Free Traffic Legal Advice

Looking for advice, thanks in advance.

Received a PCN earlier in the year for an overstay due to getting a headache whilst parked. I have a medical condition which is diagnosed, take abortive medication on the onset of attacks and have all of the medical documentation to prove it. These headaches can last several hours and have put me in A&E before, the condition is more manageble now with medication but the headaches even with medication puts me into a state where I can't operate a vehicle safely. The parking overstay was 12 minutes and 50 seconds. I appealed with reference to consumer rights law and their anticipatory duty under equality act law to accomodate an overstay, (stupidly identifying as the driver, I know, abuse welcome), Ocean Parking rejected appeal stating that no restrospective cancellation will be considered, IAS also rejected.

I have one additional complication now which is this:
Whilst I remained parked on site to recover from the headache and medication I took, I sat in one of the commercial outlets adjacent to the car park. I later phoned the commercial outlet back explaining that I received a PCN and asked if they could get Ocean Parking to cancel the PCN but due to having gone through the appeal process and the matter now being with Trace Debt Recovery, Ocean Parking's response was that I need to now liaise with Trace Debt Recovery to resolve the matter.

However the story the commercial outlet gave to Ocean Parking when they requested the cancellation was that the overstay was due to a nappy change and that I am a regular customer, which isn't true and isn't what I explained to them or Ocean Parking in my internal appeal, rather the headache occured during my daughter's nappy change and that the overstay was caused by the headache. So Ocean Parking now have two versions of events relating to this overstay and I feel like an letter of claim is now more than likely.

May be useful to know that during the appeal process Ocean Parking said I could have used the "24-hour" phone number to contact them to prevent a PCN being issued whilst on site or 24 hours after however I pointed out that none of their signage states that one can prevent the issuance of a PCN by phoning them or that the "24-hour" contact number can be used for issues with overstays with reference consumer rights law on undiscoled and hidden terms. I later found out that their office isn't even manned on the weekend when the alleged contravention occured and hasn't been for the last two years. How is anyone supposed to reasonably know about this hidden procedure and follow it?

One more thing, the overstay ended at 16:40 on Sunday when most retail outlets are closed. Could this warrant a lesser charge if it went all the way through to court due to there being less commercial impact caused by the overstay?

Thank you kind sir. So I will wait.

A Letter of Claim is from a claimant or the claimant’s legal representative

Steps before issuing a claim at court
6. Where there is a relevant pre-action protocol, the parties should comply with that protocol before commencing proceedings. Where there is no relevant pre-action protocol, the parties should exchange correspondence and information to comply with the objectives in paragraph 3, bearing in mind that compliance should be proportionate. The steps will usually include—
(a) the claimant writing to the defendant with concise details of the claim. The letter should include the basis on which the claim is made, a summary of the facts, what the claimant wants from the defendant, and if money, how the amount is calculated;
(b) the defendant responding within a reasonable time – 14 days in a straight forward case and no more than 3 months in a very complex one. The reply should include confirmation as to whether the claim is accepted and, if it is not accepted, the reasons why, together with an explanation as to which facts and parts of the claim are disputed and whether the defendant is making a counterclaim as well as providing details of any counterclaim; and
(c) the parties disclosing key documents relevant to the issues in dispute.

from

As above, it warrants a reply and will be followed by a county court claim in the name of Moorside Legal but issued by the courts.

You will not get a Letter of Claim from the courts.

You should reply, but only as above, and not using their forms or answering their questions about income etc.

OK, thanks jfollows.

I did mention in my original post that I blabbed about being the driver, however in the template letters Ocean Parking sent to me following up the PCN (before handing the case over to Moorside Legal), Ocean Parking said that they still didn't know who the driver was, even though I did tell them.

Should I still reply as you advise?

Reply with the following;


To whom it may concern,

I write with reference with your Letter Before Claim which I received this morning - I have duly noted its contents.

I am happy to make the following representation;

It is acknowledged that I am the Registered Keeper of the vehicle in question.

However, the driver is not known to your parking operator client and there is no legal requirement for me to provide such information and I will not be providing driver details under any circumstance because the law does not demand it.

Furthermore, your client's PCN (Notice to Keeper) is not compliant with the requirements of PoFA Schedule 4 Paragraph 9(2) and fails to convey all the conditions which the legislation clearly demands.

Therefore, based on the above, there is no legal route by which I can be liable in this matter and I therefore deny that any monies are owed by myself to your client.

I believe that this letter clearly sets out the correct legal position in this matter.

I am sorry that I am unable to help you further.


Best wishes,

xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx