Hire company paid private PCN against their own terms and conditions (ARVAL again!)

DJBenson

Morning all

I've just had an email from Arval stating that they have (under the terms of my agreement) paid a private parking company charge and will add the amount of the charge to my next rental invoice.

Here's the slightly longer story:

My wife borrowed my car in July to take my toddler to an event and parked on a private car park. She paid for a ticket but entered her own registration number rather than that of the vehicle she was driving. The parking enforcement company (Civil Enforcement of Liverpool) have obtained the details of the owner and sent the charge notice to the lease company. Arval have in turn paid the invoice on my behalf and written to me to tell me that they will add the charge to my next invoice. I think I might have the ticket issued on the day in question but as we're not talking about appealing the charge with the parking company but appealing against Arval's unfair treatment of the charge I don't think that adds any weight to the case.

The infraction occurred on the 19/07/2016 and the PCN was issued on the 17/08/2016 and received by email this morning the 24/08/2016.

I've read other threads about contesting the charge with Arval (as it's pointless going via the parking company now the fine is paid) but the thread stopped abrubptly with no outcome.

Are there any timescales between alleged infraction and the date of issue of the PCN? It's almost a month between the two but I wondered if there was any timescales as there are for speeding fines etc?

Arval in their email state that 'as per my agreement' they have paid the fine, however I've dug out a copy of my agreement and it says no such thing. It infact states the opposite that they have no responsibility for such fines so how can they claim to have made the payment as per my agreement yet the agreement I signed makes no such assertions?

Is there any merit in going down the route of reclaiming the DD and paying only the agreed hire charges - either whilst I go through the process of contesting the charge or until they get bored of me doing it?

Any other idea's?

Marktheshark

I would inform them that legislation over rules their terms and conditions.
The protection of freedom act makes them as keeper very clearly liable for all parking charges by approved operators unless they discharge their liability by filling in the paper work with the drivers details.

Therefore any term or condition they may have is illegal and any deduction must not be made and will result in court action.
Explain to them if they employed someone capable of reading the PCN it would explain to them very clearly in pigeon English what they must do with it.
If they pay, they accept liability under the protection of freedom act that is the end of the matter.

System

If they are members of the BVRLA (http://www.bvrla.co.uk/advice/consumer-advice) you can put the matter into dispute and then get the BVRLA on it. Would seem a cast iron win and refund if they have breached their own terms.

fisherjim

It looks like you have also rightly called it a charge, they have incorrectly called it a fine too!

In my experience this is lease companies lazy (and lucrative) way of dealing with these events, they are indeed acting the same as debt collectors and slapping on their own charges to your mis-fortune.

They can of course pass these over to the keeper, if it were a real speeding fine for example which is endorsable they have no choice!

Half_way

Can you post the exact letter you received from arval, plus the terms and conditions regarding the lease of the vehicle

DJBenson

Cheers folks - I've put together a letter and have already informed them by email of my intention to contest (and uphold my consumer rights under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme) the charge(s).

@Half_way

I'll put a copy of Pastebin as soon as I can.

DJBenson

Arval agreement (think I've removed all personal information): http://pastebin.com/ggn0RyzR

Copy of email received: http://pastebin.com/4urm2sRq

Copy of the PCN: http://oi64.tinypic.com/vwxr0z.jpg

Half_way

the oastebin files dont work:

Private Paste ID: 4urm2sRq
This is a private paste. If you created this paste, please login to view it.

catfunt

Another thing to remember is that by paying the charge "on your behalf" they have denied you your lawful right to challenge the charge.

Make sure you point that out to them.

DJBenson

Half_way wrote: »

the oastebin files dont work:

Sorry about that - I've changed the links to 'Unlisted' instead of 'Private' so you should be able to see them now.

DJBenson

Email received from ARVAL this morning in response to my 'do not add this to my DD or I'll reclaim it' email;

===================
Fines Team <Fines.Team@arval.co.uk>
Attachments10:41 (41 minutes ago)

to me
Dear <Removed>,

Thank you for your email.

Please can you keep us updated on the progress of your appeal, I will request your September invoice be placed on hold until your appeal is decided.

The reason we pay parking charges and bus lane offences on behalf of the customer, is to reduce any risk of escalation which could lead to increased costs to you. To offer greater flexibility and control we can change the account policy to enable the customer to pay or appeal penalty charges directly to the issuer.

To enable you to do this, we would amend the policy to ‘Change of Address’ which means that instead of paying penalty charge notices (PCN’s) - we will send a copy of the customer contract to the issuer, who will redirect the notice directly for payment or appeal. The administration fee for this process is £12.50 + VAT per penalty charge

If you would like us to make this change to the account, we need consent to pass on customer data. If you (the customer) would like to pay penalty charges directly, please complete the attached Change of Address form and send a scanned copy back to fines.team@arval.co.uk , with the subject ‘Change of Address’.


Important

Any parking/bus lane charges that are referred back to Arval for payment, due to non payment by the customer, will be paid for by Arval and recharged.

Exceptions

Please note, we can not redirect congestion charges as the authorities will not allow us to transfer liability to someone else. We will continue to pay these and invoice them through to you.



Kind regards
===================

I've told them NOT to put my invoice on hold and to charge me as per my agreement.

Also, is it not contradictory that they can (must) pass on speeding fines but can choose to pay parking tickets unless I pay their 12.50 redirection charge each time?!