Napier Parking - reminder letter £170 - ignore?

sweep98

Have read the newbies thread and wanted to check I'm doing the right thing.  I had to tell Napier I was the driver as my husband was being chased as Keeper and didn't like it.
Situation is this: we pulled into the car park on Church Hill in Northfield, which I thought was still council-owned and used to be free after 6 pm.  It was19.01 pm according to Napier and we left at 19.06 55 seconds.  So were there just over 5 minutes.  I didn't realised it was paying parking until my husband (as Keeper) received a PCN from Napier.
For my husband I followed the advice on here and did an appeal which lost, he then got a reminder letter and then a Case Escalation to Debt Resolution letter, which is when I emailed them to say I was the driver.  Then I got a PCN - unfortunately I didn't appeal within 28 days and now have a reminder letter and it says the amount currently outstanding is £170, and also an additional charge of up to £70 may be applied!  Seems that they have already applied it!
From what I have read it seems I am too late to appeal and need to ignore letters until I get a Letter of Claim which gives 30 days?  Is that correct? 
Please let me know if I should be doing anything different.

Gr1pr

Yes, all correct 

Bear in mind that the codes of practice allow a consideration period,  typically around 5 minutes,  so you may well win a court claim based on that fact

Le_Kirk

You transferred liability from your husband as keeper, to yourself as driver and received a PCN in your name, which you did not appeal.  They would have rejected it anyway - no profit in allowing appeals - so, yes, you are waiting for a (30-day) letter before/of claim.  Any other length of time they quote, such as 14 days, makes it a (begging letter) debt collection letter (NEWBIE sticky fourth post) so deal with it as shown in second post in NEWBIE sticky.

Coupon-mad

Yes await the claim, if any.

Can you and hour husband spare time to complete the Public Consultation this month? We need a proper appeals service and a complete ban in DRA fees

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

sweep98

Thanks, everyone.   Yes, I would be happy to complete the public consultation (not sure about husband).

Le_Kirk

Every voice needs to be heard to tell the Government that we/you are fed up with being treated as cash cows by the bloodsuckers (as mentioned in parliament) and they need to be regulated.  You/your husband are exactly the right sort of people to complete the consultation as you have been through or are going through, the process.

sweep98

Hi
i have now received a Letter of Claim from BW Legal with a reply form. Is it ok to fill this in and return it by email? I would only tick the box saying I dispute the claim. Should I add detail about why I dispute the debt?
Is it wrong to communicate with them via their Customer Portal? 
Or should I ignore the form and simply reply to them by email using the template on this forum?
PS i completed the Public Consultation survey- hope it will have some effect! 🤞

Coupon-mad

Why are you planning to fill in the form that the NEWBIES thread post 2 tells everyone not to? Just email or use the portal to send the usual reply.

I am glad you did the Public Consultation! They had thousands of replies and I'm involved in some interesting MHCLG meetings right now. Your response mattered. All good. Just got to get the Code right and that is in the pipeline.

sweep98

Thanks.  Sorry, I had got confused and couldn't remember the exact advice about the form.  
So good to hear so many people did the public consultation.