Parking Awareness Charge notice received - leaving country indefinitely.

lollykins

Hi all - what an amazing resource!

TL;DR
The shortened version is -
0) Received PAS PCN for "contravening parking signs" outside a shop which was closed at the time (21:00 closing time). The ANPR recorded my car  arriving 21:01 and 21:08. I was told on the phone (during plan A), the restrictions are for 24 hours (see section , I didn't notice the signs as it was getting dark, thought it was a side road. The shop is in the neighbouring borough (i.e. not local). 

1) Plan A failed (see section

2) I came to this resource AFTER putting my appeal in online and unfortunately stated I was the driver (see section C)

3) I am leaving the country March 2025 indefinitely (not doing a runner haha). I am intending to return(so I need to be financially/legally sound). If I follow process (assuming I can because of admitting I was the driver, and the 24 hour restriction on sign), I know I will not be able to return easily to attend court if it comes to that, and if I lose, it will have cost me a fortune to get back here (£1000+) - even if I do only end up paying the charge cost.

4) If I was in the UK for the duration, it would have been a no-brainer for me to defend my case, but now after writing this out, as GALLING as it seems, I feel that it would be more "sensible" for me to pay the charge - but to also continue writing to my MP/comment on social media and review sites. 

Your thoughts would be much appreciated! Thanks again for this great reference.




===========================================================================
Details below:

(A) Scenario - Saturday 3 August, stopped to take a call? or fix something in the car. Drove into and stopped into what I thought was a side road - turned out it was an ANPR/CCTV watched area outside a shop with reserved parking for their customers. I received a Charge Notice Monday 12 Aug by post and had to do some digging to work out why I had received it. According to the "evidence", I had stayed in the area from 21:01 and left at 21:08, they cited a period of SIX minutes. 

(B) So I enacted Plan A - in part to confirm why I received this charge notice. There are a number of online complaints on review sites about receiving charge notices relating to this shop (over 20 over the last two or three years).

Apparently, you have to go into the shop and register on a tablet - but you need to specfically ask for it. One customer followed process, but a charge notice was issued, went back into the shop to complain, but the owner refused to cancel the PCN. 

I asked the call taker what the time shop closes, and was told the latest would be 21:00. The shops were all closed by the time I parked up, but apparently the restriction is for 24 hours. I asked about cancelling it, but the call taker said sorry, nothing to do with us, you can appeal. He claimed that they had 25 "tickets" to give customers, but this was the first time that he had heard that this situation had happened. The shop is not in my locality it is about 15 minutes drive away. So Plan A did not work. 

Furthermore, I couldn't even rectify my error by going into the shop to register as the shop was already closed.

But since the restriction is for 24 hours am I stuffed anyway?

(C) Unfortunately, I came to look at this amazing encyclopaedia of information AFTER I had completed the appeal form to PAS, and alas stated that I was the driver. Argh!

I understand that they will just ignore my appeal anyway and there will be series of letters which I should ignore until the County Court request. 

(D) I understand this could continue for up to 6 years, and I would be more than happy to let this run its course. However, I am leaving the country for several years from March 2025, and it would be a very costly affair for me to return to attend court (£1000+), and there is a possibility that I would not be able to due to responsiblities. I have seen that I could claim costs, but if there is a risk that I could lose, I would pay the fine £100 and then have had to bare the cost of travel/flights - I hate to ask - should I just pay the charge and make sure I complain to my MP/comment on social media/review sites/speak to Ombudsman. This is a bit of a weird situation I know. 

Thank you for your assistance and brilliant reference. 

Coupon-mad

You are not stuffed.

String them along until 2025 then inform them of your new address abroad and tell them to erase the old UK address because you now live and work, and are domiciled in COUNTRY.

lollykins

Ok! Thank you so much for reading my tome and replying!

Do they sometimes give up before the 6 year mark after looking at the evidence? Or is it a given that I will have to defend my case sooner or later? 

When I tell them "domiciled in country" does that say to them I am out of the country for now, but intend to return. Or does that mean that I am out of the country for now -  I've heard that before being used to refer to club members who are living abroad. Apologies, I did try to Google and I think that's what it means. 

Liz

Grizebeck

Irrelevant what they do
Just tell them when you move abroad

Zbubuman

Do as already stated. don worry about it and when you leave the country just write to them from abroad ( via email is fine) stating this is my new and current address in the event of service ( bla bla bla , Italy) or whatever address it is, and to ERASE any old addresses they hold for you.

Chances are that they will write it off and not seek court action ( expenditure will not justify any potential returns for them, especially if you are now in a foreign country where they, and any of their lackey debt collectors/bailiffs have no jurisdiction)

Coupon-mad

lollykins said:

Ok! Thank you so much for reading my tome and replying!

Do they sometimes give up before the 6 year mark after looking at the evidence? Or is it a given that I will have to defend my case sooner or later? 

When I tell them "domiciled in country" does that say to them I am out of the country for now, but intend to return. Or does that mean that I am out of the country for now -  I've heard that before being used to refer to club members who are living abroad. Apologies, I did try to Google and I think that's what it means. 

Liz

It means you live in a different country. Obviously you insert the name of the Country though.

Living abroad means they can't sue you, as long as you make sure they cannot process your old address data to send a claim there.  Hence my words.

Do NOT add your own version of what I said. Certainly not "out of the country for now".  Don't imply it's temporary!

And there is a reason to use the word 'erase'.

lollykins

Ah thanks, I've got you now. 

I will ensure I will use your words exactly, sending them an email asking them to erase my UK address from the records, stating I'm domiciled in Hong Kong. 

No more, no less. 

Thanks everyone for your comments, it is much appreciated. 

Liz

Coupon-mad

Only once you've moved of course!