attached to the vehicle windscreen. 1 warning ticket will be given per vehicle per year – re-setting every January 1st. Any further transgressions would then subsequently incur the parking fine in the usual way.
Also please note that the visitor bays are for visitors only, and any vehicle displaying a permit for the numbered bays but parked in the visitors’ spaces will be subject to a warning ticket followed by a parking charge notice and fine.


Having read Parking Prankster, I'm not sure if I have a case to defend. Or should I just pay.


The issue date of the claim form is 12/01/2017.