Royal Parks ECN

Martyboy78

Any help / advice gladly received. Below is the email I sent to Royal Parks and their subsequent response.  I can't quite believe what they're saying - essentially they've absolved themselves of any responsiblity for their faulty machines and blamed me for not displaying a ticket despite them taking money from my account twice.

Thanks in advance.


6 September 2020

To whom it may concern

We visited Regents Park today. One of your ticket machines was out of order. The other one was not working properly - I attempted to pay 3 or 4 times but each time the machine said “transaction cancelled” or “transaction finished”. It did NOT give me a ticket despite multiple attempts. I could not leave a note in my car as I did not have a pen with me. When I got back to my car I found an excess charge notice for £80 however I have checked my bank account and you have charged me twice - £4.90 & £5.25. 

Photo evidence is attached (I sent them photos of the two machines that were not working - one of them says "out of order" on it).

Please kindly rescind the penalty charge & refund me one of amounts above ASAP - I’ll leave to you to decide which one you refund - I’m not going to argue over 35p!

Thanks & kind regards 
Martyboy78

Dear Mr Redacted

 Ticket Number                                   redacted

Issued on                                           06/09/2020

Vehicle Registration                         redacted

Location                                             Outer Circle

  am in receipt of your correspondence regarding the above Excess Charge Notice.

The above vehicle was parked in a Pay & Display bay without clearly displaying a valid Pay & Display ticket. The Excess Charge Notice has been served correctly.

I have noted the comments in your correspondence stating that you made payment for parking on the day the Excess Charge Notice was issued but did not receive a Pay & Display ticket. However, the signage in place clearly states that a valid Pay & Display ticket must be displayed.

It is the responsibility of the driver to be aware of and adhere to all nearby signage in order to avoid contravention of the restrictions in place. With this, a driver must ensure that a valid ticket is clearly displayed prior to leaving the vehicle unattended. If this is not possible alternative payment must be made or alternative parking sought.

 

Please be advised that it is never possible for all ticket machines to be out of order in our parks. In every location we have at least two or three machines. If one machine is not working for any reason, the customer must call the help line number where they are advised to use the nearest machine which is usually 3-4 minutes away. 

 

I have noted your comments regarding a refund you believe is due, however, payments can only be made if our action is considered to be negligent. Although you may feel that you were inconvenienced, The Royal Parks are unable to meet your claim. Please be advised it is not our policy to refund parking fees once a Excess Charge Notice has been issued.

 

 

I have carefully considered the points you have raised in your challenge but have decided not to cancel your Excess Charge Notice.

 

You are, therefore, requested to comply with the Excess Charge Notice. However, the reduced charge of £40.00 will still be accepted provided payment is received within 14 days of the date of this letter. Failure to make payment will result in the full Excess Charge Notice of £80.00 becoming due.

 

If you still wish to dispute this Excess Charge Notice, the DVLA registered keeper will be sent a Notice to Owner who may make formal representation against the Excess Charge Notice. Please note, the full charge of £80.00 will be applicable at the Notice to Owner stage.

 

Failure to make payment or submit a formal representation will result in the progression of the Excess Charge Notice resulting in the debt being passed to Trace Debt Recovery UK Ltd to recover the outstanding balance on behalf of Royal Parks. Once the debt has been passed to Trace Debt Recovery UK Ltd, we will not be able to accept any payments. You will need to contact them directly.

 

Payment Options

 

•      Phone 03432082089.

•      online https://parkingservices.nsl.co.uk/royalparks/notices/default.asp

•      post Cheques are required to be made payable to ‘Royal Parks’; please include your Excess Charge Notice number, vehicle registration number, and address on the back; then send it to:

 

Royal Parks Processing

PO Box 196

Lowton Way

Hellaby

Sheffield

S98 1LX

 

Please do not send cash or post-dated cheques.

 

Yours sincerely,

nosferatu1001

This is not private parking
ECNs are a devil, from memory. 

fisherjim

You need to take this to Pepipoo though even they struggle with these. Royal Parks still write with quills, their tame back office contractor NSL get everything mixed up, there is no adjudication past the appeal which they love to reject, and as I understand it an ECN is classed as criminal offence.

bergkamp

Pepipoo is the place to go for advice.  
http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30
I would think you have a good chance of cancellation at the formal appeal stage after the NTO, but see what the experts say on the above forum.
For reference;
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995/993/made
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/392/made

nosferatu1001

ECN are not decrim parking Bergkamp, so pretty sure there isnt a Tribunal to go to. 

beamerguy

We visited Regents Park today. One of your ticket machines was out of order. The other one was not working properly - I attempted to pay 3 or 4 times but each time the machine said “transaction cancelled” or “transaction finished”. It did NOT give me a ticket despite multiple attempts. I could not leave a note in my car as I did not have a pen with me. When I got back to my car I found an excess charge notice for £80 however I have checked my bank account and you have charged me twice - £4.90 & £5.25. 

And that is the crux of the matter. Royal parks have ignored what you said.  You can prove you paid, infact twice ?  What have Royal Parks done with your money ?  

Now you put Royal parks to proof that they did not receive your money

Forget Trace, they are just bog standard debt collectors who have no powers and survive only to harass people .... they waste their time.

Let Royal Parks know that if this goes to court, you will join them in such action to explain to a judge what happened to your money

bergkamp

nosferatu1001 said:

ECN are not decrim parking Bergkamp, so pretty sure there isnt a Tribunal to go to. 

There is still an appeal to the NTO though!  

nosferatu1001

Yep, but that appeal is with the Parks again. It is not independent. 

Martyboy78

Thanks for all your replies. I will register with Pepipoo. 

Does my initial email to Royal Parks count as an appeal or do I have the right to appeal further?  Their reply doesn't mention anything about my right to appeal their decision or how I can go about it.  If I do have the right of appeal how do I know that appeal won't be handled by the bloke at the next desk from the guy who rejected my initial request?

DoaM

You don't know this. It seems you're at loggerheads, and perhaps a final reply similar to below is your next step?

Dear Royal Parks,
Further to our recent correspondence, I have made my case absolutely clear - your ECN is without merit as there was no debt to claim, and any infringement of your parking rules was due to your equipment failure; essentially entrapment. Any correspondence from debt collectors will be ignored, and any further correspondence with Royal Parks will be filed but not responded to. The only further engagement I shall make with this process is if a) you agree to cancel the ECN and refund one of the additional payments, or b) you bring a claim against me in court - if you do so then my previous correspondence will be used in my defence and as evidence, which will prove that your meritless claim has been brought with no chance of success and will have been an abuse of the court process. Consequently I shall be seeking full costs due to your unreasonable behaviour.

Yours faithfully,
Etc.

nosferatu1001

It is in deed an informal rep. Not an appeal. 
YEs it does mention a right to appeal. You didnt even read!
"If you still wish to dispute this Excess Charge Notice, the DVLA registered keeper will be sent a Notice to Owner who may make formal representation against the Excess Charge Notice. Please note, the full charge of £80.00 will be applicable at the Notice to Owner stage."
As I said, pretty sure the appeal will be held by the same crew.