Complicated parking fine from college

JSpartan117

Hi there

I'am not sure if i am doing this right but i am a bit scared and need some help since the CAB keep ignoring my calls and emails. This needs a bit of background info first; i live in northern England and had a car which was owned by a parent but was wrote off at the end of last year in a large motorway crash, until the end of last year i had been in college for 3 years and had to use a car to get there since i lived miles away and the college bus passes were an extraordinate amount of money, however the college wont allow students to park at the campus (despite owning a large car park) and the only place you could park was a public park next door in which you could only stay parked for 2 hours before having to move to yet another car park as you could guess this would be a problem if you had to attend a college trip away for several days so the only way to do this would be to ask someone high up at college to apply for a temporary pass for you.

So throughout the 3 year period this is what i did when i went on college trips and until today i thought nothing of it because today because a parent owned the car, the letters had been being sent to there business and because they knew nothing about it they had been getting rid of the letters as spam until now when they received a "NOTICE OF INTENDED LEGAL COLLECTIONS £160 DEPT UNPAID" from a firm called ZZPS, they say there client is E S PARKING ENFORCEMENT LTD and that it was from the start of last year and that the car was not showing a valid permit on the windscreen, now the car was only ever parked there without one when i was collecting the permit on the day to put on the car so i don't see the problem there and there was no notice ever left on the windscreen when i returned from the trips so it appears as if the notice has came from nowhere and they also say they will be passing my information on to QDR solicitors in 14 days.

I have already tried to get help from college but they say that they have nothing to do with the parking as its patrolled by a private company they pay, which is weird since they are the ones that give out the permits, although a member of staff there does say that they remember me applying for all the passes.

I am receiving a lot of hassle from the parent as they believe there credit score will be effected and they will have to pay for court since the fine is listed in there name so help would be very much appreciated

Thanks in advance to anyone that replies

Coupon-mad

CAB are diabolically rubbish about private parking scams, so forget them!

the car was only ever parked there without one when i was collecting the permit on the day to put on the car so i don't see the problem there and there was no notice ever left on the windscreen when i returned from the trips...

OK, so your defence would partly be about them not allowing a reasonable grace period to fetch the permit from adjacent premises. There are IPC Trade Body rules about not enforcing a PCN for ten minutes, as they must allow a driver to learn about the terms and get a permit (within reason, not half an hour later).

and they also say they will be passing my information on to QDR solicitors in 14 days.

Well no, they haven't got your data! They aren't writing to you.

And so what about QDR letters, I assume you've Googled them and laughed. QDR rarely take any action and usually act as debt collector letter writers only, nothing that needs a response. All part of the intimidation.

But, these cases can be pursued in small claims, and clearly they are not forgetting about it. IMHO, it is fairly likely the case will be passed to Gladstones solicitors who muck up claims for lots of IPC member firms!

So, these cases are 99% winnable in court when people come here and follow all the advice in the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread. Remember: we win them, usually, and there is no risk even if the Defendant lost, as you can't just 'get a CCJ' unless the court paperwork was ignored.

However!

Sounds to me like your family are terrible at actually dealing properly with paperwork. This was quite stupid for a business/parents to throw away such letters and bury their heads in the sand:

the letters had been being sent to there business and because they knew nothing about it they had been getting rid of the letters as spam...

It is also silly to think their credit rating can suddenly be affected and want to pay the scam ticket (unless they keep burying their heads in the sand, in which case ignoring can end up with a CCJ, so don't ignore it!).

So, who will be best at a court hearing to defend this, you as driver, or the business Director (family member?).

Who is the most confident person, you? Would they defend it or would they panic & pay?

If so, get the business to write to ES parking on headed notepaper, giving your name and postal address and naming you as the driver. Make them send that by post but NOT SIGNED FOR, just ordinary 1st class but sent at the PO Counter, and keeping (not throwing away) the certificate of posting that they MUST get, to prove they nominated you as driver and transferred liability.

Then you need to be ready to receive and act upon letters and defend the case, which is what we help with, every day. We know what we are doing. Hence the 99% win rate.

DO NOT JUST PAY...NONONO.