Delivery driver received PCN in private car park - Civil Enforcement Limited

Jennyontheblock232323

Hello,

I'm hoping somebody can help with some advice. I run a delivery company and one of our delivery vans was delivering to a private address recently. The address has a private car park that is managed by Civil Enforcement Limited (registered with the BPA). 

There is signage at the entrance on a building stating that it is a private car park but as the driver was only there for a matter of minutes to deliver a parcel and not parking they did not attend to the sign. Unfortunately, the Ts&Cs require every vehicle to register upon entering the building on a tablet, which is unrealistic for a busy delivery driver making 100s of drops to be able to do. 

I have received the PCN as I was the registered keeper of the van at the time, however I am no longer the registered keeper (transferred to company), and I was not the driver at the time. A colleague from my company emailed and called to appeal the fine but was refused.

The case has gone through to DCBL debt collection and I am just wondering what would be the best next steps at this point. Should I write to Civil Enforcement to let them know I am happy to pursue this in court? Should I ignore it? Are there any similar cases I could be pointed towards?

Any advice would be much appreciated. With thanks

Umkomaas

The case has gone through to DCBL debt collection and I am just wondering what would be the best next steps at this point. Should I write to Civil Enforcement to let them know I am happy to pursue this in court? Should I ignore it? Are there any similar cases I could be pointed towards?

As the case is with debt collectors, you just ignore until such time (very likely) they issue a court claim. Right now I think your case is with DCB Limited - they can only send you silly letters, but expect that DCB Legal will be on the case shortly. When that happens, you will need to take some action - do not ignore that stage. There are zillions of cases on the forum where we've advised on the debt collection stage. Please read the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, fourth post.

DCB Legal utilise a conveyor belt operation shovelling thousands of cases each month into their industrial scale hopper with automated court claims spewing out and landing on the doormats of unsuspecting motorists up and down the country. You're now forewarned, and will need to become forearmed. Please read the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, which explains how to defend a County Court claim, and read at least the first post of the Template Defence Announcement where you will find a template defence for use in the event of a claim against you. 'Announcements' are 'stuck' at the top of the forum thread index, one click back from this page. 

Both DCBLs will huff and puff, but, if you deal with both as per forum advice, your case should just fade away at some stage. Yes, it will likely come to a court claim against you, and you'll have to go through the required stages of defence, but ultimately you should feature in the following thread - maybe late Spring/Summer next year!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

You're in safe hands here, just please follow the advice.

JUST AN ADDENDUM 

As the CEL/DCBL linkup is a relatively recent phenomenon - CEL previously issuing their own County Court claims - it may be that if the debt collection arm of DCBL fails to deliver, the case may be passed back to CEL rather than to DCB Legal. Come back on this thread should you receive anything in the future from CEL or DCB Legal. 

Castle

Jennyontheblock232323 said:

Hello,

I'm hoping somebody can help with some advice. I run a delivery company and one of our delivery vans was delivering to a private address recently. The address has a private car park that is managed by Civil Enforcement Limited (registered with the BPA). 

There is signage at the entrance on a building stating that it is a private car park but as the driver was only there for a matter of minutes to deliver a parcel and not parking they did not attend to the sign. Unfortunately, the Ts&Cs require every vehicle to register upon entering the building on a tablet, which is unrealistic for a busy delivery driver making 100s of drops to be able to do. 

I have received the PCN as I was the registered keeper of the van at the time, however I am no longer the registered keeper (transferred to company), and I was not the driver at the time. A colleague from my company emailed and called to appeal the fine but was refused.

Which would suggest that your company was actually the "hirer/keeper", (for the purposes of POFA), at the time and not you personally. 

Jennyontheblock232323

You're in safe hands here, just please follow the advice.

Thank you very much for this, I will await the legal letters/court claim and then follow the forum's advice on defending the claim. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. 

Fruitcake

Plan A is always a complaint from the keeper to the landowner and the keeper's MP. Has this been done yet?

Plan B would have been to appeal in writing but it looks like that ship has sailed. Were you the registered keeper or the day to day keeper at the material time?