Britannia having a go at my car

FlatTyre

Hi all,

First of all, please note that I did read the Newbies post. It is long and complicated for my brain but I got most of it, I think.

My car has collected 3 PCNs for overstaying its time in a Waitross parking lot, managed by Britannia. Each PCN in a separate month. I was not the driver, but they send the PCNs to my old address, hence having 3 of them at once when my previous landlord gave them to me. 2 of the PCNs are already at “Final Reminder” status, and they want £100 for each.

The car is constantly used to get to the shop multiple times a day, and Britannia is selecting one trip's entrance and another trip's exit to wrongfully show that the car overstayed, which is not cool.

It seems that I cannot challenge the 3 PCNs at once because their website works with one challenge at a time. I also noticed that their signage refers to “Terms & Conditions at store entry” but that is not correct. I carefully checked and even took photos.

I have 4 questions please, and I truly appreciate your help as I am relatively new to the UK and I am frustrated having to fight injustice:

1- Should I link the 3 challenges by referring to each other, or treat them fully independently?
2- What is the implication of their reference to Terms & Conditions being wrong?
3- What is the implication of them sending the information to my old address?
4- Below you find my challenge letter, based on the template provided in the Newbie post. Is that good enough or do you suggest any change?

Thanks heaps.

==================================
Re PCN number: #####

Dear Sir/Madam,

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I ask you to review your evidence before I make a formal complaint about your conduct to your client landowner and to my MP. Please note that there will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn.

This car regularly makes multiple daily trips to Waitrose for shopping and spending large amount of money. Each singular trip would take between 20 to 30 minutes maximum. Yet, you seem to have picked the entrance of one journey and the exit of another in the same day in order to build a fictional case of overstaying. I strongly invite you to review your cameras and rectify your statement accordingly.

Since your PCN is a vague template, and in case you reject my challenge, I will require ALL photos and videos taken and a detailed explanation of the allegation and your evidence, i.e.:

- You will need to provide me with the evidence that for the entire period of the alleged overstay, the car did not exit and re-enter the parking, including ALL photos/videos for that period of time. Failure to do so will conclude that you cannot prove beyond doubt that the car did not take multiple trips.

- Your evidence must include the actual grace period agreed by the landowner. If you fail to evidence the actual grace period that applies at this site or suggest that only one period applies, this will be disregarded as an attempt to mislead. In the absence of evidence, it will be reasonably taken to be a minimum of twenty minutes (ten on arrival and ten after parking time) in accordance with the official BPA article by Kelvin Reynolds about 'observation periods' on arrival being additional and separate to a 'grace period' at the end.

- You must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date. Please note that your signs stipulate “See the sign at the store entrance for our full terms and conditions”. However,, such sign does not exist and I have taken photo evidence of that.

Formal note:
Should you later pursue this charge by way of litigation, note that service of any legal documents by email is expressly disallowed. All communications must be sent to my address, which is the following:

####### (correct address)


Yours faithfully,

Me
===============================

Le_Kirk

You need to appeal each PCN separately. If that appeal you copied is the one you found in the NEWBIE sticky and was written in BLUE text, it is correct and should be sent with no additions, deletions or alterations.

FlatTyre

I did alter the letter to make it specific to my case, e.g. talking about Terms & Conditions not being displayed even though the sign stipulates it. Is that a bad idea?

Umkomaas

First and foremost, you seem to have done a decent job in understanding the newbies sticky. Good start.

This car regularly makes multiple daily trips to Waitrose for shopping and spending large amount of money. Each singular trip would take between 20 to 30 minutes maximum. Yet, you seem to have picked the entrance of one journey and the exit of another in the same day in order to build a fictional case of overstaying.

If you're a regular customer, go and visit the store manager (not Customer Services desk) and take all your proof of regular and high spending at the store as evidence. Tell him/her of the harassment you are suffering at the hands of their agent, and if further spending at W's is likely to incur a £100 penalty surcharge on each of the very many visits you make every week, you'll obviously need to move on elsewhere. There are plenty of other supermarkets available.

To answer your numbered Qs:

1. Treat each one separately. As well as that seems the only way Britannia will deal with them, it gives them extra work to do and there might be a chance of getting different outcomes which you might be able to exploit later.

2. T&Cs usually means the signage in the car park, are you saying there is absolutely no signage? Whatever, you need photos of your own of the layout across the car park of the signage, legible close ups of the wording, or photos of the total absence of signage.

3. They only send correspondence to the address provided to them by the DVLA. What address is showing on your vehicle's V5C (logbook)? If it's an old one, you must inform the DVLA pronto (2 separate notifications for your V5C and your driving licence) - the DVLA issue real fines of up to £1,000 for breaches, so it's a priority for you. In addition, you email Brit's DPO (via Privacy page of their website) and provide them your 'current address for service' (use those words, they have specific meaning) and require them to undertake a 'data correction'.

4. It looks fine, you've not blown off any toes, but it is unlikely to get you any result that you wouldn't have had from the standard newbies template - rejection. Hopefully you'll get some POPLA codes in return.

The_Deep

This is called "double dipping" and is extremely common, read some of these.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5550336/double-dip-parking-list-of-cases

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra work.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, 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.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

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

Half_way

This is kown as a double dip, the GDPR ( regulations) are quite clear that data must be accurate.
ANPR cameras are well known for errors, such as recording first in/last out, and as such a reasonable measure would be for the parking company/waitrose to perform manual checks on the data, there are also some rulings on automated data gathering/processing.


I would go with a simple "appeal" to britiania
RE paking charge notice###
I am the registered keeper of vehicle (reg number) and you have accessed and processed my personal data without just cause.
Your camera systems are defective, and the vehcile was not in the car park for the duration you alledge.
You must now cancel the parking charges and remove your defective equipement

The_Deep

I agree with Half way, a one point appeal is the way tp go imo.