PCN paid for by leasing company

Coupon-mad

Ask G24 for a partially redacted VRM entry log from that day and to leave fully visible any unmatched entries.

Do you have a second car that could have been keyed in or used as default by mistake? If yes, ask them to look for that VRM.

travellover123

Coupon-mad said:

Ask G24 for a partially redacted VRM entry log from that day and to leave fully visible any unmatched entries.

Do you have a second car that could have been keyed in or used as default by mistake? If yes, ask them to look for that VRM.

Nope, I’m 100% sure I typed in my reg with the last two letters swapped so not sure why they can’t find it. I’ll email them asking for what you said though, thank you! 

travellover123

Hi all, 

Finally an update on this, the leasing company have accepted defeat! 

They replied back saying: "We are pleased to inform you that, on this occasion, our Fine and Penalty team has decided to issue a credit for the charges, recognizing you as a valuable customer.
This will be processed as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

Annoying that they haven't admited fault and are trying to pass it off as a gesture of good will but they have refunded me so i'll take it. 

The leasing company is Lex Autolease btw. 

Here is the email/LoC I sent incase anyone needs it in the future. Many thanks to @Half_way for drafting this for me! 

"Letter of Claim (LoC)

To whom it may concern at Lex,

I am in receipt of your response and I am rejecting your reply as at best it is factually incorrect and full of falsehoods, at worse it is a deliberate attempt by yourselves to deceive and lie in order to obtain money from myself by deception for which you have no right to do so.

For example your letter clearly states

"Your Complaint

We received your complaint on the 6th of September 2024 by email. Our understanding is that you are dissatisfied with the fine and penalty process"

No fine has been issued, likewise no penalty has been issued, your above statement is false.

"You have indicated that Lex did not provide you with an opportunity to contest the parking charge. As Lex has already paid the charge, you can no longer challenge the penalty."

As previous, no penalty has been issued, again another false statement from yourselves.

Penalties and fines are completely separate and legally distinct from parking charge notices. It is somewhat concerning that your internal investigation appears not to have involved consulting someone in the legal profession who would be aware that a parking charge notice is not a fine and/or a penalty. This brings doubt onto the thoroughness of the investigation.

"Our investigation reveals that Lex paid this fine because we were unable to transfer the liability in accordance with the issuing authority’s process, which aligns with the procedures outlined in your lease agreement. If you wish to appeal the fine, you will need to contact the issuing authority directly.”

Again another false statement, there was no fine, and there was no issuing authority involved, this "ticket/charge" relates to an un regulated so-called parking company that belongs to a private members trade association known as the British Parking Association, the BPA have the following statement on their website:

"We are a membership association and not a regulatory body."   (https://www.britishparking.co.uk/about)

There is a process to transfer liability to a hirer/lessee, indeed the BVRLA has published such guidance and it continues to concern me that Lex is not aware of this process, or has wilfully ignored it.

I will not be held liable or responsible for your own mistakes/stupidity and I do not appreciate having my valuable time wasted as a result of your incompetence, if you have paid these then that is a result of your own incompetence and you will not charge me.

Please accept this as my Letter of Claim (LoC). You have 14 days to refund my money or I will have no other choice but to issue a claim in the county court to recover my costs including my time which currently stands at £36 for two hours.As a gesture of goodwill I am prepared to waive my charges of £36 (for time spent on this  so far) on the condition that you refund me the charges that you have paid as a result of your own errors, and you educate and train your staff accordingly so that no future mistakes like this do not occur again.

Please pass this email on to your legal advisors if you are unable to comprehend the reason for it.

I look forward to a positive response from you on this issue.

Many thanks,"

And many thanks to everyone who's commented on this thread and helped me with all of this! 

Now just waiting on G24s response about the 3rd PCN. I will admit, I've been very busy and have only just contacted them about the VRMs 

Gr1pr

Well done, perseverance and knowing the facts have won out against incompetence and stupidity, especially given the 12 years since POFA arrived plus the BVRLA memorandum of understanding must be some years ago too

G24 will probably reject the third PCN appeal, but at least you are in control of the future on that one 

Jambo27

I contacted Arval Leasing about the same issue, where they paid the Charge Notice..... while it was in a POPLA appeal. They informed me that they didn't give the parking company a copy of the argreement because it would have breached data protection and now the parking company are requesting one, so they paid.

I asked why they didn't send a redacted version OR why haven't followed the guidence from the BVRLA. The agent told me they didn't know about the guidence !!!

PoFA is over 10 years old now, and this massive company don't know how to deal with it. Talk about punching yourself in the face and blaming someone else.

It's a company car, I have nothing to do with vehicle department and they won't show me the contract. The company I work for took a look at a low resoultion, only just readable photo of a sign that Arval forwarded from the Parking company and said to me, "I can see it says 2 hours and their notice said you was there longer, so I'm happy to accept it and will be taken from your wages".

I informed my employer that Arval have voluntary ignored PoFA & the BVRLA guidelines, plus the Parking company have breached PoFA amongst other things.

Not sure if I can threaten Arval with charges like you did as I'm not the leesee, but I am going through their complaints procedure and if not successfull will them go to the BVRLA.

travellover123

Hi all, 

Hope you’ve been well. 

I’m getting calls from bailiff companies and letters saying they will start court proceedings against me and this could out a ccj on my credit report. 

I’m really scared, should I just pay the £170 fine? I don’t want this taken to court or for my credit report to be impacted 

Car1980

Have you had a court claim form in the post?

Which debt collectors?

You'd need to fail to defend or lose in court AND fail to pay within 28 days for your credit report to be affected.

h2g2

Who is threatening to sue you here?

Not the leasing company, surely? They agreed not to charge you.

Not the PPC either, though? I thought the registered keeper (the hire company) had paid?

travellover123

Car1980 said:

Have you had a court claim form in the post?

Which debt collectors?

You'd need to fail to defend or lose in court AND fail to pay within 28 days for your credit report to be affected.

I don’t think it’s a court claim form. 

It just says final notice of debt recovery and then I received a call today too. 

I think “direct collection bailiffs Ltd” 

Ahh okay that’s relief! But will I have to pay more if I lose in court? 

travellover123

h2g2 said:

Who is threatening to sue you here?

Not the leasing company, surely? They agreed not to charge you.

Not the PPC either, though? I thought the registered keeper (the hire company) had paid?

Nope all’s good with the leasing company. 

The PPC as there were two tickets, one of them the leasing company paid the other one they nominated me for and I did appeal but they rejected the appeal