English PCN Against Scottish Resident

jara10

I have had a bit of an ongoing saga with a ticket from PCM in London. I arrived at 0200 after a 10 hour drive and parked in a disabled space outside my hotel. A few days later I received a postal PCN stating that I had exceeded the time limit, this PCN did not state the length of time of the alleged contravention nor what the time limit was.

The area in which I parked was a temporary area which was surrounded by a large fence. As I live several hundred miles away from London, I have had to rely on the tiny pictures supplied and Google Earth. There was one sign in the supplied photos which was above the roof of my car, not exactly readable from a wheelchair and also unlit. The signs in the remainder of the car park are side on to the other bay with 2-3ft of trees hanging infront of each one, the signs as you enter the car park are light green on white and only state "no parking or stopping outwith marked bays". So a genuine mistake that I did not know I could park there.

I do about 30,000 miles a year so I deal with about one of these per year, but they have always been in Scotland and I have never lost. Yet. But as this was in England I used a site called privateparkingappeals just to make sure the appeal was done right, despite a few phone calls and emails, they did not submit my appeal. I then contacted PCM to state this and was just rudely dismissed and told the next appeal would be in court.

When I received a letter from Trace Recovery offering the settle this without involving lawyers [sic], I then reiterated the point of PPA not submitting an appeal and asked what reasonable adjustments per the Equality Act (2010) were in place for disabled users both in sign height and time allowance. Also noting that this parking area is temporary and unlit. To this I recieved an auto reply, but no response.

Then 5 weeks later to that date, I receive a letter before claim from Gladstones (Registered in England and Wales) stating "In the event the outstanding debt is not paid in full, we are instructed to commence legal proceedings. Our client is satisfied that it has enough evidence..." It then makes reference to the Civil Procedure Rules (1998) (England and Wales) and the pre-action protocol.

What I understand from the Civil Jurisdiction & Judgements Act (1982) is that an English County Court has no legal jurisdiction to hear the case of a domiciled Scot. I have tried to get legal advice, but a dozen local firms just weren't interested, including dual-qualified solicitors.

So I'm not really sure where to go from here? Can an English legal firm raise action in a Scottish court? Will they pass it to a Scottish firm (at least I can get advice from a Scottish solicitor!)? I sit on a quasi-judicial body so i am adept at framing an argument with the right legal advice, so going to court in itself is no issue.

waamo

That's a long post that can be boiled down to the fact you are in Scotland.

Ignore them.

The_Deep

then reiterated the point of PPA not submitting an appeal and asked what reasonable adjustments per the Equality Act (2010) were in place for disabled users both in sign height and time allowance.

I would copy it to the solicitor and ask them to obtain an answer from their client, stating "failure to do so may result in a counter claim for disability discrimination".

There is lots of stuff in the stickies/FAQs re the Scottish dimension.

beamerguy

PCM are one of the scammers that are members of
the IPC/IAS scam invented by Gladstones solicitors,
that's how Gladstones got involved. all part of the scam
PCM are rude, ignorant and arrogant
Doubtful they will even know what the Equality Act (2010)
actually means.

I assume you are resident in Scotland

Trace Recovery are only powerless debt collectors as you can
read here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74439905#Comment_74439905

privateparkingappeals ..... ENOUGH SAID
Good reading here
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/privateparkingappeals.co.uk

It is the hotel you should attack especially for employing
such muppets
Get the hotel to cancel, explain the Equality Act (2010)
to them and how their parking firm ignores it but the hotel
should know that they are jointly responsible

I am not surprised that real solicitors don't want to know,
they do not want to get involved in this scam
ONLY DODGY SOLICITORS GET INVOLVED hence Gladstones

Gladstones are such an incompetent firm in England and Wales
doubt they could cope in Scotland.

Anyways, I have spent a good few hours composing an
email about the great Gladstones IPC/IAS scam because
the Daily Mail are asking people to contact them
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74899035#Comment_74899035

They have received my email and this now needs to be
supported by others.

I have explained how the Gladstones/IPC/IAS scam works

As the Equality Act (2010) is involved, they will be interested
in your story editor@thisismoney.co.uk

HOTEL FIRST PLEASE

Fruitcake

The advice you get here on MSE is better in my opinion than anything you will get from a paid for service.

The advice here for keepers who live in Scotland is to ignore, not reveal the driver's identity, and complain to the landowner, your MP, and the MP where the alleged event took place if different.

Umkomaas

I'd write back to the solicitors inviting them to issue court proceedings to your Scotland address. Tell them that you will immediately contest jurisdiction, if the CCBC slip up and miss you address in Scotland.

My understanding is that the CCBC won't issue against an address north of the border.

Take the bull by the horns! Get it killed off soonest.

twhitehousescat

both horizon and smart both have cases (6) ongoing in the scottish courts today

horizon = Finitor House, 2 Hanbury Road, Chelmsford, England, CM1 3AE

smart parking = 5 South Inch Business Centre, Shore Road, Perth, Perth And Kinross, PH2 8BW

so how are horizon getting passed this?

tboo

Ah but has the OP blabbed - i would think so gong on how many times he has rung PCM and all

beamerguy

tboo wrote: »

Ah but has the OP blabbed - i would think so gong on how many times he has rung PCM and all

That does not matter if the Equality Act (2010) is involved

jara10

beamerguy wrote: »

HOTEL FIRST PLEASE

The first place I called was the hotel, who told me that those spaces were owned by the retail unit landlord but in the current temporary layout with the construction works, these spaces just happened to be right outside the hotel. They did apologise and say I should've been offered a space in their car park, but that isn't going to make this go away!

jara10

tboo wrote: »

Ah but has the OP blabbed - i would think so gong on how many times he has rung PCM and all

No case reference given on phone, I know the difference between keeper and driver!