Letter arrived after 14 days - how to prove?

ihatebarclays_2

After 36 years of driving I have received my first ever parking ticket. Without going in to the details of the incident itself (many aspects of which I am fuming about - suffice to say I believe I have been conned) I have a specific question.

My understanding is that since the letter mentions the Protection of Freedoms Act, and it arrived more than 14 days after the supposed incident (it actually arrived after 23 days) then in theory I should not have to pay this ticket at all. Problem: how do I prove when the letter arrived?

There are no date stamps or anything on the envelope, just a sequence of fourteen random-looking letters and numbers and then three funny barcode things which I believe are "RM4SCC" codes. I have attempted to upload these codes to several websites which claim to be able to decode RM4SCC, but none of them could decipher it.

Does anybody know if any of these codes on the envelope might actually be any use to me, or am I going down a dead end with this one? And if the codes are no use, then how can I prove when the letter arrived?

Our Royal Mail service is as dire as most people's these days. The letter arrived last Wednesday as part of a huge pile of post, our first delivery for over a week. If I'd been able to pay within 14 days and get the reduced rate, I'd have done so for an easy life, but that option was not open to me. The parking companies must be raking in huge amounts of extra money thanks to the collapse of the postal service.

DE_612183

why would you pay it anyway?

check out the newbies thread about how to respond.

The date of delivery is an assumed date based on the date of issue - unless you can prove otherwise ( like having a video of the envelope being delivered ) your onto a loser there.

Woodstok2000

The NTK should have a date of issue on it. The assumption is that the letter was delivered two days after that date, and that's the calculation for the 14 day POFA limit.

Le_Kirk

Put your relevant dates into the checker here: -

https://gullibletree.com/tools/pofa-calc-main.html

ihatebarclays_2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926990#Comment_81926990

Thanks, and I get all that about the presumed delivery date, but the relevant bit of the law also says "unless the contrary is proved". This seems to put the onus of proof on to me, but how am I supposed to prove what I know to be true i.e. that the letter arrived after 23 days (the relevant dates are 16/2/26 and 11/3/26).

Just to add a little more detail, this incident occurred at an NHS hospital. I had been parking there "free" for months after several members of staff told me that this was what people should do so long as the barriers were up (which they always were). This was helpful advice when they first gave it to me but was not so helpful once the hospital management introduced ANPR, without putting up any signs at the entrance warning people that the system had changed.

Gr1pr

You cannot prove it, that is normally chasing rainbows. The onus is on you, which is rarely possible

The fact that it says that you must prove otherwise, doesn't mean that it can be done

Its prove your assertion, I can't prove it, ok move on

The judge would err with presumed delivery, which is actually 2 business days after the issue date ( not 2 calendar days ) , the post office were recently fined millions for postal issues, but the invoice is still valid providing it was received within the 7 months timescale so the pcn could possibly be enforced against the driver

They are unlikely to cancel the pcn based on delivery

But it may not be enforceable

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927045#Comment_81927045

Unless you have a ring doorbell or similar and the postman was holding the letter facing thr right way, there's no way to prove it.

This is just one aspect of defeating these scam invoices, and means you have the rest of the newbies thread advice to follow.

Gr1pr

Which parking company issued the postal invoice. ?

James_Poisson

"Just to add a little more detail, this incident occurred at an NHS hospital. I had been parking there "free" for months after several members of staff told me that this was what people should do so long as the barriers were up (which they always were). This was helpful advice when they first gave it to me but was not so helpful once the hospital management introduced ANPR, without putting up any signs at the entrance warning people that the system had changed".

Well there are two other avenues to consider:

• Contact PALS at the hospital and quote the above many hospital PALS teams can get these cancelled.
• The joint COP states that if an operator has instigated a "material change" to the parking terms and conditions the following applies:

Page 12 of 57
3.4 Material Changes-notices
Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not
be immediately apparent to a driver entering controlled land that is or has been open for
public parking, the parking operator must place additional (temporary) notices at the site
entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the change making it clear
that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who might be
familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges.

ihatebarclays_2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927151#Comment_81927151

Thanks. I have emailed PALS. I read the bit in the code of practise about a material change last week, and included reference to it in my appeal, but the parking company did not even refer to that in their response (which was clearly just a standard copy and paste).

ihatebarclays_2

Group Nexus. A company I had not heard of previously but one of their directors is former Labour minister Lord (Ian) Austin, who joined them because he was impressed with their "values" apparently.