It is a contractual offer that if you pay SABA, they will not try and prosecute you for a criminal offence in the magistrates court. It is 100% not a real penalty notice. It is a fraudulent attempt to extort money from you using terminology that is unlawful.
I already have an investigative journalist from a major broadsheet on the case. SABA will not and cannot take you to the magistrates court as their scam would be revealed in all its glory.
If this were a real Penalty Notice, they would be obliged to reveal who heir “client” is and any penalty paid would have to go to the “client”, usually a Train Operating Company (TOC) who are the “authority” who are authorised to prosecute under the bylaws.
Note that there is no mention of whose “authority” SABA are issuing the Penalty Notice. Also, any money being paid to settle the penalty is going into their own account, not the authorities. Any failure to pay or dispute a penalty issued under an authority can only be disputed in the magistrates court and if lest, the court could impose fines on top of any penalty which would go to the public purse, not SABA.
If SABA wanted to try and gain revenue for breaches of the terms of parking, they can only do so under civil contract law and on,y against the driver. They could easily do this by issuing a Parking Charge Notice (PCN), not a Penalty Notice (PN). They have issued a fake PN and used unlawful language such as “penalty”, “fine”, “offence”, “ criminal” and so on.
For now, I would suggest the following as an initial appeal to SABA:
Response to Fake Penalty Notice (Ref: [Insert PN reference number])
Dear Sirs,
I write as the registered keeper of the vehicle with registration number [Insert Registration Number] to address the so-called "Penalty Notice" issued on [Insert Date]. It is evident that this notice is nothing more than an “offered contract” dressed up as a Penalty Notice (PN), and it holds no legal weight.
The PN does not state under whose authority SABA is acting in intending to prosecute the driver for an alleged criminal offence in the magistrates' court. Without a clear indication of this authority, the notice appears to be both invalid and fraudulent.
Your attempt to present this matter as a criminal offence under railway bylaws is misleading and deceptive. If you truly believe you have standing in this matter, I challenge you to issue a summons where the alleged “penalty” can be contested in the magistrates' court. However, it is clear that this is not a criminal matter but a civil dispute. In criminal cases, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt, a standard which I doubt you could meet. In contrast, civil cases are decided on the balance of probabilities, which is a much lower standard.
In any event, this is clearly not a criminal case, and your notice is nothing more than an unlawful attempt to dress up a contractual dispute as something more intimidating. As this is a civil matter, there is no threat of any “fine” or “penalty”.
As this parking area is under statutory control (railway bylaws), the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) does not apply, and therefore, there is no keeper liability. I have no legal obligation to identify the driver, and your notice is simply an unlawful attempt to intimidate.
If you are not prepared to proceed through the correct legal channels, I expect this fake PN to be cancelled immediately. I will not be intimidated by your unlawful attempt to extract money.
Yours faithfully,
[Your Full Name]
Registered Keeper
