Received Notice to Owner and Charge Certificate without PCN stuck on Screen or Posted

Kunle2004ng

Hi There,

Apologies for the lengthy details. I will number the steps in this case for ease of clarity:

1. We just moved to a new house with allocated parking which was too far away to charge our electric vehicle (EV). My Mrs then parked it on the wide raised curb in front of our side garden to charge overnight on 31/12/2019.
2. Before 6.00 the next morning my Mrs saw a Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) taking pictures of the car. She went outside to explain that we are in the process of applying to the council for a possible solution to our car charging conundrum and immediately re-parked the car. The CEO appeared reasonable and advised not to park there anymore and that he would be obliged to issue a PCN next time. He left without sticking any PCN on the car. But please note that the CEO took some pictures before my wife got to the car (useful for number 7 below). Relieved, we thought, "what an escape!"
3. I then received a notice to Owner (NTO) letter dated 03/02/2020 asking me to pay the increased amount of £110 as the PCN was not paid. Never received a PCN in the post nor was any stuck to the car. 
4. Apparently surprised and confused as to where this came from, I went to the council's online parking charge portal to check. The PCN was live but had no picture evidence showing the contravention.
5. I felt this was a straightforward matter and made a formal appeal to the NTO based on procedural error i.e. no PCN was issued and there is no evidence of the contravention.
6. On 21/04/2020 I got a Charge Certificate dated 14/04/2020 (I know this is not right, but please read on) stating the usual. Apparently (after my investigations, see number 8 below), the reason for this is because: They issued a Notice of Rejection (NOR) against the NTO and they have not been informed of an appeal having made to the adjudicator.
7. I filled an online PCN enquiry form explaining that I appealed the NTO but have not received a reply. A challenge officer replied by email stating that a NOR had been sent to me. They added a pdf attachment of the NOR letter which also included three images pictures of my car on the raised curb (see number 3 above). Please note: none of the images showed a PCN attached to the car. Furthermore, the NOR confirmed that the CEO spoke with the driver on the day of the contravention and that, "the Civil Enforcement Officer has recorded that the PCN was attached to the vehicle". The CEO never attached a PCN to the car before they left. They also stated that I have to wait for an Order of Recovery or pay the increased amount of £165.
8. I did some investigations regarding the missing NOR and found out that Royal Mail had redirected the letter to someone who lived with me in my previous accommodation. This housemate bears my first name as his surname e.g. say my name is John Adams and housemate's name is Steven John  (these are not real names). My former housemate was away when NOR came and he did not realise until I called him on 22/04/2020 when he went through his letters. He was not expecting any legal letters, he does not drive and lived a very simple life - so he did not bother to go through all his mails, especially the redirected ones as he had changed his address for important correspondence.
9. I raised the issue with Royal Mail, they entered it as a complaint and gave me a reference number but stated that due to the Covid-19 pandemic lock down, it will take longer than usual to investigate and issue me a letter that I can use in defending myself.
10. I explained the Royal Mail matter in an email to the challenge officer and reiterated that the absence of a PCN attached to my car in the photos accompanying the NOR proves that no PCN was issued.

My question is, how best do I respond to the Recovery Order when it arrives? I believe that I have a case, shouldn't I?

nosferatu1001

You need to go to pepipoo and the council forum

Read other threads to see the determine that's required, and what isn't required - a concise account. 

Kunle2004ng

nosferatu1001 said:

You need to go to pepipoo and the council forum

Read other threads to see the determine that's required, and what isn't required - a concise account. 

Thanks, please can you be more specific about 'other threads'. Maybe a relevant thread title to search - there are tons of threads that are not relevant to my situation.

nosferatu1001

Not on pepipoo. 

You're not looking for the same situation. 

You're looking fir examples of the info that's needed, such as a GSV of the location, copies of paperwork etc. 

Coupon-mad

They also stated that I have to wait for an Order of Recovery 

That's true.  You can then fill in TEC forms to reset it back to appeal to the adjudicator.  That was the stage you wanted to get to, if you'd had the NoR.

Take this to pepipoo, you will see what we mean when you read any threads there:
http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

They know their stuff!   More than most posters here, as we are private parking experts and we rarely dip into advising about Council ones here on MSE, although I do know the process is correct as above and there are TEC forms to fill in.  I am just a bit vague about them and pepipoo are not!

No hotmail emails allowed when registering as you can't post if you do that - you will not get clearance to post - but do post pics like everyone there.  No starting a topic there without photos of the letters!