Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: saf12 on July 30, 2026, 12:38:13 am
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All noted, thank-you.
Let's see if Horizon/Their legal reps have the knowledge to identify they will need special dispensation to serve a claim to a foreign jurisdiction (and then pay the associated fees) I doubt it though.
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You are too late to appeal to Horizon. If that is your question, then forget about appealing to Horizon.
Ignore DCBL and do not communicate with them in any way.
If you get a Letter of Claim from DCB Legal, reply that you deny the claim and will contest it. If they initiate a county court claim then you can contest the jurisdiction of the claim (the courts have no jurisdiction outside England and Wales) and in any case these cases come to nothing when properly defended (and you clearly have a proper defence prepared).
The fee levied by the hiring company is a different matter and covered by the contract you entered into with them, and is not directly a parking issue, although it follows on from one. Sometimes the contract states that the fee will be reimbursed if the parking charge is successfully defended, however how that plays out with a defence based on lack of jurisdiction I can't guess.
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Driver entered car park as a customer of the Premier Inn Hotel in a hire vehicle. In historical visits this car park was free and no payment was required. The driver had not put thought to any parking management nor requirement to pay over the course of the visit to the area and stay within the hotel.
On a date on, or prior to, 28th May 2026, the hirer of the vehicle received a Notice to Hirer through the post. The address at which it was sent is remote to the alleged parking charge country and outside of the United Kingdom. This broadly corresponded to charges being made by the hiring company to the hirer. These charges were without notice, unexplained and required communication instigated with the company from the hirer to get an explanation of the charges. A confusing and unclear liaison followed in which it seems apparent the hiring company has actually charged some form of administration fee linked to the PCN.
Other than queries with the hiring company as to their unexplained charges no communication nor action has been taken with Horizon Parking.
On the 29th July 2026 the hirer received a Notice of Debt Recovery from Debt Collection Bailiff's Ltd. This letter indicates that there there is now no longer an appeal route available with Horizon Parking. DCBL's own letter quotes the liability for the charge as resting with the driver and makes no reference to hirer.
The hirer, foreign to England and Wales, sought advice intended to appeal the PCN'S issued in the below quoted terms.
Dear Horizon Parking,
I am the hirer of the vehicle quoted in the above referenced notice to hirer and I deny any contractual liability or contractual agreement.
Your Notice to hirer fails to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Hereafter simply referred to as PoFA) and you therefore have no right to recover any unpaid parking charges from the hirer. Partial compliance with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the PoFA is not sufficient. For the avoidance of doubt, your Notice to Hirer fails to comply with the following PoFA requirements:
PoFA Sch. 4 para 14(2)(a)
Failing to provide the documents required, including those set out in 13(2).
Namely:
- A copy of the Notice to Keeper
- A statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement
- A copy of the hire agreement
- A copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement
PoFA Sch. 4 para 14(5)(a)
Failed to inform the hirer that any unpaid parking charges may be recovered from the hirer.
PoFA Sch. 4 para 14(5)(b)
Failed to refer the hirer to information contained in the Notice to Keeper. Further noting that a copy of the same has not been provided.
PoFA Sch. 4 para 14(5)(c)
Failed to warn the hirer that if, after the period of 21 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice to hirer is given, the amount of unpaid parking charges referred to in the notice to keeper under paragraph 8(2)(f) or 9(2)(f) (as the case may be) has not been paid in full, the creditor will (if any applicable requirements are met) have the right to recover from the hirer so much of that amount as remains unpaid
PoFA Sch. 4 para 14(5)(f)
Failed to specify the date on which the notice was sent, from which the relevant periods cannot now be calculated.
There has been, and will not be any admission as to the identity of the driver, and no inferences or assumptions can be made. You can only hold the driver liable and cannot erroneously transfer liability to the hirer. Your instruction of Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd (DCBL) as a debt recovery agent demanding payment is improper and predatory. As outlined in DCBL's own correspondence the liability for the charge is with the driver of the vehicle, which has not been established. The mere fact this debt recovery action has been taken against the hirer in these circumstances is astonishing.
You are urged to cancel this Parking Charge Notice and linked debt recovery action with DCBL with immediate effect.
However, the specified route via the Horizon Parking web portal does not allow this and instead mandates that correspondence is directed to the debt recovery agent. It may be that the appeal could be submitted in writing to the given postal address but I am now seeking advice as to the proper route forward.
PCNs and other correspondence linked. PCN-Rear is the same for each of the 3 PCNs. The hirer is not resident in England and Wales and not in a position to revisit the site to capture photographs of any signage et al.
Cheers.
https://ibb.co/v6Y6g5Sf (PCN)
https://ibb.co/G3xWnX7L (PCN)
https://ibb.co/gL4VTQCy (PCN)
https://ibb.co/GfW5dxWn (PCNs Rear)
https://ibb.co/HfkdHs30 (DCBL Letter - Front)
https://ibb.co/B98JmZ8 (DCBL Letter - Rear)
https://ibb.co/C3Zc7qhn (DCBL Statement)