Parkingeye Letter Before Claim - Advice on what to do next

someboody

Hi guys,

I got a parking charge notice from Parkingeye in a retail car park and the machine was not working. Unfortunately, I did not know of the MSE thread on dealing with parking fines and feel I am "off-track" in terms of following the guidance here and would appreciate if some kind souls can offer some guidance.

Here's an overview of my scenario:

Overview

• 2 hours free parking in the car park. 3 hrs charge is £1.80
  
• Was not sure if I overstayed the 2 hours or not
• Got fine in the post for overstaying by 12 minutes
  
• 2 machines in the car park:

1. Machine 1: Out of order - have pics
2. Machine 2: Entered reg on the machine - does not accept the coins or display any price. Therefore assumed I was within free period - and quickly dashed to the car to leave. Got pic of machine screen with reg on
   

• No alternative means to pay - e.g. by phone, app, website on the signage - machine only
• No way to find out what time I entered and amount due from the machines
  
• Had I not wasted time faffing around trying to get the machine to work, I would have been out of the car park and not overstayed by 12 mins.
  

• Received letter on 14th date of "issue date". Sent off an appeal to explain the above.
• Never heard back from them - kept checking my post, emails and their online portal - nothing
  

Where I'm at now:

• Received a Letter Before County Court Claim last month stating that when my appeal was rejected, I had 28 days to lodge a further appeal with POPLA which has now expired and they are now demanding the £100 + additional £25 charge. If I choose to contact them , I should do so within 30 days
• THIS WAS THE FIRST I FOUND OUT MY APPEAL WAS REJECTED and now I cannot go through POPLA because I was not aware that my appeal was rejected (and for what reason). It feels like they set me up to not be able to appeal through POPLA which I intended to do.
• I replied to this Letter Before County Court Claim via post (Signed, recorded delivery) asking them to send proof they sent me an appeal rejection + to reinstate the 28 day period to appeal through POPLA
• Their response (received today):
  
• "As the Letter Before Claim has now been issued, we are unable to consider any further correspondence" You have 14 days to pay the £125 charge. 
• Attached to the letter were copies of:
• 1.  parking charge notice + 
• 2. the appeal rejection letter (which I did not receive and first read today - it appears to have been sent by email - checked my inbox - nothing there - only the appeal receipt email from that email address) 
• 3. copy of the Letter Before County Claim which they sent last

What to do next?

• I've still no idea why my appeal was rejected - machine not working - I have a static picture of the machine with my reg on it. Would this be insufficient evidence in court? Therefore Parkingeye think it is worth them pursuing it?
• The appeal rejection letter which they show to have been sent by email was never received by me. The burden of proof is on them to prove they sent it - they sent a screenshot of the email headers and body of the email - is that enough to convince a judge? I genuinely did not receive the email so did not know I could appeal to POPLA. It feels like they intentionally did not send the appeal response to stop me going to POPLA?
  
• Is it too late to complain to the land owner? How do I find out who the land owner is to complain of the machines not working?
• Any advice on how to proceed going forward would be much appreciated as this is the first time I have encountered a fine. I genuinely feel it is unfair and it has built up a lot of frustration, anger and hate for parking firms that behave in such an unscrupulous manner.
  

KeithP

Wait patiently for a Claim Form to drop through your letter-box then post again on this thread with the Issue Date.

The usual reason for not receiving notices - they are not penalties or fines - is that the vehicle's Registration Document(V5c) wasn't updated following a house move.
Is your vehicle's Registration Document in order? Please check.

Gr1pr

Parking Eye definitely did not issue a Penalty notice, it was a Parking Charge Notice, a private PCN, an invoice , its not a fine either 

ALWAYS, always complain about it to the landowner, especially now. !  Just do it ASAP 

Use the complaint link for PE on the BPA AOS members list to complain about not receiving the rejection, so you want a new popla code , see what they come back with, regardless of what they have said already, just do it

Landowner advice below 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6337652/how-to-find-details-of-landowner

Coupon-mad

• Their response (received today):
  
• "As the Letter Before Claim has now been issued, we are unable to consider any further correspondence" You have 14 days to pay the £125 charge. 

Please show us a photo of that reply. I'd like to show the new Ministers in the DLUHC what exactly the added £25 fake DRA fee (that PEye invented for themselves only last year) is achieving.

It sure ain't debt resolution!

someboody

A year on from this, I've received a Claim Form from the court on 31 March 2025. 

Not sure whether to suck it up and pay the £210 (after fees) charge or genuinely contest it in court.

My concerns:

• Credit score impact - If I lose in court, will my credit score be impacted in any way (even if very minor). I can pay it the same day if the judge decides against me. I don't want any impact to my credit score. 
• Going on holiday in May - If I choose to defend, I'm worried the court hearing date may fall while I'm on holiday which means I can't attend and may lose by default.

Could someone please advise me on the best course of action in my case? I'm quite stressed and I either need to file an Acknowledgement of Service or pay up by tomorrow.

Thank you

Gr1pr

No CCJ against you as long as you paid it in full within 30 days  ( it would not be your credit score,  it would actually impact your credit file if it remained unpaid , but is expunged after full payment within the grace period   ) it might be less too

So no impact at all if you fully complied,  promptly,  worrying about nothing 

Court hearings take months,  so more likely to be autumn or winter.  Besides the fact that at the N180 stage you inform them of unavailable dates, so worrying for nothing 

Defend it,  nothing to lose, get the newbies sticky thread post 2 read and use the Dropbox link to do your AOS online via MCOL ASAP 

Is it an internal Parking Eye claim   ?  Or are DCB Legal involved too  ?

Coupon-mad

Defend it. No brainer!

someboody

Gr1pr said:

No CCJ against you as long as you paid it in full within 30 days  ( it would not be your credit score,  it would actually impact your credit file if it remained unpaid , but is expunged after full payment within the grace period   ) it might be less too

So no impact at all if you fully complied,  promptly,  worrying about nothing 

Court hearings take months,  so more likely to be autumn or winter.  Besides the fact that at the N180 stage you inform them of unavailable dates, so worrying for nothing 

Defend it,  nothing to lose, get the newbies sticky thread post 2 read and use the Dropbox link to do your AOS online via MCOL ASAP 

Is it an internal Parking Eye claim   ?  Or are DCB Legal involved too  ?

Thank you for replying - I didn't realise I can inform them of unavailable dates. It's an internal ParkingEye claim, no mention of DCB Legal at any point. I guess I will file an AOS via MCOL seeing as there's no impact to my credit file. 

Will keep this thread updated. If anyone has any further advice, it would be most appreciated. 

Coupon-mad

Copy another recent ParkingEye in-house claim defence because there's an extra point about them adding £25 that isn't on the signs.

Gr1pr

If the ISSUED date top right   ( not received date, which is irrelevant  and always later ) was 31st March 2025, doing the AOS online ASAP means that the defence deadline date is 4pm on Tuesday 6th May 2025, by email,  nothing else 

Study the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum,  carefully,  post 2,  regarding court claims and advice to contest it properly , including the template defence against them

If dcb legal were involved,  it would be in the second box down on the left of the form

Post a redacted picture of the POC on the lower left of the claim form after hiding the VRM details first