Appealing a PCN issued back in May

cdelaney

Hi, looking for help! Only last week I realized that there were a number of letters at my late father's home in Belfast related to an alleged parking charge on 10th April 2016 at Millbrook Car Park Guildford. I was sure that I bought a car park ticket that day, I don't remember being 5-10 minutes late or receiving a parking ticket on the window.


A company by name of Civil Enforcement Ltd initially issued a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) on 10th May 2016 (1 month after the alleged parking infringement) charging me £100 due in 28 days.


On 13th June 2016 I received a final reminder for the £100. On 28th July I received a "letter before action" for £140 .


Finally I received a letter from ZZPS Debt Recovery for £200 dated 17th August.


I am wondering how I can fight this charge - the problem is that my car until recently was registered to my late father's address in Belfast as I was renting temporary accommodation in the London area, all letters were sent to his home which I only saw on a visit last week (30th August). I sent notice to the DVLA of my change of address in May unaware that this PCN existed.


As I say I know I paid a parking ticket that day (I do not have the ticket) but am I able to contest this ticket a) because I have not responded to letters since May b) my car was registered to my dad's address which could land me in trouble?


Any advice is welcomed as I don't know what to do. I called the debt recovery company who said I cannot contest this with them , they only collect the debt - obviously I don't want to get blacklisted for failure to pay. Thanks in advance !

LoveNorfolk

I'd say you can still fight this, but I don't have any helpful knowledge really, didn't want to read and run, hold on and someone helpful will be along shortly!

Redx

IGNORE the debt collectors , they just want you money bur have no powers to collect it !!!

as this was ignored at the beginning , there is no appeal window left , that ship sailed long ago

they could try a court claim , if you lost you should pay otherwise it is possible for a CCJ to be lodged against you and its only after that you would be "blacklisted"

this one is complicated by the england and N.I. issues so I dont want to state something I shouldnt

but IGNORE unless there are any LBC or Court Claims is all you can do

you cannot get "into trouble" , you have changed the address on the VRM so you are ok there

Umkomaas

My take on this is as follows.

As far as CEL is concerned they are dealing with a RK in NI. They have no knowledge of where the RK might be other than where they initially sent the NtK. The later updating of RK address details with the DVLA will not be transmitted to CEL.

The only way CEL can determine where the RK now resides is to instruct a tracing agent. But why would they - as far as they are concerned they just have another motorist who is ignoring their demand for cash.

Involving ZZPS the month after a LBA was issued suggests to me that CEL realise they have no hope of pursuing any firm of court proceedings in NI and have rather washed their hands of it and thrown it across to ZZPS for them to have a go. They have no chance of doing anything - unless you, OP, contact them and give the game away with the new address.

Oh, wait ......

I called the debt recovery company who said I cannot contest this with them , they only collect the debt

What exactly did you tell them?

cdelaney

Thanks for the reply redx - yeah my only worry is that we are about to sell my dad's apartment and if I miss any mail detailing potentially damaging legal action .... I'll do nothing for the moment and try to have a relative keep an eye on any mail coming in!

cdelaney

Thanks for the reply Umkomaas - yes, I called ZZPS to see what the situation was last Thursday as I was a bit panicked by all the mail. I literally explained the situation quite honestly and explained that I had changed address and the girl on the other end of the phone asked me to email this into them (which I haven't done). She never asked me for the new address so they haven't got this.

The girl seemed nice enough and not too clued up or bothered otherwise I am sure she would have pushed me for the new address while I was still on the line. I just asked her what the next stages were and she said that they would send out another letter on 1st September giving me 2 further weeks to pay before the next stage of "legal action" kicks in - I honestly can't remember the details of that.

Next step, Would you still ignore the letters? Obviously any subsequent mail will go to my Dad's address (the apartment is about to be sold shortly) or could the debt collector search for my new address through the DVLA? I'd be afraid of missing letters detailing potentially damaging legal action. Obviously they know that I am aware of the letters and maybe this will give them incentive to pursue me, then again maybe they will give up on this particular one.

Thanks in advance for your advice , Wish I had contacted this forum before phoning them!!

Umkomaas wrote: »

My take on this is as follows.

As far as CEL is concerned they are dealing with a RK in NI. They have no knowledge of where the RK might be other than where they initially sent the NtK. The later updating of RK address details with the DVLA will not be transmitted to CEL.

The only way CEL can determine where the RK now resides is to instruct a tracing agent. But why would they - as far as they are concerned they just have another motorist who is ignoring their demand for cash.

Involving ZZPS the month after a LBA was issued suggests to me that CEL realise they have no hope of pursuing any firm of court proceedings in NI and have rather washed their hands of it and thrown it across to ZZPS for them to have a go. They have no chance of doing anything - unless you, OP, contact them and give the game away with the new address.

Oh, wait ......



What exactly did you tell them?

cdelaney

Thanks for the reply redx - yeah my only worry is that we are about to sell my dad's apartment and if I miss any mail detailing potentially damaging legal action .... I'll do nothing for the moment and try to have a relative keep an eye on any mail coming in!

Redx wrote: »

IGNORE the debt collectors , they just want you money bur have no powers to collect it !!!

as this was ignored at the beginning , there is no appeal window left , that ship sailed long ago

they could try a court claim , if you lost you should pay otherwise it is possible for a CCJ to be lodged against you and its only after that you would be "blacklisted"

this one is complicated by the england and N.I. issues so I dont want to state something I shouldnt

but IGNORE unless there are any LBC or Court Claims is all you can do

you cannot get "into trouble" , you have changed the address on the VRM so you are ok there

Coupon-mad

Stop phoning debt collectors. They cannot litigate, they are toothless and in NI as the registered keeper, you cannot be held liable. I hope you didn't say who was driving, on the phone?! DID THEY ASK 'are you the driver'? Did you answer?!!

my only worry is that we are about to sell my dad's apartment and if I miss any mail detailing potentially damaging legal action

I agree this is a worthwhile consideration. But is your new address also in NI?

Umkomaas

Can't you set up a Royal Mail redirect (as per GB)? - suggest you do so, if you can. Or do you have any other arrangements in hand for other mail sent to your late father's address?

The girl seemed nice enough

She's obviously new; she hasn't been fed the obnoxious pills yet!

cdelaney

Thanks for the reply - I am pretty sure the girl did not ask me if I was the driver. My new address is not in NI, it's in England. I think I mentioned my address was now in England, I didn't give her the address nor was she very keen to get this from me. At this stage I was in "innocent and honest mode" (!) and trying to get some info from them , only after the call did I begin to think a bit more pragmatically about the whole episode!

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Stop phoning debt collectors. They cannot litigate, they are toothless and in NI as the registered keeper, you cannot be held liable. I hope you didn't say who was driving, on the phone?! DID THEY ASK 'are you the driver'? Did you answer?!!


I agree this is a worthwhile consideration. But is your new address also in NI?

cdelaney

Thanks, I'll look into the Royal Mail redirect, never used it so let's see if it can work for me. At the moment we still have the property so my brother and sister can access the mail every other week coming from Dublin.


Regards the girl, haha!, yes I was actually a bit surprised at how nice and laidback she was! If her boss had been there I'm sure he would have laid into her for not getting my address!

Umkomaas wrote: »

Can't you set up a Royal Mail redirect (as per GB)? - suggest you do so, if you can. Or do you have any other arrangements in hand for other mail sent to your late father's address?


She's obviously new; she hasn't been fed the obnoxious pills yet!