Civil Enforcement PCN Scotland - what is the worst case scenario if I ignore?

arinsanne

Hi there and apologies if the answer to my question is already in the forum - I couldn't find it.

I got a PCN from Civil Enforcement after my son overstayed in a retail park car park by about 45 mins. He was at the gym located within the retail park the entire time. I am the registered keeper of his car. I did approach the gym at the time but they were less than helpful. This was in October 2020 and I have ignored (but kept) all correspondence. Can someone advise what is the worst case scenario if they decide to take it to court? Like, is the court likely to award them costs on top of the £100 PCN amount? I don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face, so to speak, if I could be looking at a bill of hundreds of pounds or more.
Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

Worst case scenario = nothing, in this scenario, given where you live and the parking firm involved, and the timing.

Your country doesn't have keeper liability yet and CEL were taken to court in Scotland by Trading Standards a few years back.  At the moment they never sue in Scotland.

Obviously you wouldn't ignore being served under the Simple Procedure.  If that happened, you'd defend!

Also obviously, don't move house within 5 years of the PCN without telling CEL to erase your old address, and don't move to England/Wales, as that puts you onto jurisdiction!

This can be easily cancelled by the retail park so why wasn't that done?  Never too late.

Coupon-mad

You realise Scotland is getting keeper liability for private parking operators, in the next year?  It's part of the Transport Act and will probably become live once the new Appeals Service is set up:

https://www.cas.org.uk/news/dont-park-tougher-rules-private-parking-firms-warns-cas

Keeper liability is not live yet in Scotland and won't be retrospective for old cases, but things will change soon, and all drivers need to start taking more notice of signs in retail parks.

Umkomaas

Like, is the court likely to award them costs on top of the £100 PCN amount? I don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face, so to speak, if I could be looking at a bill of hundreds of pounds or more.

Scottish courts won't order costs below £300, and CEL can find no way to jack them up to anywhere near that amount!  Don't fixate on the parking charge, it's going nowhere. 

Le_Kirk

As above, plus don't name the driver!

Jenni_D

Even if the driver was known, taking a single PCN to the Sheriff's court would be a fool's errand. And this will still be the case for a keeper once POFA becomes relevant for Scotland.  

arinsanne

Thanks for all of your replies. I actually couldn't find anything about the keeper liability in Scotland and if it had been made law yet - I know it is brewing and it is good to know it would not be applied retrospectively. I didn't actually try the retail park, only the gym, so I may give that a try. Otherwise I shall continue to ignore them :-)

MrBrightside2020

The keeper in a Scottish case that I know received this letter chain;

CEL Ltd - 3 letters 
ZZPS Ltd - 2 letters
GCTT (ZZPS Ltd) - 2 letters
QDR Solicitors - 2 letters 

Put them straight in the bin. They cannot prove who the driver was and keeper liability does not exist in Scotland yet.

Even if they did know who the driver was, they would not progress this to court as they would not be awarded fees for a claim under £300. Solicitors don't do work for private parking companies for free.

Hope this helps!

arinsanne

MrBrightside2020 said:

The keeper in a Scottish case that I know received this letter chain;

CEL Ltd - 3 letters 
ZZPS Ltd - 2 letters
GCTT (ZZPS Ltd) - 2 letters
QDR Solicitors - 2 letters 

Put them straight in the bin. They cannot prove who the driver was and keeper liability does not exist in Scotland yet.

Even if they did know who the driver was, they would not progress this to court as they would not be awarded fees for a claim under £300. Solicitors don't do work for private parking companies for free.

Hope this helps!

Ohhh interesting as I have had the following:

CEL Ltd - 4 letters
ZZPS Ltd - 2 letters
QDR solicitors - 2 letters
lastest one is from dcbl who are apparently famous for being 'on the telly' in 'Can't pay - we'll take it away'

Trying new tactics it seems!