Multiple tickets = Fear

swan351

I have arrived here seeking help. I have viewed the Newbies thread and have felt somewhat comforted by what I have read. I have also searched the forum for a situation similar to mine, but have not found one. I apologise if this has been covered elsewhere. I will try to keep this brief;
I park in a car park 'policed' by Premier Park for work. The car park is owned by a pub and I work in an adjacent shop. With agreement from the landlord, mine (and other vehicles) were put on a virtual permit list, to avoid daily parking charges. All was fine until I changed cars. I gave the landlord my new details, but i received around 9 PCN over a bout a 4 month period. (aug- nov 18) I approached the landlord several times about these notices and he told me not to worry, they had no power to do anything and I should just ignore them. After a while the mounting debt recovery notices caused me undue stress and I took them all to the landlord and asked him to sort it out. I thought he had.
In March this year I received two new PCN. I appealed them with a rather inarticulate copy email sent to my from the said landlord advising Premier Park I was permitted to park in the car park. They rejected the appeals, as did POPLA after i took the appeals further. At this point I received Debt recovery letters regarding all the tickets from the previous year, that I thought had been dealt with.
I have now in May received 2 new PCN and the thing that is concerning me most, 2 letters from Gladstones Solicitors, concerning the very first 2 PCN I recieved.
I have spoken to the landlord again and he has not been much help, saying that he has done as much as he can by telling them I am allowed to park and that they have been such a difficult company to deal with he has pretty much given up.
I do park in the car park almost every week day, but don't receive PCN for every time I park.

Sorry for the long post, I hope someone can advise me of where I can go from here as I am looking at (I think) 14 PCN that are almost all at late stages of Debt recovery process.

Comments appreciated.

Umkomaas

I have now in May received 2 new PCN and the thing that is concerning me most, 2 letters from Gladstones Solicitors, concerning the very first 2 PCN I recieved.

To whom do these letters tell you to pay?

I have spoken to the landlord again and he has not been much help, saying that he has done as much as he can by telling them I am allowed to park and that they have been such a difficult company to deal with he has pretty much given up.

Find out if it was the landlord who contracted PP to ticket the car park. If he did, get him to formally confirm that in writing, as well as his confirmation that he has required (unheeded) PP to cancel every ticket.

Everything in writing now. Phone calls are not evidence, I'm afraid.

Redx

the only way this can be sorted out is in court, by a judge, and your landlord was WRONG in saying they cannot do anything

they can pursue you and they can take you to court , but WINNING may be a different matter , hopefully a judge will dismiss their court case , but not much else you can do , for now

what I would do ?

1) I would email a SAR to the DPO at PP asap and get all their data and docs and pics

2) I would also get the landlord to write a witness statement that puts down the facts and the permission to park, so IN WRITING , take copies and pics and keep this safe for the inevitable court case, to be submitted at the WS stage

swan351

Thank you for your response.

The letters from Gladstones Solicitors say I should pay DRP (Debt Recovery Plus Ltd).

I believe the contract was set up by someone further up the chain in the company he works for, rather than the landlord himself. I do have a name, but no contact details.

As i said in my post, the landlord is now being less than helpful, getting him to write anything let alone a witness statement could be problematic.

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Coupon-mad

The letters from Gladstones Solicitors say I should pay DRP (Debt Recovery Plus Ltd).

Search the forum for Gladstones Debt Recovery Plus as this is not yet a LBC.

I park in a car park 'policed' by Premier Park for work. The car park is owned by a pub and I work in an adjacent shop. With agreement from the landlord, mine (and other vehicles) were put on a virtual permit list, to avoid daily parking charges. All was fine until I changed cars. I gave the landlord my new details, but i received around 9 PCN over a bout a 4 month period.

You have a defence. This is well worth fighting but as it's not yet at court, get the landowner to tell PP to do one. You will save yourself a LOT of angst in having to defend a court claim & go to a local hearing, simply by getting the principal to tell PP to cancel as you were at all times, authorised and are not scam-fodder to be penalised.

swan351

You have a defence. This is well worth fighting but as it's not yet at court, get the landowner to tell PP to do one. You will save yourself a LOT of angst in having to defend a court claim & go to a local hearing, simply by getting the principal to tell PP to cancel as you were at all times, authorised and are not scam-fodder to be penalised.[/QUOTE]

I have a recording of the landlord saying that his superior (the man who arranged the contract) had spoken to PP requesting cancellation of the initial 9 PCN. This seemed to work until I unsuccessfully appealed 2 PCN in March. (Providing evidence which i though would land in my favour.) Upon POPLA dismissing my evidence, I then recieved DRP or Zenith letters concerning the 9 previous PCN.

I will try again to talk to the principal, as it really does seem like the shortest and least hassley route to a conclusion, although I don't hold out much hope.

Thank you.

Coupon-mad

The recording will be useful evidence for a court claim, if PP will not cancel.

They read this forum and a PP employee officially posted here for about 48 hours last year, until they ran away because they failed to say anything intelligent and just effectively, by their weasel words and attempt at intimidation of a poster (for daring to post here) confirmed they operated a scam.

This is not a firm to pay money to. Certainly fight them all the way.

They are ex-clampers, a worthless and aggressive company offering no service to anyone, and IMHO they need to close down and make their sorry staff get real jobs.

swan351

So after many months and several more DR letters (all of which I have ignored) I have received a different type of letter. Possibly an LBC. Covering letter from Premier Park saying my account has been passed to their legal team and all communication should now go through them; bwlegal.
At the moment it is only concerning the 2 PCNs I took through the full appeal process and were turned down by POPLA.

bwlegal are asking for payment (plus expenses) OR advise of disputes on the PCNs (including documentation) to be uploaded. If I do neither of these they will commence legal proceedings. I guess this is a LBC?

Is it at this point that I request that all of the PCNs against me (14 in total) be amalgamated?

I am still waiting for SAR on my preivious vehicle, which I hope their records will show was on their Virtual Permit System.

All help much appreciated, any other info needed that might help, just let me know.

Thanks in advance.

luxardo

This is so unbelievably simple !!! Get a letter from whoever owns the carpark stating you have permission to park there and have had permission to park there on the dates covered in all the parking tickets.
Send a copy to all parties with a letter saying you are exempt from any contractual charges by consent of the owner and you will see them in court if they want to take it any further.

The_Deep

Getting a letter from the car park landowner can often be far from simple.
and even if you were successful, it is more than likely that the PPC would ignore it, (but it could be a clincher in court).