Disputing an already-paid Parking Charge Notice I received in a hire car

moritzloast

Hi all,

I hired a car with Europcar over the New Year period to drive through Wales, and then received a notification from Europcar a few days ago that I had received a parking charge from One Parking Solution during my rental. I had parked in a car park run by them, and according to the notice I overstayed the duration of the parking ticket I purchased there by a few minutes. The charge is frankly bogus (the car park has lots of negative reviews online from people who ended up with similar charges from them, and there are also stories of successful appeals) and I would have been very confident of getting it overturned (there were, for example, no English-language signs visible at the entrance stating that a ticket had to be purchased within 10 minutes of arrival, which apparently was a rule in that car park), but the problem is that Europcar have already paid the charge on my behalf (and are now requesting that I reimburse them + a £45 admin fee). They reserve the right in their T&Cs to pay any parking fines/notices/charges themselves at their own discretion. The email I received from them to notify me of the fine states that I must appeal to the issuing body directly, and that Europcar will then reimburse me if the issuer agrees to cancel the notice and refund the balance. The email also included a third party authorisation letter to allow me to establish direct contact despite not being the vehicle keeper. However, in practice, it is not possible to start an appeal for an already-paid charge, since paying the charge is seen as accepting fault. As such I'm not even able to view the evidence that was provided by One Parking Solution for the charge in the first place, and the online function to open a claim just tells me that my charge is not eligible for one.

What would be the best way to proceed here? As far as I can tell the only option I have left is to try to appeal to One Parking Solution via post (this is offered as an alternative to the online form), but I assume they will just ignore my request since they already have the money from Europcar. I have thought about trying to give them a ring too, but the general advice on here seems to be not to do that. The amount I'm being asked to pay is over £100 including the admin fee, which is really a lot, and it's extremely frustrating to have had the option of an appeal taken away from me by Europcar (it's hard to believe the extent to which their T&Cs are pitted against the hirer in cases like mine).

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Fruitcake

Your beef is with the hire company, not the unregulated private parking company.

First of all, carefully read what your hire agreement says. It will probably mention fines, penalties, authorities, and toll charges, but does it specifically mention parking charge notices from (unregulated) private parking companies?
Some hire companies do, some don't.

Even if the contract does mention parking charge notices from private parking companies, this is an unfair contract term and breaches the Consumer Rights Act 2015 because it removes the motorist's right to appeal.

Europcar are members of a trade association called the BVRLA that has told all it's members not to pay these charges, but to inform the hirer, and to pass the hirer's details to the parking company.

Complain to Europcar, remind them what they have been instructed to do by the BVRLA, point out that by removing your right to appeal, this constitutes an unfair contract. Also state that by failing to transfer liability to you, the hirer, they have admitted liability for their actions by conduct.
Tell them that if they try to unlawfully pass the charge to you, you will put the charge in dispute with your financial provider (bank or credit car as appropriate) and will be complaining to the BVRLA, the landowner, and your MP.

Then, complain to the landowner, the BVRLA and your MP about the unfair actions of this unregulated private parking company.

This link should be useful.

BVRLA guidelines on transfer of liability — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Coupon-mad

Just refuse to pay Europcar, because they didn't transfer liability to you.  Get your bank to refuse the payment as unauthorised.

moritzloast

Thanks for the responses. Regarding the BVRLA, I have read this elsewhere too but was unable to find the clause in their guidelines about not paying these kinds of charges. This is all I found:

Paying and recharging

Rental and leasing companies that choose to pay a private parking charge notice and recharge it to
their customer should ensure that their rental/leasing agreement allows them to do this.
A sample clause, which would allow you to pay and recharge, is:
“You will be responsible for paying the following charges:
All charges and legal costs for any congestion charge, road traffic offence parking offence or
parking notice, or any other offence involving the rental vehicle, including from the vehicle
being clamped, seized or towed away.”

I don't see anything which suggests that invoices from private companies fall into a different category from those which are issued by regulated bodies? In any case it's possible for me to block the payment, but unless I'm missing something it doesn't seem like I have a leg to stand on in doing that.

Coupon-mad

It depends what the actual clause says in Europcar's agreement.

See the Arval thread from yesterday.

moritzloast

This is what's in the Europcar terms:

"9.3.1.3 If we receive a penalty charge notice or a parking charge notice that is issued by any issuing body for
the Vehicle during your Hire Period and which is capable of being paid then we may pay it. Our reasons for doing so include, but are not limited to, mitigating the cost and because we do not have the correct paperwork to transfer liability. We retain absolute discretion as to whether to pay such charges. If we elect to do so, you will reimburse us the said charge plus our Third Party Administration Charge (for each charge we pay or each time we deal with such correspondence)"

An issuing body is further specified as any of:

"police or other enforcement agencies or other issuing authorities where a driving offence or suspected driving offence has been committed during a Hire Period; and either a public or a private enforcement agency that is entitled to issue parking charge notices and associated fines where a purported or actual breach of contract has arisen"

So from Europcar alone I don't see much room to accuse them of going against their terms. And unless I'm missing something, the same seems to apply to the BVRLA too.

Coupon-mad

Did they pay the PCN at £60?

kryten3000

Now the hire companies are perpetuating the scam.  I've seen this recently with lease companies too, just one reason why I will never lease a car unless I am the Registered Keeper for the duration.

nigelbb

moritzloast said:

This is what's in the Europcar terms:

"9.3.1.3 If we receive a penalty charge notice or a parking charge notice that is issued by any issuing body for
the Vehicle during your Hire Period and which is capable of being paid then we may pay it. Our reasons for doing so include, but are not limited to, mitigating the cost and because we do not have the correct paperwork to transfer liability. We retain absolute discretion as to whether to pay such charges. If we elect to do so, you will reimburse us the said charge plus our Third Party Administration Charge (for each charge we pay or each time we deal with such correspondence)"

An issuing body is further specified as any of:

"police or other enforcement agencies or other issuing authorities where a driving offence or suspected driving offence has been committed during a Hire Period; and either a public or a private enforcement agency that is entitled to issue parking charge notices and associated fines where a purported or actual breach of contract has arisen"

So from Europcar alone I don't see much room to accuse them of going against their terms. And unless I'm missing something, the same seems to apply to the BVRLA too.

They have breached their T&Cs as while a "private enforcement agency" has issued you with a "parking charge notice" they have not issued "associated fines" as One Parking Solution are a Private Parking Company who issue invoices for alleged breach of contract not fines.

Even if the contract didn't mention fines it's an unfair contract term if they pay an invoice dressed up as a PCN instead of transferring liability to you to allow you to appeal. What if the PCN had been for £100 or £500? You cannot be held liable to an open ended commitment to pay any PCN when there is a mechanism to transfer liability to the hirer.

moritzloast

@Coupon-mad that's right yes, they paid the £60 charge.

@nigelbb that's an interesting point about the T&Cs I hadn't noticed, thanks for that. I had read it as 'or associated fines' rather than 'and associated fines', and that makes a big difference in this case. I'll go ahead and write a complaint to Europcar stating that, and we'll see how it goes.

sun_shine_ray

@moritzloast

How did you go? I am in a similar position to you — received PCN where I have strong appeal grounds but cannot appeal because Europcar has already paid. Received an invoice for identical sums to you.