Excel Parking Charge Notice to keeper

casper1299

Hi
I am looking for advise regarding an Excel PCN. I am going to challenge them but wanted advice regarding POFA.
I received a PCN from Excel for a parking without payment contravention date 31/10/2021 the Issue Date (posted) is on the 19/11/2021. Are they in breach of the timescale of POFA?
Also I am the RK but was not the driver. 
The photo from the ANPR is all black only the number plate visible. Time of entry to time of exit is 10 minutes 1 second.
This has got to the Claim form stage. I have had no contact with Excel at all so no information has been given.
I have just sent for SAR from them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

From the information you have given us, it certainly does look like the NtK is not capable of holding the keeper liable for whatever it is alleged the driver might have done.

Are you telling us that you have received a County Court Claim Form?

If so, what is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service?
If so, upon what date did you do so?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

casper1299

Hi 
thank you for your response. Yes I have country court claim form dated 26/4/22. I have not done AOS yet but I have been looking through lots of post re PCN’s. 
I was going to do it next week.

KeithP

casper1299 said:

I have country court claim form dated 26/4/22. I have not done AOS yet...

With a Claim Issue Date of 26th April, you have until Monday 16th May to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 30th May 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

casper1299

Many thanks for your quick reply. I’ll do more reading over the weekend and get the AOS in next week. 👍

casper1299

I have just filed my Acknowledgement of Service as per instructions on here. Now onto getting defence ready. I have a bit of spare time today so going to make a start.

casper1299

Does anyone know of any good defence templates that I can adapt as I was the register keeper but not the driver. The vehicle is a family car and I was at a completely different location at the alleged time of incident. Also, the duration of stay was 10 minutes. Would that be covered by the grace period?
The photos on the NtK are completely black apart from the registration plate, no car can be distinguished. Where do I go with that?
I have copied the defence from newbie thread, but just unsure of legal wording for 2 and 3.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Umkomaas

I have copied the defence from newbie thread, but just unsure of legal wording for 2 and 3.

2 and 3 are the last places for 'legal wording', it's the background to your parking event. Check any other defence produced on the forum - they're everywhere!

casper1299

Afternoon all, is there anyone of your fantastic members who could look over my first draft of my defence? Am I along the right tracks with it?
Any critics, advice would be most welcome.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2.  It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied. 

 

3.  The Defendant was first made aware of the alleged charges by post late November 2021 for an alleged parking penalty dated xxxxxxxx. The Defendant was neither driver nor passenger of the vehicle in question. The Defendant was at a completely different location at the time of the alleged incidence. The driver was insured to drive the vehicle, but there is no legal obligation to name the person.

 

4. The Defendant as the registered keeper of the vehicle in question at the time, notes that they cannot be held liable due to the Claimant not complying with the ‘keeper liability’ requirements set out in the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 (“POFA”), Schedule 4. In order for the liability to be with the Keeper of the vehicle rather than the driver, the Keeper needs to receive the PCN within 14 days of the parking period, as detailed in the Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012 – Schedule 4, Paragraph 9(4):

Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 – Recovery of unpaid parking charges

Paragraph 9

(4) The notice must be given by—

(a) handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or 

(b) sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

5. The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended

6. The Claimant alleges that the Defendant “Parked without purchasing a valid Pay & Display ticket for VRM” by entering the car park for a duration of 10 minutes. 

7. The CoP of the IPC requires its members to allow a Grace Period for drivers to purchase a ticket and to leave the car park after the paid-for parking period. In Term 15 it states:
- “15.1 Drivers should be allowed a sufficient amount of time to park and read any signs so they may make an informed decision as to whether or not to remain on the site.”
- “15.2 Drivers must be allowed a minimum period of 10 minutes to leave a site after a pre-paid or permitted period of parking has expired.
- “15.3 The reference to 10 minutes in 15.2 above shall not apply where the period of pre-paid or permitted parking does not exceed 1 hour providing that the signage on the site makes it clear to the motorist, in a prominent font, that no grace period applies on that land.

 

8. Irrespective of the above points, the Claimant did not conform with the requirements of the CoP of the IPC, of which it is an accredited member, regarding Grace Periods. Specifically it failed under CoP 15.1 to allow the driver a sufficient amount of time to park and read any signs so they may make an informed decision as to whether or not to remain on site a sufficient amount of time to park and read any signs so they may make an informed decision as to whether or not to remain on the site.

95Rollers

That reads pretty good.  I'd also mention that they provide no proof to back up their allegation of "parking" - they only have weak entry/ exit photos of a VRM - but with no shots of the actual vehicle these plates were attached to, plus no internal photos or videos of the vehicle "parking" on site - was the driver cruising looking for a space, were they loading/ Unloading,  had they taken a wrong turn etc etc - based on previous case law none of these activities are "parking"!  Plus what proof is there that car was on the site for the full 10+ minutes (can they prove the driver didn't enter and exit more than once in that 10+ minute window?!?) Plus their photo shows the carpark was poorly lit and where's the illuminated signage warning entering motorists?!? You can't even see a driver so how could you ever identify. They cannot even prove the make/ model of the car- in theory it could be a completely different vehicle with similar or cloned plates?!? They haven't even bothered to bottom that out like the rest of the tosh they are clogging up out courts with!

These are all points to put them. This is very beatable in court. Once you've filed uour AoS/ defence then get a SAR ASAP.

casper1299

Thank you for your quick response. I had not even thought about the points you mentioned.  I'll do some more reading and update defence as suggested.
I have already filed AoS but didn't want to leave defence while last minute then panic. Request for SAR has already been sent.