Please help with ParkingEye ticket at Loxford Clinic - read newbies, POPLA appeal, now DCBL notice

b06hengu

Hello all,

My sincere apologies if this post is considered a waste of time, but I feel that my mental health is actually deteriorating because of the stress of this case and I've read the newbies thread and just feel completely in a rut! I've been having sleepless nights and panic attacks every time DCBL send a letter...

I attended a clinic appointment at Loxford Polyclinic, Ilford in April 2022 and parked in their car park. Their car park is separated into two, with barriers that separate the staff car park from the patient car park. I parked in one of the bays on the [atient car park side and I did not see any signage for payment of parking so I asked the receptionist at the clinic what to do about the parking and I stated where I parked, she said it was fine and I attended my appointment.

Fast forward to June 2022, a PCN from ParkingEye was sent to my old address - I was mid-move at the time so didn't receive the letter until beginning of August when I checked back to my old address, by that time the final PCN reminder was sent and DCBL had sent their first letter demanding £160. As per the forum, I tried to contact the landowner to get the ticket cancelled, so I contacted the clinic asking for the cancellation of the ticket, they asked for the ticket number but then replied that they couldn't cancel the tickets (no reason given) and that I should contact ParkingEye. I then contacted the PALS complaints service, emailed NHS England and sent a POPLA letter using the template on MSE via post, despite it being past the time of appeal because I thought why not. No response, which I suppose is my fault because I didn't chase this up (I don't know why in my head I thought post would be the best method of communication, I think I must've gotten my wires crossed...!) 

Since August 2022 DCBL have been sending letters to my current address, with the most recent being this week from DCBL Limited with 'Notice of Intended Legal Action' - this has sent me in a tailspin. I've now emailed the MP of the borough where the clinic is, and also contacted the clinic again, and their properties manager has now said that they can't cancel the ticket because it's been 8 months since it was issued and that they can't cancel tickets if it's been passed on to the debt collectors. They also said the signage is clear (it definitely isn't, which is why I asked the receptionist in the first place about parking) and that I didn't park in the patient bay (I did, and the initial PCN even states that the location is 'LOXFORD POLYCLINIC (PATIENT)'...), and I am so tired of the injustice of the situation. They then said that the next step should be me contacting ParkingEye saying that my address has changed. I have contacted the NHS Property customer service, but I feel like this won't go anywhere either.

What are my next steps now please? I fear that it is much too late to do anything, and I fear that if I contact ParkingEye they will simply slap me with legal action. Please help!

Coupon-mad

It doesn't matter if ParkingEye do sue, because that will be the ultimate fair dispute resolution, costs you nothing, risks no CCJ (because you'd defend with our help)  and ParkingEye remove the false £70 that DCB have added.

It would be a good thing; scam over & resolved.

If you have changed address you must tell DCB and ParkingEye (by email to their DPOs) to 'erase' the old address and replace it with your new one.  That is REALLY important because you cannot leave parking firms or their agents with an old address because there'd be a danger of you missing the actual claim form.

Nothing else to worry about.  DCB can't come knocking!

Escalate the complaint to the clinic and tell them they are wrong in assuming they 'can't' cancel a PE PCN at this stage.  They can.  INSIST they send a cancellation email.  I mean REALLY INSIST.

b06hengu

Coupon-mad said:

It doesn't matter if ParkingEye do sue, because that will be the ultimate fair dispute resolution, costs you nothing, risks no CCJ (because you'd defend with our help)  and ParkingEye remove the false £70 that DCB have added.

It would be a good thing; scam over & resolved.

If you have changed address you must tell DCB and ParkingEye (by email to their DPOs) to 'erase' the old address and replace it with your new one.  That is REALLY important because you cannot leave parking firms or their agents with an old address because there'd be a danger of you missing the actual claim form.

Nothing else to worry about.  DCB can't come knocking!

Escalate the complaint to the clinic and tell them they are wrong in assuming they 'can't' cancel a PE PCN at this stage.  They can.  INSIST they send a cancellation email.  I mean REALLY INSIST.

Thank you for your reassurance, I am glad that there is sense and goodwill in the internet world! 

I have sent the email to the clinic, NHS Property case, and the property manager insisting on the cancellation email and to include me in the correspondence so that I can see that they've actually attempted to do that.

Can I just double check that if there is a template of sorts for informing DCB and ParkingEye of the change of address please? I've used to search function in the forum but can't seem to find one. Or is it simply a case of:

'To whom it may concern,

My address is (this address). Please erase my old address of (insert address).

Regards,

(my name)'

then sending it to dpo@parkingeye.co.uk and dpo@dcbltd.com with the ticket number in the subject line?

Many thanks,

H

Le_Kirk

Coupon-mad said:

If you have changed address you must tell DCB and ParkingEye (by email to their DPOs) to 'erase' the old address and replace it with your new one.  That is REALLY important because you cannot leave parking firms or their agents with an old address because there'd be a danger of you missing the actual claim form.

Further to the splendid advice from @Coupon-mad, also make sure you change your address with DVLA for your V5C (log book!) and driving licence separately.

b06hengu

Coupon-mad said:

If you have changed address you must tell DCB and ParkingEye (by email to their DPOs) to 'erase' the old address and replace it with your new one.  That is REALLY important because you cannot leave parking firms or their agents with an old address because there'd be a danger of you missing the actual claim form.

Further to the splendid advice from @Coupon-mad, also make sure you change your address with DVLA for your V5C (log book!) and driving licence separately.

