Free Traffic Legal Advice

Just received a PCN from EuroCarParks saying I overstayed for free parking. £100 charge, but will be £60 if paid within 14 days.

I went to the Shell garage that also has an MFG run charging station area and jet wash at the back.

I was just going to the jet wash, but I had to queue as one of the bays was out of order.

There is signage saying the max stay is 30 mins.

Shell garage on Lewisham High Street if that helps.

In the end I was on the premises for 41 minutes. I never left the premises with or without my car, only really got out of my car to use the jet wash, never parked in any of the parking bays as I was just in a queue for the jetwash. I did use and pay for the jetwash (however as it was a weekend the charge doesn't show on my account until the Monday).

Should I appeal? Anything I should mention/omit?

Should I contact MFG/Shell to get ECP to drop the charge? I've seen this suggested. Do this first or after appeal?

Should I just pay and never go back their again?

Many thanks in advance.

Thanks. I'm drafting something to them now. Good point on using "driver"!

If you follow the advice, you will not pay a penny to ECP. I can guarantee that this will be the sequence of events in this case... Unless you can get the landowner to make ECP cancel the PCN (unlikely but worth a try), any initial appeal and subsequent POPLA appeal are also highly unlikely to be successful.

You will then have to weather a bunch of useless debt recovery letters which you can safely ignore. Debt collectors are powerless to do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear.

Eventually, you will receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) from DCB Legal, and we will provide a suitable response. After that, you will receive an N1SDT Claim form from the CNBC and again, we will provide advice on how to respond.

In about 9-12+ months from now, the claim will either struck out or discontinued. I say this with greater than 99% certainty of the outcome.

So, for now, you try to get the landowner (or their agent) get ECP to cancel the PCN. As advised, you do everything as the Keeper. They have no idea who the driver is unless you blab it, inadvertently or otherwise. You always refer to the driver in the third party. No "I did this or that", only "the driver did this or that".

You may want to show us anything before you send it. We will advise on any edits that may be needed.

Thanks all.

Just as an update, it took a couple of approaches and providing some evidence I paid for the jetwash but MFG did get ECP to withdraw the fine. So got to give them credit there. Handy as I like using the facilities and can start going again.

Thanks to everyone who responded!

A good result, but just one point to remember, it's NOT a fine they issue, it's an unenforceable invoice. Only the courts and councils can issue fines. Relax, you're £120 better off.