Passed 30 days LBC deadline

lizk39

Hi 
I'm trying to help my daughter who for several reasons has missed the 30 day LBC deadline.  She's today got a Gladstones letter saying 'their client is not prepared to enter into further communication without good reason.'

Is there anything she can do now or is it just a case of waiting to see if they pursue a court case?   Is it too late to submit a SAR? 

I think she has a good case for not paying and a good reason for not responding at earlier stages, but we realise she should have acted within the 30 days of the LBC. 

Any advice gratefully received. 
Many thanks 
Liz

Trainerman

I would send a SAR to the parking company anyway. It will clarify exactly what they have, but may well not arrive before a defence is needed. See what the real time served experts on here think, but my gut feeling is that if they have not yet started court action, the 30 day debt hold email is worth doing anyway, and may buy some time

KeithP

Which parking company?

lizk39

KeithP said:

Which parking company?

Hi 
Its UK CPM Ltd 

Regards
Liz

Coupon-mad

What's the PCN story - let me guess - residential car park?  

lizk39

Hi 
Its a local beach car park.  Privately owned with cameras.  The signage shows charges until 9pm and technically thats when the car park closes.  However, the gates are physically closed by a human and on this occasion they didnt arrive until 9.20 ish to lock up.  This was over a year ago and my daughter was a newly qualified nurse working in A&E.  Her and a colleague drove there after a hideous covid shift to watch the sunset.  They arrived just after 9 and on reading the charges, there was no fee shown for after 9pm, so they didnt buy a ticket.   There were lots of other cars still there too.  Unfortunately they stayed for 13 minutes, we now know the grace period is 10 minutes! .

She didn't respond to any of the early letters or submit an appeal as she was not living with us at the time due to covid so she didn't get her post.   

The only contact she has made is with the owners of the site/cafe,  They were very sympathetic and suggested telling the parking company the circumstances of the visit but could not offer any other help.   She has not responded to CPM at all at this point.  

Should she continue to stay silent and hope they don't risk taking it to court. 

or 

submit a SAR late and send the details of the visit and subsequent circumstances.

Thank you 
Liz 
ps
Not sure if there are any timescale deadlines but the 'offence' was 2/6/21 and she heard nothing between January 2022 and June 2022, when Gladstones got involved. 








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Coupon-mad

Bung the SAR in with UKCPM by email.

Ask Gladstones for a copy of the sign in situ on the material date, citing the pre-action protocol that they must provide a copy of the alleged contract.

lizk39

Thank you.  Would you go into the full appeal details?  - NHS/Covid/post not received as living away from home.   No price on the sign for post 9pm, surely the offence cant be 'failure to pay for the duration of the stay' if there wasn't a fee on the board.  Parking in a closed car park maybe but not failure to pay.   

Coupon-mad said:

Bung the SAR in with UKCPM by email.

Ask Gladstones for a copy of the sign in situ on the material date, citing the pre-action protocol that they must provide a copy of the alleged contract.

lizk39

lizk39 said:

Thank you.  Would you go into the full appeal details?  - NHS/Covid/post not received as living away from home.   No price on the sign for post 9pm, surely the offence cant be 'failure to pay for the duration of the stay' if there wasn't a fee on the board.  Parking in a closed car park maybe but not failure to pay.   

Coupon-mad said:

Bung the SAR in with UKCPM by email.

Ask Gladstones for a copy of the sign in situ on the material date, citing the pre-action protocol that they must provide a copy of the alleged contract.

How likely are Gladstones to take this to court?  Do they actually bother? 

Coupon-mad

Yep, almost certain. But that is where you win.

Would you go into the full appeal details? 

No, do exactly as already advised.

There's a section in the NEWBIES thread about how to word a SAR and how to find out the email address to send it to.

Trainerman

lizk39 said:

Thank you.  Would you go into the full appeal details?  - NHS/Covid/post not received as living away from home.   No price on the sign for post 9pm, surely the offence cant be 'failure to pay for the duration of the stay' if there wasn't a fee on the board.  Parking in a closed car park maybe but not failure to pay.   

Coupon-mad said:

Bung the SAR in with UKCPM by email.

Ask Gladstones for a copy of the sign in situ on the material date, citing the pre-action protocol that they must provide a copy of the alleged contract.

Again, this is where you need the details on the sign. If it says nothing about what happens after 9 pm, then there is no contract formed, and no breach, in my opinion