Thank you! Yes, I did this pretty much as soon as I moved, so not quite sure why there was such a delay! Either way, DCB certainly know my new address (although funnily enough, they continue to spell my name wrong on the letters, even after I updated my details with DVLA )

b06hengu

What I've also just realised is that the date of issue from the ticket is more than 14 days after the date of parking (parked 24/04/23, issued 21/06/2023), and the letter doesn't state Protection of Freedoms Act anywhere... should I be doing anything with this information?

B789

b06hengu said:

What I've also just realised is that the date of issue from the ticket is more than 14 days after the date of parking (parked 24/04/23, issued 21/06/2023), and the letter doesn't state Protection of Freedoms Act anywhere... should I be doing anything with this information?

If the PCN is not POFA compliant, as you suggest, then as long as you have not admitted to being the "driver", they cannot hold you as the "keeper" liable for the invoice. As long as you have not told them or admitted in any way who the driver is, it will be up to them to find out who the driver is. You are under no obligation in this case to tell them who the driver was.

They cannot "assume" you were the driver just because you are the registered keeper. 

b06hengu

B789 said:

b06hengu said:

What I've also just realised is that the date of issue from the ticket is more than 14 days after the date of parking (parked 24/04/23, issued 21/06/2023), and the letter doesn't state Protection of Freedoms Act anywhere... should I be doing anything with this information?

If the PCN is not POFA compliant, as you suggest, then as long as you have not admitted to being the "driver", they cannot hold you as the "keeper" liable for the invoice. As long as you have not told them or admitted in any way who the driver is, it will be up to them to find out who the driver is. You are under no obligation in this case to tell them who the driver was.

They cannot "assume" you were the driver just because you are the registered keeper. 

Yes, I haven't had any direct correspondence with ParkingEye at all, save for the POPLA (which seems to have been lost anyway) and the change of address sent to the DPO.

B789

b06hengu said:

B789 said:

b06hengu said:

What I've also just realised is that the date of issue from the ticket is more than 14 days after the date of parking (parked 24/04/23, issued 21/06/2023), and the letter doesn't state Protection of Freedoms Act anywhere... should I be doing anything with this information?

If the PCN is not POFA compliant, as you suggest, then as long as you have not admitted to being the "driver", they cannot hold you as the "keeper" liable for the invoice. As long as you have not told them or admitted in any way who the driver is, it will be up to them to find out who the driver is. You are under no obligation in this case to tell them who the driver was.

They cannot "assume" you were the driver just because you are the registered keeper. 

Yes, I haven't had any direct correspondence with ParkingEye at all, save for the POPLA (which seems to have been lost anyway) and the change of address sent to the DPO.

When you say "save for the POPLA", are you saying you appealed through POPLA and, obviously, did not win. So, when you made your POPLA appeal, did you at any point make an admission of who the driver was? Not necessarily by name but maybe inadvertently by something you wrote?

Do you still have a record of what you wrote in your unsuccessful original appeal to the PPC and in your POPLA appeal? Do you have a copy of the adjudicators decision? Perhaps you could post pictures of those documents? (Redacted of your personal details and VRN. Everything else can stay) At least then we can have a look and see where you stand with regards to being sued as either the "driver" or the "keeper" or both.

b06hengu

B789 said:

When you say "save for the POPLA", are you saying you appealed through POPLA and, obviously, did not win. So, when you made your POPLA appeal, did you at any point make an admission of who the driver was? Not necessarily by name but maybe inadvertently by something you wrote?

Do you still have a record of what you wrote in your unsuccessful original appeal to the PPC and in your POPLA appeal? Do you have a copy of the adjudicators decision? Perhaps you could post pictures of those documents? (Redacted of your personal details and VRN. Everything else can stay) At least then we can have a look and see where you stand with regards to being sued as either the "driver" or the "keeper" or both.

Hi, I used the MSE letter template which was the 'POPLA and the IAS' one and sent it to the address on the MSE website, and I remember that I made sure not to write anything like 'I parked' or 'I drove' - the wording was like 'the car was parked'. I have the letter somewhere on my old laptop! 

I think where I went wrong was that I didn't write to the PPC appeals address in the first instance and at all - silly error on my part, I was a bit too gung-ho with going straight to POPLA. The other issue is that I never received a response from POPLA anyway, and I checked my old address many a time, just in case it was sent there in the period between then and my move to the new address. 

So essentially, I feel like my case could be treated as if I didn't make contact with anyone at all and have just ignored everyone, including the PPC or POPLA - very frustrating, but I suppose at the time I was much too occupied with moving house than chasing up parking appeals!

KeithP

b06hengu said:

B789 said:

When you say "save for the POPLA", are you saying you appealed through POPLA and, obviously, did not win. So, when you made your POPLA appeal, did you at any point make an admission of who the driver was? Not necessarily by name but maybe inadvertently by something you wrote?

Do you still have a record of what you wrote in your unsuccessful original appeal to the PPC and in your POPLA appeal? Do you have a copy of the adjudicators decision? Perhaps you could post pictures of those documents? (Redacted of your personal details and VRN. Everything else can stay) At least then we can have a look and see where you stand with regards to being sued as either the "driver" or the "keeper" or both.

So essentially, I feel like my case could be treated as if I didn't make contact with anyone at all and have just ignored everyone, including the PPC or POPLA - very frustrating...

Yes, that looks to be the case.
It simply isn't possible to appeal to PoPLA  without a PoPLA code. That code is supplied by the parking company when they reject your appeal.

So, just accept that no appeal to anyone has taken place.