Beales St Neots - Britannia Parking

[John Milne]

On the 10th February 2018 the driver parked the car of which I am the keeper at the Beales department store in St Neots. The driver paid and entered the registration number in the ticket machine. Then on the 26th February I received a parking charge notice (dated 23rd Feb) from Britannia Parking stating that the driver hadn't paid the parking fee. I was surprised and distressed since this was not the case and further the driver had not over stayed. Unsurprisingly, after more than two weeks, the driver no longer had the parking ticket. I have since discovered that there have been ongoing problems with parking at this St Neots shop and many people had been sent erroneous parking charges. Over the following months I received several reminders from Britannia and prior to Christmas I received two exceptionally threatening letters from a firm of lawyers called BW Legal telling me that they intend to take me to court. Since I know that the driver paid to park it is unthinkable for me to pay a fine that is a complete unwarranted.

Now that I have received a County Court letter, to which I have to respond rather quickly, I am hoping to receive some advise on how to mount a defence. Since the driver paid to park my situation is somewhat different to most people but my problem is that the driver did not retain the ticket (who does?) and so cannot prove it. I believe this is Britannia's modus operandi since I know of others who have paid, parked yet still been sent a PCN. Indeed in order to test the situation the Mayor of St Neots parked in the car park and was sent a PCN. He had of course retained his ticket. It is rather hard for me to accept this grave injustice. I hope someone can advise.

Britannia 23.02.18.pdf

[ostell]

Best not to ignore these things.

Edit your post so that the identity of the driver cannot be inferred. Use "the driver ....."etc.

Acknowledge the claim using the details and password on the form. Do not put anything in the defence, This gives you 33 days from the date of issue to get a defence to the court.

As a regular customer of the store have you complained bitterly to the management? They may tell Brittania to cancel.

Have you still got the PCN you received? If so post it up suitably redacted but leave dates.

If not a SAR request to to Brittania requesting all the records that they hold that references you. Letter to BWL requesting that in order to reduce the differences between you, as expected by the courts, you require copy of all the documents they tend to rely on in court. As they must have the documents in their possession to perform due diligence before issuing the claim then you require delivery of those documents within 7 days.

If you remember that the parking charge notice arrived more than 14 days after parking then if they do not know the identity of the driver then they cannot transfer liability to the keeper. If the driver parked on the 10th February and the letter is dated the 23rd Feb, a Friday, then it is assumed to have been delivered 2 working days later, on Tuesday the 27th. This is 17 days after the event and therefore no keeper liability. POFA 9 (4). This will be the main point of your defence.

It also looks like it is possible to get into that car park without passing any of their signs, past the Coop Funeral. So no signs visible.

The relevant legislation is Schedule 4 of The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 . Have a look at paragraph 9.

[John Milne]

I have edited the text and posted the PCN. Are you saying that I should write to BW Legal straight away and request a copy of their documents? Should I send the court The Acknowledgement of Service N9SDT right away? Without a defense?

I have been in contact with Beales. The store manager has said that he will contact Britannia to get them to withdraw. He may have done to little effect. The intimidation from BW Legal continues.

[ostell]

You've left your details on the back of the NTK

You acknowledge the claim online NOW by using the details and password on the form. Nothing in the defence. This gives you 33 days from the date of issue to get a defence to the court. You prepare your defence, properly formatted so that you don't annoy the judge, then email it to the court in PDF format before day 33

Look around here and the Fightback forum to get some idea of the format of a defence. It's your case, you know the details so you need to prepare it. Remember no indication of the identity of the driver

Post up your defence here for critique before you send.

Your main defence is lack of POFA compliance and therefore no keeper liability. That NTK fails the requirements of POFA in many ways. Not only the failure to deliver in time but lots more. Look at POFA and compare what MUST be on the notice with what is actually on the one your received. It is paragraph 9 you should be looking at.

Have you got documentation that Beales have requested the charge cancelled?

[John Milne]

Oops sorry about that. I have reposted the PCN. I can't seem to log on at moneyclaim.gov. Do I need a government gateway ID? I am not sure if I have one or not. If I go to "forgotten government gateway ID" it just takes me back to the front page!!!

With regard to my defence I thought the fact that the driver had paid and so the PCN is invalid would be a defence. There is no contravention if the driver paid the fee surely? I have exchanged e-mails with the mayor of St Neots and he has told me he previously tested the Britannia system. He paid to park and lo and behold he received a PCN. He told me this has happened to many people in St Neots.

I also have e-mails from the Beales shop manager saying that he has been in touch with Britannia and they have said they going to drop the case. But I still await confirmation. And I contacted Northampton County Court this morning and they informed me the claim is still live.

I also wrote to the CEO of Beales and whilst I have had an acknowledgement of sorts no formal reply.

[ostell]

Please stop hinting at the identity of the driver.

Your defence will be that they have not complied with POFA to be able to hold the keeper liable. They can still go after the driver if they know who that was.

Look at the NTK and paragraph 9 of POFA and see what they have NOT put into that letter. No compliance = no keeper liability.