Parking Penalty Notice - Not received & escalated to debt collector

mwalford92

Any advice would be gratefully received. 

During October, I received a debt collection notice for an unpaid parking fine for £170, 2 days after being discharged from an extended hospital stay.
Original parking fine (£60 within 14 days of issue) was supposedly sent out at the start of September ('23). I work from home 90% of the time and it definitely did not turn up. 

(I don't dispute that I shouldn't have had the fine, even though it was a 2 min overstay for a car park adjacent to the hotel car park we were staying in. My issue is with not having the parking charge issued to me in the first place and it being escalated without any opportunity to appeal or pay the reduced fine) 

Both debt collector & parking company have taken the line that I failed to pay the original fine within the given 14 days and that I owe the escalated fee now. Neither was willing to look at the case as both claimed that it was the others decision to make. Felt like I was going around in circles. 

If I remember correctly, at the start of September there was a lot of stuff in the news about postal issues, which I think may have been the cause of the fine going missing. 

Does anyone know what I can do?

Have been to the sorting office, nothing there. 

The parking fine issuer has given me "proof" that it was sent, but all this turned out to be was a receipt of a franking service from a 3rd party provider who I assume sends the fines on the parking companies behalf. 

la531983

A - its not a fine

B - ignore everything now until, or even if, a court claim is issued.

Fruitcake

It is neither a fine nor a penalty.

Plan A is always a complaint to the landowner and your MP, and it is never too late to do so.

Plan B is to appeal, which you have already done.

Plan C is an appeal to PoPLA if the PPC is a BPA member, or ignore it if the PPC is an IAS member.

Debt collectors are powerless and can safely be ignored.

All this information is explained in the sticky Announcement for NEWBIES on the main forum page where you clicked on the New Thread button.

Umkomaas

Which parking firm?
Which debt collector?

Coupon-mad

It hasn't escalated and no-one pays these, regardless of whether the 'fake PCN' turned up in the post or not.  You are focussing on the wrong thing and wrongly thinking it's a fine that's escalated.  It hasn't.  It isn't.

Read the NEWBIES thread 4th post.

 don't dispute that I shouldn't have had the fine, even though it was a 2 min overstay for a car park adjacent to the hotel car park we were staying in

Yes you certainly do dispute it!  Parking charges (these are not fines) can't be issued for 2 minute overstays.

mwalford92

Thanks for your feedback and sorry for the radio silence. 

After a few months of back and forth I've received a Claim form today from the Northampton Civil Court. 

Through reading the forums, (and I'm grateful for everyone who has contributed in across the forums) I'm starting the process of pulling a defence together. 

My main defences will focus around:

 - Failure of NPC to issue the PCN in the first place and not getting chance to appeal thus it proceeding to DCBL "Notice of Debt recovery" and the amount claimed increasing from £60/£100 to £170 then to £176.60 on the court form. The only response I got from NPC was that "Unfortunately, as a company we do not need proof of delivery. Once we have printed and posted the letter, we are no longer accountable for it, and it is the responsibility of the Royal Mail to delivery it safely." which to me is absurd, especially considering the recent Royal Mail panorama with a massive amount of stuff being lost. 

 - Failure to clearly signpost/ distinguish the NPC car park from the allocated spaces for the hotel we were staying at. (If anyone is interested the carpark was Southgate, Chichester, PO19 1EQ) everything is painted purple with hashed lines.

- Not sure if this is pertinent, but shortly after the "parking incident" I was hospitalised with a neurological condition which resulted in a period of convalescence up to mid-November. Turns out the condition I had at the time, whilst quite serious although not having any long term effects, at the time would have caused confusion among other things (unsure whether to include this last bit). I wrote to and told this to both NPC and DCBL in light of trying to get the situation resolved as it was causing undue stress and inhibiting the recovery period (especially as DCBL was sending letters with "Can't Pay We'll Take it away) across half of the letter), with neither even acknowledging my situation. Both kept saying it was the other's responsibility to resolve. 

- Abuse of process with the addition of £60 for "damages" and questioning their legal authority. 

I think that's everything which I can legitimately use as evidence. 

I did even send a signed recorded letter to the MD of NPC which was received and signed for (got not direct response) just to prove a point. But not sure I can use that as evidence. 

One thing I noticed on the form was that there can be a counter claim (for a fee). Has anyone ever successfully done this and on what grounds? 

I was thinking of trying to claim for the number of hours wasted on hold, researching and writing letters when this whole debacle seems to me, completely unnecessary. 

If successful, I'd donate the money as I'm running at the start of April to raise funds the NHS. Just wondering if it would be a futile exercise and whether I'd be better just aiming for the whole thing to be cleared. 

Thanks in advance 

KeithP

mwalford92 said:

After a few months of back and forth I've received a Claim form today from the Northampton Civil Court. 

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

mwalford92

Issue date is the 15th March. Letter states that the I have 14 days from the date of service to respond/ come up with a defence, which starts 5 days following the issue date.

KeithP

mwalford92 said:

Issue date is the 15th March. Letter states that the I have 14 days from the date of service to respond/ come up with a defence, which starts 5 days following the issue date.

That's not quite what it says, but read on... 

With a Claim Issue Date of 15th March, you have until Wednesday 3rd April to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 17th April 2024 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

nopcns

A counterclaim is not likely to succeed. Have you read the Newbies/FAQ thread?

Have you looked at the template defence? It is all there for you to send. You only have to add one paragraph. Easy to defend.

Please have a thorough read of the Newbies/FAQ thread first though.

Coupon-mad

Show us the POC.