Free Traffic Legal Advice

The driver visited a hospital when they parked in a bay which turned out to be for Blue Badge holders only.

If an occupant of the vehicle was a patient, then speaking to the PALS team at said hospital would be a good first step.

Your references to Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act and keeper liability in the appeal suggest a slight misunderstanding of how that process works. What has been received appears to be a windscreen ticket, aka a 'Notice to Driver' - they are not claiming the keeper is liable, as the PCN has been issued to the driver. Paragraph 9 to which you refer, specifies the requirements for a Notice to Keeper, issued by post, so is not relevant here.

I imagine they have sent the response that they have on the basis that they have issued a charge to the driver, but instead have received a response from someone claiming* to be the registered keeper. *I say 'claiming' here not because I dispute that you are the keeper, but because at this stage, Gemini have no confirmation that you are the registered keeper, other than your say so.

You may wish to remind them that the BPA Code of Practice requires them to respond to appeals from drivers and keepers.

Have you received any Notice to Keeper through the post?

Spoke to PALS said they can't help due to it being a contractual/legal matter between driver and the company.

I havnt received a notice to owner. I'll send them an email reminding them that they should be responding to keeper and driver appeal.

Here's what it says in the letter:

2. If you are representing the driver we require a signed and dated statement from the driver of the vehicle confirming that you are authorised to appeal on his/her behalf; this needs to be an original signature and not a photocopy or a stamp. The statement MUST contain the drivers FULL NAME (Forename and Surname) and a valid FULL SERVICEABLE ADDRESS.

Is this a load of rubbish?

1.  Gemini is not a member of the BPA but of the rival and even worse IPC.  So the BPA Code of Practice is irrelevant.  The IPC appeal scheme doesn't use appeal codes. You can access the IPC Code of Practice here - .

2. For reasons known only to itself, Gemini doesn't bother to transfer liability to the keeper but instead refuses to handle keeper appeals unless the keeper identifies the driver.

3. Reasonable minds can disagree over whether it's worth the bother of trying to force Gemini to engage with the appeals process as they've lost the ability to transfer liability to the keeper anyway. 

4. The PALS cop-out is a disgrace. In your shoes, I would escalate this to hospital complaints department pointing out that the hospital is responsible for the actions of its parking contractor.  As with all communications relating to this case, do not identify the driver.

5. If the hospital doesn't make it go away, you are likely to get a lot of demands for payment from Gemini and its debt collectors which you don't need to take seriously, because they can't make you pay anything except by suing in the County Court and winning the case - which they will struggle to do as they failed to transfer liability to the keeper and there arguably isn't any liability to transfer due to the inadequate signage.  If they escalate to the point of issuing a formal letter of claim (aka letter before claim or letter before action) giving 30 days advance warning of commencement of legal proceedings, you will need to take it seriously. 

Come back for more advice if the hospital doesn't do the right thing.

Thanks for your advice.

I've read through the IPC code of practice and it does appear they insist on the driver only. The appeals response I have attached in my first message , can this be assumed to be the NTK? It doesnt say as much, and im not 100% certain if it meets all the requirements outlined in the IPC code of practice. I've attached the NTK code of practice to this post.

Just wondering, what is the risk of identifying driver to appeal? We have the evidence that regard8ng signage and any defence will be based on the same regardless who was driving?

I have until tomorrow to decide to appeal with driver or wait on NTK, if 28th november is the deadline since their last correspondence.

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OP, you seem to be wanting to freelance this. Why?

You have been informed of the procedure and yet you still refer to driver and appeals.

I am a cynical old **** (AKA sceptical/challenging) and I'm less than convinced by the account regarding seeing the disabled sign when reversing out of the space but not when driving in. Of course you could formalise a complaint to the hospital, but IMO only if you are absolutely certain of events...but how could you be, unless you were the driver? You even have the NTD! Could you pursue a complaint with sufficient conviction NB. IMO, this has nothing to do with the creditor's procedures per se but simply whether the events occurred and whether even if they did as alleged by Gemini, this is in keeping with the Trust's obligations?

Alternatively, the procedural straight bat is to submit a Subject Access Request to Gemini requiring all personal data they hold on you. This should be their reply to your 'appeal', their request to DVLA for your RK details and a copy of the Notice to Keeper. Ideally you want them to admit - because they cannot produce - that a NTK was not sent in time.

Ok so their timeframe for issuing a NTK has passed. Should I just email them to ask if they have produced and delivered a NTK? Since they are now late.

Just thinking if they later claim they posted it.

Spoke to PALS said they can't help due to it being a contractual/legal matter between driver and the company.

The technical term for this is b@LL@cks.

Gemini are only working with the authority of the Hospital, that is they represent the hospital in this matter as agents.  Therefor the Hospital can clearly intercede with their agent in this matter.  Most don't seem to want to but instead try and pretend that somehow they aren't responsible for the actions of their agents. Here the matter is even bigger as it's almost certainly the hospital itself who are responsible for painting and maintaining the signage (markings on the ground) that are in poor condition.  As such escalate to a complaint and keep escalating, with an IPC member this is your only realistic prospect of killing this off without having to wait for a court claim or 6 year timeout (or paying).