I have been a longtime lurker on this forum and its predecessor PePiPoo for many years but have never needed to ask for help myself until now so I hope you will be able to advise me. I recently found a box with a pile of unopened mail in it - someone in the house had 'moved it out of the way to deal with' and not told me, then forgotten it (yes I know, I know, don't ask. Anyway, we are where we are and have to deal with it now.
I found a letter 25 July 2024 from NCP car parks with a parking charge notice for the Birmingham City Centre car park - Judes Street. I'm not entirely sure where that is as I've never actually parked there myself. It states my vehicle (I am the registered keeper) entered the car park at 14.57:34 and left at 15.10.51 - a total of just over 13 minutes.
The circumstances as told to me by the driver (which was not me) was travelling with my 13 year old child, entered the car park, found a space and went to the machine, the only one in the car park, which was out of order. The driver then attempted to pay by the app detailed on the signage, but did not get a verification code to allow payment. They took a photo of the defective machine which was the only machine in the car park so there was no alternative way to pay. The driver, realising they would be unable to pay, got back in the car and left the car park to find parking elsewhere. A couple of minutes later I found a verification code on my phone - I was at home. It seems like when using the bank card on the app, the details from the bank related to the bank card were linked to my phone number not the drivers. I immediately rang the driver to see what was going on, but by that point they had already driven out to park elsewhere.
I also found a reminder letter (photo attached) and a number of letters from Trace Debt recovery, and now from Moorside Legal. They are stating I now owe £170.
I guess we are now beyond the time of any appeal, so this will need to be treated as if it had been ignored (which it had, but not intentionally).
What's the best approach here? Have I go any hope of fighting this and if so, what's the best way to go about doing it? (I'm assuming its best not to contact the legal people at this stage?)
Thanks for any and all advice!
https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2Fa%2FpDXEwgn&data=05%7C02%7Csarah.marwick%40nhs.net%7Ce2dce5b915ca437e0c9308dd3188afbe%7C37c354b285b047f5b22207b48d774ee3%7C0%7C0%7C638721185310285100%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SE5%2FmsqFd8PBxOEoWtdKIAmGkpVGKrV3SKKv2tVZgKQ%3D&reserved=0
