I am the registered owner of a car that overstayed in a Waitrose car park (England) by roughly half an hour, ie nearly 2 hours rather than 1.5. Assume pls for this post that all signage etc is correct and that the Charge Notice was issued correctly, as that isn't what I'm asking.
The contravention occurred on 12/12/2023. I have only today found both Notice and Reminder, for various reasons a small pile of post had sat unnoticed in a corner until today.
AFAIK I have had no contact from Britannia since. It is now over 6 months since the parking contravention, my question is - what now? On their website my Charge Notice can still be accessed by putting in the number and car reg. The outstanding amount is the full amount without anything extra added (£95).
Is there a time limit for them to instruct debt collectors/initiate legal action? What do they tend to do or how long does it take? I would have paid the lesser amount immediately if I had seen it in time, and I will pay the larger amount now if that is necessary to prevent further action or financial charges, but obv would rather pay nothing. Grateful for any insight, thank you.
Is there a time limit for them to instruct debt collectors/initiate legal action?
Any court claim must be made within 6 years from the date of the parking incident, so some point before December 2029.
In terms of what next, the ball is essentially in their court. Probably a flurry of debt collector letters, then possibly a Letter of Claim followed by a court claim.
You may well have a decent defence, but you'd need to show us the document you have told us to assume was correctly issued (this is not necessarily a wise assumption to make as they often mess it up).
First things first. Please read this thread and provide pictures of the original NtK, not the reminders:
READ THIS FIRST - Private Parking Charges Forum guideWas the driver on the day a customer of Waitrose and is there a receipt or card/bank statement to evidence a purchase? Why was the driver parked beyond the maximum permitted time? Was it because it was a prolonged shop?
Have you tried asking Waitrose to have the PCN cancelled, especially if you were a patron. Nothing like letting them know that they could lose business because one of their agents thinks invoicing their patrons for £100 is likely to cost them much more in lost takings. Go as high up the management food chain for this,starting with the CEO. Don’t expect a lowly customer service bod to do much, if anything at all. Email is the way to go.
Why do you think the keeper should pay the discounted charge at all? Have Britannia complied fully with all the requirements of PoFA to be able to hold the keeper liable for the charge?
The
unknown driver is always liable for any alleged breach of contract. The
known keeper should never identify the
unknown driver. There is no legal obligation for the
known keeper to identify the
unknown driver.
At the end of the day, it is your money. Are you prepared to fight an unjust PCN which is nothing more than a speculative invoice from an unregulated private parking company for an alleged breach of contract between the driver and Britannia?
Thank you both. I don't have the energy to get into a protracted fight with BP over 100 quid, so my request was more as to whether they are likely to chase it up or not. I would have expected to get something sooner than 6mo, does that make it less likely now or is that standard/par for the course? Thanks
It's your £100. If it is small change for you, then lucky you.
Pay the scammers and you are marked as a "mug" for future reference. You are the ideal victim of these ex-clampers.
As to whether anything more will happen... how long is a piece of string?
They have 6 years from the date of the parking event to issue a county court claim for the alleged debt. They can still chase the known keeper ad infinitum. Whether they will bother or not is another question.
Right now you are in limbo. Pay them and have your personal peace of mind that you have probably been scammed but, hey, you can afford it. Or, wait and see if they take it further.
As it is well past any appeal deadline, I doubt they would accept your £100 offer and will insist, mendaciously, that it is now out of their hands and you must deal with their debt collector and will owe the £100 plus the fake added £70 fee. You can but try.
Your money, your conscience, your choice.
As above - it's hard to predict. Anecdotally, we usually see the debt collector letters start fairly soon after the appeal process has either concluded or timed out, but not hearing anything for 6 months does not mean the matter is necessarily closed.