ParkingEye pursuing RK after driver was named follwoing LBCCC - advice needed

momo2025

Hello,

I have read the newbies thread at length and have used it up until this stage, however, I need some further assistance as I can't find any recent advice which relates to my situation.

Quick summary of events so far

- I am the registered keeper of a car that was being used by my partner in October 2024
- At that time I received a PCN through the post from PE for not paying for parking at a local college when my partner had taken my son to play football
- We had used this car park many times over the previous two years but it had changed to a pay car park in the summer of that year (none of the clubs that use the schools fields had been informed of teh change so we were totally unaware) and my partner had simply missed the very limited and poor (very low and obscured by vans etc) signage that had been put up
- Following the advice here, I appealed as the registered keeper without naming the driver
- My appeal was rejected and I therefore followed up with a POPLA appeal which was also subsequently rejected.
- I eventually received an LBCCC from Parking Eye in early May this year
- Having discussed it with my partner and based on some threads I had found here, I wrote to PE providing the driver and address details (my partner has their own separate home)
- I subsequently received two letters from PE both dated May 30th neither of which acknowledged the fact that they are now in possession of the driver details and making random references to having reviewed my dispute of the outstanding sum etc. which indicates they were just standard templates
- I replied to PE again providing the driver name and address and emphasised that they could no longer pursue me as the registered keeper to which I received the following response:-

"Dear Ms XXX,

We write further to your recent correspondence which concerned the above referenced Parking Charge. We recently sent you a Letter Before Claim which informed you that this Parking Charge remains outstanding and had now been processed for further action.

You state that you were not driving the vehicle at the time of the parking event but pursuant to Schedule 4 the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, this is no longer a valid argument against the Parking Charge that has been issued. It is clearly stated on our signs that action will be taken to recover the Parking Charge amount should the terms and conditions of parking be breached, and that vehicle keeper details will be requested from the DVLA to enable this. The DVLA release the name and address details of a vehicle keeper to registered companies, such as Parkingeye, if ‘reasonable cause’ can be demonstrated; i.e. a breach of parking regulations.

Paragraph 9(2)(b) of Schedule 4 of the POFA 2012 states that the operator (Parkingeye) must inform the Registered Keeper of the vehicle that the driver of the motor vehicle is required to pay the Parking Charge in full and that the Registered Keeper should, if not the driver, provide the operator with the driver’s name and current postal address, and pass the notice to them.

The correspondence sent to yourself stated:

“You are notified under paragraph 9(2)(b) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 that the driver of the motor vehicle is required to pay this parking charge in full. As we do not know the driver’s name or current postal address, if you were not the driver at the time, you should tell us the name and current postal address of the driver and pass this notice to them. You are warned that if, after 29 days from the date given (which is presumed to be the second working day after the Date Issued), the parking charge has not been paid in full and we do not know both the name and current address of the driver, we have the right to recover any unpaid part of the parking charge from you. This warning is given to you under Paragraph 9(2)(f) of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and is subject to our complying with the applicable conditions under Schedule 4 of that Act.”

Once the Registered Keeper has been contacted, it is their responsibility to provide the operator with the name and contact address of the driver within 28 days and if, after 29 days, the Parking Charge has not been paid in full, and the operator does not know both the name and current address of the driver, then they can recover any unpaid part of the Parking Charge from the Registered Keeper.

We can confirm that £130 remains outstanding and that full payment is required within the next 14 days to prevent further action. We are prepared to take legal action if necessary and should court proceedings be issued, further costs will be incurred. These will include, but are not limited to, the court claim issue fee and the solicitors costs referred to within the Letter Before Claim.

If you wish to make payment, you can do so by telephoning our offices on 0330 555 4444, by visiting www.parkingeye.etc or by posting a cheque/postal order to the below address. Please note that you must quote the above Parking Charge reference on the reverse of the cheque or postal order.

Yours sincerely,

Parkingeye Enforcement Team"

My question is whether I have misunderstood the advice I had read here and that the paragraph I have highlighted above is in fact correct? I now have a very demanding job and cannot afford the time to continue fighting this and potentially end up in court so am wondering whether I should just pay and have it done with?

Many thanks

Nellymoser

I thought you could transfer liability to the driver as long as court proceedings hadn't started.

