Forgot to update V5C, PCN not received

MissWizify

As the title suggests, we moved house in June last year and I updated all our addresses, even driving licences, but forgot the V5C stupidly. We received a letter from BW Legal claiming we failed to respond to a PCN issued by Britannia Parking and now must pay £170. Although I haven't seen the PCN, we know for a fact we overstayed the parking for about an hour, so we are entirely at fault. It was a CCTV car park.

I've read the newby threads and looked at a lot of discussions but these all relate to unfair fines. This is definitely fair, but I want to know what my next steps are. Do I just have to accept and pay the £170 to the debt collector, or is there a way to get around this where I can pay the original fine to the parking company, even though I don't really have a leg to stand on? I'm worried about saying the wrong thing, since we went ~10 months with an incorrect address and don't want this to get back to the DVLA and risk a £1000 fine. But equally I don't want to spend £170 if I don't have to.

Thanks for the help.

B789

If you honestly believe that the "fine" is fair, go ahead and pay it, thus becoming another mug who will be marked for future scamming. Before you do anything so rash and ill-advised (please excuse my irony) we never advise anyone to pay these scammers a penny.

Why are you so prepared to just believe that this "fine" was "fair"? Before I go on, I suggest you re-read all your correspondence and count the number of times the word "fine" appears. If it is more than zero, I will eat my hat.

Why do you think you "overstayed" if you haven't even seen the PCN yet? Did you knowingly park on private land, read the some very blatantly obvious, clear, well-defined signs with an equally obvious annotation on them, in a large, highlighted, bold font that stated that you would be "fined" if you parked for more than the permitted time?

You really need to stop doing the work for these scammers otherwise you just become a part of the problem. You are now the victim of one of these bottom-dwelling scamming firms and their solicitors and what we do on here is advise on how to get out of this scam and avoid paying a penny to any of them. You are dealing with an unregulated cowboy industry made up mostly by ex-clamping thugs and their clingons.

For now, you need to have a thorough read, re-read and read some more, of the Newbies/FAQ thread where you will get a better perspective on where you are right now in the scam, what to expect and what to do and when.

First things first... you must tell Gladrags to "erase" your old address and update with your current address for service and to also tell their clients to do the same. Also, go online and get your V5C updated free of charge. Whilst you could be fined for not having updated it, it is very unlikely you will.

Umkomaas

we moved house in June last year and I updated all our addresses, even driving licences, but forgot the V5C stupidly.

When did the parking event occur?

MissWizify

Umkomaas said:

we moved house in June last year and I updated all our addresses, even driving licences, but forgot the V5C stupidly.

When did the parking event occur?

It occurred on the 4th February this year

MissWizify

B789 said:

If you honestly believe that the "fine" is fair, go ahead and pay it, thus becoming another mug who will be marked for future scamming. Before you do anything so rash and ill-advised (please excuse my irony) we never advise anyone to pay these scammers a penny.

Why are you so prepared to just believe that this "fine" was "fair"? Before I go on, I suggest you re-read all your correspondence and count the number of times the word "fine" appears. If it is more than zero, I will eat my hat.

Why do you think you "overstayed" if you haven't even seen the PCN yet? Did you knowingly park on private land, read the some very blatantly obvious, clear, well-defined signs with an equally obvious annotation on them, in a large, highlighted, bold font that stated that you would be "fined" if you parked for more than the permitted time?

You really need to stop doing the work for these scammers otherwise you just become a part of the problem. You are now the victim of one of these bottom-dwelling scamming firms and their solicitors and what we do on here is advise on how to get out of this scam and avoid paying a penny to any of them. You are dealing with an unregulated cowboy industry made up mostly by ex-clamping thugs and their clingons.

For now, you need to have a thorough read, re-read and read some more, of the Newbies/FAQ thread where you will get a better perspective on where you are right now in the scam, what to expect and what to do and when.

First things first... you must tell Gladrags to "erase" your old address and update with your current address for service and to also tell their clients to do the same. Also, go online and get your V5C updated free of charge. Whilst you could be fined for not having updated it, it is very unlikely you will.

I used the word fine in general terms, an amount of money owed, I'm sorry I didn't get the terminology right. There's so much information it's overwhelming and difficult to understand, but I am trying. I had understood that you can appeal these PCNs with evidence. But yes, we knowingly overstayed by an hour at this car park as we were at lunch and didn't see the time until we got back to the car. And there were signs in the car park.

I have updated the V5C as of this morning. Who is Gladrags? The parking company?

