Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: rizlagunner on June 05, 2025, 12:42:38 pm
-
Have you done on to their website as though to appeal and checked what other photographic evidence they have of the vehicle? You are looking for a photo that shows the Notice to Driver (NtD) attached to the windscreen.
Don't put it past their operatives issuing an NtD, taking a photo and then removing it. They can only issue the NtK under paragraph 8 of PoFA if they've previously issued an NtD.
Not to worry. If you follow our advice, you won't be paying a penny to ECP. Whilst they won't accept any appeal now, that really doesn't matter as they would have rejected any initial appeal and POPLA would have been equally useless in this circumstance.
It will be a protracted affair which will involve safely ignoring all debt recovery letters. Debt collectors are powerless to actually do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and feat. Just ignore all debt collector.
Eventually you will receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) from a firm of incompetent bulk litigators, usually DCB Legal. Come back when you receive that and we will provide a suitable response. After that you will receive an N1SDT Claim Form from the CNBC. Show that to us and we will advise on how to respond and provide a template defence.
Eventually, the claim will either be struck out or discontinued.
-
Registered in my (the keeper's) name. The keeper and driver, though related, were different in this case. There are no hirers involved.
The driver did not note any notice on the windscreen, this would have been obvious. In fact we had not considered this possibility at all until yesterday when posting about this case. The driver after Sainsbury's proceeded to Lidl's car park which is on the other side of road, after which they returned to the car again and returned home. Any notice stuck to the car would surely have been noticeable. Is it worth requesting ECP to produce photo/video evidence of the notice on the car?
No representations have been made so far as the posted Notice to Keeper is the first one we saw and does not provide any option for a challenge/representation.
-
There are some anomalies... is the car registered in your name or is it a leased vehicle?
Also, the notice you've shown us, is that the original that you received, addressed in your name? It looks more like a Notice to Hirer (NtH) rather than a Notice to Keeper (NtK). It states that there are pursuing the Keeper under the provisions of PoFA paragraph 8. That is only possible if they first issued windscreen Notice to Driver (NtD).
What, if any representations have already been made to ECP?
As for the debt recovery letters, just ignore those. Debt collectors are powerless to actually do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear. Shred them and use them as hamster bedding. We don't need to know about those and you can safely ignore them.
So, please answer the questions before we can assist further.
-
However, the notice is worded as if it is a follow-up to a notice to the driver attached to the car at the time. You don’t make any mention of one of these, in fact you explicitly state there wasn’t one.
What do others think?
There was no notice attached to the car, of this we are sure. As I said their (supposedly) second notice to keeper that was mailed came as a total surprise, we weren't even aware that we would get a PCN for parking in a Sainsbury's, let alone parking for 12 minutes as indicated in their letter. As keeper, I had assumed that this was similar to other instances in the past where the private car park failed to serve the initial letter, but had it been attached to the car itself we would have known about this immediately.
-
However, the notice is worded as if it is a follow-up to a notice to the driver attached to the car at the time. You don’t make any mention of one of these, in fact you explicitly state there wasn’t one.
What do others think?
-
Euro Car Parks skates around the truth when it says that it has the right to recover from the keeper, because it has not complied with the requirements in the mentioned Act which is to deliver the Notice to Keeper to you - the keeper - within 14 days.
So continue not to identify the driver.
Too late for their appeal process, so you need to wait for a Letter of Claim and come back here when you do.
Ignore everything from debt collectors that will be sent your way in the meantime.
-
The sign in the Sainsbury's car park (I was just passing by so did not have time to look at the detailed terms and conditions).
(https://i.imgur.com/ogVIgmn.jpeg)
-
I (as keeper) have unfortunately received another parking ticket. I must say this one feels predatory and designed to lure unwitting people into their trap.
Background: The driver was passing by this Sainsbury's (Locksbottom), their child demanding to be bought a pack of Smarties. They parked in this Sainsbury's, went inside, did not find what was needed and hence made no purchase, and then left.
During this time they did not look out for any signs. They have two big Sainsbury's within 5-10 minutes of their house and been to dozens of others, parking has always been free at the big ones so they genuinely had no expectation a Sainsbury's would demand a parking ticket. A month or so later, the keeper receives this Notice to Keeper mentioning the 'Discount period' has passed so they better pay up £85.
Now I, as keeper, probably should have made an official complaint at this point, unfortunately life got in the way and I forgot about this one thinking I will fight them, and today I have received a debt collection letter.
The debt collection letter laughably states that this is my 4th letter, this is absolute nonsense. This is my 2nd letter and their math does not math either looking at the timeline :
Contravention date 23/03/2025
First letter: 24/04/2025 (received 29/04/2025)
Second letter: 28/05/2025 (received 05/06/2025).
Even if the very first letter was dispatched within the week, 28 days (inclusive of discount period) would most definitely take it beyond 24/04/2025 which is when they actually issued the letter. Before anyone asks, the driver did not see any ticket on the car so this was not an on the spot ticket. All attachments below, plus I as the keeper went to the car park to take a picture of the sign of the signage. Appreciate the help from this board as always.
(https://i.imgur.com/p7X2xTJ.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/hNSLaeM.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/1wBpdd5.jpeg)