Letter Before Action

ADAMSON700

Hi,

A driver parked a fleet support vehicle (a van belonging to a transport company) in a carpark in Sunderland at around 0100 hours. This was for a drivers break after driving a bus. The car park was something to do with NHS and the place was closed so no actual loss to anyone. The original letter/ticket was sent to the bus company two years ago stating their vehicle had been in the car park for 30 minutes during the night. It was ignored as per online advice.

Two years later the bus company have received a "letter before action" stating the charge is now £140 and they have 14 days to reply.

The car park was in England. The bus company is based in Scotland.

There is no record kept by the bus company for that particular vehicle so it would be hard to tell who the driver was anyway.

What should the bus company do? Name the driver? Reply and dispute the huge charge as it is not a reflection of estimated loss? Any advice appreciated.

The_Slithy_Tove

Best to leave them unaware who the driver was (and you said it would be "hard" to know who was driving, so how are they going to name them?). If they have confirmed to POFA, they can pursue the keeper, who is in Scotland, making the legal process rather hard. If they haven't conformed, they are scuppered, as they can only go after the driver: the company CANNOT be the driver. (Mind you, if you did know who the driver was, and the driver is in Scotland, that will also make it very hard for them.)

Who was the PPC? Do you know if the NTK was compliant with POFA?

Fruitcake

As long as the driver is never identified, and there is no legal requirement to do so, the parking company are going to have an uphill battle.

The bus company can either ignore this, or state that even though the alleged event happened in England, the POFA 2012 does not exist in Scotland therefore there is no keeper liability. There is no possibility that a court case in Scotland will find in favour of the claimant, so they should desist immediately and cancel the charge.
Alternatively the bus company can ask for a PoPLA code, and then make a PoPLA appeal. This winning appeal point will be that POFA does not apply in Scotland.
I think it is also impossible to hold a company liable anyway, only an individual, but I may be wrong on that.

pappa_golf

however there is a slight twist , as they are taking a company to court , the bus company cannot choose their local court (Scotland?) and may be forced to travel to the PPCs local court in England


but I think at this point the bus companies solisitors could and should chew the PPC to mincemeat , as they probably understand the law better than the likes of gladstones

Coupon-mad

ADAMSON700 wrote: »

Hi,

A driver parked a fleet support vehicle (a van belonging to a transport company) in a carpark in Sunderland at around 0100 hours. This was for a drivers break after driving a bus. The car park was something to do with NHS and the place was closed so no actual loss to anyone. The original letter/ticket was sent to the bus company two years ago stating their vehicle had been in the car park for 30 minutes during the night. It was ignored as per online advice.

Two years later the bus company have received a "letter before action" stating the charge is now £140 and they have 14 days to reply.

The car park was in England. The bus company is based in Scotland.

There is no record kept by the bus company for that particular vehicle so it would be hard to tell who the driver was anyway.

What should the bus company do? Name the driver? Reply and dispute the huge charge as it is not a reflection of estimated loss? Any advice appreciated.

Do not talk about 'no loss' but the company should respond to a LBA - unless it's just a debt collector one? E.g. some ZZPS/Wright Hassall letters are just debt collector letters as explained here:

https://bmpa.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203747112-Wright-Hassall

So, who is the parking firm, who is the letter from and who does it say to make payment to (we are not telling you to pay at all!).

ADAMSON700

Hi, the firm is Civil Enforcement LTD, Horton House, Liverpool. That's who all the letters were from initially and two years on that is who the "final opportunity to settle your debt" letter is from. This includes
1. Draft Particulars of Claim
2. Summary of the Supreme Court Judgement between ParkingEye Limited v Beavis which we rely on to support our claim.

This has given 14 days to pay or the company will allegedly issue proceedings.

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

Respond robustly, deny any liability as CEL do not comply with the POFA and a company cannot be 'the driver' nor assumed to be the driver. And point out that if they proceed in the County Court in England then if a company representative is required to attend a hearing in Liverpool they will be liable for your wasted costs from now on including approximately £xxx for a Director to attend as well as all other costs.

Tell them it has already taken xx hours of your time as Company Secretary to deal with what is clearly not a POFA/keeper liability matter and in any case the company is based in Scotland, outwith the jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Finish with a 'drop hands' offer (which means they swallow their costs and you swallow yours at this point and never the twain shall meet, the whole thing stops). No need to word it in legalese, just be robust and state what you want them to do at the end (call the dogs off) or they will hereafter be liable for the defendant company's full costs.