Free Traffic Legal Advice

Impossible in the absence of a “judgement”.

Assuming it went that far, and considering the circs, I think there's a reasonable chance of that.

So you guys are advising that I (as the keeper of the vehicle) should still submit an appeal to the PPC, even though we all know it will be summarily rejected? Very well.

If the grounds of the appeal are PoFA compliance, what's to stop them from issuing a further (compliant) NtK and still demanding payment?

With no appeal being lodged ...

Would a rejected appeal make any difference to the outcome? They'll still want to do court, coz their chances of a win are pretty good, right?

The driver is well past the stage of caring about any adverse effects of a CCJ on his credit rating. His main concern is more likely to be about any enforcement action they might take - eg such as seizing the vehicle to pay off the debt/judgment.

HELP!!

1. The car park is attached to the Eltham branch of Sainsburys.

2. The parking tariff is refunded if you spend £10 or more in store.

3. This wasn't a shopping trip. The driver's missus was attending a hospital appt. at the Eltham Community Hospital.

4. She has a 'blue badge', which she believed exempted her from normal parking charges.

5. The driver knew this was nonsense, but unfortunately didn't engage his grey matter sufficiently to challenge her baseless assumptions.

6. Consequently, no ticket was purchased.

7. You now have before you the result of the driver's own stupidity and lack of engagement with his missus' misapprehensions about her parking rights.

8. The driver is painfully aware that the PPC will just laugh at any appeal based on this set of circumstances. He would rather by-pass this stage altogether if legally feasible.

9. Although there must be signs all over the place, none were seen or read. The disabled bays were by the entrance, and the driver had no reason to seek them out.

10. The driver wonders if the invoice might be successfully challenged by arguing, for example, that there is no contract between him and the PPC.

11. Her misapprehensions arose from a tel/con. with Customer Services at Bexley Council, who assured her that no charges applied to her when using council-owned car parks.

12. It was also assumed that this car park was owned by Greenwich Council. Unfortunately:

"No, the Eltham Sainsbury’s car park (Passey Place) is not, and has not been, directly owned by Greenwich Council. It is owned and operated by the Greenwich Enterprise Board (GEB), a social enterprise and independent body, although the Council helped establish the GEB. It is technically private land, though open to the public."

Yes, the driver walked into this one. Any grounds for a defence? Any point in appealing when the driver knows any appeal will be rejected OOH?

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

https://ibb.co/album/0DJXWq

The claimant, for whom DCB Legal were acting.

Oops. I thought my Application was against DCBL, coz it was their paralegal who improperly engaged in the conduct of litigation. I didn't see how CEL could be held responsible for the incompetence of their legal reps. Does that mean my Application is now sunk without trace?

PS: Having said that, CEL are cited on the N244 as the Claimant.

I could, but there'd be no guarantee they would be awarded, right? In which case, it would make zero sense to pay £120 to pursue costs of £90.

To be clear, the post N279 action was taken on advice given here. The defendant would have been none the wiser but for that advice. The conclusion must be that, unless the Application includes costs that greatly exceed the cost of the Application itself, then it's probably not worth pursuing the Claimant's legal reps for irregular conduct.

I don't think we have much choice but to withdraw the N244. Shame.

The Court is now requesting a fee of £120. The N244 Application is for costs against DCBLegal of £95.

Unfortunately, that doesn't make any economic sense, unless the defendant is also awarded costs - which I somehow doubt.

Waste of time & money pursuing this any further? Looks like they get away with it.

Withdraw N244 Application?

That's what I thought.

 

From:
enquiries.bromley.countycourt@justice.gov.uk
To:
Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx
Cc:laurent@dcblegal.co.uk,

Thu, 18 Dec at 15:22

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email dated 08/12/2025. This along with the case file was referred to the Judge for further directions. Please see the Judge’s comments below.

'Defendant needs to make formal application on form N244.'


Kind Regards,

Miss Hadia Hanif
Civil Back Office
The County Court at Bromley