Car1980

Yes, you have transferred liability. Their responses are pure bollox desperation to get you to pay and are arguably fraud.

But since you haven't had a court claim there's nothing else to do except report them to Action Fraud if you wanted.

Car1980

Yes you have transferred liability. There responses are bollox desperation to try and get you to pay. They're arguably fraud.

But there's nothing left to do since they haven't made a claim, except report them to Action Fraud if you wanted.

This is right up the street of the Black Belt Barrister on YouTube. Might drop him a message.

kryten3000

POFA is clear that they can only pursue the Keeper if they don't know the driver's name and address for service at the point they issue proceedings.  Parkingeye have omitted that part of the act to suit their aim of extracting money from the keeper.

ChirpyChicken

kryten3000 said:

POFA is clear that they can only pursue the Keeper if they don't know the driver's name and address for service at the point they issue proceedings.  Parkingeye have omitted that part of the act to suit their aim of extracting money from the keeper.

I am finding late naming of drivers when issued with locs is having great success in resultant court hearings 

ChirpyChicken

kryten3000 said:

POFA is clear that they can only pursue the Keeper if they don't know the driver's name and address for service at the point they issue proceedings.  Parkingeye have omitted that part of the act to suit their aim of extracting money from the keeper.

I am finding late naming of drivers when issued with locs is having great success in resultant court hearings 

momo2025

Thank you all for all your help and comments.

Unfortunately PE seem determined to pursue this and I have now received a county court claim form. As I mentioned in my original post, I have a new job and now have very little time to produce a complicated and detailed defence so I was wondering if anyone can clarify whether it would simply be enough to point out that they were provided with the name and address of the driver after the POPLA appeal was rejected and if so whether there is somewhere I can find details of cases that PE have lost using this defence?

Reading the back of the forms it states that if PE's claim results in a judgement against me, my details will be passed on to credit reference agencies which (in bold letters) will make it difficult for me to get credit. This is no doubt my mistake having failed to fully understand  the information on the Newbies pages but I had not appreciated that was the case. If there is even a small chance that the hearing will go against me, I am inclined to just pay the £215 charge (£130 claimed plus court fees and legal rep costs) to have this over and done with which goes totally against the grain but I don't see I have much choice? :-(

kryten3000

Use the template defence and add the detail in paragraph 3:

The Defendant was not the driver on the material date. The Defendant provided a name and address for service for the driver, namely "<name and address of driver>".  Since the driver's identity is known to the Claimant, they have no cause of action against the Defendant as keeper or driver of the vehicle.  The Defendant refers to the Protection of Freedoms Act Schedule 4, Paragraph 5(1).

James_Poisson

momo2025 said:

Thank you all for all your help and comments.

Unfortunately PE seem determined to pursue this and I have now received a county court claim form. As I mentioned in my original post, I have a new job and now have very little time to produce a complicated and detailed defence so I was wondering if anyone can clarify whether it would simply be enough to point out that they were provided with the name and address of the driver after the POPLA appeal was rejected and if so whether there is somewhere I can find details of cases that PE have lost using this defence?

Reading the back of the forms it states that if PE's claim results in a judgement against me, my details will be passed on to credit reference agencies which (in bold letters) will make it difficult for me to get credit. This is no doubt my mistake having failed to fully understand  the information on the Newbies pages but I had not appreciated that was the case. If there is even a small chance that the hearing will go against me, I am inclined to just pay the £215 charge (£130 claimed plus court fees and legal rep costs) to have this over and done with which goes totally against the grain but I don't see I have much choice? :-(

That is rubbish, if you get a judgement against you and you pay what the judge orders within the timescale that's it over and done with there will be nothing against your record.

It's up to you but you are dealing with scammers please don't encourage them by believing their rubbish

Why would you pay the £130 claimed? The PCN could be no more that £100, anyway.

Coupon-mad

This is hilarious! Stoopid of ParkingEye.

It's a great tactic to transfer liability at LBC stage because the keeper is then 100% not liable.

What will be funny is that the Mediator will not understand the law and will speak a pile of steaming crap on the phone (on behalf of PEye) in due course.

Worth telling the Mediator you will record the call, as you don't trust their impartiality and don't think they don't understand the fact that POFA schedule 4 has no 28 day deadline. Just put your phone on loudspeaker and use another phone to record it all.

Anyway defend the claim now. Easy stuff.