Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all, firstly just want to say that you people are doing great work helping poor souls that fall foul of these companies.

This may be bit of a complicated one so please bear with me. I don't know how vague i have to be so please let me know if it safe to reveal more details.

In January the driver decided they needed to be more social so started attending a group in a local pub one night a week. Behind the pub is a carpark which the driver parked in and bought a ticket.

All was good until the keeper received a letter forwarded from their previous address marked 'Final notice before action' for 'Failure to pay for Duration of Stay ANPR.' The pictures show the car arriving and leaving about 22mins over the time bought on the ticket. This notice said that the £40 discount from the previous letter had been lost and £100 was to be paid.

The keeper had made the classic mistake of updating the driving licence but not the v5c as they were not aware. They updated the address on the v5c as soon as the pcn letter came through.

The keeper appealed on the company website that due to a change of address they had not received the first letter with the discount and to please give them the chance to pay the discount (naive yes). They responded that the appeal had been upheld and the pcn had been cancelled.()

A week or so later the keeper recieved another letter forwarded from the previous address: this time from a debt collection agency. It was dated 20/02 and was received at the keepers new house 10/03. It was for a parking charge previous to the one discussed above for the same reason 'Failure to pay for the duration of stay.'

The keeper has emailed the DPO of the company stating the the address for the car is wrong, giving the new address and asking to resend all correspondence.

The keeper reasons that potentially there could be 4-5 instances where a pcn from this car park could have been sent to the previous address and then lost in the redirection or have not arrived at the new address yet. Each time a ticket was bought but time may have been overun. So potentially a lot of money building up in these cases.

Please advise me on the best course of action as you see it. The keeper was considering a SAR as the next step but thought its best to ask here first.

Thanks for your time.

Hi thanks for replying. I will get right on that a send another DRN with those keywords thanks.

Apologies I should have explained it clearer.

The first letter i received was the final warning which I appealed on their website, not mentioning who was the driver just saying that I hadn't received the first letter and to let me pay the initial amount. They replied with this:

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"We write to acknowledge receipt of your recent online appeal against the issuing of a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) to your vehicle.

 

Please be advised that on this occasion your appeal has been upheld and the above PCN has now been cancelled.  We have now removed your details from this PCN."

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And I have not heard anything more about it since 4th March. So I assumed this one was dead for whatever reason.


The second letter I received was for a different PCN from an earlier date. This was from Debt Recover Plus. I have not engaged at all with this PCN except to try to appeal on the website again but was given the message that I can't appeal.

So as of this moment I have received letters about 2 different PCNs but only one is 'live'. This one is with a debt recovery firm. I know from here not to engage with them but just wanted to know what to do next, is it possible if this case goes all the way to court it can be defended? The driver having bought a ticket and then supposedly overstayed? I haven't admitted who the driver is of either as far as I'm aware.

There is actually a special made sign in the car park that says the pub has nothing to do with the carpark. I've looked up on land registry (just the free register so far) and it says the area is The Pub and Grounds. Would I need to speak to the manager or ask them who the owner is and how to get in contact?

Thank so much for your help.

Yes they are. One (with the debt recovery firm) is for the first time the car was parked and the other (cancelled) was for the 3rd time. The car was parked same day, around same time, every week starting Jan 14th until 18th Feb.

If I draw their attention to the successful appeal is there a possibility they could retract it or reissue the PCN under a new number or something?

Also, who should I contact at the parking company, I only have the email for the DPO? I've looked on the website and can't see another email to contact.

Thanks