Europcar have paid pcn

Debbie1212

Guys, thanks to all for responding...& to clarify..

1. ParkingEye issued a Parking Charge Notice to Europcar which they rushed to pay (I am aware of the difference in Pcn v Pcn).

2. The "Keeper" parked the rental car in a privately operated pay & display car park (in England), purchased ticket & displayed ticket.

3."Keeper" was on holiday at the time, does not reside in England, did not retain paid ticket.

4. "Keeper" does not have a copy of signed rental agreement or term & conditions, however, from Europcar website...
9.3 Charges & fees - We may charge you for various services that we will carry out as a result of incidents that may occur during the hire period and/ or how you used the vehicle. The costs of these charges & fees are listed in the tariff guide...........Such charges & fees include, but are not limited to the following:

9.3.1. Relating to fines & penalties
9.3.1.1.You are responsible for and will pay all costs arising from:
any congestion or parking charges ( or failure to pay them);
a breach of any parking restrictions or a road traffic offence or any other offence involving the
vehicle such as (but not limited to) lane infringement, tunnel, turning, & bus lane charges
including the costs from the vehicle being clamped, seized or towed away & any other charges/
costs (or failure to pay them) levied by a relevant organisation or issuing authority.

You are & will remain primarily liable for such charges & you consent to us notifying such
organisations of your personal details to effect a transfer of liability.
Etc...
9.3.1.2.If we receive a penalty charge notice that is issued for the vehicle during your hire period & which
is capable of being paid then we may pay it so that we mitigate the cost of it.....etc... (goes on to
detail the procedure in relation to Penalty Charge Notices)....

So no mention of Parking Charge Notices or their procedure in processing them.

Or does the wording above (Para 9.3...."Such charges and fees include, but are not limited to, the following...." mean that while they don't specifically mention Parking charge notices, they can include them?

Europcar's initial correspondence to "Keeper" included a copy of the Parking Charge Notice issued by ParkingEye (no details included of what the alleged contravention relates to). A Traffic violation invoice with a charge of £60 & a £40 administration fee indicated & Europcar's covering letter stating they have paid the notice on my behalf. They wanted payment within 14 days unless i provided legitimate reasons why PCN should not have been paid & they would put this to issuing authority. If not they would debit my credit card.
Not knowing why PCN was issued i tried contacting Europcar by phone, no luck; i emailed Europcar for further details & questioned why they made payment, queried the validity of ParkingEye, said it was a private parking matter & they had no liability, said they were going against BVRLA code of practice in not passing PCN directly to "Keeper".... Took 20 days to receive their response....

Europcar say that " POFA 2012 allows the fine issuer to request the hirer details from the registered keeper of the vehicle. If request is not acted upon, the issuer is legally allowed to pursue the matter through the courts. Given this change in the law, & the stance of the BVRLA, Europcar must therefore treat fines issued by private operators in the same way as those issued by councils; they must either pay the fines, or provide details of the hirer."
Europcar confirmed they will not be cancelling the Traffic Violation Invoice as they have followed the correct working procedures. They enclosed an authorisation letter enabling an appeal directly to ParkingEye.
NOTE... EUROPCAR WORDING IN REFERRING TO "FINES" (NOT MY WORDING).

Emailed BPA who said that as the PCN has been paid by the hire company the matter is closed with the parking operator; the dispute is with the hire co. Advised me to recheck the hire agreement, seek legal advice, pay the invoice or negotiate with hire co for a reduced rate.

Current situation is that "Final demand" has been forwarded from Europcar, threatening if not paid within 7 days the debt will be referred to their solicitors, late payment charges will be added which may affect credit rating.

So the appeal route is closed, do I get into an endless round of emails with Europcar regarding their process in dealing with PCN's & refuse to pay?. (They don't have my card details so can't take payment).

Hope i have covered all the queries raised, once again thanks and really grateful for assistance.
(Not sure what other thread is being referred to as no response has been posted re conclusion that i am aware of, maybe someone could direct me as i'm new to this).

pappa_golf

& they would put this to issuing authority.

Traffic Violation ???


since when did PE have "authority "

they are a private company that issued an invoice , the only athority would be if this was appealed to PE , failed , then appealed to POPLA and d failed and finally the OP was found guilty in the county court

"3."Keeper" was on holiday at the time, does not reside in England,"


where are you from?

Umkomaas

Have a read of the Memorandum of Understanding between the BVRLA and BPA about how such private parking charge notices should be handled by BVRLA members.

If Europcar have failed to comply, go back to them and threaten that you will escalate the issue to the BVRLA. But, be aware, just like the BPA, the BVRLA is a trade organisation whose main role is to protect the interests of its members.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9b0iavad3aqeh28/BPA%20BVRLA%20MoU.pdf?dl=0

It’s a strong possibility that the MoU will have about the same impact on BVRLA members as the BPA Code of Practice has on private parking companies!

Kirchenmaus

The BPA is right, this is not (any more) a parking issue. ParkingEye has been paid, and they're now spending the money in the Bahamas.

This is now a consumer dispute vs a car hire company. Please clarify: you have said that the hire company does not have "your" credit card details (which is good!), but they are holding you responsible for the amount they have gifted to ParkingEye. So, are you also the "Keeper", i.e., the person who does not live in England? Or did you hire the car for that person?

Depending on where you live, there may be little the hire company can do to collect on this dodgy debt, as they may not be able to take you to small claims court, obtain a default judgment and crash your credit rating.

As far as the dodgy debt goes, I think there is a serious problem with the Europcar Ts&Cs you have provided, in that they do draw a clear distinction between various types of notices/invoices, but then they fail to provide for any entitlement to pay the type of notice/invoice that is involved here. Paragraph 9.3.1.1 just says that the hirer is responsible (i.e., Europcar isn't) for any fines/penalties/charges, but the only consequence of that paragraph is that Europcar is allowed to pass on the hirer's details to effect the transfer of liability from Europcar to the hirer. Fair enough--seems like a reasonable clause to me.

But paragraph 9.3.1.2 (assuming this is the only relevant clause in the Ts&Cs) specifically identifies only "penalty charge notices" as the ones that can be paid by Europcar on the hirer's behalf and the cost reclaimed from the hirer. Therefore, it is clear to me that they haven't a leg to stand on. It is also clear that the person at Europcar who responded to you does not have a clue, as even what they have written makes no sense: if that was an option, why did they not provide the hirer's details to the issuer of the notice? And, as the BPA has pointed out, there is no appeals process to follow after payment has been made.

--Kirchenmaus

The_Deep

This is clearly a matter for Trading Standards. If you have not yet done so, contact them IN WRITING, avoid Consumer Direct or CAB.