Seeking advice - PCN matter going to court

rose_valley1

Hi everyone, any advice would be appreciated.

I received a parking charge notice of £60 for overstaying by 17 minutes in a retail park. 

I was there shopping and spend over £220 and just got carried away. 

I decided to appeal hoping for some lenience on their part.

I submitted my appeal within the qualifying period of 14 days where the PCN amount would remain at £60 until my appeal is decided.

If it was rejected my plan was to pay the £60 charge.

As soon as I logged my appeal I received an auto acknowledgement email stating that if I don’t hear within 28 days to check their online portal for an update. I did check on few occasions that month but nothing was mentioned about the appeal. I thought as the festive period was approaching, I may expect some delay.

The first time I heard back from them was from a company acting on their behalf 30 days after my appeal informing me that I now owe £160 and I can dispute the matter only in court.

I immediately emailed the company who issued the parking charge telling them that I never received a response to my appeal. They responded that they emailed me the appeal rejection notice 8 days after the appeal was submitted, they also attached the appeal decision notification to their email. 

I never received their email. I checked my mailbox thoroughly including junk emails folder and still nothing. 

I asked them to send me a proof of the email sent to me, but they haven’t responded to date although they did state they won’t respond to any follow-up communication but to liaise with the company who took over the claim. I didn’t contact the other company.

A month and a half later I received court papers.

I filed my defence with the same argument as above and I just completed the mediation process. 

During the mediation process they offered I pay them first £200 then they reduced to £175, I put forward a counter offer of £60 which was rejected. I then increased it to £85 which covers their court and solicitor fees hoping they’ll close the matter, also rejected. 

I told the mediator that I never received their rejection notice so, they  spoke with the claimant who advised them that they have sent the rejection letter by post to my home address and it is my responsibility to ensure I receive my mail. They also told the mediator that they don’t have any email communication from me on file.

I was confused about this inconsistency here - they did email me telling me they’ve emailed the rejection letter, not they’re saying they’ve sent it by post and also saying they don’t have any communication record from me on their file.

Thankfully, I keep all the email correspondence in my mailbox.

Until today, there’s nothing on the parking company portal against my PCN about my appeal or rejection notice as per their initial acknowledgement email.

My questions are:

1. Is my claim reasonable and any chance in your view of me succeeding in court.

2. In the Directions Questionnaire I submitted I requested the following:

The hearing to be held in my home town court and not in the claimant’s court across the country - how likely is that to be allowed?

3. There’s a discrepancy on the claimant’s statement as to how they’ve notified me about the appeal decision - I have an email from them advising me they’ve emailed me the decision. They’ve told the mediator they’ve sent a letter by post. Anything said during the mediation is without prejudice so I guess I cannot place great reliance on that if they state at the court they’ve emailed me. But I haven’t received such email (nor a letter) - anything here in my favour? 

4.Lastly, the mediator advised that if the matter goes to court and I loose, subsequent court fees and solicitor fees will be added for the hearing - is there any cap, what’s the maximum I’m looking to pay in total? 

I understand £175 is not a huge amount and I could’ve paid it and closed this chapter but for me it’s a matter of principle. I strongly believe they haven’t followed a procedure and I’ve been treated somewhat unfairly. 

Thank you for reading, any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Half_way

See the sticky thread and the above should eb covered.

 then get back here to continue.

A few things first, do not disclose or even guess as to the driver's identity - is the driver still unknown?

Name of parking company?

Name and location of retail park?

rose_valley1

Sorry I cannot find the sticky thread. It took me few hours to figure out how to post a new thread here.

I am the driver and have admitted so to the company.

I am a little hesitant posting the company names on here, although highly unlikely I have read that they do occasionally read these posts so not wanting to expose myself too much. 

Any advise on any of my questions would be appreciated. 

rose_valley1

Just to add I am not trying to avoid responsibility, I’m ok with paying the £60 fine, however, not too happy paying the increased charge since I never received a response to my appeal. 

Coupon-mad

rose_valley1 said:

Just to add I am not trying to avoid responsibility, I’m ok with paying the £60 fine, however, 

No you aren't and please stop thinking like that! Eek no.you don't pay these invoices. This isn't a 'fine'.

Had you come here at the time of the fake PCN, you'd have been told to complain to the retail park's property agents or a shop manager and having spent over £200 you'd have seen it cancelled in hours...

Wow I really hope you didn't say that - "happy to pay £60"  in your defence? Didn't make a partial admission (we hope you ticked to DEFEND IN FULL?).

You owe nothing. Yes you get your local court.

- Which parking firm?

- Show us the Claim Form with the same 4 things redacted that you see on all the other claim threads.

- Show us your defence (don't be shy, we're here to help you rescue this and stop you offering money for an invoice you should NEVER have resolved to pay).

We're glad you've posted here now.

Be confident. You CAN find page one of the forum in seconds, which is where the NEWBIES FAQS thread is and where other threads like yours are. Look... see my signature... read it & click top or bottom of this page on the breadcrumb trail (like when online shopping, click to go back a step).

rose_valley1

@Coupon-mad Thank you, really appreciate you taking your time to respond.

I am gutted I didn’t email the store. I did however, mentioned to the lady at the till and she couldn’t be less bothered - she informed me that the car park is not part of their group but separate company and they have no control over it. Her advice was that next time I visit the store to turn my phone’s timer on and monitor how long I am there and to leave on time.

This is my defence. I wish I discovered this forum earlier so I can write it in professional manner.

I received a parking charge notice from a company trading as MyParkingCharge which is a trading style of the Excel Parking Services Group – the details of the parking notice can be found at the following website:

www.myparkingcharge.co.uk

Notice Serial Number:

Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM):

I can provide screenshot of all information shown on the portal against this matter.

