PLEASE HELP!!! I have a PCN (Private, not Council) situation

LightningFast

Hello everyone, hope you're having a great weekend.

I’d really appreciate your advice on a PCN issue (private, not council). I only found the Newbies’ thread after I’d already reached the Letter Before Claim stage, so I’m now trying to catch up and understand my options.

Summary of my situation:

• I moved into a flat last year, and my tenancy agreement includes a parking bay. The contract doesn’t say anything about displaying a permit, and I wasn’t given one when I moved in.

• The car park has signs saying “permits must be displayed,” but also “strictly for residents only.” Since I’m a resident with an allocated bay, I thought I was fine.

• A few weeks later, I received Notice to Keeper letters. I immediately contacted my landlady, who owns the space. She emailed the parking company (an IPC member) instructing them to cancel the PCNs and also arranged for me to finally receive a permit.

• Despite this, I kept getting letters. The block management also got involved and some PCNs were cancelled, but the parking company refused to cancel the ones already passed to debt recovery.

• I’m now dealing with Moorside, who’ve sent me a Letter Before Claim. Even after explaining that my landlady instructed them to cancel all the PCNs (in writing), they refused and told me to seek legal advice.

• Citizens Advice confirmed that, as the landlady owns the space, she can instruct the parking company to cancel. They suggested I make a complaint to Moorside.

My questions:

1. Can the parking company refuse to cancel when the landowner has instructed them to?

2. Should I now make a complaint to Moorside (and anyone else, like the DVLA)?

3. From what I understand, the next step is to wait for the claim form, then defend it using the template from the Newbies’ thread. Is that correct?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this!

Gr1pr

Name the private parking company involved 

They are a law unto themselves,  no need to overthink it

Wait for the Letter of Claim if its not come yet, then respond with the LoC response template 

Wait for the court claim,  that will be resolution of the case, by a judge if it gets that far

Any complaints would go to the people who hired the parking company 

I would suggest that if you have already responded to an LoC,  wait for a court claim 

Meanwhile,  please fill in the current government public survey consultation,  as explained by coupon mad 

Coupon-mad

Same as all the other Moorside cases. Come back when you get the claim form but first of all, please do the government's Public Consultation.

We need every poster to complete this vital Consultation before the deadline.

See this thread: -

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

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that. It doesn't matter; no knowledge is needed except re your own experiences so you can call out a scam industry and you'll protect millions of motorists and help change the law.

I've written some guidance on that thread. I have covered almost every question, providing ideas if you agree with our stance on things like DRFs, which we say must be banned.

Ordinary people like you are falling victim to this scam 15 million times per annum. Motorists need your voice added please.

CLOSES ON FRIDAY. Just days to go.

LightningFast

Thank you both for your replies. I’ll go ahead and complete the government’s public survey consultation.

The parking company in question is Countrywide Parking Management. I replied to their Letter Before Claim by email using the template, and received what I assume was an automated response—similar to what others have mentioned. The difference with mine is that they said I have '7 days to pay' and didn’t accept the 30-day hold period.

For now, I’ll wait for the court claim to arrive and will update this thread once I’ve received it. When do you think the claim form is likely to arrive?

James_Poisson

The notice to keeper will not have said this:

A few weeks later, I received a Notice to Keeper for “illegal parking.”

LightningFast

James_Poisson said:

The notice to keeper will not have said this:

A few weeks later, I received a Notice to Keeper for “illegal parking.”

Sorry, I paraphrased it to make my post more concise. This is what's written word-for-word in the first paragraph of the NTK:

 "We recently issued the above Parking Charge to your vehicle because it was parked within the below site in a manner whereby the driver became liable for a Parking Charge. At the date of this notice, the charge remains unpaid."

Similar to what the others have posted.

