Horizon ticket on new build development

Redman78

I am fairly sure I have made all the first errors possible, so just looking to ensure I do not mess anything up further.

Berkeley Homes employed Horizon back in 2014 to manage the parking on the new build development that we live on. Following a trial period all residents received letters stating that the restrictions were no longer to be enforced, except for parking on the pavements. They didn't however take down or change any of the signage from the original restrictions they put in place. These signs just say "No Parking at any time" and then all the usual details about £70 fines etc.

Following the lift of restrictions in May 2015 I have parked pretty much every day outside my house both partially on the pavement and on the road, as do a large number of cars on a daily basis. In December 2016 I received a ticket on my car stating I was parked in a no parking zone. My wife is the registered keeper but I was the driver. I jumped the gun by submitting an appeal to Horizon stating that parking was allowed and the signage was out of date etc and that the road was not a car park (as the sign states) nor anything about parking on the pavement. At the time I didn't even think about the keeper vs driver. They quickly rejected it and I followed it up with a POPLA appeal stating all the same things to them about unclear and inaccurate signage and they quoted the letter that Berkeley Homes sent to residents nearly 2 years before. I suggested that a letter to residents does not help anyone who did not live on the development at the time or those visiting and therefore irrelevant and the signs need to show full terms and conditions and be applied consistently which they clearly are not. Anyway, appeal rejected by POPLA as they found that sign was correct and contract made etc.

This week my wife as keeper has received their reminder notice about the PCN with the usual threats of passing to debt recovery. In order to ensure I didn't mess this up any further I thought someone might be able to offer some advice as to what to do next. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and can now see from this forum and others that due to the nature of their signage that no contract may have been formed anyway due to its forbidding nature? But wanted to see if there were any thoughts on the fact that parking is clearly allowed on the road despite signs and there is no mention of pavement parking? And finally should my wife just ignore the letters or as I have already gone through POPLA with my name does she need to provide the driver details as myself in case i need to carry on dealing with it?

Thanks for your help, and in future I'll do the research before taking action.....

Coupon-mad

Hmmmm...well if you wife is up for just waiting, she seems to be in a far better position than you are to defend any small claim they might try! And it looks to me as if she would even have grounds to counter-claim because they appear to be misusing the DVLA-supplied data.

You appealed and you then appealed to POPLA, so did they have your postal address as well as your name? And could they have concluded you were the driver, from your appeal? If they had a postal address for service of letters for the driver (specifically you MUST have given your postal addy to Horizon, NOT just to POPLA as they do not pass it on), they cannot revert back to the keeper and are misusing her data.

But I would not tip them off about this because if she does, they might just apologise and switch back to you and you have a lesser defence and no grounds to counter-claim for data misuse...which is seems your wife DOES (if your postal address as well as name of driver, was supplied).

So, I would wait and see and certainly ignore the usual debt collector drivel.

Redman78

Yes they would have had my address as my appeal started "Tonight I have had a parking charge notice placed on my car by OP523 outside my address of ......" and signed with my name.

Coupon-mad

Bingo!

So they are misusing your wife's data. Keep EVERY letter in a file because if this ends up in a small claim for Horizon with Gladstones mucking it up even more, she would have grounds to counter-sue for misuse of her DVLA-supplied data, contrary to the POFA 2012 and the BPA Code of Practice and the DVLA KADOE contract, as well as a DPA breach. This one differs but for a basic idea of the issues:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/smart-parking-settle-out-of-court-for.html

I would suggest if they try a small claim against her when they already have the driver's name and address, I would look to defend and add a counter-claim (all in her name of course as it's her data) to claim £750 - top end. Got to be worth a small fee of £35 to counter claim in these circs. 'Very significant distress and alarm' caused by dragging her to small claims when this conduct is unwarranted harassment and proof of misuse of data they were not longer allowed to process. We can assist with wording, quoting the DPA and case law.

As soon as they had the driver's name and address, any contact with the keeper must END.

Redman78

Thanks for the info. I think we are going to leave it and see what action they decide to take. I assume they will forward to their debt collectors as is the norm, and we will see how far they want to go.