PCN issued for 7 min overrun of free gratis period following serious RTA

nickyboy60

Can't find anything quite like this on the forum, so any advice gratefully received.

In April 2019 my wife was involved in an RTA with the passenger side of the car written off.  She had to leave the public highway to check car, 85 year old mother, cancel SOS message sent to car manufacturer and find garage to take car.  The first safe place was a small, half empty car park, owned (I believe) by the local Masonic Lodge and managed by a private company.  Overran the gratis period by 7 mins - took 22 mins in all.  It was an extreme situation and wife very anxious, worried if the car was road worthy and if her elderly mother was ok.  She entered the non barriered car park with no thought of contracting for car parking services but simply as a safe haven away from the main road.  The parking provider issued a PCN which I appealed and asked for compassion, which was rejected.  I then decided I would go to court if necessary and ignored all the subsequent threatening letters from their 'solicitors'.  When the county claim didn't materialise I assumed common sense had prevailed and they had decided not to proceed.  It turns out they had actually managed to mistrace the PCN to a third party and to take out a successful CCJ against them, even though they had my name, registration number, address (lived there for over 10 years), driver's name, etc.  The other party only found out when they had background checks taken as part of a formal, important application process they were going through, as all correspondence had been sent to a former address.  When they approached the solicitors support desk with their county court number, they willingly gave them my name, address, registration number, etc - plenty from them to contact me directly and could have potentially put me in a very tricky position. We have now both raised formal complaints and await to hear what happens next, but they have said they will set aside the incorrect CCJ and reissue against me!

Grateful for any thoughts re GDPR, the validity of reissuing proceeding against an account already settled (albeit incorrectly) in County Court.  Also grateful for any thoughts re best lines of escalation, as currently not getting any further than the very polite support desk.  

Coupon-mad

Was that person a complete stranger who then contacted you?!

Report the solicitor to the SRA and ICO.  This is a data breach by giving your details to that stranger.

They can re-issue the claim against you and you can defend and win.  Are you the registered keeper?

nickyboy60

Thanks. Yes I am  the registered keeper - which makes it all the more difficult to understand how such a mistake could happen  and result in a CCJ being issued

Coupon-mad

Does that stranger share a name with you?

Half_way

nickyboy60 said:

Thanks. Yes I am  the registered keeper - which makes it all the more difficult to understand how such a mistake could happen  and result in a CCJ being issued

Do not be surprised by the antics and general shoddiness of private parking company's.

So lets get this straight:

You are the registered keeper

A person, previously unknown to you, and who had no connection to you or the vehicle got the parking charge notice(s) and that resulted in a court judgement against that person.

Somewhere along the way that third party was given your personal information ( contact details etc)

A few bits of info may be of use:

 Name of parking company?

Car park location?

Masonic Lodge name/branch etc?

You may want to get in touch with the masonic lodge/the committee that runs the building - as a courtesy and let them know what their agents ( the parking company) have been up to and that the secretary/treasurer/chair/trustees may be liable for a GDPR breach as a result of allowing an un regulated parking company to act as their agents

I would also be seriously considering pursuing this as an actionable GDPR claim against the parking company - and encouraging the third party person to do likewise and making sure the Lodge Committee are aware that they could be liable for their agents actions

nickyboy60

Coupon-mad said:

Does that stranger share a name with you?

Same first name and last name , different middle names