REQUEST FOR HELP PLEASE RE ARDPARK LTD PCN AFTER VISIT TO CAR PARK ADJACENT TO BIBURY TROUT FARM

MrTigglesAA

LATEST UPDATE 08 JUNE 2022

Keeper has now received the following Letter Of Claim from BW Legal dated 24 May 2022 (see below photos)

May we please be advised how best to proceed from here. Bibury Trout Farm have declined any further involvement in attempts to cancel this PCN, claiming a binding contract existing between both parties, and nothing further has been heard from ArdPark after Bibury Trout Farm approached them in writing.

It should also be noted that the Keeper suffers from Scoliosis which was formally diagnosed around the date of the alleged infringement and this affects both physical and mental function. 

Thank you

ORIGINAL POST BELOW:

Please can we be advised of the best way to proceed with the following.

The keeper, having recently suffered the sudden and unexpected death of her dearest Dad (her dearest Mum's husband), and both still deeply grieving, she decided to take her elderly Mum for a short break to the Cotswolds in the car which had been her Dad's pride & joy on 16 October 2021. This was an area that neither of them had previously visited and were, therefore, totally unfamiliar with the area too. They decided to visit the village of Bibury and duly followed their Google Maps directions which suggested the Bibury Trout Farm Car Park as the most suitable for parking in this small village. After entering the car park, which was busy with both traffic and people upon their arrival, they eventually found a vacant parking space. The keeper and her elderly Mum, due to the high prevalence of COVID-19 at that time, did not wish to use cash for any transactions but instead to use contactless card. They needed to walk slowly due to her Mum's state of mind and, upon finding that the ticket machine only accepted cash, they walked to the farm entrance to read the information board to see if contactless card payment was possible for the car park, even if they did not wish to visit the trout farm as they are both vegetarian on religious grounds. As they could not see that this was possible, and to avoid any interaction with other people, they slowly walked back to the car and drove out of the car park to seek alternative parking options away from this vicinity.

The keeper was then totally shocked and very upset to receive a postal PCN in the form of a NTK on 30 October 2021. This arrived by 2nd Class Post via Royal Mail (but marked Whistl on the envelope) which showed that they had seemingly breached the 10 minutes "grace period" (about which they had previously known nothing at all as they had only read the information board at the farm entrance to ascertain if car park payment could be made by contactless card without needing to visit the farm itself) by a mere 2 minutes with their car entry timed at 1448 hours and their exit timed at 1500 hours by means of ANPR camera capture.

The keeper, being totally unfamiliar with any previous parking tickets, and not knowing where to seek advice on how to challenge one, immediately logged onto the ArdPark online appeal portal and completed the various fields. She then submitted her online appeal (see below) and saw a "Thank You" acknowledgement on her PC screen but didn't receive an email confirmation acknowledgement of her appeal...but, thankfully, she had the foresight to take a screen capture of her appeal text (as seen below). She was then shocked to subsequently to receive a letter from Ridings Recoveries dated 25 November 2021 claiming that they had received no response to the 30 October 2021 NTK letter and that the outstanding PCN amount of £100 had now been increased to £160 due to late payment/collection fee of £60 having been added to the original PCN amount. The keeper then embarked upon a series of "to and fro" e-mails worn Ridings Recoveries (RR) who were adamant that they had never received any online appeal from the keeper and that their servers could be relied upon as to whether an online appeal had, in fact, been lodged. Naturally the keeper maintained and asserted her position and was challenging the PCN but RR likewise remained adamant.

The keeper, still being greatly overcome with grief, then became overwhelmed with the barrage of further letters that she was receiving from RR and also, most recently, from BW Legal.

All of the communications to date are attached to this post. The latest letter is from BW Legal, dated 11 April 2022, and advises that a Letter of Claim will follow if no payment, or agreed payment plan, is received by them by 10 May 2022. I understand that the LoC letter is the penultimate one before proceeding to Court proceedings.

The keeper believes that both ArdPark, RR and BW Legal have all acted most unreasonably and that the PCN and, most certainly, subsequent ever-increasing financial demands are draconian and are causing her and her Mum huge distress, especially with their family still in the depths of great grief after the sudden and unexpected death of her Dad.

I hope that you can achieve a very favourable outcome for the keeper and her mother please.

Thank you so much in advance...and my apologies for the documents not being posted in the correct order. The start point is the ArdPark Ltd NTK followed by the e-mail exchange, then RR letters followed by the 2 x BW Legal letters.

. (Images removed by Forum Team)

go-on-then

You can have a very favourable outcome if you read the Newbies thread and follow the excellent step by step guide on how to deal with this.

MrTigglesAA

Many thanks for your kind words...hopefully we've done ok so far apart from the Keeper (without any prior knowledge of how best to challenge this PCN) having appealed online upon receipt of the PCN but ArdPark denied ever having received it, and the only evidence the Keeper has is a screenshot of it. I guess, according to the step by step guide in the Newbie thread, the Keeper should await the LofC and then seek further advice via this Forum post.

Are there any weaknesses in the PCN company's case, or their "agents", that you can see from the attachments cited with the original post please?

Many thanks!

go-on-then

Whilst waiting it is useful to read lots and lots,  and I mean lots,  of other peoples threads to give you a better idea about how this all works. 

Umkomaas

FWIW - ArdPark and Ridings Recoveries are the same company.  Look out for the LoC from BWL, then deal with that as per the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post.

Le_Kirk

You might want to take down those pictures as they contain the VRM of the vehicle. As a new user you might have to report your post to get it dealt with by the forum team.

MrTigglesAA

Many thanks for your reply. Does the Forum Team not need to see the VRM and photos in order to do behind-the-scenes checks on the PCN itself?

Are you saying that the NTK/PCN should also be taken down?

Sorry...what do you mean about me maybe needing to report my post in order to get it dealt with by the Forum Team?

Thank you!

Trainerman

You do not need to show us the VRM. There are people though who would do naughty things with it, so get it removed. You might need to report it as suggested as you cannot edit for yourself yet

patient_dream

I understand why you want to reply to Ridings Recoveries but don't waste your time as much as Ridings are wasting their own time and money contacting you

Just another powerless timewasting company who have no place in the parking scam.
The fake amount added ... which government has banned proves they are not worthy and you really should IGNORE them

The RR letter adding £60 for late payment and collection is just total rubbish

As said above ... "ArdPark and Ridings Recoveries are the same company" and part of the IPC group of known money scammers

Sad really, Bibury is a great place for the family but they will not do anything about the scam. The word is out about the great Bibury scam

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6204680/private-parking-ticket-ardpark/p1

Have a bit of fun replying to RR who are not a third party.  Next will be BW Legal and possibly a court claim.  Easy to beat once you read the forum more!

If the letters are going to a vulnerable person then get Ardpark's DPO to note the new address for service (your postal address, obviously!).  Then you can handle it - but in the victim's name of course.

Victim should also email their local MP (where they live, not where the car park is) about this horrible intimidation and mention the new Govt Code of Practice, so MPs must take an interest in rogue PPCs pretending to be 3rd party debt collectors. MP should complain on their behalf to Ardpark, as well as the IPC and the landowner about this harassment of a disabled person for whom ten minutes wasn't a long enough grace period.

Did you know the new CoP bans  the fake £70 add-on?  Read it!  The DLUHC call the fake fee 'designed to extort money from motorists'.

Le_Kirk

If you don't mind your VRM being all over the forum it is not a problem but if you want it removed, you will have to report your post as containing personal information and ask one of the forum team to delete the relevant pictures.  You cannot do it yourself until you have been a member for a time and have a certain number of posts under your belt (and we don't know how many).