PCN charge notice and appeal process non complaint? Cause for appeal?

Thetimehascome

Can anyone help with advice please?

We have a dispute with National Parking Group Ltd, NPG. We received a £170 notice of debt recovery from DCBL their appointed collectors for a failed payment of a £100 APNR Parking Charge for a leased vehicle due to an alleged late response/ payment to the original NPG postal notification.  This original notification was not received and NPG are refusing to allow an appeal due to the late response to the notification that was not received by us.

Also, despite repeatedly requesting details of the alleged incident so we could investigate this was only provided after further escalation in the debt collector process by NPG to ‘Final Reminder’ from DCBL and now, due to passing to DCBL NPG are refusing to discuss the matter further.

NPC have on their notices in car parks that they are BPA members and in the Parking Charge notice sent to us (attached) they claim ‘the car-park operator has agreed to adhere to an ATA Code of Practice’   

Am I it right to assume that NPG is the car-park operator?

Should the letter sent advise they follow BPA appeal practice?

Printed on the back of the Parking Charge Notice they advise to appeal to National Parking Control Group Ltd directly and that they must receive this within 21 days of the date of issue.

However, we have noted that the ATA code of practice states that the notification window is 28 days  Guidance on Section 56 and Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: Recovery of Unpaid Parking Charges section 15.4

Does this show that they are not following the code of practice they agreed to and in itself would this be a breach of process, by not providing adequate time to appeal?

Although through no fault of our own we missed the imposed appeal window it seems the process is not in line with agreed practice and does not give the full time allowed for appeal.

We will be defending the charge as unreasonable regardless of the process issue.  It was issued for a vehicle that was waiting with the driver and a passenger inside the area for under 15 minutes but not parked in any space whilst a necessary urgent collection was made from the adjacent building and the car could not wait on the highway. £100 or now £170 is not a reasonable charge.

Should signage indicate no waiting or any time period allowed within an area? 

Thanks to anyone for advice.

Thetimehascome

This is the Appeals page in the notice period from the Guidance on Section 56 and Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: Recovery of Unpaid Parking Charges section 15.4

Gr1pr

NPC , National Parking Control, so NPC Group, are a Parking company acting on behalf of the landowner, so a contractor , called NPC , not NPG 

The signage onsite displays the terms and conditions that the undisclosed driver agreed to by performance, that was the contract they made on the day

The Jopson appeal case may apply to this due to unloading or loading, not parking 

As its a lease vehicle, only read the sections in POFA and the relevant code of practice (  IPC Not BPA  )  that relates to hire or lease vehicles, so 21 days is correct, which applies to the Notice to Hirer, NtH, so an appeal to the NTH, which never happened 

Fruitcake

NPC are IPC trade association members, so the BPA CoP is not relevant.

DCB Limited, or DCB Legal Limited?

Plan A is always a complaint to the landowner from the keeper.

Plan B is an appeal, if possible, from the keeper to the PPC. Note that the NTK is not PoFA compliant and therefore the keeper cannot be held liable, so it is imperative that the driver's identity is never revealed.

Plan C, for IPC members, is to ignore debt collectors and patiently wait to see if the keeper receives a letter of/before claim, or a court claim.

Coupon-mad

Should the letter sent advise they follow BPA appeal practice?

No because they aren't in the BPA AOS.

This is just NPC. Read other threads.

FWIW (diddly squat, IMHO) they are an IPC AOS member. They don't have to offer 28 days to appeal, not that any appeal would have worked. It's a farce. 

Ignore until you get the LBC from DCB Legal.  Unless you can get the landowner to cancel it but you'll know that advice already from reading NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST.

LDast

Who are NPG that you keep referring to?

Who is the NtK addressed to? Is it you, the Lessee/hirer or is it addressed to the lease/hire company and been forwarded to you, the lessee/hirer?

You have redacted too much as we need to see all dates in the NtK.

Please answer the questions about who is the NtK addressed to first. Only the person/company on the NtK can respond. Under no circumstances reveal the identity of the driver, inadvertently or otherwise.

If you read the Newbies/FAQ thread, you will understand why, especially with a hire/lease vehicle. As long as the driver is not identified, you have what is known as a "golden ticket". Don't waste it by blabbing the identity of the driver.

Thorndorise

@Thetimehascome
Any updates on this thread?

LDast

@Thetimehascome has not been active on the site since mid June. Often a sign that they capitulated and have become a part of the scam.