Minster Baywatch and Gladstones Debt Recovery Penalty Notice

georgib101

Hi, hoping someone can help me- any advice *very* much appreciated! 

I parked at a car park in the Cotswolds (Neigh Bridge Country Park) on 21st May 2023. The ticket machine was not working- I had tried to get it to work but it did not. There was a group of at least ten people standing around the parking machine who told me that the machine wasn’t working. They were trying to use the payment app but this was also not working due to little/no internet connection in this area. I therefore gave up, like other people were, and left my car in the car park for about two hours. In this area it is common for machines to not work and when that is the case, penalty fines aren’t issued. 

I was not aware of any reasonable signage regarding ANPR cameras or similar. 

When I returned to the car there was no ticket or note on my car to indicate that I had received a penalty charge. 

To my immense shock, on Monday 31st July I have received a Letter Before Claim from Gladstones. I was not aware that I had even received a penalty charge, before this date. Before I received this, I had not been notified in any way of this penalty charge. 

I have not been offered any opportunity to pay this penalty charge within 14 days, as there was no sticker on my windscreen, which I believe is standard. The charge has now grown to £155 which I believe is incredibly disproportionate. Gladstones state that they have had to find an ‘alternative address’ for me as my vehicle was registered to a previous address, and unfortunately I wasn’t aware that I had to update the vehicle V5 document. I believe the current tenant of my former address has not been forwarding my mail (!!) and therefore I had no knowledge of this penalty notice. 

My driving license is registered to my current address and has contact details for me. 

Is there anything I can do in this situation? I would definitely like to avoid a £155 fine!! 

Coupon-mad

My driving license is registered to my current address and has contact details for me. 

But your logbook isn't... that caused the missed PCN.

Not that you pay! This'll be easy to defend. You'll pay nothing.

No risk. We do this every day.

1505grandad

Make sure your logbook is up to date  -  can be actioned online  -  otherwise you will attract a real penalty/fine which you do not have with the ppc. It is a speculative invoice and those words will not be in any of their corrspondence.

georgib101

Coupon-mad said:

My driving license is registered to my current address and has contact details for me. 

But your logbook isn't... that caused the missed PCN.

Not that you pay! This'll be easy to defend. You'll pay nothing.

No risk. We do this every day.

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I’m completely new to all this- how does this work, please? 

Many thanks 

B789

Start by reading the Newbies/FAQ thread. The second post refers to LoC/LBC Claim stage.

Coupon-mad

georgib101 said:

Coupon-mad said:

My driving license is registered to my current address and has contact details for me. 

But your logbook isn't... that caused the missed PCN.

Not that you pay! This'll be easy to defend. You'll pay nothing.

No risk. We do this every day.

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I’m completely new to all this- how does this work, please? 

This is why there is a top Announcement thread in capitals at the top of the forum (NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST) that you seem to have missed reading first.

georgib101

B789 said:

Start by reading the Newbies/FAQ thread. The second post refers to LoC/LBC Claim stage

Ok, I’ve read through the FAQ thread, i’ve found it now, thanks. So I’ve just realised the letter I received is a LBC, dated 26th July. So I know i probably need to act pretty quickly now. 

What I’ve done so far: (done immediately after I received the LBC, on 27th July): 

 I emailed the landowner (a country park car park). I received back a standard response saying they didn’t get involved with parking issues on their land. So that’s no help. 

On the Gladstones website, I disputed the debt but have not had any response from them whatsoever. I wrote a statement explaining that their ticket machine didn’t work. I expected to hear a judgement on my appeal / dispute but have not heard anything. Does this mean it will go to court? Getting a bit worried! I see it says not to call the debt collector, is this correct? 

I have not done anything else yet- should I send the Notice to Keeper letter? 

Many, many thanks for any advice. Much appreciated. 

Completely new to all this! 

georgib101

Also REALLY struggling with posting on here! It has taken me an hour to work out how to avoid the 'ten characters too short message'!! 

Also Trying to get through to Citizen's Advice. not sure if that would help. 

Coupon-mad

Please please DON'T ring the clueless CAB. They have zero idea about how easy it is to win parking claims.

Wait for your claim to arrive in September and in the meantime read other Gladstones claim threads. Very easy to handle. No risk.

georgib101

Thankyou so much Coupon-mad! 

Ok, I will do that. Best regards. 

georgib101

Hi Coupon mad, 

Reading the FAQ and other posts I assume I send a SAR to Minster Baywatch and to Gladstones as well? 

Thanks.