Help please - overstayed parking ticket £160!

Revolt

Hi everyone, my first post so please be gentle.

I'm trying to find out what options I have, I've been a little niave with this parking ticket and adhered to what I now believe might be old advice.

3 years ago I overstayed parking at a fast food parking lot where the signage was no stay longer than 90 or 120 minutes or so, I left considerably later than this likely about 3 hours parking in total.

The drive into the parking lot is from a busy dual carriageway and although the sign is large it isn't possible to block the single lane entrance to read it all - We stayed longer than intended as we needed to use the WIFI to fix an online portfolio problem prior to an interview the day after (we didn't realise this until after eating) although we were fully paying customers and continued to buy extra items afterwards, no receipts however as this was a long time ago.

After receiving the parking charge I contacted the fast food company, spoke with the manager who advised they would contact the parking company and get the charge revoked, they then phoned me back a few days later with a voicemail stating they couldn't remove the charge and because they are not the landowner and it had passed 14 days so I would need to contact the parking company to dispute the charge.

I then ignored all communications from the parking company, all communications from the debt collectors and the fine increased to £160 - a couple of weeks ago while holidaying in the UK (Thanks COVID) I received a "Letter of Claim" which I understand I need to reply to within 30 days.

After reading the stickied guide it recommends emailing the Parking company (not the solicitors) a SAR and then emailing the Solicitors essentially advising I have done this and to give me 30 more days.

I no longer can see the images the company held against me but I assume the SAR will fix this issue but I'm pretty sure they had an image of my car and reg and an image of the large sign at the entrance and that was everything.

I can answer more questions but didn't want to give any identifying information away

Thank you for taking the time to read all this and for any and all help!

Le_Kirk

You will have gleaned from the sticky that Plan A is always best and you have done this.  Appeal time has passed.  The next stage is debt collector letters, which you are already receiving, followed by letter before claim and court papers (N1 claim form).  You have submitted a SAR and required the parking company to place the issue on hold.  During those 30 days, you should research by reading the standard defence template and some other defences written by posters in same position as you.  It is never too late to have a go again at the restaurant by complaining - somebody must have requested the parking company to infest the parking lot car park.  If it wasn't the restaurant who was it?

Coupon-mad

Do you live abroad?

Revolt

Thank you for your time and replies.

Coupon-mad - No I live in England / UK.

Le_Kirk - I will try and make more of a fuss with the fast food chain and see if they can do anything but I fear they will just say it's too late, can they still dismiss 3 year old claims?

Is it suprising to not receive a letter of claim for over 3 years? Surely if they had enough evidence they would have asked for this earlier?

Thank you!

Redx

Not surprising at all , 3 to 3.5 years us typical for most companies , but the loss of revenue due to covid19 has exacerbated the situation leading to more litigation as a way to recover monies allegedly owed

Sometimes we see claim letters in the last 3 months of the 6 year statute ! 😁😁

Coupon-mad

3 years is nothing; not at all surprising or unusual.  You need to read a dozen claim threads or preferably more.  Sometime we make 50-100 replies per day here and most claims are currently about 2016 or 2017 events.

You will learn more OFF your own thread than on it.  This forum is a great resource of examples of people in your shoes who are ahead of you.

Revolt

These private parking companies really are something else, demanding £160 for overstaying a free car park when the paid carparks are like £2 per hour, completely unjustified.

3 months before the end of the 6 year claim, that's just ridiculous.

I will be reading alot over the next few weeks, if I go to court and lose can they charge me additional ridiculous fee's ontop of the £160?

Thanks again for the replies, the govenment should have set out strict rules for this type of company many years ago.

Redx

Revolt said:

These private parking companies really are something else, demanding £160 for overstaying a free car park when the paid carparks are like £2 per hour, completely unjustified.

3 months before the end of the 6 year claim, that's just ridiculous.

I will be reading alot over the next few weeks, if I go to court and lose can they charge me additional ridiculous fee's ontop of the £160?

Thanks again for the replies, the govenment should have set out strict rules for this type of company many years ago.

A typical loss in court is £100 PCN plus £50 legal fees plus about £50 in court costs , so typically aBout £200

The government did , 3 years ago in 2019 , the Private parking bill by Sir Greg Knight , we are awaiting the new CoP to commence next summer , after the dhulg finalise it

Coupon-mad

You are likely to pay less than the claim in the unlikely event of losing.

D_P_Dance

ridiculous fee's ontop of the £160?

They have added what appears to be an extra unlawful amount for debt collection.

This amounts to double recovery and Judges all over the country are dismissing these spurious additions. Indeed some judges have dismissed entire claims because of this. Read this and complain to Trading Standards and your MP,

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16qovzulab1szem/G4QZ465V%20Excel%20v%20Wilkinson.pdf?dl=0

However, VCS appealed this so it may not apply in all cases, read this

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntksx9g7177ahyg/VCS v Percy v1 Amendments (2).pdf?dl=0Also read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6279348/witness-statements-2-transcripts-re-parking-firms-false-costs-recorder-cohen-qc-judgment-2021/p1

Also consider complaining to The SRA about the solicitor, if one is involved They are fully aware of the unlawful nature of most of thse additions yet persist in adding them..

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

Revolt

I have received a reply to my SAR with 2 copies of the original documents, they look to be NTK.

There are 4 images attached, one of he car arriving, the second leaving and 2 images of the number plates front and back.

Timestamps show the car arriving and leaving after 2 hours and the maximum stated time allowed is apparently 90 minutes.

1. There are no pictures of any signs in this SAR although all pictures were requested - are they required to show these or can they just hold them until court?
2. Can I share any of these pictures / documents in a way that could be of assistance to people on this forum without incriminating myself?
3. Is there anything missing from the SAR which I should request from them? (I guess you'd need to see my letter?)

Hope you're all having a better new year than me!