Parking Fine - approaching 6 years

Divamuffin

Hi there

My partner has received a ‘letter before claim’ from Gladstones solicitors. Letter date 11.02.25 detailing five unpaid parking fines from a previous residency. 

Unsure if this is relevant, but there were no reply forms with the ‘letter before claim’, just a slip to fill out to request a paper version of the information sheet and a reply form. 

Although he is aware of the parking fines, he chose to ignore them and has received no correspondence on these for a few years.

The parking date fines are from end of Feb 2019, until 12th March 2019. This means it is almost six years since the date of charge.

He has been given 30 days to either pay or dispute, and then they will start court proceedings. The 30 day mark takes us up to the day before the latest fine. 

From what I understand, after six years the debt is statute barred. 

My queries are: 

• What is our best course of action here? If we send any communications I believe the six year period starts again? 
• I’ve read the newbies thread, the piece about evidence in court etc and defending your case. We have no evidence, this was a previous residential address and it was such a long time ago. Any advice on how to address this? 
• Also in the newbies thread it calls out a ‘real’ letter to claim containing reply forms. As mentioned above , this letter did not have this. Is it not the final letter? 
• Can’t be 100% certain if any communication has been sent around the debts previously on his side  - I.e denying them at the time. Does this mean the six year period is at risk? 
• Already has a CCJ for the same parking violation (but unsure if it is related to the five in the letter they are chasing) How do we know they aren’t doubling up and just chasing payment on an old debt

Cheers 

Gr1pr

Respond by email a week before their deadline,  using the LoC response as seen in the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum,  second post,  mainly for the 30 days hold,  to get past the statute deadline 

No evidence is needed to defend the possible claim,  evidence stage is months after any claim is made 

The final letter should state Letter of Claim and give 30 days notice,  if those conditions are met,  then it's an LoC

Irrelevant 

One for the future,  deal with the present  ( pcn details are usually in any claim   )

Fruitcake

As above, but specifically state the keeper is seeking debt advice and therefore requires the case to be put on hold for 30 days as per court pre-action protocol. It is imperative that "seeking debt advice" and "put the case on hold ..." are conveyed to the solicitors.

Another method to drag this out, but not needed here, is to name the driver (if different from the keeper) and provide their current address for service.

They are not fines.

The advice to ignore parking charge notices has not been given on this forum since the law changed in 2012.

The six year period does not start again if the potential defendant makes contact. In fact they should make contact in order to narrow the issue and avoid court as required by court pre-action protocol.
Six years starts from the date of each alleged event (in England and Wales) after which the case is statute barred as detailed in the Limitations Act. In Scotland, the debt ceases to exist after five years.

Divamuffin

Thanks both. What is the suggested course pf action after deferring for 30 days to seek debt advice? It would then be over six years ,
so how would we approach it? 

Gr1pr

Depends on what happens after the deadline,  if anything at all 

The alleged debt doesn't die in England and Wales,  but any defence would be based on the Limitations Act 1980 in England and Wales,  unable to enforce due to being statute barred 

Do as we said above, don't speculate,  see if anything arrives after the deadline,  come back to this thread if anything happens,  but hopefully they bin it after the deadline 

Coupon-mad

Divamuffin said:

Thanks both. What is the suggested course pf action after deferring for 30 days to seek debt advice? It would then be over six years ,
so how would we approach it? 

After that it is all over!  You could send a sarky email to Gladstones telling them to seek lower hanging fruit because this case is statute barred.  Obviously not yet.  Don't mention that phrase until past the 6 years.

Divamuffin

Hi all, we’ve just received a reply. Please can you advise on next steps as I’m confused

letter says:

- lots of waffle regarding they have to keep p personal data
- confirming they’ve updated address 
- a claim has been issued before court numbers under XYZ, then:

To process your data is necessary and lawful, as it is required in furtherance of our client’s instructions, and we act for them on their rights and obligations for the recovery of such monies. 

 

We note your request for previous addresses to be removed from the matter however, they now form an integral part of the file given it is going through legal proceedings. Please be assured we have now rectified your address and therefore no further correspondence will be sent to the previous address as of today’s date, in relation to the above listed reference(s).

 

If you are not satisfied with our decision, you have a right to complain to the Supervisory Authority. At this stage you should contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO);

 

Address;​ ​Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

​SK9 5AF

 

Telephone Number ​0303 123 1113

 

Please note that time limits may apply and so you should contact the ICO as soon as possible following our decision. 

 

We must also confirm that you also have the right to a judicial remedy (ie claim compensation through the courts), if you remain unsatisfied with the outcome of a complaint to the Supervisory Authority and you believe there has been a breach of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018. The ICO cannot award compensation and so if you cannot reach an agreement on the amount of compensation where appropriate, you can apply to court.  You should seek independent advice at any stage that you feel it necessary.

 

We hope the above provides clarity to you with regards to our decision, but should you require any further information, or have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our Compliance Department;

 

So is this now being taken to the court? 

Gr1pr

It would be assuming that you have received an N1SDT claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton dated before the 6 year deadline.  I assume that you have not received anything from the CNBC in Northampton yet  ?

If not, come back to this thread if you do

Coupon-mad

Aren't you still in the middle of the 30 days hold?

Divamuffin

Gr1pr said:

It would be assuming that you have received an N1SDT claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton dated before the 6 year deadline.  I assume that you have not received anything from the CNBC in Northampton yet  ?

If not, come back to this thread if you do

Not that we are aware of, but unclear if anything has been sent to an old address? 

Divamuffin

Coupon-mad said:

Aren't you still in the middle of the 30 days hold?

Yes, only been one week!