B789

MissWizify said:
I used the word fine in general terms, an amount of money owed, I'm sorry I didn't get the terminology right. There's so much information it's overwhelming and difficult to understand, but I am trying. I had understood that you can appeal these PCNs with evidence. But yes, we knowingly overstayed by an hour at this car park as we were at lunch and didn't see the time until we got back to the car. And there were signs in the car park.

I have updated the V5C as of this morning. Who is Gladrags? The parking company?

My bad... I meant BW Legal. You must make sure that they and their clients have your up-to-date address for service of any claim, should it come to that. We see far too many victims on here who, just like you, who forget to update the address on their V5C when they move and end up getting CCJs by default because the parking company can only get the RK details once. They can't go back later to check if they have changed. Whilst that in itself is not enough to justify them using an old address, especially if they have had no response to any correspondence over time, they are supposed to perform a credit reference check which should, in most cases, reveal an up-to-date address.

Of course, being scammers and bottom-dwellers, they don't always bother with this step because they know that they will get a bigger payout for a default judgment as the added "costs/damages" which would normally be thrown out in small claims court are not contested. Some victims can go years before finding out they have a CCJ which has wrecked their credit rating and then have to go through the equally stressful, for many, process of getting a default CCJ set aside.

So, I am sorry if my advice sounded like an admonishment but we get so many victims on here who have either not bothered to read the Newbies/FAQ thread or else have only skim-read it without taking on board the vast amount of information that is provided in it. We cannot be expected to do all the reading for them.

The Newbies/FAQ thread is not really there to just be read but used as a reference.

In your case, you are beyond any "appeal" except for Plan A which would be to get the landowner to get the PCN cancelled. You cannot go back to where you were when the original PCN was issued and just pay the discounted amount or even the full amount because you think you are "guilty" of deliberately and knowingly breaching the terms of a contract you entered into with the parking company.

If Plan A doesn't work, you are now going to go through the usual flood of debt collector letters, which, if you've read the Newbies?FAQ thread, will know are to be ignored and absolutely no contact to be made with them. You are now waiting for a LoC and a county court claim. You will have to defend that claim and any admittance that you knowingly breached the terms that you agreed to will mean a win for the Claimant, which should be in the region of £100 + £85. However, if the claim is uncontested, that would also probably include the added £60-£70 they try to get away with, so costing you around £250.

Of course, robustly defended claims that follow the advice given on this forum win or have the claim discontinued in 99% of cases. They choice will be yours on how you approach this issue.

Coupon-mad

It doesn't get back to the DVLA.

Just complain to the retail park to cancel it.

You MUST also reply to BW to erase your old address from the databases of them and their client.  That's vital.

Of course no paying it!  The retail park can cancel.

Why did you overstay?  Any disabled or infirm person in the car?

MissWizify

Coupon-mad said:

It doesn't get back to the DVLA.

Just complain to the retail park to cancel it.

You MUST also reply to BW to erase your old address from the databases of them and their client.  That's vital.

Of course no paying it!  The retail park can cancel.

Why did you overstay?  Any disabled or infirm person in the car?

Okay that's reassuring thank you. In this instance the car park was a small public car park on a Quay, and I'm not sure where is best to complain as it's not a retail park as such. There are a number of small shops and restaurants in the near vicinity, would one of those be the right place?

Lastly, I want to check what my complaint should highlight to get noticed, is it that I didn't receive the PCN and am now being chased by debt collectors?

I will respond to BW Legal, they seem to have found our correct address somehow, but I will request that their client update theirs.

We overstayed simply because we underestimated how long we needed for lunch, and didn't realise until it was too late.

B789

MissWizify said:
Okay that's reassuring thank you. In this instance the car park was a small public car park on a Quay, and I'm not sure where is best to complain as it's not a retail park as such. There are a number of small shops and restaurants in the near vicinity, would one of those be the right place?

Lastly, I want to check what my complaint should highlight to get noticed, is it that I didn't receive the PCN and am now being chased by debt collectors?

I will respond to BW Legal, they seem to have found our correct address somehow, but I will request that their client update theirs.

We overstayed simply because we underestimated how long we needed for lunch, and didn't realise until it was too late.

@MissWizify, was this "quay" on dockland? If so, it may be covered by byelaws. Was the PCN a "Penalty" or a "Parking" Charge Notice?

MissWizify

Not sure if worth adding, but we paid for 2 hours parking, and overstayed by about an hour, it wasn't a free car park.

MissWizify

B789 said:

Was this "quay" on dockland? If so, it may be covered by byelaws. Was the PCN a "Penalty" or a "Parking" Charge Notice?

There is a harbour, and a Sunseeker manufacturing centre/ship yard. I'm not if that constitutes as dockland officially.

According to the letter I received from BW legal, it is a PCN, this is the only correspondence I have received.