Vehicle broke down on private road and received PCN - do I mention breakdown in NTK appeal?

Fruitcake

Were any of the pictures taken showing the bonnet open at the time?
This would very strongly suggest there was a problem with the car, especially if there are photos of the boot open with tools etcetera in view?
Seeing the bonnet and boot up, the man on the Clapham omnibus might be inclined to believe the vehicle had broken down. Why then would a parking scammer think the vehicle was parked? Oh wait, I know why.

Have a look at Jopson vs Homeguard, especially around paragraphs 19 and 20. Here the judge said "coping with some vicissitude of short duration, such as changing a wheel in the event of a puncture" is not parking. I would suggest dealing with a flat battery would indeed be classed as some vicissitude.

I'm assuming you don't have your own pics of the NTD under the bonnet, but you would obviously mention it in a witness statement. You would then infer that the NTD was not properly placed and as a result such it fell into the engine bay without the driver being made aware.

All of this is way off in the future. Courts are closing or postponing existing parking cases so even if it does go to court, it won't be for a while.

Pics of an open bonnet and a witness statement from the person helping with the jump start would, in my opinion, push a judge to believing on "the balance of probabilities" that the vehicle was indeed broken down and not parked.

The scammers would be daft to take this to court, but that may not stop them going ahead.

Castle

Maybe we should all carry "broken down" signs/notices around in our cars, which can be displayed when necessary.

Le_Kirk

Castle said:

Maybe we should all carry "broken down" signs/notices around in our cars, which can be displayed when necessary.

Maybe we could use the back of the now redundant "tax in post" notice!

Bea37

 Hi Everyone,
I have received a debt collectors letter today. Have I understood the instructions correctly that I just ignore this letter? I'm rapidly losing confidence and panicking again, failing to understand the simplest instructions! So I do nothing until I get an LBC letter, which is when I ask the PCN data protection officer for all information they hold? Have attached the letter I received. The contravention location has some codes that mean nothing to me but I did note that it said one area "and" three other areas? Could they be implying I "parked" in multiple areas?

Due to the current situation, all the photos that were shown with the original PCN are now no longer available on their portal as it has now gone to debt recovery. The copies I had made are also no longer available as they were on the work computer that can no longer be accessed - these may now be gone for good.
I do however now know why the car's battery kept going flat - it needed a new fuel pump (which I am still waiting for) as it would not switch off, constantly draining the battery.

I also found an extra page on the original appeal rejection which may negate some of the arguments that others have used:

"Please note that the Independent Adjudicator is unable to cancel a charge on grounds of mitigation and the decision will be based on facts and evidence only.

Please also note that if you choose to appeal to the IAS, their decision will be binding as you were out of time originally to appeal.

N.B. If you appeal to the IAS and then subsequently PAY THE CHARGE prior to that appeal being determined, OR alternatively PAY THE CHARGE then attempt to appeal, the appeal will be CANCELLED and you will not be given a further opportunity to contest the charge.

Please allow 24 hours before appealing to the IAS to ensure they have received all relevant information regarding the status of your appeal to us.

3. If you chose to do nothing, we will seek to recover the monies owed to us via our debt recovery procedures and may proceed with Court action against you.

'Name of PCN company was here' is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations May 2018. For more information please view our Privacy Notice by visiting 'PCN company's website'
Data Protection Officer: email address given here

Best regards,

Barbara

Umkomaas

So I do nothing until I get an LBC letter, which is when I ask the PCN data protection officer for all information they hold?

You can ignore this letter, it isn't a LBC. But, you can do a SAR request right now, which should elicit the photographs you are seeking. See the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, second post, for advice on issuing a SAR. 

I also found an extra page on the original appeal rejection which may negate some of the arguments that others have used:

Not sure why you feel anything contained in that extra page affects anything?  I've not read back over your entire thread, but did you appeal to the IAS?

Coupon-mad

Obviously just email a SAR to the parking firm's DPO, like the NEWBIES thread tells you, to get those photos.

And reply to BW Legal telling them their client already knows the vehicle was broken down.  Due to a flat batery no hazard lights could be displayed and even that would not have stopped their predatory ticketing by a person who almost certainly watched the driver and the vehicle and made notes about it breaking down, then ticketed it anyway.

Put BW Legal to strict proof that the PCN was issued by an employee and not a self-ticketer being paid a bounty per PCN.   And ask them on what basis they say that ''Signage location, size, content and font has been audited by the Independent Parking Committee'' given that they are not the Trade Body and the signs have NOT been audited by anyone at this location.