ParkDirectUK Uxbridge PCN

jigershah

I have just come back from holidays to see a letter in my post box from ParkDirectUK slapping a Parking charge of £100 at Uxbrige and pictures show the alleged contravention of 9 seconds.

This car is registered under my name but on the day was driven by a friend who regularly visits me from USA and according to him, he parked there to visit mall and after reading notice realised it was not a parking place as he thought so he drove off and whole episode would have taken not more than 15 seconds which is evident as notice letter shows time of 15:27:37 to 15:27:46.

I personally dont know what legal laws allow but to me this is outrageous that one can not even park to read the notice? how can one decide? I thought grade period generally allows upto 5-10 minutes?

Also I have written an email to them and got an auto reply saying emails are not considered and I must write physical letters to them which is another complete waste of time as my knowledge suggests that emails are valid form of correspondence and acceptable from legal framework?

Kindly help? Any views or right of wrong, legal aspects and what is scenarios will help as I am finding this utter waste of time to tell the truth and ideally want to take the company to task only if I knew what is legal right and wrong here and what are obligations on both sides.

The contravention reads " stopping or waiting where stopping or waiting restrictions are in force at a location that had terms of parking clearly displayed on the warning signs" .

How can someone know what is written not a notice or private parking especially someone travelling from abroad without stopping for few seconds? am I completely out of sync here or what am I missing?

many thanks in anticipation.

The_Slithy_Tove

Park Direct are well know scammers here. Legally they have no basis whatsoever for such a short stop, but it won't stop them. How are you supposed to know stopping is forbidden if not given a few seconds to read the notices?

What you should do is to write to them, providing the name and address of the US driver, stating that as they now know the name and address of the driver, under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, they cannot pursue you as the keeper, and under the Data Protection Act, they should remove all your details from their records, as they no longer have need for them. (Again, they won't do this, but it puts you in the "right" should they be daft enough to take it further.)

Once you've done this, just ignore anything further from them or any debt collectors.

Coupon-mad

driven by a friend who regularly visits me from USA and according to him, he parked there to visit mall and after reading notice realised it was not a parking place as he thought so he drove off and whole episode would have taken not more than 15 seconds which is evident as notice letter shows time of 15:27:37 to 15:27:46.

I personally dont know what legal laws allow but to me this is outrageous that one can not even park to read the notice? how can one decide? I thought grade period generally allows up to 5-10 minutes?

I agree with The Slithy Tove. BTW, when naming the driver you MUST give their postal address for service as well, not just an email address etc.

I would also add much more into that letter, seize the moment to say all of this:

State that they had no reasonable cause to obtain your data in the first place because a predatory ticket issued within seconds, before a driver can read the signs, is contrary to contract law basic principles, as well as contrary to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and against their own IPC Code of Practice.

Finish by saying that you do not consent for them to process your data at all and indeed you have discharged any potential liability by naming the driver and providing his address for service. As the DVLA only provided your data for this sole purpose (to enquire about the driver) should Park Direct continue to harass you, then each letter will be indicative of a breach of the DPA priniciples.

As such, tell them to:

Take formal note that I intend to sue Park Direct and your client, the landowner at this location, for their joint and several liability for damages for a DPA breach, should they or their agents contact me again (save than to confirm cancellation or to acknowledge the driver's details). Since is it clear that Park Direct and your agents will have no excuse to store/process my data following receipt of this letter, I have kept proof of posting should you later use the pretence that it was not received.

Any further processing of my data will be a breach of the DPA and the conduct of the data controller remains the responsibility of both Park Direct and your principal landowner/client. I will serve notice separately on the landowner, should I need to take action but I strongly urge you to seek legal advice before contacting me again.

s13 of the DPA states under “Compensation for failure to comply with certain requirements” at 13(1) that:
“An individual who suffers damage by reason of any contravention by a data controller of any of the requirements of this Act is entitled to compensation from the data controller for that damage”.

Two significant authorities support my claim:

Vidal-Hall v Google Inc [2015] EWCA 311

and

Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 333

In Vidal-Hall, it was held by the Court of Appeal that compensation was payable upon the fact of breach and it was not necessary to quantify a pecuniary loss. In Halliday, the Court of Appeal held that a compensatory sum of £750 was ‘appropriate and sufficient’.

I trust the provision of the driver's name and address ends our correspondence but you have been fairly warned of the consequences, should you bother me about this matter again. In the event that a Claim is issued, please note that additional costs will be incurred and it is standard practice that interest on the sum claimed will also accumulate. You are urged to seek legal advice if you do not understand the implications of this letter and as I am sure you are aware, your only recourse now would be to contact the driver. Whether he responds or not, is not my concern and nor does the POFA Schedule 4 limit me to only naming a driver with a UK address. If in doubt, I suggest you read the statute and seek legal advice because this will become very expensive for you and your client since I have indisputably discharged my potential liability.

Yours faithfully,







P.S. NEVER use signed-for post for a parking firm, so not recorded delivery! Use 1st class but take the letter to any PO Counter and ask them for a certificate of posting and keep that little free receipt with a printed copy of the letter you have sent. I expect Park Direct will ignore the above and continue to use your data/pass it to a third party debt collector, in which case firstly complain to the ICO explaining why this firm had no 'reasonable cause' under any rule of law or the KADOE agreement, to continue to contact you once the driver's name and address was provided.

Then sue them and their client/landowner jointly for at least £250, if not £750 if you are so minded, in 2017. We really mean it!