3. Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #45 on: »
Draft a complaint to Saba, complaining that they have failed to respond appropriately to your appeal in breach of 8.4.6 of the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice, and have escalated enforcement proceedings before determining the appeal, in breach of 8.4.7 of the same.

Feel free to show us a draft before sending.
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #46 on: »
Quote from: DWMB2 on March 02, 2026, 12:05:05 pm
Draft a complaint to Saba, complaining that they have failed to respond appropriately to your appeal in breach of 8.4.6 of the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice, and have escalated enforcement proceedings before determining the appeal, in breach of 8.4.7 of the same.

Feel free to show us a draft before sending.

Was gonna send something like this based on your suggestion last week and the subsequent advice...

I write further to your recent correspondence and wish to raise several points that require your urgent clarification.

1. Inconsistency regarding liability

In your latest response, you assert that the owner of the vehicle is liable for any penalties and that you do not have any cause of action against the driver. If that is the case, please explain why, in your previous correspondence, you have repeatedly requested that I provide the name and address of the driver.

I have already submitted a valid appeal as the person to whom the penalty notice by post was issued. If you disagree with the points raised in my appeal, you should reject it and provide a POPLA code so that I may escalate the matter appropriately.

2. Debt recovery action during an active appeal
I have since received a debt recovery demand dated 24 February. My previous email to you was sent on 8 February, and your response to that email was dated 27 February, in which you stated that I had 14 days to pay the penalty.

I draw your attention to Clause 8.4.6 of the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice, which states:

Where the parking operator rejects an appeal against a parking charge, they must present the person appealing with the option to:
a) pay the parking charge; or
b) appeal the decision to the relevant Appeals Service and have escalated enforcement proceedings before determining the appeal

The debt recovery letter is dated before your most recent email, and you have not provided a POPLA code. This is a clear procedural failure.

Furthermore, Clause 8.4.7 of the same Code states:

Where the driver, keeper or hirer lodges an appeal with the relevant Appeals Service, enforcement proceedings and/or debt resolution must either not commence or, where commenced, must be suspended until the Appeals Service determines the appeal.

You are plainly in breach of this clause, as debt collection activity was initiated prior to your response to my previous email and before any opportunity to appeal to POPLA was provided.

In light of the above, please confirm that all enforcement and debt recovery action has been suspended, and provide the required POPLA code without further delay.

I look forward to your prompt response.


Please let me know what you think.
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #47 on: »
That looks good. I would still be tempted to make clear this is a formal complaint, so that you can escalate your complaint to the BPA once Saba inevitably fob you off.
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #48 on: »
I'd also throw in;

That the original notice was claimed to be a 'Penalty Notice' so it is unclear how this 'statutory fine' has suddenly become a 'civil debt' which is being chased by a debt collector - Please advise?
« Last Edit: March 02, 2026, 02:12:34 pm by InterCity125 »
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #49 on: »
Just got another email from them...

Firstly they acknowledge that the case was escalated to debt recovery incorrectly and I can ignore those letters.

However, they also state that

As per the Single Code of Practice, Annex C, the driver is often the same person as the keeper and/or the hirer. Where a keeper or hirer fails or refuses to provide the name and serviceable address of the driver when requested to, it may be assumed they are the driver, based on that failure or refusal. In absence of driver details, you as the registered keeper can therefore be assumed to be the driver.
 
While you are not obliged to provide the driver’s details, in the absence of that information we are entitled to pursue the registered keeper for the outstanding balance in accordance with the applicable legislation. Our request for driver details was made to allow us to transfer liability where appropriate.
 
In the meantime, the Parking Charge remains valid and payable.

So, they say the registered keeper is liable in the absence of the driver being identified and still want paying.

Any advice on how to respond would be appreciated.
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #50 on: »
Simply, they are lying. They can assume what they want, but there is no legal foundation for saying the registered keeper is liable as a result.

They make these untrue statements because they think you might believe them and pay up.

A court hearing would expose this.
« Last Edit: Today at 01:24:02 pm by jfollows »
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #51 on: »
Quote from: jfollows on Today at 01:20:48 pm
Simply, they are lying. They can assume what they want, but there is no legal foundation for saying the registered keeper is liable as a result.

They make these untrue statements because they think you might believe them and pay up.

A court hearing would expose this.

It does seem like a bit of nonsense, but it is not a situation I've found myself in before.

Is there anything I can send back to them that shows that their claim that they can pursue the registered keeper is factually incorrect?
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #52 on: »
They are talking more nonsense.

You could reply with the following;


To whom it may concern,

Thank you for your recent response which I received today.

Unfortunately, your response is totally irrelevant to matters at hand as your initial letter was a Penalty Charge Notice to the vehicle owner.

In the first instance, the Single Code of Practice is only relevant to private parking notices whereas this dispute is a statutory matter involving a penalty notice.

You seem to get rather muddled and have trouble separating a statutory notice from a notice which relates to breach of contract?

Secondly, in your reply you set out Annex C (from the CoP) and specify that it can be assumed that the registered keeper was the driver - this point is totally irrelevant since the Railway Byelaws make it very clear that it is the vehicle OWNER who is responsible for the penalty - so, even if you assume that the registered keeper was the driver, you have still not established any liability since only the OWNER is liable.

Obviously, if the Railway Byelaws wished to make the driver or the keeper liable then the wording would reflect that point - they would only need to have changed the word "OWNER" to either "keeper" or "driver" if they wished to make a different party liable but clearly they don't do that.

Furthermore, there is no "outstanding balance" since this is not a contract dispute - this is statutory law and no debt exists - you need to take this to a Magistrates Court to progress this matter.



Moving on...

In your reply you acknowledge the serious data breach which has occurred.

During the breach you wrongly supplied my personal information to a third party company.

As a result of the breach I have now received a series of threatening letters from some sort of debt collections agent.

Not only did you wrongly supply my personal data but you incorrectly told the debt collecting company that both a debt existed and that I owed it, when, in fact, no debt exists - you haven't won in the Magistrates Court yet!

I note with interest that these parking operator data breach cases normally settle in Court for between £600 and £900 plus costs.

Given that you have admitted the data breach at the earliest stage, I am happy to offer you the chance to settle 'out of court' for £400 (plus the parking operators standard £70 which covers the genuine cost of writing letters and obtaining legal advice etc).

So a total settlement figure of £470 which you may pay by cheque within 14 days.

If you wish to pay by bank transfer then bank details can be supplied.

I look forward to your reply.


Have a great weekend.

Best wishes,

xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx
« Last Edit: Today at 05:18:25 pm by InterCity125 »
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Re: Penalty Notice from Saba for not paying for parking
« Reply #53 on: »
Quote from: InterCity125 on Today at 05:12:44 pm
no debt exists - you haven't won in the Magistrates Court yet!
Even if they did win in the mags court, this would not create a debt between the OP and Saba.

Quote from: InterCity125 on Today at 05:12:44 pm
£400 (plus the parking operators standard £70 which covers the genuine cost of writing letters and obtaining legal advice etc).
I appreciate this may be tongue in cheek, but if the OP does have any intention of pursuing any sum in respect of data protection breaches, I'd leave out the £70 unless this can be properly itemised (if they do ever try to recover for data protection breaches, it will look better if they have behaved reasonably).
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