Deadline for a Parking Charge Notice to be issued/POFA

EllyofHerts

Hi there,
I parked in a privately run car park linked to an outdoor swimming pool on 28 September.  Parking costs 50p for 2 hours.  I overstayed by 13 minutes.  On 17 October I received a Parking Charge Notice through the post (I did not get a ticket on my car at the time) for £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.
I appealed the ticket on two grounds; first, that I felt the charge was completely disproportionate to the offence, and secondly, because after doing a bit of research, I found several websites which said that if a PCN is sent through the post without a ticket having been issued on the day, it has to be issued within 14 days of the alleged offence.  I overstayed my parking on 28 September and the date of issue of the PCN is 14 October, i.e. 16 days.  I used the template I found on the Money Saving Expert website to help me with the wording of my appeal.

Today I received a response from the parking company.  They have said my appeal has been unsuccessful.  In terms of the amount of the charge, they have said that charges are clearly stated on the signage in the car park.  As I live over an hour away, it isn't possible for me to go down to check this, so I have to assume this information is correct.  However, in terms of the time that elapsed between the infringement and the date of issue of the PCN, they have said that there is no legal requirement to send out the PCN within 14 days of the incident day as there is no reference to POFA on this ticket, so they say that my interpretation of the Act is incorrect.  Should I not have cited POFA on my appeal?  Would the parking company have had to go to the DVLA to get my address?  Does this mean that they have to send the PCN within 14 days regardless of whether POFA is relevant?

My question is - is it worth my while taking this further and appealing to POPLA?  Every website I have looked at on the subject says that if the PCN is issued by post alone, it has to be done within 14 days, so I don't understand why the parking company are saying they have no legal requirement to send the ticket in a specific timeframe.  If I take the appeal to POPLA I forfeit the chance to pay at £60, and if I decide to pay up I need to do  that by 6 November to qualify for the reduced amount too.

Sorry for the long message!  Any advice gratefully received...

KeithP

They only need to get the NtK to the keeper within fourteen days if they want to transfer any liability the driver may have to the keeper.

In other words, if they know who the driver was - did your appeal tell them that? - then that fourteen days is irrelevant.

The first sentence of your post above tells everyone who the driver was. If your appeal was also written so carelessly, then they do not need to rely on POFA at all and their trade association allows them to send a NtK up to seven months following the parking incident..

Redx

name the parking company , SMART ? , HIGHVIEW ?

if you told them who was driving in that appeal POFA wont help you, POFA isnt mandatory

BEAVIS put paid to the excessive charge argument nearly 5 years ago

download and read the BPA CoP 2020 edition , read clause 13 on grace periods

yes they have an electronic link to the DVLA to get keeper details, and pay a paltry sum for the privilege

Fruitcake

Which appeal template did you use? Hopefully it was the one in blue text from the forum NEWBIES thread on this forum, not the gods-awful one from the "official" MSE website.
We really need to know if the driver's identity has been revealed in the appeal like it has been in your opening post.

EllyofHerts

Thanks for your advice everyone.  I was the driver and didn't pretend I wasn't.  The parking company is Civil Enforcement Ltd.  All the websites I read didn't make it at all clear that the 14 day rule only applied if I was disputing who the driver was at the time - it looked like it applied to any parking charge notices sent by post without the car being ticketed.
Guess I'm just going to have to pay up and learn from it.  I would call myself naive rather than careless, but hey ho...

Redx

CEL do not follow or comply with POFA so appealingf as a keeper and not blabbing about who was driving is an easy win, an easy win because CEL failed to comply with POFA, irrespective of who was driving

POFA never protects a driver, so an appeal to CEL and to POPLA as keeper should result in a win

meaning you were right in thinking you could win, as a keeper, they failed on a technicality

its not about pretending , its about "NO COMMENT" , NOT BLABBING about who the driver was

show us the initial appeal you used, in full

nosferatu1001

No one said you have to tell them who the driver was. No one. 

They don't know unless you say. 

JJJDec20

HI - Looking for advice on POFA2012 regarding a CEL PCN which was sent out 3 months after the parking event (overstay in a retail car park).  There was no mention of POFA, and no option to identify the driver.  I appealed on the website as the registered keeper, citing POFA2012 Schedule 4 which has been rejected and a POPLA code provided.  The reason given: "There is no legal requirement to send out the PCN within 14 days of the incident day as there is no reference to POFA on this ticket. Your interpretation of the Act is incorrect."
The post from Redx above states CEL do not comply with POFA, so if I appeal to POPLA as the keeper, referencing POFA2012 and stating CEL have failed to comply with this act, and failed to identify the driver - would that be sufficient or do I need additional grounds?   
I'm confused about their POFA reason for rejection, from reading threads on this site, my interpretation is that if parking firms send out the PCNs within the time limit then they tend to mention POFA, but if they send them out late they omit any reference to it.
Clause 22.8 of BPA Code of Conduct states " While we have an expectation operators will seek to use the POFA legislation, ...there are occasions where this might not be possible...non-POFA NtK must be sent out as soon as possible and no later than 7 months.."
So can they claim this is non-POFA as it wasn't mentioned on the PCN, and therefore they can take 7 months to send out and it can't be challenged under POFA because it doesn't apply?  Or are they still bound by POFA and just trying to discourage a POPLA appeal?
Thanks in advance.

Le_Kirk

First thing to do is read the NEWBIE sticky (front page of the forum, marked announcement and coloured pinky/red) then, if you still have any questions start your own thread.

nosferatu1001

This isn't your thread. Do not post here. You've been rude to the original poster. 

You out every grounds possible into a popla appeal. But you have easy evidence that they are not reliant on pofa. And yes pofa does not require they ensure it is received within 14 days , unless they want to rely on pofa. So they can send out a "driver" ntk just fine. 

You just don't understand what pofa does and doesn't do. If they do not meet pofa requirements then they cannot hold the keeper liable. The driver could still be held liable. 

JJJDec20

Thanks both for your responses.  Apologies - I didn't mean to hijack someone else's thread, I read about searching for similar threads rather than starting new ones  so I wrongly interpreted that as posting on a similar thread.
I've read the  NEWBIE sticky, and just confused over the POFA challenge so will start my own thread.  Thanks for the advice