Gladstone Solicitors letter received please help

Pinkcoralsunset

Hello guys,

I am new to the thread as I am in a bit of a panic after finding out I have £400 worth of fines from NCP!

Basically, me and my colleagues always used a section of a local carpark to park in as we were told no one owned the land, and it was free. This seemed to be true as we parked there for work every day.. Sorry if this seems stingy but why pay for parking when it's free right? Anyway no one ever got ticketed.

I no longer use the car park often as I don't work there anymore. Me and some friends returned there last month to park to nip into town quickly. We park here sometimes for that kind of thing, mainly in the evening when it is empty as it is convenient. Last month I noticed the rest of the carpark had new signs up saying cameras were now installed to check if people were paying. We drove to the section of the car park we always parked in and checked and there were no signs up saying that cameras were monitoring this section and there was nothing to say you now had to pay to park there.

So we parked there 4 times in September/October since the cameras were in place. I did not realise however 'Parking Charge Notices' were piling up at my house! The reason for this is I have been temporarily staying with someone else for personal reasons. I do not return home much and was not aware of them! Until my mum phoned up and told me.

So they were 4 different notices, each one £100. Obviously £400 is a lot, so not that keen to pay it. I just have no idea what to do really, I have read the FAQ thread for newbies, but that seems mainly for people who had actually bought tickets and were wrongly fined.

Does it sound like I have a leg to stand on if I tried to appeal? My thoughts are mainly that the car park had no warning in that particular section, which to locals we know to have always been free, and have never received a ticket there before. I have been all around town trying to find out who owns the land as well, and have had no such luck, hearing different things from everywhere.

Sorry that was a long thing and if anyone bothers to read it I would really appreciate some advice I was also considering getting in touch with NCP and asking if they would consider letting me pay the discounted 14 day period £60 per fine, as we really had no idea we were doing anything wrong.

Please let me know if you have any advice for me, I will appreciate it very much.

Thank you

Redx

edit the above and remove any hint of who was driving

then please read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread near the top of this forum

its not a "fine" either , its an invoice for an alleged unpaid contractual debt

Pinkcoralsunset

Thank you Redx, I have edited it and I will reread the FAQ more thoroughly.

Loadsofchildren123

How do you differentiate the other bit of the car park (where you were parking) from the bit that was controlled by a PPC? Is it separated off in any way? You're saying there are signs up in the NCP part but not in the other part, which implies that the other part is separated off in some way. Perhaps you could find a google map image and mark it and then post it up here? Newbies can't post links so what you do is put it on a hosting site like dropbox, then put the link on here but change http to something else like hxxp and then one of the regulars (who can post links) then changes it for you so that everyone can see it.


Also, is there any way of accessing this other part of the car park, other than via the NCP entrance?


If this other part is separated off then it might be owned by another person/entity to the part that is NCP controlled. It might be worth paying Land Registry to find out who owns it. A register of the ownership costs £3 and a copy plan is also £3. You might need to do two searches, one of each part of the site, so that will be £12 in total. These will be costs you may recover if you win. Telephone land registry, they are very helpful and will tell you what you need to do.


I think we need to understand more about the lay of the land.


Also, the letters/notices that were arriving at home, what were they dated (what we need to know is were they within 14 days of the parking on each occasion?)? I take it there were no windscreen tickets.

Coupon-mad

Does it sound like I have a leg to stand on if I tried to appeal?

LOL, it's NCP. Of course! Follow the advice in the NEWBIES thread and appeal as keeper.

Also please first respond to the above questions.

Pinkcoralsunset

Hello,

I received 6 parking fines in September 2017, which I believed to be unfair. To be brief, I parked somewhere that used to be free, but had recently been taken over by NCP, but the signage did not fully explain this to me. My number plate was caught on camera 6 times, and letters regarding the fines were sent out weeks after the parking happened, so I had no idea I was doing any wrong by parking there, hence why I kept parking there repeatedly. Anyway I appealed and was ignored.

Gladstone Solicitors then sent me a letter saying I need to pay £640 within 14 days or I go to court. Well they sent this to my old address, even though I moved months ago. I only know about this as I know the person who still lives there. But anyway 640 is only the cost of 4 of the fines added up, not 6, so this is confusing as well. I could post the letter here but see I can't upload pictures? It has been over 14 days anyway as I mistakenly payed 'Private Parking Appeals' to 'help me' not realising that company is a massive scam. I know I'm a dumbo!

Anyway I would just like to ask what could be done now? Because a lawyer told me I should ring up and see if they'll take less money to avoid going to court - this literally can't be done as I can't get in contact with Gladstones. Is it really bad that I did not respond within the 14 days?

I am very grateful this forum exists and have read many many threads so thank you to all of you. I am just freaking out slightly and really would like to talk with someone if anyone has any advice? I do try to read the Newbies FAQ thread for these things but I am dumb! Literally I am an apprentice and £640 is more then my monthly wage, so I just literally cannot pay it! Any guidance anyone can give me would be very appreciated:(

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind most of these companies may well be put out of business by Christmas.

Umkomaas

Is this the same case as your previous thread from October? If so, please PM Crabman or soolin (Board Guides - find their names to link through at the bottom r/h corner of the thread list page, one back from this one) and ask them to link the two.

Who does the Gladstones letter tell you to pay?

Pinkcoralsunset

Hello, thank you for replying! I have dmed Crabman, and the letter tells me to pay a website Gsi Collections

The_Deep

Pay nothing to anybody unless so ordered by a judge. Read these

https://www.bing.com/search?q=you%27ve+bee+gladstoned&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=undefined&sc=1-21&sk=&cvid=097B742807E14EC6A838166BC3FB4210

all of them.

Pinkcoralsunset

Another thing I would just like to mention is something that I didn't realise until now is that my Notice to Keepers were all sent 15 days or more after the 'offence' I know I should have realised this earlier but I am dumb!! Can this help me in court ???