Help needed. Gladstones first response after letter before claim

Okissaki · 23 August 2024 at 10:16AM

Hello all, while visiting my parents in near Manchester on the morning of December 20th 2023 I was woken by my mother at 5 am to be told my father (68) was driving himself to an operation he had been strictly instructed by the hospital not to drive home from post-op due to him going under anaesthesia and would I be able to drive him in.

I of course got straight up and drove him in for his op at 7am. It was a very cold morning and we arrived to the area where the hospital was in plenty of time, I suggested I should put some air in my tyres as it would be safer for me on the journey back home. I put the nearest garage into the gps and headed to it.

When I arrived the Air refill station was occupied so parked behind the car which was using it. My father said, lets wait 5 minutes, can you go to the shop next door and get me a newspaper to read after the operation. He waited in the car, I came back and the person using the air pressure machine still hadn't finished. We decided that we didn't want to wait any longer as not to be late and drove to the hospital. I had been "parked" for 2 and a half minutes.

Later I received a parking fine of £60 declaring that any vehicle found parked onsite who's driver has gone elsewhere is liable for a parking charge notice (PCN).

I used the money saving expert thread and appealed to euro parking services stating that the petrol station was unable to provide the service required for me to be a patron and that the signs were unclear. I was denied my appeal, I then moved to the next stage of letter before claim and followed what I only just realised to be an older thread on the forum. In my letter I requested a fully compliant letter before county court claim.

I have now received a response from Gladstones stating:"We believe our Letter before Claim is compliant with the most up to date version of the Pre-Action Protocol (‘the Protocol’) however and without concession, we would be grateful for clarification as to your position with respect to non-compliance with the same. Further, your appeal was received by our Client and rejected. A copy is attached. With that being said, our Client remains satisfied that the charge was issued correctly and £160.00 remains outstanding. In the absence of payment by 19/09/2024, our Client may elect to issue proceedings without further notice."I'm now uncertain of how to proceed and as such feel like I'm losing my nerve a bit with the process.Apologies for the essay.Any help or advice is welcome.Thank you for taking the time to read this.