Author Topic: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later (Read 77 times)

ThoughtfulCheese · « **on:** November 18, 2024, 01:29:54 pm »

I (the registered keeper of the car in question) received this letter on Saturday 16 November:

The driver was confused about this; they remember parking there but believed they had paid for the session. Upon scrolling through their bank statements they found that the charge had been declined. They do not remember seeing any indication from the payment machine that the payment had not gone through, because if they had, they would have tried again with another card. They also did not receive any immediate indication from their banking app that the payment had been declined.

In any case, it is over three months since this happened. What are my options?

I don't often go by this car park, but could do if necessary. The driver does not remember any details about signage anymore.
(ETA: They do remember at first being confused about whether the charges for parking even applied; it is clearly signed as being the parking lot for the church, but it also seemed that others were parking there too. They thought it a possibility that it was free for church attendees but paid for others. The driver is not a regular parishioner but was there for a church event. They decided to err on the side of caution and to pay for parking, or at least attempt to)

b789 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2024, 02:10:47 pm »

Are you saying that it has only just been received? Was it delivered to an address you no longer reside at and only now passed on to you? Is your V5C address up to date?

Too late to appeal now. It would have been an easy one to deal with at the time... as long as the unknown drivers identity is not revealed. There is no legal obligation on the known keeper (the recipient of the Notice to Keeper (NtK)) to reveal the identity of the unknown driver and no inference or assumptions can be made.

The NtK is not compliant with all the requirements of PoFA which means that if the unknown driver is not identified, they cannot transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the known keeper.

As there is nothing that can be done, unless you can explain why it has only now been received, you should ignore all debt collection letters. They are harmless and must be ignored. You will have to wait and see if they try to issue a claim for the alleged debt.

If you have an opportunity, you can get a phot of the signs. Sometimes, ParkMaven and a sister, but separate company, Bransby Wilson, have signs that have the other company's logo on which invalidates the PCN.

ThoughtfulCheese · « **Reply #2 on:** November 18, 2024, 03:09:09 pm »

Yes, it was only just received two days ago. There's no other date on the letter nor any indication on the envelope as to when it was actually posted. It was addressed to me at my current address, I've lived here for two and a half years. As far as I know the address on my V5C is up to date but I'll check.

b789 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2024, 03:30:59 pm »

You need to send a formal complaint to ParkMaven before you can complain to the BPA. Here is a suggested complaint:

Quote

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: Formal complaint

Re PCN No.: [PCN number]
Vehicle Registration Mark: [VRM]

As the registered keeper, I received a postal Notice to Keeper (NtK) today, allegedly issued on 12th August 2024. This is absolutely unacceptable. Either your records are grossly inaccurate, or your process for issuing notices is entirely unfit for purpose.

I demand you provide a "Proof of Posting" certificate or other documented evidence confirming when this notice was sent. Without such evidence, I expect you to immediately cancel this Parking Charge Notice (PCN) and confirm the cancellation in writing.

If you are unable evidence the required proof of posting, do not waste my time by attempting to reissue this notice with an updated issue date. As you well know, under PoFA 2012, the registered keeper cannot be liable for a PCN where it has not been 'given' within 14 days of the alleged contravention. The window for issuing a valid NtK that can hold me, as the keeper liable, has long since passed, and this attempt to enforce one now is clearly unreasonable.

I expect your response to this complaint within the timeline as published in the Single Code of Practice, if not earlier. Failure to address this properly will result in a formal complaint to the BPA without further notice.

Yours faithfully,

ThoughtfulCheese · « **Reply #4 on:** November 18, 2024, 05:37:00 pm »

So this is not a matter to take up via their appeals procedure?

I did get photos of the car park today, but I'm guessing it's probably immaterial as the driver does not remember exactly what they were like in August and they may well have been changed since then. They certainly have been since street view went past the place last.

b789 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 18, 2024, 05:51:02 pm »

You can only appeal within 28 days of the issue date of the PCN. That is long gone. I suppose you could try, for what it's worth but knowing how these ex-clamper thugs operate, they are only after your money and good luck with that.

My advice is to make a formal complaint and then complain to the BPA. I am fairly sure they won't be able to evidence any proof of posting, at least not from back in August.

They are obliged to consider a formal complaint as an appeal anyway, according to the Code of Practice (CoP). Remember, you are not dealing with a company with a fluffy customer service ethos. The most Lilly outcome is a claim that is easily defended and either struck out, discontinued or won.

The Single Code of Practice (SCoP) Staes at 11.2 and 11.3:

Quote

11.2. Where a parking operator receives a complaint that it considers to be or include an appeal against the validity of a parking charge, the parking operator must also treat it as an appeal for the purposes of applying the timescales in Clause 8.4, and should inform the complainant as such unless and until it is clear that the complaint is not relevant to an appeal or the complainant informs the parking operator that they do not wish it to be so handled.

NOTE: It might not be immediately apparent that a complaint served as such relates to one or more specific parking charges, possibly by way of a clarification that reveals that an appeal would be worthwhile, hence parking operators are advised to record and handle complaints as appeals until they are found conclusively not to be so or patently refer to matters not relevant to the validity of a parking charge.

11.3. A complaint must be acknowledged by the parking operator within 14 days of its receipt unless exceptional circumstances apply, in which case the complainant must be kept informed by the operator.

ThoughtfulCheese · « **Reply #6 on:** November 29, 2024, 03:52:08 pm »

Quick update: I sent them a letter. I did remove the commentary to make it less combative - you can always notch things up later if necessary, but it's hard to unring that bell.

Here is what I sent:

Quote

As the registered keeper, on Saturday 16 November I received a postal Notice to Keeper (NtK), allegedly issued 12 August 2024.

Please provide a proof of posting certificate, or other documented evidence confirming when this notice was sent. In the absence of such evidence, I expect you to cancel this Parking Charge Notice (PCN) and confirm the cancellation in writing.

If you are unable to provide proof of posting for this NtK, I do not expect to receive another notice with an updated issue date. As you know, under PoFA 2012, the registered keeper cannot be held liable for a PCN where it has not been given within 14 days of the alleged event. The window for issuing a valid NtK has long since closed.

I expect your response (as outlined above) to this complaint within the timeline as published in the Single Code of Practice.

Yours faithfully,
Thoughtful Cheese

Today I received this:

Quote

Thank you for your appeal against the above Parking Charge. We have carefully considered your appeal, and on this occasion, the appeal has been accepted, and the charge has been cancelled.

There was a glitch in our system preventing the letters from going out. We apologise for the delayed notice.

Yours sincerely,
Appeals Department
ParkMaven Ltd

So, good news. Thanks for the advice and I'll remember to check that my payments have gone through in future

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Author Topic: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later (Read 77 times)

ThoughtfulCheese

Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later

b789

Re: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later

ThoughtfulCheese

Re: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later

b789

Re: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later

ThoughtfulCheese

Re: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later

b789

Re: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later

ThoughtfulCheese

Re: Parkmaven PCN - St Nicholas Tolentino, Bristol - received 3 months later