Free Traffic Legal Advice

1 Bus Lane PCN X 5

2. I am Australian and holidayed in the UK for 3 weeks earlier this year. I hired a car from Alamo by Enterprise for 2 weeks from 31 August to 14 September spending 4 days in North Devon and surrounds, 5 days in the Cotswolds and the last 5 days stayed at the Royal Wells Hotel, Royal Tunbridge Wells. We drove for over 3,000 miles and as first time visitors to these areas relied exclusively on the rental cars sat nav system.
We returned to Australia 16 September 2024 and a couple of weeks later I noticed 2 separate charges to my credit card ( on file for the rental with Alamo ) GBP70 on 28 September and GBP105 on 4 October. Approx 3 weeks later I received 3 separate letters from Alamo with each one referencing a Traffic Violation for a vehicle I had rented from Alamo and as per the rental agreement they were notifying me of my liability.
These letters include the comment "...your signature on the rental contract gives Enterprise full authorisation to process any applicable charges for associated administration fees"
The charges to my credit card are for Alamo by Enterprise administration fees ie 5 X GBP35  and they state that these are not in part or full payment of the fines which will be re-issued to me with the details provided by Alamo.
At this point in time I have received nothing from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council relating to the 5 PCN's that have been issued to Alamo. Alamo emailed me copies of these at my request
10/9/24 PCN KU89780991 at 16.28
10/9/24 PCN KU89781010 at 16.29
12/9/24 PCN KU89782931 at 17.51
12/9/24 PCN KU89782975 at 17.51
13/9/24 PCN KU89783912 at 16.34

You will note that each of these have been incurred as we returned to our hotel following sat nav guidance. Neither my wife or I saw any signs indicating that this street was a bus lane. After viewing the PCN and googling the area in question we found a BBC website article referencing poor signage for this bus lane which wasn't to be used between the hours of 9 am and 6 pm. We still can't recall seeing any signage rather just the guidance from the car sat nav.

Is it legal for the car rental company to charge a specific fee of GBP35 for administrative costs when only general reference has been made in the rental agreement ? Is there a specific law that allows such a charge ?
At this point I haven't received any PCN's in my name - they are all in the name of Alamo by Enterprise and they are responsible for these as owner of the vehicle unless they give my details and PCN's are re-issued in my name

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

They say they will provide your details to the council which will reissue the PCNs to you so you should hold them to that as that gives you value for the admin charge. It is unlikely the council will post reissued PCNs to you and they'd probably write them off.   

There is a danger Alamo will pay the PCNs and charge you when it's seen you are in Australia.

Coincidentally (or not) the discounted PCN is £35 each, or £70 for PCNs not paid during the discount window.

You could cancel or suspend the card they have.

Also check your credit/debit card transactions.

Reply to Stamfordman

They say they will provide your details to the council which will reissue the PCNs to you so you should hold them to that as that gives you value for the admin charge. It is unlikely the council will post reissued PCNs to you and they'd probably write them off.   

There is a danger Alamo will pay the PCNs and charge you when it's seen you are in Australia.

Coincidentally (or not) the discounted PCN is £35 each, or £70 for PCNs not paid during the discount window.

You could cancel or suspend the card they have.
[I have checked the PCN's and there is no payment due so I guess this means that Alamo have charged me an Administrative Fee equivalent to the early repayment amount of the Fines ie 5 X GBP 35. Also I haven't received anything yet in the mail so once again I assume that they haven't bothered to pursue either because I live in Australia OR Alamo have finalised the PCN Fine process by paying the early bird payment. In any event I feel "cheated" because I believe there are extenuating circumstances to quash each PCN
]

Quote from: stamfordman on December 03, 2024, 10:20:04 am