Countrywide refuses to cancel PCN despite retailer's request

wojtek1986

Hi,

Got a prive pcn for parking at Pure Gym car park while I was a member there.
One day countrywide introduced registration terminal inside the gym, which I have missed and got the pcn. Appealed stating that I'm a gym member but got template rejection so I went to pure gym and their customer service team emailed me saying they requested countrywide to cancel but parking company refused to do it for free and requested 30£ admin fee. I didn't pay that so they reverted to pursuing the full 160+ and now BW solicitors are threatening me with court.

Can anyone please clarify if the parking company can act to pursue this claim despite the wishes of the landowner (Pure gym) who gave me confirmation in writing that they requested cancellation?

Would it be a valid defence in court?

Many thanks! 

Coupon-mad

Yes they can but you can argue there is no legitimate interest in pursuing it, which distinguishes the case from ParkingEye v Beavis, so the inflated charge is purely a punishment for not seeing their hidden keypad and any claim must fail.

fisherjim

It's probably written into their contract that they will cancel so may per month for free but with an admin fee after that which you have been asked for.

In any case if you had been a member before the terminal was introduced and you were not informed why would it be your fault or responsibility to pay their admin fee?

wojtek1986

Thank you both.

One more thing - in the email with the admin fee £30 offer, conveyed to me by Pure cym cust service all they say is that this needs to be paid or countrywide may continue to pursue the full amount but there is no deadline given for this offer and I didn't reply rejecting it. I just asked them to clarify why they failed to erect additional signs informing of the introduction of new parking rules and I stated that their response will inform my decision whether to accept the offer. I had no response for 6 months and now letter before claim.

When I called countrywide asking why their £30 claim escalated again back to 160+ they only said that this offer has now expired.

I know a long time has passed since that offer but can they do that if they haven't put a deadline for that 30 admin fee?
Or can I dispute the claim amount on that basis?

Many thanks!

Coupon-mad

I don't think that's important in your defence.  The 'settle it for £30' offer was clearly time-bound even if not specified.

fisherjim

I don't see why you expected the £30 "offer" to not time out and Pure Gym would have little interest in that once they passed the info on anyway.

But the charge has not gone back to £160, that now has a ridiculous debt collectors fee attached, the original charge will be £100 (still ridiculous) but you are now where you are, I wouldn't pay it though.

wojtek1986

fisherjim said:

I don't see why you expected the £30 "offer" to not time out and Pure Gym would have little interest in that once they passed the info on anyway.

But the charge has not gone back to £160, that now has a ridiculous debt collectors fee attached, the original charge will be £100 (still ridiculous) but you are now where you are, I wouldn't pay it though.

I didn't expect anything really, just trying to find some loopholes for this predatory claim. They sneaked in change of t&C's without putting up warning signs, as per IPC code requirements and now trying to rip me off.
They reject any valid challenges with template resp and without answering specific signage violations.

So I am looking for any argument tht will discourage them from taking me to court as it will be time consuming.

I was hoping that if an offer is not explicitly time bound then I can be considering it forever or until they specify the deadline, which they never did.

wojtek1986

fisherjim said:

It's probably written into their contract that they will cancel so may per month for free but with an admin fee after that which you have been asked for.

In any case if you had been a member before the terminal was introduced and you were not informed why would it be your fault or responsibility to pay their admin fee?

I qas a member before and it was only advertised inside the gym apparently. I didn't go there for like 4 months after having covid while I still paid membership fees and then 1st time I came back I didn't know about new rules.

Coupon-mad

Coupon-mad said:

Yes they can but you can argue there is no legitimate interest in pursuing it, which distinguishes the case from ParkingEye v Beavis, so the inflated charge is purely a punishment for not seeing their hidden keypad and any claim must fail.

As above.  That's the main point.

No loopholes needed.  That plus the fact the change in parking t&cs was not prominently drawn to returning gym members' attention is a very strong defence.

wojtek1986

Coupon-mad said:

Coupon-mad said:

Yes they can but you can argue there is no legitimate interest in pursuing it, which distinguishes the case from ParkingEye v Beavis, so the inflated charge is purely a punishment for not seeing their hidden keypad and any claim must fail.

As above.  That's the main point.

No loopholes needed.  That plus the fact the change in parking t&cs was not prominently drawn to returning gym members' attention is a very strong defence.

Thank you!

The gov private parking code of practice, whoch is linked in your template defence, states that additional signs should be displayed for 4 months after change of parking rules.
But the government website says that this code has now been withdrawn in June 2022. Can I still refer to it in my defense or is it no longer applicable?

Coupon-mad

It's temporarily withdrawn only to look at TWO aspects and for the Government to write a draft Impact Assessment, plus a final Public Consultation on those two disputed clauses.

I'm the only co-opted individual consumer on the Govt's Steering Group working on the new Code.  I've not missed a single meeting since 2020.  Believe me, you can & must use it because it is coming in, whether they like it or not!

I've left it in the Template Defence deliberately because by the time cases come to hearings we'll know about the decisions and Impact Assessment about the two disputed clauses.  The rest of the Code remains untouched and will be law in 2024. So yes, you can/must use it confidently.