Parking or Stopping?

Coupon-mad

No the court don't take a dim view and the template defence already covers this.

nameavailable

Brief update (and seeking reassurance I guess!)

I've now had two letters from TNC Collections reminding me of the "Outstanding Parking Charge Notice" and, as advised, I've ignored them both.

I've now had another letter from them "Notice of Intention to Instruct Solicitors To Commence Legal Action At Your Local Count Court" with the addition that "Private Parking Charges Are Legally Enforceable"

They've given me 7 days before advising their client to instigate immediate proceedings.

The letter also includes a link to a court case where the judgement was in favour of the parking operator: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2015-0116.html

So, all a bit scary really!

What's my best move now?

Coupon-mad

Ignore it.

No links to ParkingEye v Beavis needed... this isn't new and it's not scary.

We'd hope you've read enough here to have come across the Beavis case already & know that the Template Defence deals with it.

nameavailable

One thing that worries me is that the Template Defence may not be entirely appropriate in my case because my 'contravention' is stated as 'Vehicle Parked In A No Parking Area".

I was briefly parked/stopped in front of a gate on a private road (less than 10 minutes) while checking for directions.  It was not a car park and so I could not have been in contraventionof its rules, which the template defence seems to be mostly about, and there was no loss of parking revenue in any way.

Given that it was a 'no parking' area what sort of contract could have been formed if it was just an 'order' without any consideration?  Is this more a case of tresspass?  If so, I read somewhere that the parking company is not 'in possession' of the land so cannot claim tresspass and only the land owner itself could pursue a claim for tresspass.  is this correct?

Also, I was told (yeah, I know - pub 'experts'!) that for tresspass the only claim is for damages.  In this case I cannot imagine what damage was caused.  There was no physical damage to any property and while I was stopped in front of the gate no one tried to use the gate, so no one was inconvenienced in any way.  In fact, I don't even recall seeing anyone passing me because it was a very quiet area of private land on the outskirts of the hospital.

Coupon-mad

The Template Defence is suitable.

nameavailable

OK, thanks.  Guess I'd better get started writing it then.

nameavailable

Quick update -

After a couple of months of hearing nothing I received a text message from TNC collections reminding me about the unpaid debt.  Last week I received a letter from NPE reminding me that "The above debt remains unpaid".  it then follows with the usual reminder about parking Eye vs Beavis and that legal proceedings "could be commenced against you witout further notice" if not paid within the next 7 days.

I planning to ignore all this and having re-read the advice here I feel confident in doing so, mainly because I udnerstand that the basis for all these 'charges' is that there is an implied contract with anyone who uses their car parks and the terms of the contract are displayed for all to see.

However, in my case, I stopped for about 7 minutes in front of a gate with a 'no parking' sign so I'm assuming there can be no contract because they have not offered any terms for parking.

My only worry at the moment is understanding the process if they DO pursue legal proceedings against me because I'm about to go away (as in out of the country) for about 4 weeks and will therefore not see any letters before I return home.

What is the court procedure in such circumstances?  Do I get a period of time before needing to respond?  I'm worried that if I do not see any letters of court action and therefore do not attend court, could they win judgement against me because I didn't show up to defend myself?

KeithP

nameavailable said:

My only worry at the moment is understanding the process if they DO pursue legal proceedings against me because I'm about to go away (as in out of the country) for about 4 weeks and will therefore not see any letters before I return home.

What is the court procedure in such circumstances?  Do I get a period of time before needing to respond?  I'm worried that if I do not see any letters of court action and therefore do not attend court, could they win judgement against me because I didn't show up to defend myself?

I would suggest that you need to make arrangements for someone to check your mail at least once a week and advise you of any court action.

For example, if a County Court Claim Form arrives then a reaction to that will be needed within two weeks of it's arrival.

However, protocol dictates that before sending a Claim Form a Letter of Claim should be sent giving the victim thirty days to respond and that response could be "I'm seeking debt advice so give me another thirty days".

All this is explained in the second post of the NEWBIES thread which I am sure you have read several times by now.

nameavailable

Many thanks.  The 30 days protocol would be ok but I take your point about arranging for my mail to be checked while I'm away.  Not ideal though, unless any such letter would be clearly marked as from a court, because I don't really want someone opening all my mail just to check!

I'll re-read the NEWBIES thread to refresh my memory (I've just been re-reading the template defence letter) but there is so much information and process to digest and it's not easy to remember everything especially when there are many months between anything happening.

Thanks again!

Thorndorise

Be good to understand where you were (not for any defence, but out of curiosity) - PALs state it wasn't on NNUH grounds but there's very little around there...

Ultimately you were also not 'parked' - I am facing a IPC PPC challenge and so far the great advice here (as in to ignore) has so far be okay, I will stay the course too!