£170 PCN passed to solicitor

Bananamuffin93

Hi there, 

Really hoping someone can advise - I have had a read of the newbies thread, but finding it a lot to process. 

In March, I received 2 emails from BW Legal advising that I had 2 outstanding balances from November/December due to One Parking Solution of £170 each. This was due to not displaying a permit which is simply just a mistake at my residential address. I have a very busy life, getting my son out of the car after long days, unfortunately sometimes I have simply forgotten to pop it on the windscreen. 

I advised BW Legal that I had not received any of these fines and asked which address they were sent to. This is when it came to light that my logbook was registered to my old address so they had been sending the fines there. Again, my mistake and as naive as it sounds, updating my logbook was not something I had even thought of doing. I updated my driving licence when moving to this address in July and thought that was all I needed to do - silly me. I asked BW Legal to advise OPS that I was happy to pay the initial fines, but as I had not received them originally and had no clue about them, that I didn't feel it fair to pay the additional costs. BW Legal came back last week to advise that OPS would not waive the fines and ordered I pay the total of £340. As of yesterday, I have now set up a payment plan for £30 a month to pay these. They firstly told me that OPS would not accept this amount and that the minimum was £34 per fine, to which I responded and said that I am a single part time working mum who is already drowning in bills and simply could not afford £68 a month. They then accepted my £30 offer. 

Yesterday evening, I was going through my junkbox when I came across an email from QDR Solicitors. At first I thought it was a scam email, but after searching online, opened it and yet again, I've been presented with another fine of £170 for 26th January for not having put my permit out! 

Is it normal for a company like One Parking Solution to have multiple different solicitors contact me? Surely they should be keeping it all to one solicitor firm so that it can be handled smoothly? Obviously not. Again, it is a simple mistake of forgetting to put my permit out. We have allocated number parking bays at my block of flats. I park in the same space every single day. Yet again, I have not received any of the initial fines, reminders, warnings etc as they have all been sent to my old address where I have no access! So this is the first I am hearing about it. 

Do I have a leg to stand on if I appeal this? It just seems absolutely ridiculous and greedy. My logbook was updated in March so that anything from March onwards will come directly to me now (I hope). 

I haven't been provided with evidence of the initial fines. Should I request these from the solicitor? Should I be asking OPS if there are any other fines registered against my car? 

Sorry for the long post. I really want to get this resolved if I can because I simply cannot afford all of this money for simple mistakes!! The reviews online for OPS are disgusting. I cannot believe the lack of empathy they seem to have. If I have ever received a parking fine in a council carpark, even the dartford crossing, when contacting them with a valid reason, they have kindly waived the fine, but it seems with OPS, you have no chance. I have actually also scrolled through my buildings facebook group and can see that last year, OPS were issuing yellow tickets to residents where their permit were displayed!!! They are scum bags!! 

Please any advice and help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you! 

DE_612183

If you had read the newbees thread you will know that these are NOT fines - they are speculative invoices.

I presume that these relate to a parking space at your residence - what does your lease say about parking?

Gr1pr

Definitely not fines, just invoices from a private parking company 

Parking companies can only access the dvla database once and once only, per incident,  so nothing historical 

If you receive a Letter of Claim from the solicitors,  respond by email to them using the response template in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

If you receive a court claim in the future,  follow the advice given in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

Email the DPO at OPS giving your correct address and they must delete the old address under HDPR , because you want all letters to come to the correct address,  even old pcns or reminders or litigation etc  

Bananamuffin93

DE_612183 said:

If you had read the newbees thread you will know that these are NOT fines - they are speculative invoices.

I presume that these relate to a parking space at your residence - what does your lease say about parking?

Yes parking space at my residence. I have just checked my lease and this is what it says. 

8.14 If the Tenant is allocated a car parking space in a car parking area the Tenant must only use the allocated car parking space. Any car parking spaces designated as visitors’ car parking spaces must only be used by visitors and not by the Tenant for any second or additional vehicles.

In our lobby, we have a list which states which number parking bay is allocated to which flat. 

I have just had another look through the newbies thread. Can you confirm, that I now should send the solicitor an email using the template which asks them to erase my old address and to send all evidence to my current address. Should I state at any point it's likely the permit has fallen into the footwells seeing as it is literally just a circular piece of paper? Should all my correspondence be through the solicitor, rather than contacting OPS? 

DE_612183

So no mention of a permit - so what you are actually doing is displaying a permit to help the parking company - but it's not a requirement and therefore t hey cannot allege breach of contract as there is no contract that requires a permit.

The terms of the lease cannot be over-ridden by the parking company - have you complained to the management company and asked them to get their Parking Company to cancel the invoice.

Bananamuffin93

DE_612183 said:

So no mention of a permit - so what you are actually doing is displaying a permit to help the parking company - but it's not a requirement and therefore t hey cannot allege breach of contract as there is no contract that requires a permit.

The terms of the lease cannot be over-ridden by the parking company - have you complained to the management company and asked them to get their Parking Company to cancel the invoice.

It's pure greed!! Even if there are signs up in the carpark stating a permit is required, can this be disregarded if it is not stated in my tenancy agreement? 

I haven't complained to the management company no, but I will raise this with them if it may help. 

I have received yet another email from BW Legal regarding ANOTHER PCN from 15th January this morning. I feel sick at the amount this has now totalled up to, yet I've not received the initial notifications

Gr1pr

Respond to all parties, by email , to each DPO,  requiring them to erase the old address and to only use your current address for the service of papers,  under GDPR 

If you have a Letter of Claim from lawyers,  Respond by email using the LoC response template to those lawyers 

Definitely complain about the pcns to the management company and insist that they are all cancelled ASAP 

Bananamuffin93

Gr1pr said:

Respond to all parties, by email , to each DPO,  requiring them to erase the old address and to only use your current address for the service of papers,  under GDPR 

If you have a Letter of Claim from lawyers,  Respond by email using the LoC response template to those lawyers 

Definitely complain about the pcns to the management company and insist that they are all cancelled ASAP 

Okay thanks so much. I am going to get on to this now. 

What would you suggest about the 2 PCN's that I have agreed and set up payment plans for already? Do I have to accept I'll have to pay these now? 

Gr1pr

Personally,  I would cancel them if its possible,  especially if no payment has been made,  but I am no expert on that aspect,  so I suggest that you wait for further replies 

ChirpyChicken

absolutely cancel any payment plan

Bananamuffin93

Thanks so much for your advice. Lastly before I start sending emails, can you confirm if these are letters of claims and therefore I can send the LOC template now?