Free Traffic Legal Advice

This is the reply received on 15/12, treating our email as an appeal not a complaint.

"Thank you for contacting Carflow regarding your appeal. Your appeal has been received and will be dealt with by our appeals team. If you have not done so already, please provide all evidence necessary for us to consider your appeal. This will ensure a quicker outcome.

We aim to contact you with a decision within 28 days. We may also contact you if we require clarification. Please add appeals@carflow.co.uk to your email address book to prevent our emails going to your spam folder.

The amount of the charge will remain fixed whilst the appeal is being considered. If you have an appeal which is unsuccessful you will be given additional time to pay. If you have appealed during the discounted payment period and your appeal is unsuccessful, you will be given an additional 14 days to pay at the discounted rate.
Please do not reply to this email. This e-mail was sent from an unmonitored email address. If you wish to contact Carflow about your appeal, please e-mail appeals@carflow.co.uk."

Should I send another?

We have another letter from Diret Collectins Bariliffs Ltd, attached. Please let me know if the links do not work.

https://ibb.co/KzGxgdtj

https://ibb.co/xy70Vfn

Carflow have replied to my email. They are not inclined to drop the charge and I am very nervous about impending further action. They have not issued a POPLA code.  Your advice would be very gratefully received.:

"Thank you for getting in touch with Carflow again.

We are satisfied that the Notice to Keeper issued is compliant with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 for the purpose of keeper liability. The terminology used on our documentation, (including references to the keeper, the registered keeper, and the unpaid parking charges), is consistent with our standard templates and accepted industry practice.

With regard to delivery, the notices were sent to the address provided by the DVLA at the time of the request, which is the address recognised for service under PoFA. Consignment details confirm that the notices were issued in line with our processes. PoFA deems delivery two working days after posting, and there is no evidence to suggest that the notices were not delivered.

As previously advised, the charge has now progressed to our appointed debt recovery agents because it was not paid within the required timeframes. All further communication and payment arrangements should now be directed to them.

You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure, any future correspondence you may send to us regarding this appeal will be noted but we will not respond"

For your info, the email I had sent to them read as follows:

"Please provide a POPLA code for my complaint, despite any alleged lateness.
There are legal misstatements in your response.  In particular, the Notice to Keeper misstates PoFA Sch 4 para 9(2)(f). It says “after 29 days from the given date” and targets the registered keeper. PoFA requires “after the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice is given” and it applies to the keeper.
In addition: • Para 9(2)(b) is not properly stated because it does not clearly say “charges in respect of the specified period of parking” or that they “have not been paid in full”. • Para 9(2)(e) invites payment of “this PCN” rather than “the unpaid parking charges”. • You repeatedly use “registered keeper” instead of “keeper”. • You threaten to pursue the keeper if a named person denies being the driver, which misstates the law and breaches PPSCoP v1.1 clause 8.1.1(d).

Also,  PoFA paras 9(4) to 9(6) require posting to a current address for service and deem delivery two working days after posting. Consignment numbers show sending, not that you used the current service address. "

Thank you agaian for your help.

Carflow replied on 11th November and sent a copy of the original NtK, issued 6 days after the car was parked in their car park but sent to an old address.

Their email of 11th November is copied below.

Where does this leave us?

Thanks again for your help.

Copied from email:

Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, (paragraph 9.4) states:
"The notice must be given by –

Handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for the service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or
Sending it in the post to a current address for the service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period."

Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, (paragraph 9.5) states:
"The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of the parking ended.”

Carflow sent the following notices to the address provided by the DVLA for the registered keeper:

Notice to Keeper on 24-Apr-25
NAME and Address 24/04/2024 10:00 24/04/2024 10:02 31525410277810
7 day reminder on 03-May-25
NAME and Address 3/5/2024 12:03 3/5/2024 12:55 31525410281267
21 day reminder on 17-May-25
NAME and Address 17/05/2024 13:20 17/05/2024 13:21 31525410285671
NPLA on 24-May-25
NAME and Address 24/05/2024 13:15 24/05/2024 13:15 31525410287761

We have consignment numbers confirming these notices were sent.

We have attached a copy of the Notice to Keeper for your convenience.

As your appeal was submitted after the 28-day deadline, we cannot consider it. Under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, if the parking charge remains unpaid after 29 days and the driver’s details are unknown, we have the right to recover the charge from the registered keeper.

This charge is now with our debt recovery agents. All payment-related correspondence must be directed to them. Please pay promptly using the provided details to avoid further costs or court action.

Kind Regards,

Carflow Team

Thank you. I have sent an email to the complaints detpt (email address not easy to find!, hidden in a "complaints procedure" pdf.

Thank you very much for your reply.  The V5C was updated some time ago. I have emailed Carflow's data protection office as you suggest, and also separately sent a complaint requesting a copy of the original NtK and proof of posting or delivery.
I will let you know how I get on.
Thanks again.

First time posting so I hope I am in the right place and have managed the techical bits.

My husband, as the registered keeper, has received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus (DRP),  without receiving the parking charge notice or any other correspondence.

https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16ZXE5

I telephoned DRP on behalf of my husband and requested a copy of the PCN. I told them that I had been driving the car on that day but that I didnt think I was at Stansted.

Then I found your forum and realise that I shouldn't have told them anything.

Here is the email that I received:

"Good afternoon,

Please see the attached.

Thanks,

[...Name...]
TELEPHONE NEGOTIATOR"
 
 
and the PCN:

https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16ZXPK

I am encouraged by some threads I have read, but does my call to DRP cause a problem? Can the keeper still use the template to request cancellation of the charge?

Thank you for your help.