After nearly 3 years, I (the registered keeper) received a Letter Before Claim from a solicitor "Moorside Legal" for a parking fine/invoice by Parking Control Management UK Ltd. See attached. 

 

Image link - https://ibb.co/93YHQt2z (Sorry, can't seem to display it as embedded here)

There is no detail about the case at all in the letter, and I don’t seem to find an email address from their website. I checked my notes and think it was at High Path Estate - SW19, the small car park on the south portion of Hayward Close (right next to the outdoor gym). I think the landowner is Housing Association. 

We appealed before, mainly on the ground - breach of the IPC Code of Practice Schedule 1 . 

"Signs should, where practicable, be placed at the entrance to a Car Park. Otherwise the signage within the Car Park must be such as to be obvious to the Motorist. " 
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There is no entrance sign. And the only sign that appears to relate to the car park is tiny and practically hidden, not placed in close proximity (but about 25 feet away from the parking spaces), i.e., the tiny one on the building behind the trees and green space, not obvious at all. The font size is too small to be able to signify it relates to the car park. So motorists cannot be expected to read a sign that they did not see because of its distance from the car park and because it is obscured by a tree which had a lot more leaves on it when the PCN was issued compared to the picture they showed as evidence (there is only one taken by them in winter 2019 when tree leaves already fell off). 

Could you please kindly suggest our options?

Thanks very much @cp8759!

I've posted a draft previously. Please see below and let me know what you think. I believe I need to submit it today to retain the reduced amount.

"
In response to the PCN (xxxxx) dated 09/09/2023, I would like to formally challenge it.

As I have done many times over the 2 years of living in Merton, on 9th Sep 2023 I did obtain a ticket and place it on the dashboard of the car in accordance with the (Morden Park) car park conditions. Please find attached a copy of the ticket, which shows the expiry time at 13:00 (covering the time of the alleged contravention) and the amount paid. In this occasion, unfortunately it appears that the ticket fell off of the dashboard for some reason, perhaps due to a slightly open window.

Also, I used the car park frequently as we go to the gym there and always purchased a ticket during the operating hours. I also kept a few recent tickets which I can supply a copy on request.

As I did buy a ticket, I request the PCN to be cancelled. Thank you!
"

You only have a reg 9 PCN.

You can make informal representations asking the council to exercise discretion to cancel, and you have some pretty decent mitigation to put forward i.e. there was no deliberate attempt to avoid payment and the parking fee was in fact paid.

If the council rejects, they will almost certainly reoffer the discount, which you should ignore.

I say ignore because the next step is the notice to owner, where you can make the same challenge and the council is required to consider your representation afresh. As long as you challenge the notice to owner during the initial 14 days from the date of issue, they almost invariably reoffer the discount to dissuade you from appealing (because the cost to them of handling an appeal is more than the extra money they would collect even assuming that they win).

So you might as well have a go with the mitigation argument, you have at least two shots and you likely don't have to commit the full amount until you get the formal notice of rejection.

And at that stage, there might have been a procedural impropriety, they might have missed the 56 day deadline for responding to formal representations, I might have found an issue with the parking places order and so on.

In the first instance post a draft challenge on here for review.

Thanks. Any advice on my draft?

Thanks for the reply!

My draft, any suggestions are welcome:
"
In response to the PCN (MT71713100) dated 09/09/2023, I would like to formally challenge it.

As I have done many times over the 2 years of living in Merton, on 9th Sep 2023 I did obtain a ticket and place it on the dashboard of the car in accordance with the (Morden Park) car park conditions. Please find attached a copy of the ticket, which shows the expiry time at 13:00 (covering the time of alleged contravention) and the amount paid. In this occasion, unfortunately it appears that the ticket fell off of the dashboard for some reason, perhaps due to a slightly open window. 

Also, I used the car park frequently as we go the gym there and always purchased a ticket during the operating hours. I also kept a few recent tickets which I can supply a copy on request.

As I did buy a ticket, I request the PCN to be cancelled. Thank you!

"

I believe I need to submit by Friday (i.e., within 14 days) to retain the reduced amount in case of a rejection?

Please also see the PCN for any potential technical errors I may use against. I noticed the observation time appeared to be only 1 minute (12:49-12:50). Is it sufficient?

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