BW Legal letter but no PCN received from Premier Parking Solutions LTD

[Axeto42]

Hello,

We have received a letter from BW Legal today informing us that they are charging us £160 on behalf of Premier Parking Solutions Limited for not paying a fine.

The details are that the 'contravention' occurred on the 2nd of February 2022 and it was for an 'expired session'. They mention a PCN several times in the letter but this is the first letter we have ever received in regards to any sort of parking fine, I have searched high and low and I am certain that we haven't missed a letter from them.

I have used several 'PCN search' websites and every time I enter the vehicle registration and PCN number from the BW Legal letter it says it's invalid.

I have done some research online about the parking lot and many people seem to have had the same problem. Apparently there is small print on their parking sign that says a flat rate of £5 must be paid after 8pm, since the car was parked at around 7pm to 9pm (with 2 hours paid on the machine with no trouble) apparently we were supposed to purchase two tickets to display, one for the first hour and then the £5 ticket for any time remaining after 8pm.

I admit we didn't read the sign properly as it was night time and the car park is a small, grotty, dimly lit one. There was no ticket on the car windscreen when we returned and no letter has arrived in the post but now BW Legal is claiming that since we didn't pay the original fine and didn't appeal it (obviously not possible since this is the first time hearing about this) the fine is the '£100 PCN charge plus debt recovery costs of £60' and if the fine is not paid before the 29th of April the next letter will be a 'Letter of Claim'.

I'm unsure as to what we should do, we have never been in this type of situation before and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[MIKE770]

ostell may be able to advise.

[ostell]

Letter to solicitor telling them that this is the first you have heard of this matter and as the keeper you cannot be held lua le as no notice has been received within the relevant period.

Might be useful to get images of the sign and see what it actually says

[Axeto42]

Thank you for your advice, unfortunately my partner called BW Legal, even though I told him not to. They were extremely rude on the phone when we tried to explain the situation but I managed to get them to send a copy of the original PCN via email.

It is a 'Notice to Keeper' and contains some extremely dark, grainy photos of what appears to be my car arriving and leaving the parking lot and a close up photo of my number plate. Tellingly, it does not include a photo of the signage even though I had asked BW Legal if it did and they had confirmed it did.

Immediately I noticed the reason the original letter had never arrived, they had not included the house name, just the nearby village so the address was written like this:

My Name
Village Name
County
Postcode

It's no wonder the postal service couldn't deliver it! I know for a fact that DVLA has my full correct address since I have received letters from them in the past.

At the top of the PCN is says 'made under the protection of freedoms act 2012', since I never received the original PCN within 14 days of the 'incident' is it safe to say I do not have to pay the original fine? I have written an email to Premier Parking Solutions explaining all of this but have not sent it yet.

To be honest I wouldn't mind just paying the original fine but now it's a matter of principle and I don't appreciate them sending debt collectors after me (who will inevitably send letters and emails to me for the next 10 years) for a mistake that they made.