There appears to be some incomplete information:

1. There’s no image of the notice at the Retail Car Park providing information of the permitted vehicle stay duration.
2. There’s no clear image showing the time my vehicle entered the Retail Car Park.
3. There’s no clear image showing the time my vehicle exited the
4. It hasn’t been specified how long I have overstayed.

The following statement which can be seen at the bottom of the screenshot I provided states the following: “The above images were captured as evidence of the contravention.”

1. The images, however, show the following - a) the front side of my vehicle with a time which is blurry and unclear to read, b)- zoomed in image of my vehicle registration number, c) - the rear side of my vehicle with a time which is blurry and unclear to read.

I submitted an appeal on 4th December 2024 which was within 14 days of the date the parking charge notice was issued. I did explain that the purpose of my visit to the Retail Car Park is

solely shopping and that for the complete duration of my stay I spent the time shopping in Homebargains and TK Maxx at the Ivybridge Retail Park Car Park. It was a very busy time of the year; Christmas shopping items were already on display and the stores were very busy and the queues rather long. As I was a genuine customer I requested for the charge notice to be cancelled. 

As part of my appeal, I provided copy of my receipts showing the following:

1. I spent £22.15 on 12/11/24 at 11:44 at the Homebargains in Ivybridge Retail Park
2. I spent £139.96 on 12/11/24 at 13:32 at the TK Maxx in Ivybridge Retail Park
3. I spent £79.90 on 12/11/24 at 13:36 at the TK Maxx in Ivybridge Retail Park

I spent a total of £242.01 at the Retail Park which in my opinion is considerable amount. I keep the copies of the receipts.

The information on the parking charge notice indicates I have left the Ivybridge Retail Park at 13:39 which shows that as soon as I

finished shopping in TK Maxx, I left the car park.

According to the parking charge notice I received, if I submitted an appeal within 14 days of the notice issue date, a reduced rate of £60.00 will be applicable until the assessment of my appeal is complete. The notice also stated that if my appeal was unsuccessful, I'll be given the following choices - I will be provided with certain period to complete the payment of the parking notice charge at the reduced rate and I’ll be given the option to forward my appeal to an independent appeals service for a further review. If my appeal was unsuccessful and I chose the latter option, the discounted rate would no longer apply.

The confirmation email I received acknowledging my appeal advised that if I don’t hear within 28 days, I can log back onto their portal to check for an update. To date, there’s no information on their portal in relation to my appeal. I presumed that due to the festive period there may have been a delay in assessing my appeal, so I kept checking their portal on weekly basis. To date, there's no information on their portal in relation to my appeal.

The next time I received any correspondence in relation to this matter was from a company called Direct Collection Bailiffs Limited who sent me a letter dated 14th January 2025 informing me they have been instructed to collect the outstanding balance on behalf of their client. They stated in their letter that at that point, I am no longer able to appeal the parking charge. My next opportunity to dispute the charge would be if the matter was taken to Court.

I was very confused, I did not receive any response following the appeal I made on 4th December and both the option to pay a reduced rate of £65.00 should I have known the appeal was rejected or to log a further appeal to an independent appeals service for a further review were taken away from me. The letter included the following in addition to a demand of payment of £160.00:

“To ensure no further action is taken, you should make immediate payment”.

And few paragraphs below – “You now have 14 days from the date of this letter to either pay the outstanding amount or discuss repayment”.

I wasn’t happy paying such high amount which I believe is unfair provided no appeal review was carried out as far as I was aware. I immediately emailed the company who issued the initial parking charge notice and forwarded them the letter I received telling them I find it very strange receiving such letter in the absence of an appeal decision.

They replied saying they’ve issued a response on 12th December 2024 – I told them I did not receive their response and asked if they can provide proof confirming they’ve sent it to me. I did not hear from them since.

This situation has caused me enormous stress. I have never failed to pay a bill, however, I strongly believe I have been treated unfairly and harassment to threaten me with a fine for shopping.

I’ll upload a copy of the claim form below. 

rose_valley1

Here’s the claim form, I hope I’ve redacted all the required information.

In the paragraph where they state the PCN was issued at XX date - this is the contravention date. The notice I received was dated a month later. 

Coupon-mad

rose_valley1 said:

the mediator advised that if the matter goes to court and I loose, subsequent court fees and solicitor fees will be added for the hearing - is there any cap, what’s the maximum I’m looking to pay in total?

You should complain about that mediator misleading you. The claim form already has the court filing fee and the capped £50 legal fees included on the right so they aren't added again! £50 is a cap.

if you lost, there would be a £25ish hearing fee but the Judge would likely disallow the fake £60 'debt recovery fee' so taking £60 off, you'd be looking at £210. It's less money risked than the £248 claim.

The mediator misled you. Complain.

Your defence isn't bad at all. You can build on that and provide evidence. This will go into your witness statement:

I told the mediator that I never received their rejection notice so, they  spoke with the claimant who advised them that they have sent the rejection letter by post to my home address and it is my responsibility to ensure I receive my mail. They also told the mediator that they don’t have any email communication from me on file.
I was confused about this inconsistency here - they did email me telling me they’ve emailed the rejection letter, not they’re saying they’ve sent it by post and also saying they don’t have any communication record from me on their file.
Thankfully, I keep all the email correspondence in my mailbox.
Until today, there’s nothing on the parking company portal against my PCN about my appeal or rejection notice as per their initial acknowledgement email.

See the NEWBIES thread second post: read the information under the RED capitals heading called IMPORTANT: KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN.

rose_valley1

@Coupon-mad Thank you so much, really appreciated!