Received Notification Of Instruction from Elms Legal - what now? Please help!

pomegranate45

Hi, a quick run through of where I'm at:

I received NTK on 16/11/21 with a contravention date of 15/09/21 (62 days later). No ticket on windscreen.

I did a quick bit of research back in November and found (rightly or wrongly) that I would have had to have received the invoice within 14 working days for the charge to stand.

I therefore (probably wrongly) ignored all subsequent letters under the presumption that this will never go to court, and I have not appealed or contacted the landowner, MP or anyone else.

Today I received my fifth letter regarding this issue, this time from Elms Legal - a notification of instruction giving me until the 24th March 2022 to respond before they take me to court.

Can anyone offer me advice as to what I should do next based on the above please?

Many many thanks  

Le_Kirk

All the advice you need you will find in the NEWBIE announcement on the first page of the forum.

pomegranate45

Le_Kirk said:

All the advice you need you will find in the NEWBIE announcement on the first page of the forum.

Hi, I've gone through that and it states:

If the NTK arrives late, this does not make the PCN 'void' but it means there is 'no keeper liability' possible. 

Do you know what I need to do now regarding the 'Notification of Instruction' received from Elms Legal despite the NTK being dated 62 days after the parking date? And what the NEWBIE page means by "there is 'no keeper liability' possible" in the context of me being taken to court?

Many thanks

Le_Kirk

As you did not appeal at the time, you can expect a claim form (N1) from Northampton CCBC.

Today I received my fifth letter regarding this issue, this time from Elms Legal - a notification of instruction giving me until the 24th March 2022 to respond before they take me to court.

Does this equate to 30 days warning?  If so, it is a proper letter of claim and you can expect the N1 shortly thereafter.  If it is less than 30 days it could be a debt collector letter

KeithP

"there is 'no keeper liability' possible"  means that the claimant cannot transfer any driver's liability to the keeper.

It is the driver that allegedly agreed to a contract, the terms on the signs, when parking the vehicle.

The parking company do not know who was driving at the time.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 provides a mechanism for the parking company to be able transfer that driver's liability to the keeper. To be able to do that they must comply with all the 'rules' to do so.
One of those 'rules' is that when no windscreen ticket is issued, a Notice to Keeper must be received by the Keeper within fourteen days of the alleged parking event.

As you have told us that the NtK was received much later than that, then clearly the parking company have failed to successfully jump through enough hoops to be able to transfer any driver's liability to the keeper.

Just to be clear, there isn't a hired/leased vehicle involved here is there?

pomegranate45

Le_Kirk said:

As you did not appeal at the time, you can expect a claim form (N1) from Northampton CCBC.

Today I received my fifth letter regarding this issue, this time from Elms Legal - a notification of instruction giving me until the 24th March 2022 to respond before they take me to court.

Does this equate to 30 days warning?  If so, it is a proper letter of claim and you can expect the N1 shortly thereafter.  If it is less than 30 days it could be a debt collector letter

Thanks for your response. The letter states that Elms Legal 'have been instructed by Vehicle Control Services Ltd to recover the outstanding debt...' and that I have 14 days to make the payment before they issue legal proceedings against me. So yes, it is a debt collector letter.  

pomegranate45

KeithP said:

"there is 'no keeper liability' possible"  means that the claimant cannot transfer any driver's liability to the keeper.

It is the driver that allegedly agreed to a contract, the terms on the signs, when parking the vehicle.

The parking company do not know who was driving at the time.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 provides a mechanism for the parking company to be able transfer that driver's liability to the keeper. To be able to do that they must comply with all the 'rules' to do so.
One of those 'rules' is that when no windscreen ticket is issued, a Notice to Keeper must be received by the Keeper within fourteen days of the alleged parking event.

As you have told us that the NtK was received much later than that, then clearly the parking company have failed to successfully jump through enough hoops to be able to transfer any driver's liability to the keeper.

Just to be clear, there isn't a hired/leased vehicle involved here is there?

Thanks so much for your response!

Everything you've stated is correct; they do not know who the driver was and they sent my first PCN dated 62 days after the parking incident.

The vehicle is not a hired/leased vehicle.

I have actually received six letters in total, not five as previously stated:

1st -  PCN (£60),

2nd - PCN (Final Reminder - £100)

3rd - Demand for Payment (£170)

4th - Final Demand (£170)

5th - Letter Before Claim (£170 - this was more of a bundle with various forms to complete)

6th - from Elms Legal (£170) stating that I have ten days to make payment of £170 before they issue legal proceedings.

Do you know what my best course of action would now be? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Trainerman

Little else to do but wait and see if a Letter of Claim arrives, and handle that accordingly. Spend the meantime getting familiar with the Newbies and understanding the next steps. Sounds like your main defences would be lack of keeper liability plus (possibly) signage and landowner authority. There may be others.

pomegranate45

Trainerman said:

Little else to do but wait and see if a Letter of Claim arrives, and handle that accordingly. Spend the meantime getting familiar with the Newbies and understanding the next steps. Sounds like your main defences would be lack of keeper liability plus (possibly) signage and landowner authority. There may be others.

Hi, I received a Letter of Claim back on the 31st of January. 

I have ignored all letters based on the fact that the parking company does not know who the driver was and was non-compliant with the rules regarding me receiving the first PCN within 14 working days (it took them 62 days).

I genuinely believed these letters would stop coming weeks ago because I believed they were in no position to pursue any debt due to the non-compliance stated above. 

However, they are continuing to pursue the debt and now an 'external' company is handling the issue. So I just need to know precisely to do now.

Any help would be much appreciate!

D_P_Dance

Do you know what my best course of action would now be? 

Wait (up to six years) for a court claim.  Keep everything  Keepyour address up to date with DVLA and the PPC.   Kepp reading this forum.

Trainerman

pomegranate45 said:

Trainerman said:

Little else to do but wait and see if a Letter of Claim arrives, and handle that accordingly. Spend the meantime getting familiar with the Newbies and understanding the next steps. Sounds like your main defences would be lack of keeper liability plus (possibly) signage and landowner authority. There may be others.

Hi, I received a Letter of Claim back on the 31st of January. 

Sorry that I missed that. Essentially, then, as above. Keep aware, keep addresses up to date and do not throw any paperwork about this away. They may not ever take it to Court, but you need to be ready if they do. Keep up to date here too