PCN letters not delivered, legal letter 1st correspondence received

Altax

Hello
I wonder if anyone has a similar experience and/or advice.

Brief outline:
Gatwick drop off zone contravention 30/07/23 (omission of payment by driver of £5 to NCP).
1st correspondence regarding this matter from BW Legal dated 08/11/23 demanding £100 PCN charge and £70 debt recovery - received by the registered keeper of the car.
BW Legal state that NCP sent 2 letters via Unity 5 hybrid mail on 05/09/23 and 04/10/23 - the registered keeper of the car did not receive either of these - this means the opportunity of a discounted fine of £15 or right to appeal has not been available due to time limited offer.
Royal Mail cannot do anything as the print-outs from Unity 5 do not have a tracking number or a reference number corresponding to Royal Mail.

Any advice on our rights would be gratefully received, especially if this goes to court.
Many thanks.

Coupon-mad

Have you received copies of those letters now? Were they (supposedly) sent to the right address or is the V5C still showing the car registered to an old address?

Altax

Thank you for your response.

BW Legal forwarded the original PCN to us on 23/11/23. Not the reminder.
The original PCN was dated 05/09/23.
They have the right address for the owner of the car.

KeithP

Altax said:

They have the right address for the owner of the car.

But does the vehicle's Registration Document(V5c) have the correct keeper's address on it and was that address correct on 30th July 2023?

Altax

Thank you for your response.

Yes to both parts.

Coupon-mad

Try a complaint to Gatwick Airport WITHOUT implying who was driving (if it was the keeper driving).

Be polite and say how intimidated you feel, and how unfair it was that these letters were never sent/received but NCP has refused to prove that the PCN was in fact sent.  Tell them you would have paid the £15.  They might let you do so.  We've seen that before.

If not, let NCP sue. Particularly easy to defend if the keeper wasn't the driver that day.

Altax

Thank you, I'll try this and feed back.

Elmsey

I have a very similar case relating to a very similar date.  
Contravention by driver was late July.
No PCNs received despite V5 having the correct keeper address.  First letter was from BW Legal dated early December.  The copies of the the PCN they sent me dated end august and end September.
Sounds as if the NCP mailer may have a batching issue?

Nellymoser

Parking operators choose not to provide proof of posting. We must press DLUHC to ensure they do in the new Parking Code of Practice. Please @Altax @Elmsey sign and share
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652355
Require communications from Private Parking companies to be traceable/trackable

Altax

@Elmsey, Thank you for this post. Very interesting with the dates being so similar! Was this at Gatwick?

Altax

@Coupon-mad, Unfortunately Gatwick were not interested in assisting in any queries relating to PCNs, instead directing me to the NCP Customer Services team.

Looking through the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, paragraphs 9.4/9.5 state:

(4)The notice must be given by—

(a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

(5) The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended. 

Would NCP be bound by this?  Not that I have received any PCN from NCP but, the copy of the PCN that BWLegal sent me in November was actually dated 5th Sept 2023, this being 37 days after the date of the contravention. 

I'm thinking my next step will be to appeal on the NCP website and failing that on the POPLA website.