Countrywide Parking Management - PCN issued while parked on my land

baart77

Hi all,

Where I live there is a communal area that CPM manages with a clearly marked area for guests that requires a parking permit. I always park my car in front of my garage on a land that belongs to me. Got a PCN letter from them today saying that my car was parked without displaying a permit with a picture of the car in front of my garrage. Actually issued while I was at home. I am sure I can get it cancelled but I am also thinking that maybe I should complain somewhere and make their life more difficult if at all possible. If it costs them money even better. Successfully dealt with them in court previously (with this forum's help) might as well carry on. Any suggestions what to do?

Thanks,

B.

Debszzzz2

When you say the land "belongs to me", do you mean that you own the land (title) or that it is land demised to you as part of your lease? What does your lease say about parking? What it doesn't say about parking is equally important.

baart77

I own the land with a title, no requirement to display the permit ever. They only manage the communal area and there is a requirement to display the permit there. It is in the agreement with the management company.

Fruitcake

You could send a cease and desist instruction to the PPC, stating you are the landowner, which they can verify with the Land Registry, and you withdraw any implied right of access to your property and warn them that if they subsequently obtain your keeper data from the DVLA and issue a PCN against your vehicle whilst parked on your land, you have the right to issue a claim against them for data breaches.
You should instruct the DPO of the PPC to erase your data.

If you don't want to warn them, you could issue a letter before claim for their data breach because they unlawfully purchased and processed your personal data, and demand they compensate you to the sum of £250 (reduced to £165 if paid within 14 days if you are feeling generous) or you will issue a court claim for if they fail to pay within 30 days. If they fail to comply then you could issue a claim against them for, say, £250 for data breaches. For such breaches, you don't have to prove financial loss, merely that the defendant had no right to obtain and process your data.

You could instruct the MA to instruct their agent to cease and desist, otherwise, as principal, they will be liable for, and included in,  any claim you make for data breaches.

You could complain to the DVLA, and the DVLA KADOE team with proof of landownership, that they had unlawfully sold your personal data, and require them to put a block on any further requests by CPM for PCNs issued against you for parking in your own space. 
If you are not satisfied with their response, you could complain to the ICO about the DVLA.

You should complain to your MP in any case. Their constituents should not be suffering data breaches and harassment and demands for monies with menaces for parking their own vehicles on their own property, and the DVLA should not be unlawfully selling their constituents' data to unregulated private parking companies.

baart77

Wow, sounds serious, I like it They have already obtained the keeper data from DVLA. There was no windscreen ticket, just the usual  letter.

Debszzzz2

Irrespective if it is in the agreement with the management company, what is important is what your head lease says or doesn't say.

You are within your rights to sue both CPM and the management company (they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents). Others will post here exactly what rights have been breached. 

Article 12 of the UK GDPR legally requires data controllers to store and process personal data accurately: clearly, any data controller issuing an invoice to you because it has wrongly recorded that you parked in breach of the alleged contract between you and the landowner (or, as in this case, an agent of the landowner) is processing your personal data unlawfully.

The precedents for claiming damages and compensation for such unlawful processing are the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Zeta Jones & Douglas v Hello! Magazine [2003] EWHC 786 and Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd (CCF) [2013] EWCA Civ 333, both being binding on all County Courts in England and Wales.  In the latter claim, Mr Halliday was awarded compensation of £750 at what the Court regarded was the lowest level of award, and although this was a claim under Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998, similar provisions - amended to take account of a decision by the EU Grand Chamber that the 1998 Act did not properly implement EU law into UK domestic legislation - replaced the old Section 13 provisions with Article 12 of the UK GDPR and Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

In short, you ought to give 21 days notice (the pre-action protocol only really requires 14 days but hey, you can be charitable!) to the data controller of your intention to seek (say) £300 nominal damages and compensation under Article 12 of the UK GDPR and Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018 for their unlawful processing of your personal data: you could say that you will only file a claim with the County Court  for £100 if they confirm in writing that all references to this alleged debt have been deleted within (say) 14 days. Clearly mark your letter as a "Letter before County Court proceedings".

Anyone who is fairly confident can claim as a litigant-in-person in Part 27 proceedings in the County Court (commonly but wrongly described as "the Small Claims Court").  Each party is responsible for their own legal costs whether they win or lose and the claim for £300 can be issued online for a fee of £35 at moneyclaimonline.gov.uk which also gives useful advice if you want to have a look at what is involved.  Your claim will automatically be listed as being for a total of £335, i.e. the successful party gets their Court fees back.

baart77

Thank you for the suggestions, it is a little bit too technical for me, are there any templates available that I could follow? Or shall I try the no win no fee firms google returned when I checked data breach claim?

baart77

Debszzzz2 said:

Irrespective if it is in the agreement with the management company, what is important is what your head lease says or doesn't say.

There is no lease at all. The land is owned by all the people living there, 10 houses in total, so each owns 1/10th It is managed by the agent and the permit scheme applying to the visitors' zone is a part of the management agreement.

Coupon-mad

baart77 said:

Thank you for the suggestions, it is a little bit too technical for me, are there any templates available that I could follow? Or shall I try the no win no fee firms google returned when I checked data breach claim?

No!            

baart77

Coupon-mad said:

No!            

No, as in no templates or No, as in don't use no win no fee?

Half_way

If you have no requirement to display a permit, and/or pay a third party for not doing so, that is its your space your land etc,

Take a selfie of yourself sitting on your toilet and send it the parking company:

 Please find attached a picture of myself sitting on the toilet about to take a sht, this is my toilet on my land and i am not displaying a permit to use it as asking of such would be ridiculous

 Please also find a picture of a vehicle registered to myself parked on my land in my space , whicle the car isnt taking a sht it also has no requirement to display a permit, so you must sop sending me garbage demands for payments you are not entitled to.

 Please do not send any more paper in the post wsting even more precious resources, if you have already printed off more of your rubbish may i suggest you roll it up tightly apply vaseline and shove it where the sun doesnt shine