2year old parking ticket on a rental car has just arrived.

BowieBoy333

Hi. I read the newbie page first but couldn't find anything like my current situation.  I dont own a car currently.... but I do rent them quite frequently for holidays. I always rent from Ford/Perry's dealers.
Two days ago I received a pcn dated almost two years ago from October 2018. The pcn is for a car park outside McDonald's in skegness.  Apparently  I went over the allotted free parking time by twelve minutes. The pcn which followed this instance, went to ford/Perry's because they own the car. Even though they informed the issuer who the driver was, they still chased Perry's themselves for the fee which eventually rose to 160.00.
Apparently Perry's appealed the charges....and lost. And so paid the 160.00. 
Remember.... this all took place without my knowledge. 
The worst part now....is Perry's are chasing me for a payment of 50.00.
I feel rather aggrieved by this as I should have been informed about the pcn two years ago.....not two days ago.
My question is how do I proceed with this? I didnt ask Perry's to pay it for me.....and to my knowledge it's still the driver and not the owner who is liable . Theyve told me if I dont pay the fifty.....they will simply take it from my deposit the next time I rent, which is soon. This is something I do not consent to.
The opportunity to deal with it myself from the outset,was taken away from me and not mentioned for two years.
As a side note.....I must mention, the photos accompanying the pcn are so dark,only headlights are visible..... it is literally impossible to identify anything else that relates to it being in a car park.....let alone McDonalds.  Speaking of which.....because I remember the night we were there, I actually asked if it was alright we had our rented car there longer than planned, because we had a new baby that was taking up quite some time while we were inside. Verbally I was told it was fine.....even though at that point I had no idea of the twelve minutes overlap.
Thanks for reading this. Any advice greatly appreciated. 

Coupon-mad

Don't rent from them again, and point out that they were taken in by a scam and this is not your liability.  I doubt very much that the rental terms cover private charges.  A section about 'fines and penalties' is not this.

They should have transferred liability to you and could have done at any point over the two years.  You say they did?

Even though they informed the issuer who the driver was, they still chased Perry's themselves.

Did you ever got sent a Notice to Hirer? If you did, you should have acknowledged it to stop the scammers defaulting to the lease firm.

BowieBoy333

Thanks for your reply. To answer your question.....
No I didn't receive anything before two days ago.

Coupon-mad

OK.  How do you know this happened?

Even though they informed the issuer who the driver was

BowieBoy333

Perry's informed me of this,during a phone call this morning.

Coupon-mad

Then they had no liability and no reason to pay it.   As long as they'd given the driver's name and address they were untouchable.

Their silly error for getting scared of debt demands instead of replying and pointing out that they'd already named the driver.

BowieBoy333

When I said they shouldn't have paid....
The lady on the phone said "we're a large private company and it looks bad if we get debt collector letters or court summons" 
So they paid. But now they want me to reimburse .

Coupon-mad

Well clearly they have just lost your future business.  It is that simple. Refuse to pay and tell them you will no longer use them.

BowieBoy333

The two years to tell me is very infuriating

Redx

just to be clear , as RK they have every right to pay anything they are invoiced for, no issue at all with them paying

BUT , unless their contract with you stipulates that they hold you as hirer responsible for these invoices that may or did occur, they do not necessarily have the legal right to make you pay, they can ask you to pay, but in law they may have no rights at all , especially if they talk about fines or penalties, because a private parking charge notice is an invoice, not a fine , not a penalty

so unless your hire contract holds you the hirer to account , then as hirer you may well have no liability to reimburse them for their folly in paying the invoice they received, just the same as you wouldnt pay for an invoice they receive for a new clutch , or their electricity bill

you will find that these people mix up legal words and few know what they are doing or talking about

if you are liable , a judge will say so in court, until then you dont owe them a penny

contract law is complex and a minefield, many companies slip up with wordings in hire or lease contracts, because they may use words with legal meanings , but might fail to cover all eventualities

if your contract with them doesnt mention private pcn,s , then its likely that they have not covered them, many dont

as for the naming of ???? they can name the hirer as hirer , but unless they were there and a witness to who was driving when the parking incident happened , they cannot name the driver , they can only assume that the hirer was the driver, but that is an assumption , it may not be true or fact

hire companies can name the hirer, but can rarely name the driver, so again , they mix up their words, make assumptions , talk about facts when in fact they do not know the true facts

if they had named the hirer at the time as you say, then they had absolved themselves under POFA, so did not need to pay the inflated bill and have no right to chase you at all, or to take it from any future hire contract

the simple fact is , do not hire another vehicle from them , vote with your feet, go elsewhere

BowieBoy333

Thank you for that.  What do you think to their threat of taking money from a deposit if I ever rent again?