Gr1pr

Yep, so not an illegal act,  never use incorrect words in matters where litigation can happen,  this is a civil dispute between yourself and a private company about an alleged breach of the parking contract on that private property 

An LoC gives you 30 days to respond,  anything under like 7 days or 14 days is a debt collector letter,  even if it is from a legal firm

LightningFast

Gr1pr said:

Yep, so not an illegal act,  never use incorrect words in matters where litigation can happen,  this is a civil dispute between yourself and a private company about an alleged breach of the parking contract on that private property 

I see. Understood.

Gr1pr said:

An LoC gives you 30 days to respond,  anything under like 7 days or 14 days is a debt collector letter,  even if it is from a legal firm

To give some more background, I’ve accumulated quite a few PCNs for parking in my allocated bay without a permit over five months, as my landlady had assured me it was fine. It looks like the parking company collected these in two batches.

In April, I received my first Letter of Claim from Moorside. Following the instructions in their letter, I completed their reply form and sent it back to them by post (not to the court). At that time, I hadn’t yet found the “newbies thread,” which advises NOT to use the reply form. In my reply, I disputed the charges, attached a copy of my tenancy agreement to prove I’m a resident with an allocated parking bay, and made it clear I would not be paying (and also, I didn’t declare my finances). I haven’t heard anything further about this first LoC - I haven't received a claim pack.

Then, this August, I received a Letter Before Claim—this time showing a different amount. It seems they combined all the outstanding PCNs into this new letter. However, unlike the first one, this LBC didn’t state that I had 30 days to respond. I used the template from the newbies thread and emailed it to them, and they replied saying: " ...make the full payment within 7 days of receipt of this email... If you fail to respond or make payment, we may be instructed by our client to issue legal proceedings against you."

I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a difference between a Letter of Claim (with a reply form) and a Letter Before Claim?
Both of these are from Moorside.

2. Does this mean I might receive 2 claim forms?

My landlady sent Moorside a letter by post last week, instructing them once again to cancel all the PCNs.

Many thanks!

Car1980

They won't listen to your landlady unless she is using evidence from her lease. She has no landowner contract with them.

Your tenancy agreement is neither here nor there.

You need to get hold of the LEASE from your landlady, or another owner occupier in the development.

Your lease will set out what rights you have over the space.

Very often the lease grants exclusive rights over the space, and the parking company has no rights. Usually the management company invites them on site citing "parking issues" and they defend them because they get a kickback.

You can't argue that charges should be cancelled but that you would like a permit.

Gr1pr

LightningFast said:

Gr1pr said:

Yep, so not an illegal act,  never use incorrect words in matters where litigation can happen,  this is a civil dispute between yourself and a private company about an alleged breach of the parking contract on that private property 

I see. Understood.

Gr1pr said:

An LoC gives you 30 days to respond,  anything under like 7 days or 14 days is a debt collector letter,  even if it is from a legal firm

To give some more background, I’ve accumulated quite a few PCNs for parking in my allocated bay without a permit over five months, as my landlady had assured me it was fine. It looks like the parking company collected these in two batches.

1. Is there a difference between a Letter of Claim (with a reply form) and a Letter Before Claim?
Both of these are from Moorside.

2. Does this mean I might receive 2 claim forms?

My landlady sent Moorside a letter by post last week, instructing them once again to cancel all the fines.

Many thanks!

1)  all the same thing, old and new explanations,  as well as those in post 5 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

LBCCC/LBC/LBA = Letter Before County Court Claim/Letter Before Claim/Letter Before Action.

Including a Letter of Claim ( with reply form  )

2) it's certainly possible,  although it is supposed to be ONE CLAIM only,  for every outstanding invoice 

3) Its the private parking company claimant that can cancel the PCNs  ( not fines  ) , so not Moorside Legal 

She is informing the wrong company , it should be Countrywide Parking Management 

LightningFast

Car1980 said:

You need to get hold of the LEASE from your landlady, or another owner occupier in the development.

You can't argue that charges should be cancelled but that you would like a permit.

Thank you for the advice. I’ll ask my landlady if she can provide me with a copy of the lease.

And yes, I managed to finally get a permit back in April.