Gatwick drop off - PCN

dearwaker97

Hi all,
Back in May 23 I dropped my partner off at the Gatwick north terminal, I forgot to pay the drop off charge of £5. 
4 months later and I have received a PCN for a payment of £170, from NCP’s solicitor’s.
It turns out the PCN’s from NCP had been sent to my old address and so I hadn’t received these. 
I didn’t realise but I had forgotten to update the address on my V5C for my vehicle.
Do I have any legal grounds to not pay here, or do I need to suck it up and pay for my mistake?
Thanks in advance.

B789

You could have quashed this if you'd received the original PCN. Have you tried to appeal it? Have you revealed the identity of the driver?

You are at the stage where you need to wait and see if they issue claim. As long as the driver is not identified, there is nothing they can do as the keeper cannot be held liable because it was not relevant land for the purposes of PoFA 2012.

Do not pay.

All you do need to do for now is send a data rectification notice to the DPO of NCP and their solicitor, if they're using one. You must tell the DPO to "erase" your old address and to update their details with your current address. The word "erase" is highlighted for a reason.

LoneStarState

You would be advised to also remove the events as you've given them in your original post as you are identifying the driver.

soutter

A week ago I drove to Gatwick North to pick up my son. I accidently drove down the 'Drop Off' lane. I realised my mistake nd kept driving through without stopping. I went round again and this time used the 'Short Term Parking' lane. I drove in and parkd on one of the levels. Picked up my son and paid £5 at the ticket machine. I obtained a receipt. The next day I dropped my son off at Gatwick North at the 'Drop Off' lane. When I got home I went on line to pay my £5...and noticed a £5 charge for the previous day! Obviously because I had driven down the 'Drop Off' lane. I called NCP...only to be told that I was number 35 in the queue, and it would take over an hour before an operator would answer!! I copied my car park ticket and the payment receipt and e-mailed them to NCP along with an explanation. Three days later I received the following reply:

Thank you for contacting NCP Customer Services.

I can see you stayed for 1 minute and 3 seconds only, this means you left within the grace period and therefore there is no charge for your session.

Kind regards,
 
Vin

Customer Response Advisor

National Car Parks Ltd

So...looks like there is a 'grace period'. I'm now thinking if you can throw your passenger and luggage out and drive out within 1 minute and 3 seconds...you won't be charged.

Coupon-mad

Yes there is a really short grace period of just over a minute. I was told that by the BPA.

The OP should do as advised above and make sure DRPlus and NCP both erase the old address.  

The OP could also complain to the Airport and offer to pay £15 which is what would have been the discount on the PCN 4 months ago, had they received it.  May as well send an email to the Airport and say how shocked and angry you are that NCP have morphed £15 into £170, and that they set this up as a trap, and deliberately avoid providing any immediate method to pay the £5 by card 'on the spot' at the Airport - say at a kiosk or barrier as cars leave that area or at the drop-off point, with a series of prominent small machines to pay by card.

DO NOT PAY THE PARKING CHARGE.

DO NOT SAY WHO WAS DRIVING.

pcngrr

All good comment above. This registered keeper’s case went all the way to the steps of the court, well almost. The pcn talks to parking - there was no parking but a drive through without stopping or parking as once the driver is in the wrong lane, it is not easy to cut across to the exit road to avoid going through the drop off zone. PCN issued far too long after alleged contravention and with help from this / other sites and careful reading of the so called contract, the relevant legislation, the airport’s bye laws etc, when it came right down to receiving the court paper inviting the registered keeper to go for mediation or having the case judged on the papers without attending court, the registered keeper made plain his/her wish to have their time in court - notice of discontinuance followed swiftly thereafter. It was ‘emotional’ but satisfying but should the registered keeper have just accepted the this is your first time so we have agreed on this occasion to charge £15 offer, hmmm, the jury is out on that one. 

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

pcngrr said:

All good comment above. This registered keeper’s case went all the way to the steps of the court, well almost. The pcn talks to parking - there was no parking but a drive through without stopping or parking as once the driver is in the wrong lane, it is not easy to cut across to the exit road to avoid going through the drop off zone. PCN issued far too long after alleged contravention and with help from this / other sites and careful reading of the so called contract, the relevant legislation, the airport’s bye laws etc, when it came right down to receiving the court paper inviting the registered keeper to go for mediation or having the case judged on the papers without attending court, the registered keeper made plain his/her wish to have their time in court - notice of discontinuance followed swiftly thereafter. It was ‘emotional’ but satisfying but should the registered keeper have just accepted the this is your first time so we have agreed on this occasion to charge £15 offer, hmmm, the jury is out on that one. 

Thanks again.

Good.

If this was a DCB Legal discontinuance please post a redacted copy of it on @Umkomaas' thread of DCB Legal discontinuances! We need to count them all.

troublemaker22

NCP are using BW Legal to sue registered keepers for Gatwick cases. But if you tough it out and defend the case on the simple ground that you are not obliged to say who was driving and there is no keeper liability because airports are not ‘relevant land’ as defined in POFA, BW Legal will eventually discontinue the claim and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that they’ve incurred wasted costs.